You can turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 24. For meditation on this occasion where we observe the Lord's Supper, we're going to look at the last four verses of Luke 24, the priestly blessing of the ascending King. Luke 24, we're going to begin reading at verse 44.
Luke 24, beginning at verse 44, the word of God.
Scripture Reading: Luke 24:44–53
Then he said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. Then He said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.
Behold, I send you the promise of my Father upon you. But tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.'
The Place of the Blessing
And he led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while he blessed them, that he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. and they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And we're continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.
Well, let's go to our God in prayer.
Opening Prayer
Our God, we come to you in prayer in this act of preaching, asking that you would bless us as we engage in this central act of worship. Do help us help preacher and hearer as we engage in this act. Might we bring you honor in the hearing of the scriptures and in the taking in of that word proclaimed. Do help us to receive your word with gladness of heart, that we might rejoice in the God of the word, the Christ to whom it points, and that we might leave this place singing the praises of your glory.
We pray that this act and this whole occasion of worship and the observance of the Lord's Supper would be unto the edification of your gathered saints and unto the salvation of sinners. And once again, all to the praise of the glory of your amazing and victorious grace. And we pray in Christ's name, amen.
Introduction
It's a wonderful passage of Holy Scripture that we have here, as it's been noted before in treatments of this passage, or in allusions to it, or references to it. We have the first post-resurrection Bible study being given here by Christ to His disciples. And Christ opens up, and in more than one occasion, He argues, He asserts, rightly, that all of the Old Testament was written concerning Him. this threefold summary of the Old Testament, the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms, these things all were concerning me. He tells his disciples, giving them this Bible study, opening their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures, to see that it was written.
Not only did I announce it to you, but remember that it was written that all of these things must take place. I must be crucified, I must be brought to Jerusalem, be proceeded upon by wicked hands, be crucified, but I will be raised again the third day, and gloriously and by virtue of your participation, by the aid of the divine majesty, repentance and remission of sins will be preached in my name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. the glorious reality that this resurrected Christ, having performed the work of redemption perfectly, will now go to His Father and send out the Spirit. That the gospel of His perfect work will go out to the uttermost parts of the earth. And Luke closes this narrative with a wonderful collection of verses that speak to the glory of Christ and the glory of Christ in His church.
So
Four Heads of the Passage
we're going to look at these four verses under four particular heads. First off, the place of the blessing, the significance of the blessing, the glory of the one blessing, and the pattern of those who are blessed. So this is Luke 24, 50-53, first now looking at the place of the blessing. It's a very simple set of words here, and he led them out as far as Bethany.
When we read companion accounts of this, it is that southeastern slope east of Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives. We read Luke's companion volume in Acts chapter 1. We see that he leads them out to the Mount of Olives. It is that portion of Bethany that is on that southeastern slope of the Mount of Olives.
So he leads them out as far as Bethany. And this isn't just interesting geographical information here that the gospel writer is giving us. He always writes with meaning. Those authors under inspiration of the Holy Scriptures always write with intent and with meaning, and very often with the weight of previous revelation.
Remember where this is.
Bethany: Death Defeated and Joy Restored
This is the place where the dead were raised. That is, one dead man, Lazarus. This is the place where death itself was defeated by the pre-crucified Christ in his earthly ministry, coming to his friend, coming to his friends with his disciples, and raising from the dead that dead man, Lazarus. Lazarus, this place of victory over death is the place where this one now having had victory over death comes.
He brings his disciples and he is about to depart as he blesses them and equips them. for their earthly ministry. It is a fitting place, and it's an interesting contrast as well, because it was a place of fleeing. In 2 Samuel 15, David flees from Absalom's rebellion to this place, and at that time, it is a time of fleeing, it is a time of weeping. The people that were with him were marked by weeping.
But here we see it is now a place of joy where David's greater son comes, having been victorious over death, the devil, and sin. It's no longer a place of weeping, but it is now a place of joy. And
The Significance of Mountains in Redemption
once again, it is on a mountain. For any of you who have been here for any amount of time, we've noted before that there is something very significant about mountains in the Bible. Remember that Eden, the Garden of Eden, was on a mountain. The rivers flowed down from Mount Eden, if you will, that garden mount.
