An unexpected descent.
The two events, Christ's "descension" and ascension are the two bookends of Christ's life. While we are very familiar with and celebrate the ascension, we don't talk about His "decension"! There are three interesting facets to His descent.Firstly, we think of His descent in that He came from heaven to earth and went from earth to heaven. He came from glory to humility, and from humility back to glory. Paul describes this in Philippians 2: "He... made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself..."
Secondly, when the Bible says that Christ "descended into the lower parts of the earth", it actually means that He really tasted death and went directly into the presence of God. Jesus said to the thief on the Cross. "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). As Jesus died, He said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46). Jesus also said, "It is finished" (John 19:30). Jesus would have not said these words if He was going to hell.
Thirdly, this refers to His descent into hell (the spirit's prison) to proclaim victory over the demonic (1 Peter 3:18-19). Some have suggested that this is Jesus' public ministry, casting out demons and proclaiming the kingdom. Others suggest that this happened at the time of Jesus' resurrection as He showed His power over spiritual and physical death. Either way the point is that Christ went to proclaim victory on the Cross. It is a message of victory.
Then Christ ascended so that He could fill all things. In John14:20, Jesus made it clear that unless He went away, the Holy Spirit could not come. Because He went back to Heaven, each one of us has the Holy Spirit.
When Christ was here, He had the ability to teach, preach, show mercy, serve, lead etc. When He left, He took all of these abilities and passed them out among Christians. When He ascended, He gave gifts to men.
| He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things". (Ephesians4:10) |
(Vusi Mkhungo is the Clerk of Assembly. He is married to Malindi and together they have been blessed with two sons, Siyabonga and Langelihle.)
