Lo! in heaven Jesus sitting

Christ's being a man is altogether related to God's economy. His humanity, therefore, means a great deal. He has been exalted by God as a man, and as a glorified man He is now sitting in the heavens. At this point, I would ask you to consider a hymn on His exaltation as a man (Hymns, #132):

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I would call your attention to the lines which say that the church is identified with the "the Glorified in heaven." Christ has been glorified and exalted as a man, and we are identified with Him.

God put on humanity in His incarnation. Some think that after He resurrected and ascended, He put off humanity. They think that Jesus is no longer a man. This is wrong. The Lord Jesus is still a man. He did not put off His humanity when He resurrected and ascended. In Matthew 26 the Lord Jesus was judged by the high priest who said to Him, "I charge You to swear by the living God to tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God" (v. 63). The Lord Jesus answered by saying, "You have said rightly. Nevertheless I say to you, From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven" (v. 64). The high priest asked the Lord if He was the Son of God, but He answered with "the Son of Man." The Lord has been the Son of Man in the heavens at the right hand of God since His resurrection and will be the Son of Man even at His coming back on the clouds. When Stephen was being martyred, he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56). Stephen said this after the Lord had ascended to the heavens.

Hymns, #132, concerning the Lord's exaltation in His ascension, shows us this intrinsic revelation...

Although God became a lowly man, His intention was not to remain a lowly man for eternity. His intention was to bring His humanity up to the level of His divinity. Romans 1:3-4 tells us that our Savior is of two sources: the flesh and the Spirit. According to the flesh, He was out of the seed of David. For Him to become flesh was like Solomon's going to the countryside as a 'country man' to gain a wife. God made Himself a man in the flesh. Then in His resurrection He uplifted His humanity into His divinity according to the Spirit of holiness, and in His humanity He was designated the Son of God. He had the capacity to uplift His humanity into His divinity because He was of two sources: the source of the flesh, humanity, and the source of the Spirit of holiness, divinity. Humanity surely cannot pull down divinity. Instead, His divinity uplifted His humanity into His divinity.

Through the divine power in the Spirit of holiness, Jesus' humanity was uplifted into the divine sonship, into divinity. By this He was born of God not as God's only begotten Son but as God's firstborn Son (Rom. 8:29), which indicates that many sons would follow. Today our Christ is God in the divine sense and man in the human sense. He is a God-man. We need to stress that our God is not only God but also a man. We wrote a hymn which says, 'Lo! in heaven Jesus sitting, / Christ the Lord is there enthroned; / As the man by God exalted, / With God's glory He is crowned' (Hymns, #132).

If we consider what this hymn says regarding Christ's being God mingled with man, His putting on human nature, His dying according to God's plan, His resurrecting with a body, His ascending as a man, His sitting in the heavens, and His being crowned with God's glory, we will realize that this hymn is full of truth and enlightenment. This hymn is an expression of my holy, heavenly, and spiritual sentiment; it is an expression of the Christ whom I know and whom I have gained, experienced, and enjoyed.

Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God is both divine and human. The New Testament clearly reveals that in resurrection Jesus is still a man. In Matthew 24:30, the Lord Jesus said that He would come back as the Son of Man on the clouds of heaven with power and glory. At His coming back, the Lord Jesus will still be a man. Today in the heavens Christ is still a man. Hymn #132 in Hymns says:

Lo! in heaven Jesus sitting,
Christ the Lord is there enthroned;
As the man by God exalted,
With God's glory He is crowned.

In Acts 7 Stephen saw the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God (vv. 55-56). As the Son of Man, He is both divine and human. If He were only divine, He would be omnipotent, but He could not sympathize with us. As a man He is able to sympathize with our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15).