No, I can't say that because I haven't seen one of them yet. Do you love Jesus? Aren't you glad he's not here? Maybe I should rewind that. Do you love Jesus? Aren't you glad he's not here? Say what kind of a screwball comment is that? Well it's based on John 14, 28. I invite you to look at that verse with me. Jesus said, You heard that I said to you, I go away and I will come to you. If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father.
For the Father is greater than I. We can be glad that Jesus is not here today because it means that he has ascended back to heaven, there to receive honor and glory at the right hand of God the Father. And that should make us happy. Most of us haven't thought about it in those terms, but have you ever wondered why Jesus returned to heaven? After all, Jesus is in a body that would never die.
And he could have stayed here and amazed the world by the miracles that he might perform and could have proclaimed the gospel. Why then did he go back to heaven? Well above all, it was God's plan for him to return, of course. He accomplished the work that God gave him to do in the world. His kingdom in this world was not to be yet.
And his bride, the church, had yet to be called out from the nations of the world so that then Israel would eventually recognize him as their Messiah and be received and he could establish his kingdom. Jesus returned to heaven for other reasons than those, however. He returned to heaven to do four wonderful works that apply to your life and mine. I want you to look at them with me in the Gospel of John.
The first one is right here in chapter 14 and verse 2 where we see that Jesus returned to heaven to prepare a place. "'In my Father's house are many dwelling places,' he said. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you.'" Why did Jesus return to heaven? In the first place, he went back to heaven to prepare a place. There are two facts that are immediately apparent in the verse that we just read.
The first is that the Father's house has sufficient room for all of his children. "'In my Father's house,' said Jesus, are many dwelling places." Now the Father's house earlier in the Gospel of John in chapter 2 and verse 16 was used of the earthly temple in Jerusalem. Here Jesus is using the same phrase in a different way. He's using it in referring to heaven. It is the same place that David a thousand years before this called the house of the Lord where he would dwell forever.
"'In the Father's house are many dwelling places,' said Jesus." That word does not refer to a mere room, but it has the idea of a living space or what we might call an apartment or a condo. So Jesus is saying, in my Father's house, that is in heaven, there are many condos or many places prepared for his children.
Now the second fact that we see in this verse besides the first that the Father's house has sufficient room for all of his children is that Jesus has now gone to the Father's house to prepare a special place for each one of God's children, a place for you and a place for me. It is true that we're going to be with all of the saints of all of the ages in heaven. It'll be one massive crowd, but apparently there is also provision for us to have a place that we can call our own in the Father's house.
Jesus went back to heaven to prepare that place. The context here of this verse is intended to give comfort to the disciples, for there was an impending separation between Jesus and them. That was not to be a permanent separation. There was a future reunion coming, but his humiliation, his suffering, and his death, followed by his resurrection, and then his return to heaven would mean that they would for a while at least be separated from him.
He wanted them to know that it was for their advantage, and we can say by extension for our advantage, that he would return to heaven. Now, of course, the fact is that Jesus could have stayed here upon the earth. He would never die. He could be with his people right here in this world. But another fact is that his people would die, for all of us are limited to our stay on the earth.
We are here for 40 years, or 80 years, or maybe 100 years, but however many or few, there is a time for us to leave this world. Jesus could stay here, but Jesus' disciples could not stay here, nor can we. We are mortal. Therefore, he went on ahead to the place we are heading that he might prepare a special place just for us. That's one reason he went back to heaven. That's a great comfort.
It's a comfort to know when a loved one, a friend of yours, dies, who is a believer, that that one has gone on to a place that's been prepared for their arrival. They did not surprise St. Peter at the gate, as some of the jokes seem to tell us, but their arrival was anticipated and a place prepared by the Lord Jesus for his own. But we see another reason for Jesus going back to heaven in verse 3. He returned to heaven that he might come again.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Now the return of the Lord Jesus Christ has at least two aspects in its effect. In the first place, there is a global or historical effect. That is, it is the consummation of history. It is the consummation of the relationship between Jesus Christ, the King, and the world.
