WSC Question 28:

Of Christ’s Exaltation

QUEST. 28. Werein consisteth Christ’s exaltation?

ANSW. Christ’s exaltation consisteth in his rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day.

Q. Did Christ always continue in his estate of humiliation?

A. No; having suffered, he entered into his glory, or estate of exaltation, Luke 24:26.

Q. Is, or can Christ’s divine nature be exalted in itself?

A. No; for it is infinite, Acts 7:2.

Q. How then is Christ exalted?

A. His person as God-man is highly glorified by the shining forth the glory of his divine nature in a new manner, through his human nature, whereby great glory is added unto his human nature, Philippians 2:9.

Q. Why was Christ exalted?

A. That God might be honoured, Christ rewarded, and his people saved.

Q. How does the exaltation of Christ honour God?

A. It shows his infinite love, justice, faithfulness, and bounty to Christ as Mediator, and his people in him.

Q. How is it a reward to Christ?

A. Hereby the ignominy of his cross is wiped off, the fulness of his
satisfaction evidenced, and he is filled with joy, and crowned with glory and honour, Hebrews 12 & 2.

Q. How is Christ’s exaltation a reward to him, when his human nature had a natural right to it, by virtue its union with the divine?

A. The human nature of Christ enjoys its exaltation, both as a reward, and in the way of natural right.

Q. How does Christ’s exaltation render his people happy?

A. He was exalted on high to give gifts to men; in and that our faith and hope might be in God.

Q How many steps does Christ’s exaltation consist of?

A. Four; his resurrection, ascension, sitting at the right hand of God, and coming to judge the world.

Q. Why could not death and the grave detain Christ?

A. Because he had perfectly satisfied for our sins.

Q. How prove you that Christ rose from the dead?

A. His resurrection was prefigured and foretold, and attested by many credible witnesses, 1 Corinthians 15.

Q. How was Christ’s resurrection prefigured?

A. By the types of Isaac’s escape from death, Jonah’s coming out of the whale’s belly, etc. Genesis 22; Jonah 2.

Q. By whom was it foretold?

A. By himself, and the prophets, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.

Q. How did the prophets foretell it?

A. David said, Thou wilt not suffer thine holy One to see corruption; and Isaiah, He was taken from prison, etc.

Q How did Christ himself foretell it?

A. He declared he would raise up the temple of his, body in three days; and that he should be killed, and rise again on the third day, John 2:19, 21. Matthew 28:6.

Q. By what witnesses was Christ’s resurrection attested?

A. By angels, disciples, and his enemies.

Q. How did the angels attest it?

A. They said to the women that came to see his sepulchre, He is not here, he is risen, as he said, Matthew 28:6.

Q. How did the disciples attest it?

A. They affirmed Christ was risen, and had often appeared to them alive.

Q. To whom only did Christ show himself after his reurrection?

A. To his followers, Acts 1:3.

Q. Why did not Christ show himself to the priests, etc.?

A. To punish them for their former unbelief; and especially, that the report of his resurrection might not be supported with the countenance of worldly power.

Q. How often did he show himself after his resurrection?

A. We read of ten or eleven several appearances.

Q. To whom did he first appear?

A. To the women.

Q. Why did he first appear to women?

A. That as sin had entered by a woman, the first news of a finished
salvation might be reported by women.

Q. Of how many was ever Christ seen at once after his resurrection?

A. Of above five hundred, 1 Corinthians 15.

Q. How long did Christ continue on earth after his resurrection?

A. Forty days, Acts 1:3.

Q. How was he employed during that time?

A. In giving proofs of his resurrection, and instructing his disciples in things pertaining to the kingdom of God, Acts 1.

Q. How does it appear, that Christ’s disciples’ testimony of his resurrection deserved the fullest credit?

A. They had the fullest proof of what they attested; did openly declare it amidst his enemies, in the place where, and within a few days after the event happened; and had no temptation of carnal advantage, but
were hereby exposed to the severest suffering and: death.

Q. What enemies of Christ attested his resurrection?

A. The band of soldiers that were set to guard his sepulchre, at first attested it, Matthew 28:11.

Q. Why do you say, they at first attested it?

A. Because afterwards the priests and elders hired them to say, that his disciples stole him away while they slept.

Q. Could any reasonable man believe this forged story?

A. No: for how could the whole watch sleep, when it was death for soldiers to sleep on guard? and if asleep, how could they tell who stole away his body?

