The Present Status of Jesus in Heaven
Nuzul-i-Isa: The Second Coming of Jesus Christ
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« How Jesus Will be Identified on His Return
It is not every day that men are raptured to heaven. Jesus was only taken up to heaven because he had come from there in the first place. We have also seen that he will return, not as an ordinary man of flesh and blood, but as a glorious, heavenly man shining with glory and power. We must therefore ask, what is his present status in heaven?
According to the Bible the angels of heaven number "myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands" (Revelation 5:11) and the glory of any one of these angels is such that, if he was to appear to any man in all his splendour, he would blind the man's eyes (Genesis 19:11). Their power is also beyond human comprehension. Just one angel has the power to destroy a whole city (2 Samuel 24:16) or a whole human army of up to two hundred thousand soldiers (2 Kings 19:35). Yet even the angels bow before the throne of God in awe and great reverence. The glory of all God's holy angels does not even begin to compare with his surpassing splendour.
The great prophet Daniel one day had a vision of God's glory and the angels of God before his throne and described what he saw in these words:
"As I looked, "thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened." Daniel 7:9-10.
When Isaiah the prophet had a similar vision of the glory of God and his angels before his throne he trembled in fear and bemoaned his human weakness and uncleanness before the sight (Isaiah 6:1-5). Daniel likewise must have felt right out of place as he beheld his glory and considered himself unworthy to be there. Yet, as he gazed at the courts of heaven he saw an amazing thing happen:
"Behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one which shall not be destroyed." Daniel 7:13-14.
He went on to say, "my spirit within me was anxious and the visions of my head alarmed me" (Daniel 7:15). Well might he have been perplexed and bewildered. "One like a son of man" means one just like himself, a man ordinary flesh and blood. He seemed to be so out of place, and yet, instead of trying to hide from the glory of heaven, he was brought on a cloud and set before the throne of God, and to him was given all the authority of heaven and earth that all the nations of earth and the angels of heaven should bow down before him.
Daniel saw a vision of Jesus Christ in heaven. He lived before the first coming of Jesus into the world when he came as an ordinary man of flesh and blood and in that form Daniel saw him. Yet, as he beheld him, he realised that, notwithstanding his human nature, he was to become the eventual ruler of the whole universe.
When Jesus was on earth his disciples saw him as an ordinary man like themselves. He was so obviously human that to this day hundreds of millions of men cannot believe that he was anything more than a man. One day, however, he took three of his disciples up a mountain and suddenly he was transfigured before them.
His face shone like the sun, and his garment became white as light. Matthew 17:2
For a brief moment his disciples saw something of his real glory which, during the rest of his earthly life, was veiled within his body of flesh and blood. When he ascended to heaven he returned to the realm where he had always enjoyed that splendour and glory. Is it logical to believe that he is there today as just an ordinary man, the only one to ascend to heaven, feeling somewhat lost and out of place among millions of angels clothed in heavenly glory before the splendour of God's throne? In Daniel's vision we saw this man brought before the throne itself and the authority of all the universe bestowed on him. What Daniel saw was a vision of the ascent of Jesus to heaven after his first coming when he returned in an ordinary human body.
Some time after the ascent of Jesus to heaven his disciple John had a similar vision of Jesus in heaven, only this time it was different. Daniel saw Jesus as he was to be on his return to heaven after his first coming to earth in flesh and blood - John saw him as he will be at his second coming when he will return in all his heavenly glory. He described his vision thus:
"I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden girdle around his breast; his head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters; in his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth issued a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength." Revelation 1:12-16.
Like Daniel John also saw "one like a son of man", one just like himself, but whereas Daniel saw him presented to him who sits upon the throne of heaven, John saw him as the one seated upon the throne! Daniel saw the Son of man presented to the "Ancient of Days", God himself, whose "raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool" (Daniel 7:9), but John saw the Son of man himself upon the throne of God and he was "clothed with a long robe and with a golden girdle around his breast" (Revelation 1:13) and "his head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow" (Revelation 1:14). John did not see the Son of man as a lone human figure out of place among myriads of angels, he saw Daniel's vision fulfilled and the Son of man seated on the throne of God ruling over the whole universe. Another early disciple of Jesus named Stephen had a similar vision as he was about to become the first Christian martyr. He cried out:
"Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God." Acts 7:56
Jesus himself went on to testify to John as he fell before his glory, saying "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades" (Revelation 1:17-18), and, after giving him many instructions for his followers in the form of seven letters to the seven churches throughout Asia Minor, he concluded by saying:
"He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne." Revelation 3:21
We have already seen that the Qur'an teaches that, at the creation of Adam, all the angels of God were commanded to bow down before him (Quran 20.116). It is hard to understand why such heavenly creatures should be required to bow to a man of flesh and blood who came from the dust for a season, only to return to it. Yet it is not hard to understand why the angels of God should bow before the Son of man who sits on the throne of God in all heavenly splendour, ruling over the whole universe, angels and nations put together. It is also no wonder that the Bible says of Jesus, "Let all God's angels worship him" (Hebrews 1:6), he who has become "as much superior to angels" (Hebrews 1:4) because he has been crowned the King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16).
There are nearly five billion people today alive on earth and billions of others have been buried in the earth, prophets, saints and all who have lived on the earth, small and great alike. But right now one man is alive in heaven where he ascended and from whence he will return. He has been there nearly two thousand years, whereas few other men live much beyond a hundred years. It is surely absurd to believe that he is, to this day, nothing more than an ordinary human being. No, he sits on the throne of heaven in all his glory "with angels, authorities and powers subject to him" (1 Peter 3:22) and he will return in that same splendour to take control of all the earth until all things are subjected to his universal authority. "For God has put all things under his feet" (1 Corinthians 15:27).
We must conclude by recognising that Jesus is alive in heaven today because he came from heaven the first time, that he is not just an ordinary man but the Ruler of all the universe who will return at the end of time in all his splendour. This makes it essential that we enquire why he ever came into the world the first time and why he ever assumed human flesh. He lived in heaven for centuries before coming to earth for thirty-three years and has been alive in heaven for centuries ever since. The real question is not why Jesus ascended to heaven, the real question is why he ever came into the world in the first place.