When he returns, that relationship, which is adversarial, will be consummated and he will judge the world. But his return has a second aspect. It's personal, not historical. That is the fact that it will also mean the consummation of his relationship between himself and his children. Now even now, as one by one we die and we go to be with him, there is a consummating sense in which we will be with him one day.
For in that day, when he returns, we will be with him in resurrected glory, our bodies being caught up from the grave, changed to be like his body. And we will be with him forever. He returned to heaven to come again, that he might receive us personally to himself. The Jews saw only one coming of the Messiah, as you probably know. As they read the Old Testament, they saw the Messiah coming to establish his kingdom in glory and to exalt Israel among the nations.
They could not see the plan of God, that Messiah would suffer and die, and that there would be a period of time before Messiah would come in his glory to exalt Israel and establish his kingdom. They were unable to perceive that, but from our perspective, this side of the cross and the resurrection and Pentecost, we are able to understand what this age means and what prophecy means. And Jesus will return one day to receive his own, just as surely as he came the first time to redeem his own.
I'd like you to look at one verse, a wonderful context actually in the book of Hebrews, the ninth chapter. Verse 24, for Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands. The writer of Hebrews is now speaking about Jesus returning to heaven. He said he did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
Nor was it that he should offer himself often as the high priest enters the holy place, year by year, with blood not his own, talking about the Jewish high priest. Otherwise, he would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now once, at the consummation of the ages, he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. That's his first coming.
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him. What the writer is saying is that he will appear a second time as surely as he appeared the first time. And the second time that he appears, it will not be to deal with sin as he did the first time by his sacrifice.
But it will be for the salvation of his people, that is, those who are eagerly awaiting his coming. I hope that that's the attitude of your heart today. Lord Jesus, come quickly. Why did Jesus go back to heaven? Well, he went back to heaven to prepare a place. He went back to heaven to come again. Now going back to the Gospel of John, this time the sixteenth chapter, notice a third reason that Jesus returned to heaven. It is that he might send the Holy Spirit, John 16, 7.
But I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. This Helper or this Comforter, this Paraclete is the Holy Spirit. Now of course in one sense the Holy Spirit has always been present in the world. But there was a special and particular sense in which he would come into the world because Jesus would return to heaven.
He would come to have a special ministry in the world just as God the Son, though he was always present, came into the world for a special ministry to give his life. What was the ministry of the Holy Spirit as he would come into the world, twofold? It was a ministry to the world, to convict the world. And Jesus talks about that in verses 8 through 11. To convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
The Holy Spirit was sent from heaven to the earth on the day of Pentecost that in the first place he might serve as a point of conviction to the lost, reminding them of sin, reminding them of their need for righteousness, reminding them of judgment, conviction for the world. But he came secondly that he might comfort the believers, that he might guide, that he might teach, that he might lead those who trust the Savior.
The Holy Spirit came for a special ministry in this age to convict the world, to comfort God's people. Jesus says had he remained bodily with us, the Holy Spirit would not have come. Had he remained in the world, our Lord could be only in one place at a time. Now we know from what we've studied about his resurrection appearances that he could go quickly from one place to another, but he could be only in one place at a time. Therefore he went away so that he might send the Holy Spirit.
And through the Spirit then he could be with all of us all the time. That's why Jesus returned to heaven. To send the Holy Spirit that he might abide with us always. I want to remind you of what our Lord said in chapter 14 and verse 18. Again in the previous verses he mentioned the coming of the Spirit. He says in verse 18, I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. Isn't that interesting? Jesus is saying when the Holy Spirit comes, as he now has, he will be me.
For I will be in the Spirit coming to you. I will not leave you as orphans. And through the Holy Spirit I will be able to live in you and be with each one of you wherever you are all the time. And that cannot be if I stay here. And so he returned to heaven. The Holy Spirit bringing to us the life of the Lord Jesus enables us to live a life pleasing to the Lord, empowers us to witness to the resurrection of the Lord, the Gospel. And he lives in us to change us into the likeness of the Lord.
The Holy Spirit is in us because Jesus returned to heaven. But there is a fourth reason that Jesus went back to heaven. We see this illustrated actually in chapter 17. As you know chapter 17 of John is a prayer. It is the high priestly prayer of our Savior. Though still upon the earth as he said these words, he was praying as if he were already back in heaven. Now that's clear from the comments that he makes in this chapter.