The book of Ezekiel refers to it as the mountain of the Lord. We see in redemptive history Abraham brought to a mountain not only for that occasion where he is called upon to sacrifice his son, but also on that occasion where he is called upon to cast his eyes out upon the kingdoms of the world and to know that from his seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed. We have the occasion of Mount Sinai, we have the prophetic promises For example, in Zechariah, that the Son of Man, the Great Shepherd, the Son of God incarnated would stand upon the Mount of Olives in that eschatological reality of glory, judgment, and victory. We have the fact that Jesus Christ himself was crucified upon Mount Calvary.
The sin proceeded forth from a mountain in the garden from Adam, and the last Adam comes into this lower world in order to secure salvation on a mountain. Sin obtained on a mountain at a tree, sin is conquered and vanquished at a mountain on a tree. And here we have on a mountain the Lord Jesus Christ lifting up His hands and blessing His people before He ascends to the right hand of the majesty on high. This is a glorious set of words here, simply captured by, and he led them out as far as Bethany.
And notice,
The Significance of the Blessing
secondly then, the significance of the blessing in verse 50b. The significance of the blessing, we want to note, we see here, again, simple words, but packed with meaning, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. Now, When you and I bless people, it's not the same as when. the Son of God incarnated blesses people. This is quite a glorious thing.
You and I may very genuinely raise our hands and say be blessed to another. We may give our good words to brothers and sisters in Christ. That's very often what the meaning of blessing is, simply it's good words spoken to another. We ought not to reduce it to that, and we'll note that more in a moment, but we may give our blessings to someone not knowing whether or not those particular blessings will come to fruition.
We trust that God will do, of course, according to His will. But here, the very one who is giving the blessing is the source of all blessings. And the ground of His blessings as mediator is built upon the perfection of His saving work. He lifts up His hands to bless them.
It's not simply a prayer or a benediction. A blessing is very close to a benediction. Good word spoken. In fact, the word in the Greek is where we get the English eulogy from.
It's an interesting contrast. Usually, when we give eulogies, it's at a funeral. It's at the death of someone. Here, a eulogy, if you will, is given, but it's from the Prince of Life Himself in this blessing, which is a bestowal of vivification, of life upon His disciples as He ascends to the right hand of the Majesty on high.
This is not simply a prayer or a benediction. If we're to define what blessing means in this and in other contexts like it, we could say or define it as this, an authoritative pronouncement that confers or invokes God's favor, power, and life upon its recipient. That's much more than me giving my blessing to you. I certainly want for you God's favor, power, and life, but with this Christ and his arms raised and the blessing that he gives upon his disciples, it is an authoritative pronouncement that confers or invokes divine favor upon the recipients.
And as we'll see in a number of moments, this blessing is for us as well.
Leviticus 9 and the Priestly Typology
I want you to turn with me though as we explore the significance of the blessing back to Leviticus chapter nine. Leviticus chapter nine. And what I want us to see here, in your Bibles, depending on which Bible you have, and by that I don't mean New King James or ESV or anything like that, but depending on whether you have marginal notes and connected passages, you'll see here in Leviticus nine, at one of the verses, most likely verse 22, you're going to see something here with regards to a reference being Luke 24, 50. And so let's just have a look at some passages here from Leviticus chapter 9.
I first want to read verses 7 Notice what we read here. And Moses said to Aaron, go to the altar, offer your sin offering and your burnt offering, and make atonement for yourself and for the people. Offer the offering of the people and make atonement for them as the Lord commanded. Aaron therefore went to the altar and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself.
Now notice verse 15. Then he brought the people's offering and took the goat, which was the sin offering for the people, and killed it and offered it for sin, like the first one. And he brought the burnt offering and offered it according to the prescribed manner. Now notice verse 22.
Then Aaron lifted his hands toward the people, blessed them, and came down from the offering, from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings. Now hopefully you can see the connection here between Luke 24.50 and Leviticus 9. In the Old Covenant here, we have a priest offering up the sacrifices for sin and for peace, offering up the sin offerings, the peace offerings, the burnt offerings, and then lifting up his hands and blessing the gathered assembly. Well, what we have in this occasion in Luke 24-50 is we have the great high priest having himself just offered the sin offering, and not an offering other than himself, but the very offering of himself.
We have the priest giving that ultimate sacrifice for the sins of his people and raising up his hands to bless the assembly. You see the typology here. The Old Covenant anticipated someone greater than the Temple going to someplace greater than the earthly Holy of Holies, going into the heavenly Holy Holies of itself, there interceding by virtue of the shed blood of the sacrifice of Himself. We have this glorious picture, this glorious connection between the priestly offering of Aaron in the Old Covenant and the high priestly offering of that to which the previous pointed, Christ Jesus as High Priest, after giving himself for guilty sinners, lifting up his hands to bless his people.
