Where did Jesus say he was going?
•John 16:28 – I [Jesus] came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.
•John 20:17 – Jesus said to her [Mary], “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
How did Jesus leave the earth?
•Acts 1:9-11 | …he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Where is Jesus right now?
•Psalm 110:1 – The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
How far does Jesus’ rule extend right now?
•Matthew 11:27 | All things have been committed to me [Jesus] by my Father…
•John 3:35 – The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.
•Acts 10:36 – …Jesus Christ…is Lord of all.
•Colossians 1:15 – He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. •Colossians 1:17-18 – He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
What is Jesus doing for you right now?
•John 14:2 – In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
•1 Timothy 2:5 – For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
•Hebrews 7:25 – …he always lives to make intercession.
•Romans 8:34-35 – Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
How is Jesus’ power available to you right now?
•Acts 1:8-9 – “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
•Ephesians 1:22, 2:6 – And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church…And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
•Matthew 28:18-20 – Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Who are the people of God in the presence of God giving praise to God right now?
•The people of God
•Revelation 4:1 – After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
•In the presence of God
•Revelation 4:2-8a | At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within…
•Giving praise to God
•Revelation 4:8b-11 | …day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