I want you to look with me at verse 11 where he says, and I am no more in the world. You see he's placing himself as though he were beyond his suffering and his ascension. And yet they themselves are in the world and I come to thee, Holy Father. Keep them in thy name, the name which thou hast given me, that they may be one even as we are. The fourth reason that Jesus returned to heaven is that he might pray for us.
The Lord Jesus appears in the presence of God today in two significant roles which directly affect you and me. In the first place he appears to pray for us as our advocate, our defense attorney is the idea. First John 2, 1. John there in that epistle writes, these things are right unto you that you sin not, that you stop sinning. But if any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one, and he is the propitiation, that is the satisfaction for our sins.
And not for our sins but for the sins of the whole world. We have an advocate with the Father because Jesus returned to heaven. I don't know about you but I need an advocate. I need what is termed in the original language a parochletos. By the way this is the very same word that John uses of the Holy Spirit, a comforter. There he seems to use it in the sense of one who comes alongside us to encourage and to strengthen and to help us, the parochletos, the Holy Spirit.
But in 1 John 2, 1 he uses it in the sense of a defense attorney, one who comes along beside in order to defend the parochletos, the advocate, Jesus Christ. You and I need a defense attorney to stand there because you and I are accused by our spiritual enemy Satan when we sin. He is called in revelations the accuser of the brethren. Martha Snell Nicholson has captured this well. I think in a poem entitled Advocate.
I sinned and straightway post haste Satan flew before the presence of the most high God and made a railing accusation there. He said this soul, this thing of clay and sod has sinned. Tis true he has named thy name, but I demand his death, for thou hast said the soul that sinneth it shall die. Shall not thy sentence be fulfilled? Is justice dead? Send now this wretched sinner to his doom. What other thing can a righteous ruler do?
And thus he did accuse me day and night, and every word he spoke, O God, was true. Then quickly one rose up from God's right hand, before whose glory angels veiled their eyes, he spoke. Each jot and tittle of the law must be fulfilled. The guilty sinner dies, but wait. Those his guilt were all transferred to me, and that I paid his penalty. Behold my hands, my side, my feet. One day I was made sin for him, and died that he might be presented faultless at thy throne. And Satan fled away.
Oh well he knew that he could not prevail against such love, for every word my dear Lord spoke was true. Because he is the satisfaction for your sins and mine, he is able to stand before the just God of the universe and serve as our defense when we are accused by Satan, and say, Father, I have paid the price for that sin. Lord Jesus went back to heaven to be your advocate in mine. Thank God that he is there. I need him there. So do you.
But he is there in a second role that is related and yet distinguished. It is the role of high priest. For Jesus there in heaven, before the presence of God the Father, provides intercession for us. Again, I refer to the writer of Hebrews who says this in chapter 7 verse 25, Hence also he is able to save forever those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
When I face a challenge, when I enter a trial, when I am tempted by sin, when I am grieved over a loss, when I am experiencing anxiety, fear, failure, and disappointment, and when I am enjoying blessing, success, and victory, and maybe especially then, for slippery are the slopes of success. Whatever I am passing through in this world, I have one who intercedes for me before the throne of God, always praying on my behalf that the will of God be done in me.
And when he sees that I have slipped, or that I have failed, he knows exactly what to ask the Father to do. And when he sees me in a situation where I have forgotten to pray, he knows exactly what to ask the Father for in my case. And when he sees me tempted, because he himself was tempted yet without ever sinning, he knows exactly what I need in that moment.
When I am in a circumstance of emergency and have no time literally to pray, he is eternally before the Father on my behalf in that instance. Dear child of God, understand that Jesus returned to heaven to pray for you, not only as your defense attorney, but as your priest to ask the Father to perfectly accomplish the will of God in your life. How wonderful to have that kind of an advocate, that kind of a priest.
Because Jesus went back to heaven, we should not live our lives with troubled, anxious hearts. He said, let not your heart be troubled. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place, I will come again and receive you to myself. You and I can live life without troubled, anxious hearts. It's a battle, isn't it? Because anxiety is a part of this world. We labor against fear all of the time. And the more stressful our circumstances, the more we face that temptation to fear.
