November 18

And this point is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not by a law of succession, but by the power of an indestructible life. — Heb 7:15-16 BSB

We could describe the life that the Lord Jesus now lives in heaven as having three aspects. First, there’s his eternal life, which is the life of God in his divine nature. This life he has within himself; just as the Father has life in himself, so has the Son been given life in himself (John 5:26). He is the “Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” This eternal life is the foundation of all his work as mediator, as God over all, blessed forever.

Second, there’s a life that Jesus lives for himself—a life of unimaginable glory in his human nature. This is the life he laid down only to take up again. This life, filled with all the glory he now enjoys in heaven, is his reward, his crown, as the Psalmist says, “You placed a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked you for life, and you gave it to him—length of days, forever and ever” (Psalm 21:3-4).

Third, there’s his mediatorial life, which he lives for us. We read that Jesus became a priest by the power of an indestructible life, and he says of himself, “I am the one who lives, who was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and I have the keys of death and hell” (Revelation 1:18). This life, while not essentially different from his life of glory in human nature, differs in that it will one day come to an end. When his work of mediation is finished, Jesus will hand over the kingdom to God the Father, once all rule, authority, and power have been destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:24).