So who is Jesus today?

Is He someone who we remember and try to emulate? Or is He someone who is living and active and has a specific ministry?

In the previous pages, we’ve seen that the ascension of Jesus marks the commencement of His present-day ministry.

In reaching His own destiny, Jesus reached it for us, too. Christ led us to the place that neither Abraham, Moses, Joshua, nor David could ever lead us.

Jesus presents Himself to God the Father as high priest, as both offerer and offering. Since we are in Christ, as the Father receives Jesus, He also receives you and me.

When Christ ascended into heaven, He did not drop his human body. He is still the human Jesus with a glorified human body. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul called the glorified body of Jesus a “spiritual body” (v. 44). This doesn’t mean that He was a ghost. It means that His renewed physical body was energized by the Holy Spirit after His resurrection. In His glorified body, Jesus could eat and drink physical food. He could also pass through walls (Luke 24:13-35; John 20:26).

Consequently, Jesus continues His incarnation after His ascension and receives our humanity into Himself. He didn’t dispose of our humanity, but took it with Him into heavenly realms. Jesus penetrated the splendor of heaven wearing our flesh, bringing us to His Father.

Theologically speaking, the ascension reveals that Jesus’ incarnation continues, and the Father, Spirit, and Son have taken up our humanity into God’s bosom forever.

Jesus retains His humanity and His divinity and reigns over the world as the God-Man until all enemies are put under His feet (1 Cor. 15:20–28).

We, the collective people of God, are the continuing incarnation and presence of Jesus on the earth today.

by Frank Viola, author