I want you to notice something too as we read along in Leviticus 9, and then we'll flip back to Luke 24, notice in verses 23 and 24. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting and came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.
Now if we move back to Luke 24.50 and following, not only is there a coordination between Aaron as priest and Christ as priest, the great and perfect sin offering and offerer, lifting up his hands to bless, but notice as well there's a connection between the acceptability of the sacrifice. Now it came to pass while he blessed them that he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. In Leviticus 9, the acceptability of the sacrifice is shown in that God sends fire down and consumes the sacrifice. Here, we have the reality that the acceptability of the ultimate sacrifice, the true and saving sacrifice, is shown to be approved by the father accepting the son and bringing him up to the right hand. of His glorious majesty.
And notice as well, those in Leviticus 9 fell on their faces in worship and here we have in verse 52, and they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. Hopefully we can see here that it's not just, hey, this is a great little happy accident that Luke's writing this and there's a cool little just loose connection to Leviticus chapter nine. No, what a glorious Bible that we have. What a glorious God that we have who so orders redemptive history such that in the Old Covenant he builds the anticipation for this coming Messiah, this coming Christ, this promised hero born of woman that will crush the serpent with his heel.
The Levitical sacrifices, the Levitical offerings, and the Levitical priesthood point forward to this glorious one. This glorious one comes. He gives himself for guilty sinners. He has his body broken and his blood shed for the sins of his people.
And he, upon the victorious resurrection from the dead, lifts up his hands and blesses his people before and at His ascension, what a glorious significance we have here. There are contrasts with the Leviticus passage, excuse me, there are similarities that we've already noted, but there is an important contrast that we have in this occasion with Christ as compared to the one with Aaron. When Aaron offered up his sacrifices, he comes down and lifts up his hands and blesses his people. Why does he do that?
It's because Aaron's is, was, an earthly priesthood. But Christ's, being a heavenly and eternal one, he doesn't come down after offering the sacrifice, but after offering the sacrifice of himself, he goes up. Why? Because only his sacrifice is efficacious.
The old covenant sacrifices were typical. They were copies of the true. They were signals. They were but shadows of the substance.
When the substance had come, to use Athanasius' language, what further need was there of the shadow? The substance having given Himself for guilty sinners, He doesn't come down, but He ascends.
Aaron's Descent and Christ's Ascent
Aaron's descent signals the completion of temporary, repeated ministry. Christ's ascent proves His sacrificial work is complete and unrepeatable. So let's just pause for a moment and use our Christian souls to glory in that blessed truth. We're gathered tonight for the observation of the Lord's Supper, which is not just rote religion.
It's a glorious banquet wherein by invitation of the divine, we come to partake of the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ spiritually. We are remembering tonight and availing of tonight the sacrifice of this great high priest who gave himself as the perfect sacrifice for sinners, who was raised the third day, who now lifts up his hands in this occasion, in this context, blessing his people. And in our particular context, now 2,000 years removed, still as it were with his hands up, because the blessing is everlasting. enriching His people, vivifying His people, that is, giving life to His people. We are the recipients of Christ invoking God's favor, power, and life.
The blessing does not cease. Notice the language here. Now, it came to pass while He blessed them that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. Notice, while He blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven.
He did not bless them and stop and then ascend, but he started to bless them and he's ascending while he is still blessing them. What a glorious signal or what a glorious demonstration of the actual perfection of Jesus Christ in the saving of a multitude of sinners that no man can number. And I think we are to do something like this. Where, what's another difference?
Besides Christ not coming down like Aaron, but Christ ascending unlike Aaron, there's another difference here in that the Aaronic blessing, as Aaron lifted up his arms to bless the people, those people did not see the print of any nails on the wrists of Aaron. Here, the resurrected Christ lifts up His arms to bless His people, and the glorious resurrected one would have still had the print of the nails upon His wrists, the wound upon His side, and the print of the nails above the ankles. This Christ stands before them, and as he's ascending, they can cast their eyes upon the print of the nails that rest upon the hands of the one blessing them. And what is the blessing?
It's multifaceted, but if we could focus on anything, I think we should focus on a particular and no doubt connected passage. Ephesians 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. For the disciples, there would have been that.