But Jesus says, let not your hearts be troubled. I'm going back to heaven for you. Because he's gone back to heaven, we should eagerly await his coming. There are times when I wonder if the Lord hasn't delayed his return for some purpose, perhaps similar to that, for which he delayed his judgment in the days of Noah. But I know this much, when it's time for him to come, he's going to come.
And I want to train myself to live every day with that little phrase on my heart that I saw one time on the desk of a businessman in Cincinnati. It said, perhaps today. Because he's gone back to heaven, I want to live this day, this Sunday. And if he tarries, I want to live Monday with that thought in my heart, perhaps today. And I want to eagerly look forward to seeing him. Because he's gone back to heaven, we should recognize the Holy Spirit's presence and enjoy his ministry.
He is not here bodily, but he is here spiritually, dwelling in you and in me, to minister to us as the one who is called alongside us in the steps of this life to encourage us along, to help us pick up the broken pieces, to convict us when we have gotten out of step. He's here to be our helper. Oh let us recognize his presence. And when we sing, Holy Spirit, thou art welcome in this place. May it be more than in this room, may it be in this place, the room of my heart.
Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. Be in control here, in the throne room of my life. Because Jesus has gone back to heaven, we should always remember that there is one who stands before God on our behalf. Any comfort or any assurance that you and I enjoy rests upon his faithfulness as our high priest and our advocate. For he has gone before us, the forerunner. He has entered in behind the veil into the very holy of holies of God.
And my friend, that's where your soul and your faith is anchored and so is mine. And that anchor is there, under the throne of God, and that rope comes around the veil back down to where we are on earth. And you and I are as secure as that anchor is firm into the very promises of God who sits on that throne. We have a hope that is sure, because Jesus has returned to heaven. Today he is interceding for you and for me.
And as we hear sung to us now, a number that speaks to that very point, he is ever interceding for all of us who are his children. Well, I'm not the soloist, I can tell you that. We have a, here she comes. Okay. Someone who'll go the extra mile, Just like a brother caring for his child, A friend who sticks through thick and thin, No matter what you've done or where you've been.
Just like one great big family, A stronger older brother he will be, So quick and ready to defend, The younger weaker to the end. And he's ever interceding, To the father for his children. Yes, he's ever interceding, To the father for his own. Through him you can reach the father, So bring him all your heavy burdens. Yes for you he's interceding, So come boldly to the throne.
Just like sheep we've gone astray, Struggling neath a debt we could not pay, Not ever hoping to renew, The love and fellowship that we once knew, Yet he began to intercede. Crying father, please forgive I plead, And as the nails pierced in his hands, God once again reached out to man. And he's ever interceding, To the father for his children. Yes, he's ever interceding, Through him you can reach the father, So bring him all your heavy burdens.
Yes for you he's interceding, So come boldly to the throne. So come boldly to the throne. Thank you, Marcia. Would you bow with me please in prayer? Through him you can reach the father. So you bring him your heavy burdens today. It may be that you need to come to receive him as your Savior and Lord. And your heart is heavily burdened with years of struggling and failure and sin and separation from God. Will you receive him today? Tell him so in your heart.
As an act of faith, just tell him that you will and give it over to him. And trust that he died, not just for the sins of everybody, but for you, you personally, because he did. He did. And you dear friend, dear child of God, you've come today with your heart heavily burdened too. I hope today you've been reminded that the Savior is back in heaven purposely to intercede for you. Let this be a fresh start for you today. Be encouraged in your pilgrimage.
Be restored to him. He is ever interceding for you. Would you stand with me please? Father, we thank you for your work through Jesus Christ, your work in offering him as a sacrifice for our sins. Father, we cannot understand the depth of love that caused you to give your only begotten Son as a sacrifice for the likes of us. But our hearts are so grateful. And thank you too for the work you're doing through the Son right now in his present work
in heaven. May our hearts rejoice today in the Savior, for a wonderful Savior he is. And may we go forth from this place of worship where we've met with you, with our hearts full and our hearts yielded, our hearts encouraged. Thank you for the intercession of the Savior, through whom we come to you even now. Amen.