JESUS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD

The Bible teaches that when Jesus was raised from the dead, He ascended to heaven forty days thereafter. This is a source of great comfort and encouragement regarding the accuracy of the Scriptures and our personal relationship with Jesus Christ Himself.

That He took His seat at the Father’s right hand in heaven when He ascended on high is a testament to the fact that His work was completed. The finished work of salvation allowed Him to “sit down” at the Father’s right hand (Hebrews 10:1-14). Jesus at the right hand of God speaks of His honor and His glory and His authority, as well as the fact that salvation is an accomplished mission.

Psalm 110:1 predicted the ascension of Jesus and His coronation at God’s right hand: “The LORD said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I make your foes a footstool for your feet.” The eternal purpose and plan of God concerning His accomplishments through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ are tied to Jesus being seated at the right hand of the Father. The Bible makes continuous reference to this in that connection (Acts 2:33-36; Hebrews 1:3).

Why is He seated at the right hand of God? What is He doing? He is representing a finished salvation and serving as our advocate (1 John 2:1). “Christ Jesus who died—and more than that, was also raised back to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:34).

What does it mean that Jesus is our intercessor and advocate? We don’t fully know. I don’t have to know and understand everything about what He is doing to know that He is doing it for me, for my well-being and on my behalf. And I can praise Him for it and be thankful for it, lack of understanding not withstanding.

This is a continual act of Christ on my behalf. And I am thankful for it.

Everything Jesus does, He does because He loves me and saves me. That’s the way we should view it.

All of us go through periods where we are not as strong in the faith as we would like to be or need to be. There are times of struggle, depression, loneliness, temptation, and all of these things war against us. But even when we sin, “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).

Because I have a friend in heaven, who represents me and did everything for me, I have confidence to approach God’s throne to find the grace and mercy I need in my daily life (Hebrews 4:14-16).

When we read about the “right hand of God,” we should immediately be mindful that it is a place of superiority, a place of honor and glory, and represents the finished work of salvation, as well as Christ’s ultimate victory over all of His enemies, and therefore over all of our enemies (Mark 16:19; Colossians 3:1).

When we think of Jesus at the right hand of God, we should also think of the word exaltation. Christ has been exalted above everything else. We know that the victory He accomplished at the cross was completely successful, and we also have the assurance that He will return from that exalted position to come and let us share in His glory when He comes again.

God “raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority” (Ephesians 1:20-22). All things have been placed under the feet of Jesus, signified by His rule at God’s right hand, meaning that He is what the universe and all that is in it is all about.

Jesus is what life is about. And He will one day come and bring all things into fruition that God has been working toward since the Garden of Eden—the glorified salvation and consummation of the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:24-25).

Jesus ruling in this heavenly position means that He now rules on “David’s throne” over the kingdom of God (Acts 2:22-36). God’s true kingdom was never a physical, earthly one. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). It does not “come with observation” (Luke 17:20-21). It is a spiritual kingdom and Jesus is the ruler. There is not an earthly throne from which Jesus will reign. He reigns in heaven right now.

Because our Savior reigns from heaven, we can live boldly and with absolute confidence in this world, not fearing anything (Philippians 2:9-11; Revelation 3:21).

And the fact that He is in heaven must not cause us to think that He is far away from us. On the contrary, His presence at the right hand of God means that He can also dwell within us through the presence of His Holy Spirit.

He is paying attention to us, He cares about our lives, and He is there to help us (Hebrews 10:12-13). The old song says, “When He was on the Cross, I was on His mind.” But we are still on His mind as He reigns at God’s right hand.

When we think of salvation and eternal life, we need to think of Jesus at the right hand of God. We need to think of the fact that He is seated there because His work is finished, but we also need to remember it is from there that He has a bird’s eye view of our lives so that He can help and encourage us. He is not watching us to catch us doing something wrong. He is watching over us because He loves us and cannot take His eyes off of us.

As the great Stephen was being killed for his faith in Christ and the bold things that he said, he looked into heaven and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55-56). This is the only reference in the New Testament to Jesus “standing” rather than “sitting” at the right hand of God.

Why was He standing? No doubt out of respect for Stephen and to welcome him into His eternal arms.

Because Jesus is at the right hand of God, we can have the same assurance that such will happen to us. We may not see Jesus in the same way that Stephen did when it comes our time, but we will see Him through the eye of faith. He will be there, His grace and His presence will see us through.

And eternity in heaven awaits those who keep their “eyes fixed on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2). There the writer says that Jesus should have our full attention at the right hand of God because “for the joy set before Him” He “endured the cross” and then “sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

This spiritual reality, which we know by faith because we believe the promises of God, drives us to and gives us the spiritual strength for a life of obedience and holiness. Jesus has prepared a place for us to go where He is, and so we can live with endurance and strength (John 14:2-3; Revelation 22:3). We should think about heaven because that is where Jesus is seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1-2).

      Bryan Dewayne Dunaway