There would have been something peculiar as well for them, that is the blessing of vivifying grace and strength to go forth into a cruel world. to proclaim the riches and the excellencies of Jesus Christ, but no doubt since Christ as well blesses us, invokes divine favor for us, prays and speaks good words that we might receive power and vivifying life, we are those who receive the blessings of everlasting salvation. We receive those graces, those undeserved benefits by virtue of the efficacy of Christ's work. And
The Glory of the One Blessing
notice, thirdly, the glory of the one doing the blessing. The glory of the one doing the blessing simply captured in what we've already read more than once. Now it came to pass while he blessed them that he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. This demonstrates, among other things that we've already noted and things that we have not noted, this demonstrates the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is a victor. This punctuates the fact that he is rewarded for the perfection of his work. What do we read in Philippians 2 upon the heels of Christ perfectly performing his call to obedience? He had an divinely appointed obedience unto cross death vocation, a job to do.
He was sent into this world, sinners to save. The one who is equal with God took on the form of a bondservant and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, our point right now, God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He is a victor.
We see here He was parted from them and carried up. This is the reward for the perfection of His work. For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame. In the Old Testament, the Levitical types demand a high priest who enters the true sanctuary, not the copy of the true, but the true, that is, Jesus Christ.
The Psalms anticipate the enthroned Davidic king who will go in through the everlasting doors, through the gates, the personification of these things brought forth by the psalmist to announce that the king who has vanquished death and sin and the devil is entering into the promise of His reward. Christ is a victor. Christ is the champion of our salvation. And this, not simply picture or image, but this reality that took place 1,970 years ago, He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.
He is the recipient as well of believing adoration. Notice verse 52, and they worshiped him. He's the recipient of believing adoration. If you're here today on a sort of hot Chilliwackian evening, trying to keep with it, trying to stay with the preacher, you're here, you're listening, you're watching.
We need to understand, as Christians, with regards to what's going on here, that we have one who has come into this lower world, sinners to save, who is worthy of our believing adoration. Can it be said of all of us, what Peter says with regards to believers in his first epistle, that to those who believe, he is precious? Christ is precious? Do you adore him?
Is He, as our pastor says, is He to you altogether lovely and chief among 10,000, as Solomon says? Is He to you that glorious One, that blessed One, that majestic One, that excellent One? Hopefully it is not just rote pattern that we come into this place in the heat of the day and sit here for a while and then leave. Hopefully it is a blessed thing for all of us to come in here, those who are the saints of Christ, to sit in the pews, as hard as they may be to you, and to glory in this one who so many centuries ago was adored by these gathering disciples and who now on this day should be adored by this gathering of disciples.
Does he cheer your heart? Do you adore him? Do you worship him? And notice the uncorrected reality of what's going on here.
And they worshiped him. No angel stopping them. Christ himself not stopping them. This is manifest evidence of the unmitigated deity of the Son of God incarnated.
He is God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father through whom all things were made. This is the glorious One who created all things, who upholds all things, who condescended to our lower shame and the assumption of our nature to bring many sons to glory. What a glorious thing we have. They are gathered together and they worship Him, evidence of the deity of Christ and a reality because of who He is and what He has done as the mediator of the covenant. of grace, and notice as well, with regards to the glory of the one blessing, he is the cause of the highest joy.
Verse 52b, and they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. Once again, it's very difficult, muscularly, to lift our mouths to smile sometimes. Isn't it? We're sitting here, it's hot, the pews are hard, but let's, whether inwardly or outwardly, smile with joyful adoration at the Christ who came into this lower world to save sinners.
Nothing is greater than that. Nothing is more blessed than a Savior who saves us from the condemnation and the power and the rule and the dominion of sin. We certainly don't know what our sins really deserve. We know the catechetical reality that our sins deserve punishment in this lower temporal world and in the eternity to come.
But do we really know the gravity and the severity and the significance of having violated every law of God, every second of every day? Do we know the weight of condemnation? Do we know the weight of judgment that we really do deserve? And then as our minds lift up to the Savior, who is ascended at the right hand of the majesty on high, and with eyes of faith as we cast them upon the glorious one who came down into this world, wholly harmless and undefiled, endured the spittings, endured the bruising, endured the beatings, endured the nails, endured the weight of the wrath of the Father poured out upon him, and was raised and was ascended, do we stop with the disciples and worship Him, and are we with them marked with great joy?
To them that believe He is precious. We worship Him because of who He is and because of the glorious things that He has done. He is the cause of the highest joy. This response of the disciples is evidence that the blessing accomplished what it was sent to do.