Q. By whose power did Christ rise?

A. By his own, and by that of the Father and Holy Ghost.

Q. How do you prove Christ rose by his own power?

A. He declared he had power to take his life again; and by his resurrection from the dead, he was declared to be the son of God with power, John 10:18; Romans 1:4.

Q. What solemnities attended Christ’s resurrection?

A. A great earthquake, appearance of angels, etc.

A. Why did God send an angel to roll away the stone from the grave’s mouth?

A. To show that Christ was solemnly released from prison, as one that had fully satisfied law and justice, Isaiah 53:8

Q. Why were Christ’s grave-clothes left in the grave, and why in such order?

A. To show that he should die no more; and that he rose with great deliberation.

Q. On what day did Christ rise?

A. On the third day after his death, and first day of the week; which is
since called the Lord’s day, in honour of our Redeemer, who thereon entered on his glorious rest, and appointed it to be kept as a memorial of his resurrection.

Q. In what capacity did Christ rise from the dead?

A. As the head of an elect world, 1 Corinthians 15:20.

Q. For what ends did Christ rise?

A. For God’s glory, his own honour, and our advantage.

Q. How was it for the glory of God?

A. That, being the God and Father of Christ, he might be the God, not of a dead, but living Redeemer, Matthew 22.

Q. How was it for Christ’s own honour?

A. That, having in his death paid his elect’s debt, and purchased a kingdom, he might come out of prison to possess his kingdom, Philippians 2:8-10.

Q. How was it for our advantage?

A. Therein our debt was legally discharged, and Christ took possession of eternal life in our name, Romans 4:25.

Q. What is the necessary fruit of Christ’s resurrection to the elect?

A. Their justification, quickening in grace, support against enemies, and glorious resurrection.

Q. What is the second step of Christ’s exaltation?

A. His ascending into heaven, Psalm 47:5.

Q. According to what nature did Christ ascend?

A. According to his human nature; for his divine, being every where at once, can neither ascend nor descend.

Q How then is Christ, in respect of his divine nature, is to descend into the lower parts of the earth?

A. Descending there is only to be understood of his condescension in assuming our nature, Ephesians 4:9.

Q. To which of Christ’s offices does his ascension relate?

A. To all the three, Psalm 68:18.

Q. How was it an act of his prophetical office?

A. It confirmed his doctrine; and he ascended to send the Spirit to convince and instruct us, John 16:7-10.

Q. How was it an act of the priestly?

A. He thus entered into the holy place to present his blood before God.

Q. How was it an act of his kingly office?

A. He triumphed over his enemies in it, Psalm 47.

Q. Whence did Christ ascend?

A. From about mount Olivet, near, if not exactly from the place where he had his bitter agony, Acts 1:12.

Q. Whither did he ascend?

A. To heaven.

Q. Who saw him ascend?

A. His disciples.

Q. What was Christ doing when he ascended?

A. Blessing his disciples, Luke 24:51.

Q. What was one of his parting words?

A. Lo, I am with you alway even unto the end of the world, Matthew 28:20.

Q. In what capacity did Christ ascend?

A. As head and forerunner of his people, Micah 2:13; Hebrews 4:20.

Q. In what manner did he ascend?

A. In a most glorious and triumphant manner, leading captivity captive.

Q. What do you mean by his leading captivity captive?

A. That Christ, in his ascension, chained and triumphed over Satan, who had taken his elect captive.

Q. Who attended Christ in his ascension?

A. Thousands of angels, with shouts of praise.

Q. Who welcomed him into heaven?

A. His Father, and all the inhabitants of heaven, Daniel 8:13.

Q. How did Christ prove his ascension?

A. By sending down the Holy Ghost a few days after at Pentecost.

Q. Did this descent of the Spirit prove the perfection of Christ’s righteousness?

A. Yes; for if Christ had not been perfectly righteous in his person and office, he would never have been received up into heaven, nor exalted to such power and glory there, 1 John 2:1.

Q Why did Christ ascend to heaven?

