June 1

Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us. — Rom 8:34 BSB

As the soul is led and taught by the Spirit, it follows the Lord through all the stages of His life and sufferings. The first place the Holy Spirit brings the sinner to is the cross of Jesus. That is the first real, saving view we get of the Lord of life and glory—the Holy Spirit taking the poor guilty sinner, weighed down with the burden of countless sins, to the foot of the cross, opening his eyes to see the Son of God bleeding there as the atoning sacrifice for sin. To be brought there by the power of the Holy Spirit, and to receive into our hearts and consciences the blessed mystery of the bleeding, suffering, and agonizing Son of God, is the first true revelation God’s Spirit gives us.

But we move beyond that, to see Jesus resting in the tomb, because we ourselves must die, and we need to see the Forerunner who has gone into the grave for us. We need to be able to lie down in the grave and know that it is, in a sense, perfumed by the fact that Jesus Himself lay there before us.

From the cross to the tomb, we then move a step further, to the resurrection of the Lord of life and glory. On the third day, by faith, we witness Him rising from the tomb where He lay, ascending in glory and power for our justification. In this resurrection of the Lord Jesus, we see the hope of our own blessed immortality.

But we do not stop there; as the Holy Spirit gives us eyes to see and moves our hearts, we ascend even further—to witness the ascension of the Lord of life and glory. We see Him not remaining on earth but ascending to sit at the right hand of the Father, as the Mediator between God and man, the divine Intercessor, and the glorious Head of grace, who pours out gifts and graces from His fullness to poor and needy souls. These souls, living in daily and hourly need, must receive continual supplies of life, light, and grace from His fullness, so that they may remain in the way the Lord has set their feet.

Thus, when the ascension of the Lord Jesus and His sitting at the right hand of God is received into the conscience through the Spirit’s power, it is not a dry doctrine or a dead bone of a withered skeleton. Instead, it is deeply connected with all our heart’s feelings—with our misery, ruin, guilt, daily needs, and hourly necessities. When, by the Spirit’s teaching, we look at this Mediator at the Father’s right hand, it becomes a truth filled with blessed sweetness and power for the soul taught by heaven.