Because in the absence of the one who is the source of all blessing, blessing and providing, invoking divine favor and bestowing power and vivifying life, in the absence of that, what would really happen when Christ is departing from them? It would be despair. It would be sorrow. It would be loss.
It wouldn't be gain. But here, because of the fact that the blessing is now efficacious, the one who is the fountain source of all blessing has poured out his favor upon these disciples, they are marked by the highest joy. And what a rapturous thought this would have been of seeing this victorious Christ. Remember the timing of this.
It's only, it's less than six weeks since the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Perhaps sometimes we don't really maybe appreciate or enter into the time here, but it was only six weeks ago, less than six weeks ago, that this Christ was a bloody massacre upon that Roman gibbet of execution. And now, this blessed one, in his resurrected glory, is lifting up his hands and as they're still lifted, he's being ascended. He's ascending to the right hand of the Majesty on High.
What a glorious picture and what a glorious contrast. As Christians, As Christians, He is to us just as much a King when He has the helmet of thorns embedded into His skull and the blood is dripping down on His face. He's just as much a King when He's holding that reed scepter. But isn't it a glorious thing as Christians?
We can lay our eyes of faith upon a crucified and a battered Jesus and still say, there's our King. Isn't it glorious to with eyes of faith lay hold of the resurrected and ascended Christ? This side of Calvary, this side of Golgotha's horror, this side of the tyranny of men, this side of the wrath of God poured out upon him for all who believe in his name. We can look upon him now with a crown of righteousness and a scepter of righteousness in his glory and we see this glorious one, this blessed Christ.
Spurgeon, drawing forth this particular contrast, wrote or preached so many years ago, we shall see the hand and the nail prints too, but not the nail. It has been once drawn out and forever. We shall see his side and its pierced wound, but the blood shall not issue from it. We shall see him, We shall see him not with a peasant's garb around him, but with the empire of the universe upon his shoulders.
We shall see him not with a reed in his hand, but grasping a golden scepter. We shall see him not as mocked and spit upon and insulted, not bone of our bone in all our agonies, afflictions, and distresses. We shall see him exalted, no longer Christ, the man of sorrows, the acquaintance of grief, but Christ, the man-god, radiant with splendor, effulgent with light, girded with clouds, wrapped in lightning, crowned with stars, the sun beneath his feet. O glorious vision!
Doesn't that, doesn't the reality of Christ captured up in the poetical meanderings, wholesome meanderings of a preacher 200 years ago, doesn't that lift you up to worship? Doesn't that mount your Christian heart upon the high hills of joy? The glorious thing we have in our Christ, the victor, the recipient of believing adoration and the cause of the highest joy. And
The Pattern of the Blessed
very briefly in closing, fourthly, the pattern of the blessed. the pattern of the blessed. Notice what we have here. What ensues upon the heels of the ascended Christ going to the right hand of the majesty on high? We see in verse 53, and they were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.
What's the response of the people in this case? What's the response of the disciples? They're continually in the temple praising and blessing God. We see here first then that they are, the pattern of the blessed is seen in the fact that they are together in worship.
They were continually in the temple. This doesn't mean that they never ate, they never went home, they just stayed in the temple forever and were continually there. It speaks to a pattern, it speaks to a habit of activity. It's a pattern.
It was their tradition, it was their pattern, it was their habit to gather together in the temple to praise and to bless God. As this was their pattern so many years ago, so too should it be our, if you're here tonight, it's your pattern and praise God for that. If you're here tonight, it's your pattern to gather together with fellow disciples and to praise and to bless God. God is with us.
Sometimes it may not feel that way, but God is with us in this place. Christ walks amongst His candlesticks, amongst His lampstands. Christ is in our midst. That Ascended One, by His Spirit, is with us.
And what a glorious thing, as we are to have this same pattern, we are to be together in worship. And an obvious connection to this, you need not turn there, is Acts 2, 42, where we read And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers. That is so simple, but it's so glorious. Christ has died so that He might bless us.
Christ was risen so that He might bless us. Christ now ever lives interceding for us so that in blessing us, we might gather together as the saints of Christ in this place and ascribe glory unto God. And that's the next thing that we see. The pattern of the blessed is that they ascribe glory to God.
They were continually in the temple and their activity was this, praising and blessing God. Praising and blessing God. What does this mean? Because we use the word, let's praise God.
We use the phrase, let's go to church to praise our God. Let's bless the name of our great God. We pray that, we read that, we say that. What do these things mean?