A. To receive to himself a kingdom, prepare mansions for his
people, and send his Spirit to fit them for these mansions.

Q. What is the third step of Christ’s exaltation?

A. His sitting at the right hand of God the Father.

Q. What is meant by the right hand of God?

A. A state of the highest honour and authority.

Q. What is meant by sitting at God’s right hand?

A. Christ’s security and rest in that glorious state.

Q. For what end does Christ sit at God’s right hand?

A. To represent his people, and make his enemies his footstool, Hebrews 9:24 and 1:13.

Q. How prove you that he there represents his people?

A. Because while on earth they are said to sit in heavenly places in Christ, Ephesians 2:6.

Q. How shall he make all his enemies his footstool?

A. By covering them with shame and terror, and crushing them down to hell at the last day, Revelation 20.

Q. How long shall Christ sit at God’s right hand?

A. For ever, Psalm 110:4; Isaiah 9:7.

Q. What is the fourth step of Christ’s exaltation?

A. His coming to judge the world at the last day.

Q. How do you prove that the world shall be judged?

A. From Scripture and reason.

Q. How does Scripture prove it?

A. It affirms, that God has appointed a day for judging the world; and that every work shall be brought into judgment, Acts 17:31.

Q. How does reason prove it?

A. It shows, that, since the wicked are now happy, the godly in distress, the just and good God will at length call men to an account, and render the godly happy, and the wicked miserable.

Q. Who shall judge the world?

A. God shall judge it by Christ Jesus, Acts 17:31; John 5:22.

Q. Why is the judging of the world committed to Christ?

A. That we may have a visible judge, who has obeyed the law by which he will judge; that Christ may be honoured, his saints encouraged, and his enemies confounded, Revelation 1:7; John 5:27.

Q. What are Christ’s qualities as a judge?

A. He is a righteous, inexorable, all-seeing, and almighty judge.

Q. When will Christ come to judge the world?

A. At the last day, John 12:48; Matthew 25.

Q. Why is that time called the last day?

A. Because after it the wicked shall have one everlasting night of darkness, and the saints one eternal day of glory.

Q. Has God fixed the time of the last day?

A. Yes.

Q. Does any man know when it shall be?

A. No.

Q. Why has God so concealed the time of it from us?

A. That we may be always watching, and ready for it.

Q. What will be some of the forerunners of that day?

A. The fall of Antichrist; the general conversion of Jews and Gentiles to the Christian faith, followed with a general apostasy from the same, Revelation 20.

Q In what manner will Christ come to judgment?

A. In a most unexpected, sudden, and glorious manner.

Q. Wherein will his second coming differ from his first?

A. His first coming was obscure and debased, in the likeness of sinful flesh; but he will come again without sin, and with power and great glory.

Q. In what glory will Christ come to judgment?

A. In his own and his Father’s glory, Matthew 16:27.

Q. Who will attend him as his retinue from heaven?

A. All the holy angels, and glorified saints.

Q. For what end will Christ come again?

A. To judge the world, Matthew 25:31-46.

Q. Whom will he judge?

A. Men and devils.

Q. How can all the dead be judged at last day?

A. They shall be raised up out of their graves: for we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ.

Q. By what shall men be summoned to Christ’s bar?

A. By the voice of the archangel, and trump of God.

Q. Who will bring them to the bar?

A. The angels.

Q. Shall the righteous be then fully and finally separated from the wicked?

A. Yes, Matthew 25:32.

Q. How will all men be classed at Christ’s bar?

A. The saints or sheep shall be placed on his right hand, and the wicked or goats on his left, Matthew 25.

Q. Why are the wicked called goats?

A. Because of filthiness, ill savour, and feeding on the poison
of sin.

Q. Why are the righteous called sheep?

A. Because of their innocence, purity, and having many enemies.

Q. Who will be counted righteous at that day?

A. Only such as are clothed with the righteousness of Christ.

Q. What shall be judged at that day?

A. All our thoughts, words, and actions, Ecclesiastes 12:14. Matthew 22.

Q. In what manner shall these things be judged?

A, Most exactly; for the books shall be opened.

Q. What books, shall be opened for judging the world?

A, The books of God’s remembrance, of conscience, and the law, and the book of life.

Q. What is the book of God’s remembrance?

A. His infinite knowledge of all men’s state, thoughts, words, and actions, Hebrews 4:13.

Q What will this book serve for?

A. As a libel of wicked men’s bad works, and a memorial of saints good works, Matthew 25:35, 36, 42, 43.

Q. What is the book of conscience?

A. Men’s knowledge of their own state, thoughts, words, and deeds; accompanied with a self-condemnation of every bad, and approbation of every good thing about them.

Q. What will this book serve for?

A. It will fully attest the records of God’s book of remembrance, confound the wicked, and comfort the saints.

Q. Why shall the book of the law, or covenant of works, be opened?

A. To be the standard of right and wrong, and of the sentence pronounced against the wicked.

Q. By what law shall the Heathen world be judged?

A. By the law manifested by the light of nature.

Q. By what law shall wicked [i.e. Messiah-rejecting] Jews, and nominal Christians, be judged?

A. By the law revealed in the Bible.

Q. Will the righteous be judged by this law or covenant of works?

A. No; they shall be judged by the Lamb’s book of life.

Q. Why are they not judged by the law as a covenant?

A. Because they are not under it.

Q. Is not the sentence of the righteous, in respect of their oneness with Christ, according to the terms of the law?

A. Yes; and it greatly honours the law.

Q. What is the book of life?

A. It is God’s eternal purpose to save the elect in Christ.

Q. Why is it called the book of life?

A. Because all whose names are in it, are ordained to eternal life.

Q. Whose names are written in this book of life?

A. The names of all the elect, Revelation 20:15.

Q. Why is it called the Lamb’s book?

A. Because it is lodged in the hand of Christ the Lamb of God.

Q. What do the righteous see by the opening of this book?

A. That their eternal salvation flows through Christ from God’s most ancient love, Jeremiah 31:3.

Q. Who shall be first judged at the last day?

A. The righteous, Matthew 25:34; with 41.

Q. Why shall they be first judged?

A. To show that God more delights in mercy than wrath; and that they being openly acquitted, may, together with Christ, judge devils and wicked men, Isaiah 28; 1 Corinthians 6.

Q. What will be the sentence of the righteous?

A. Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the word.

Q. Why calls he them blessed of his Father?

A. To refresh them with the views of his and their Father’s early and everlasting love, John 16: 20.

Q. Why calls he them to inherit the kingdom?

A. To show that they come to the kingdom of glory as heirs, not as purchasers of it, Romans 8:17

Q. What is the ground or foundation of this happy sentence?

A. God’s free grace reigning through the righteousness of Christ, Romans 5:21. and 6:23.

Q. How then is every man judged according to his works?

A. The saints are judged according to the nature, but not according to the merit or desert of their works.

Q. How are the saints judged according to the nature of their works?

A. As their works are gracious and holy; so they are adjudged, by a gracious sentence, to an holy kingdom, Revelation 21; Romans 5:21.

Q. Why then are their good works mentioned, Matthew 25:35, as if grounds of their sentence?

A. These works are not mentioned as the foundation of their sentence, but as evidences of their union to Christ, and title to heaven, 1 John 3:16, 17.

Q. Why are works of charity [love] to the saints only mentioned?

A. God much regards these works; and they show a man to be born of God, Hebrews 6:9, 10.

Q. Why are the saints represented as not knowing of their good works?

A. To show how much they are denied to them, Luke 17:10.

Q. What will be the sentence of the wicked?

A. Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, Matthew 25:41.

Q. Is it not most dreadful to be thus doomed to hell by the Saviour of the world?

A. Yes.

Q. What is the ground of this sentence of the wicked?

A. Their wicked state and works, Romans 2:8, 9.

Q. Why are sins of omission only mentioned as the ground of the sentence of damnation?

A. Because men generally esteem sins of omission as but trifles.

Q. Why is omission of charity to the saints particular mentioned as the ground of eternal damnation?

A. To deter men from this great and common evil, which clearly shows their hatred of Christ himself.

Q. Will the devils also be then judged?

A. Yes; and shall thenceforth be confined to hell, and have their torments increased, 2 Peter 2:4; Revelation 20:10.

Q. How shall the righteous judge the world?

A. By saying Amen to the sentences which Christ shall pass on devils and wicked men, 1 Corinthians 6.

Q. What shall follow immediately after the judgment?

A. The wicked hall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal, Matthew 25.

Q. What shall Christ do after the judgment?

A. He shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father, and be subject to God who put all things under his feet.

Q. How shall he deliver up the kingdom to the Father?

A. He shall lay aside all the ordinances of the militant church; and present all the subjects of his invisible kingdom before the Father without spot, and with great joy, Jude 24.

Q. How will the Son then be subject to the Father?

A. His subjection to him as man and Mediator will be more clearly seen than before.

Q. How should we improve the exaltation of Christ?

A. By seeking after spiritual quickening and justification; by honouring Christ, trusting in him, setting our affections on things above; and in waiting, preparing, looking, and longing for his second coming.