What does it mean here when they were praising and blessing God? Well, praising, this word carries the sense of a declarative and a public and an exuberant acclaim. It's used of the angels at the nativity, they praised, and at the crowd at the triumphal entry. It's a proclamation of who God is and what he has done.
We praise God, a declarative public and exuberant acclaim of the one who gives us life, who sustains that life, and who redeems his elect by the perfection of Jesus Christ, our precious Savior. And so that is what they did as they continued in the temple together, and they blessed God. What does it mean that they were praising and then blessing God? Is it the case that God needs to be blessed?
Hopefully your answer is immediately no. God doesn't need to be blessed. He's not in want or in lack of anything. The one who creates all things, the one who upholds all things, the one who is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in all of his glorious perfections needs nothing from the creation in order to increase.
And where there is lack in praising or blessing, yet he is somehow decreased. He's not a Greco-Roman deity. Those so-called gods of the ancients that needed the praises, that needed the smoke of the sacrifice in order to have splendor, in order to have honor. The Blessed One does not stand in need of anything, any creature that He has made, but rather what is this blessing then that He does receive?
It is a worshipful acknowledgement of God's goodness and worth. How do we bless God? We acknowledge His intrinsic glories, who he is in and of himself, the perfections of the divine being, and we acknowledge praisefully and joyfully his extrinsic glories, what he has done in the economy of redemption, who he is and what he has done. Our blessings are those worshipful acknowledgments of the goodness of the divine, the worth of the divine, the recognition and the extolling of His glories.
God, our confession says, having all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of Himself, is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creature which He hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting His glory in, by, unto, and upon them. So we don't add to God, but worshipfully and praisefully we sing and extol His intrinsic and extrinsic glories, the perfections of his being and the perfections of his work.
Application
What can we gain from this? In a minute and 23 seconds, three things in conclusion. First of all, we are also, we are the recipients of blessing. All of us are the recipients of a blessing.
If you're here tonight and you're a Christian, you have received blessing from the risen and exalted Christ. Praise God for that. His arms lifted with the print of the nails are for you. His salvation, the glory of the perfection of His work.
You were dead in your trespasses and sins. Christ, by amazing and victorious grace, made you alive. By grace, you have been saved. What a blessing that we have, and what a blessing that we have to look forward to, that hope of glory.
In this lower world, with all the tyranny, with all the sin, with all the travail, with all the shame, with all the madness in our own hearts and outside of our hearts, with all of the curse of sin before us, we have the blessed reality of the present hope of our own salvation which can never be snatched away. and the anticipation of everlasting blessedness with the Triune God and with our fellows, time without end. We are the recipients of blessing. We ought to worship the one who blesses. an easy, yet a very important and significant item of conclusion. We are to worship the one who blesses.
Let us worship our Christ, worthy of honor, worthy of worship, worthy of praise, because of who he is and because of what he has done. As you partake of the the bread and the wine in only a matter of minutes here. Rejoice in your Christ, remembering his death upon Calvary's cross for the perfection of the salvation of sinners. If you're a Christian, your salvation.
Remember him and worship him. And lastly, have fellowship with those who are blessed. Tea and crumpets, sure. But fellowship in that more exalted reality. communion with one another in the context of the gathered church, fellowshipping in the gospel of Jesus Christ as one man in one spirit striving for the faith of the gospel.
What a blessed Christ that we have. What a glorious ascending priest and ascending king that we have as we move to the Lord's Supper. May you be blessed by this ascended one. And if you're here this evening and you're outside of Christ, you're not a believer, you're not a Christian, know with certainty that your heart will not be filled with joy on that great and final day if you're outside of Christ.
It will be filled with terror. This one will come in striking vengeance with all his holy angels, taking vengeance on those who know not God and who do not know his gospel. Do not be found with those and as those who call upon the rocks and the trees to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb, but be amongst the blessed ones. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, and you will look with eyes of faith upon the high priest who raises his hands with the print of the nails to bless his people." Well, let's pray.
Closing Prayer
God, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We thank You for what we can read here concerning our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the blessings that accrue to his people, the blessings that pour out from the risen and exalted one upon his people. We thank you for salvation.
We thank you for the hope of everlasting glory. We do pray that you would bless us as we now engage in the Lord's Supper. Help our minds to still be focused upon your worship, that as we continue with this sacrament, with this ordinance, that our minds would be tuned to the worship of the triune God, that we would remember our precious Savior, and that we would avail of those doses of grace that pour out from the right hand of the majesty on high. And we pray in Christ's name, amen.