After Jesus had completed his work of reconciliation on the Cross he was resurrected from the dead. This resurrection was a new act of God in history - the revelation of the significance of the Cross. The resurrection of Christ is not merely a symbolic and therefore noetic verification of the significance of the Cross in the accomplished work of Christ, but an actual, divine activity which makes the immeasurable power of Christ's reconciling suffering and death an historical and effective reality.3.1 The resurrection of Christ is the kernel of the gospel. ``Het is de eigenlijke grote gebeurtenis uit de geschiedenis, waaraan de evangelisten en de apostelen in het geding, dat er gaande is tussen God en zijn wereld, getuigenis geven. Alleen en uitsluitend vanwege deze gebeurtenis zijn de apostelen de wereld ingetrokken, is de kerk onder de volkeren van de aarde ontstaan en zijn wij christenen.''3.2
Christ's resurrection has far-reaching consequences and is so important that without it our faith would be fruitless and vain and we would still be in our sins (1 Cor. 15:17), and there would be no resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15:18). Everything depends on the absolute historical character of Christ's resurrection.3.3The fact of the bodily resurrection of Christ is clearly reflected in Scripture - his tomb was empty (Luke 24:3); he ate and drank with his disciples and they touched him (Luke 24:42-43;39).
The whole mystery of the person of Jesus is also unveiled in his resurrection.3.4 He is revealed to be the Son of God in human flesh and the power and blessing of his work is revealed in the victory over death. The resurrection and the following forty days are a powerful confirmation of the person and work of Jesus but this was followed by another new act of God: the ascension.
The ascension is part of the exaltation of Christ. Of course the Son had lived in heaven from eternity and thus the ascension does not refer to the Son in and for himself, but to the Son become flesh. The content of the proclamation of the ascension is that Christ reigns. The heaven which Christ has gone up to is to be understood as the place of the highest and loftiest glory of God. Christ ascended to the right hand of God. This indicates two things: firstly the height of majesty and glory, by which he is exalted by God and has received a name above every name (Phil. 2: 9-10) and secondly, the height of rule, which he exercises over all creatures, especially in the government and defense of the Church.3.5
In order to gain a better understanding of the significance of the ascension to the right hand of the Father as indicating the fact that Christ reigns in the present, we will look at the concepts Van Ruler uses to describe this significance, namely separation, elevation, concealment, expectation and fulfillment.
When Christ was crucified and buried his followers were scattered and frightened. This would have been the end of the `Christian' movement, but God raised him from the dead (or one could say he raised himself from the dead) and confirmed him as our Messiah. His followers received him with joy. Once again, however, he was taken away from them - in the ascension. Any direct access to Jesus was definitely and finally terminated by this. In a sense the ascension was even more decisive than the resurrection. This is seen especially in Luke. ``Indeed for him it was the real turning point in history, the moment to which Jesus' ministry and indeed the resurrection itself led up, the climax for which they were the preparation.''3.6 After the ascension the world had no direct contact with God but this does not mean that the ascension was not for our benefit. Jesus made the coming of the Comforter conditional on his ascension. Christ's departure was of greater benefit to us than his presence would be (cf. John 14:18-19; 16:14).3.7 Christ's separation from us is fruitful and full of blessing. His separation from us refers to his human nature and not his Spiritual presence. The advantages of Christ's ascension are as follows: ``First, that He is our advocate in the presence of His Father in heaven (1 John 2:1; Rom 8:34); second, that we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that He, as the Head, will also take us, His members, up to Himself (John 14:2;17: 24;20:17; Eph. 2:6); third, that He sends us His Spirit as an earnest (John 14:16; 16:7; Acts 2:33; 2Cor. 1:22; 5:5).''3.8
One can only speculate about what would have happened if the risen Christ remained on earth, but what form could his substitution, in our place, have taken if he had not ascended into heaven? This could only be answered with an unconditional affirmation of a radical theological theory of revolution. ``God's intention of creating anew in Christ would have adopted the form of a radical nova creatio which implies a radical abolishment and replacement of the existing reality, not its redemption and preservation through an act of re-creatio. The ascension of Jesus proves God's deep respect for the freedom of our own will and his irreversible love of the existing creation.''3.9
Van Ruler's assertion that Reformed theology has justly emphasized the element of separation must be seen in the light of the above discussion. Berkouwer simply misinterprets Van Ruler's meaning when he denies this assertion on the basis of Christ's Spiritual presence.3.10 Van Ruler does not deny Christ's presence in the Spirit, he merely emphasizes the significance of his bodily ascension.
We have already seen that the ascension of Jesus is his exaltation to power and glory at the right hand of the Father, and thus that the content of the proclamation of the ascension is that Christ reigns. Christ reigns but we do not yet see everything in subjection to him (Heb. 2:8). This means that Christ's exaltation is not only ascension to the throne - there is also an element of concealment. Christ's rule is still a rule in the midst of his enemies. The elevation is not the revelation. Our salvation is still concealed and this is a concealment in the flesh. Christ ascended in the flesh and rules in the flesh. The concealment of our salvation (the kingdom of Christ) in the elevation is the same as its concealment on the cross.3.11Therefore Christ reigns in grace and mercy and not yet in majesty and glory. Christ is still our Priest, in fact, ``He is so completely priest, that He became King.''3.12 As priest he is king, and his reign from heaven is the service of reconciliation. His reign from heaven is and remains his reign from the cross.3.13Therefore we can say with Pascal that: Jesus sera en agonie jusqu a la fin du monde.3.14 The ascension places us back in the situation of the cross and keeps the regnum Christi separate from the regnum Dei. The concealment of salvation in the present does not diminish its reality or fullness, but emphasizes its particularity. The kingdom of God is really present but it exists in its specific modality as the kingdom of Christ. In other words God's salvation is really present but it exists in the concealment of the flesh.3.15
Another aspect of the ascension is expectation. ``This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven'' (Acts 1:11). In the present our salvation is concealed with Christ in heaven, but the Bible contains the certain expectation that he will return and that our salvation will be revealed. This indicates the intermezzo character of the regnum Christi. God's presence in Christ in the world is concealed, graceful and merciful - Christ rules for the sake of his enemies - God is present in the world in the particular structure of Christ. But this presence is not destined to be eternal. Christ will return in majesty and glory and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord (Phil. 2:10-11). Salvation will no longer be concealed, God will no longer only be present in the special form of Christ, but will be all in all. ``Kortom: dan is de messianiteit van Jesus ten einde. De hoogste daad, welke de messias doet is deze, dat hij ophoudt messias te zijn; het koninkrijk, dat hem verordineerd was (Luk 22:29), aan den Vader overgeeft (1 Cor. 5:24); opdat er niets insta tusschen God en de naakte existentie der dingen.''3.16We will return to this idea later in this chapter.
The aspects of separation, exaltation, concealment and expectation are contained in the idea of fulfillment which is ``the most essential description of the soteriological fact of the ascension.''3.17Christ ascended so that he might fill all things (Eph. 4:10), therefore he does fill all things and is all in all (Eph. 1:23). Christ lives through all things and is thus omni-present. Christ's presence is not, as in the Lutheran conception, a bodily presence but it is the power of his finished work. Reality has become messianic. Christ's power of reconciliation and redemption lives through all things. ``De werkelijkheid is messiaansch geworden, geladen met het heil.''3.18 Therefore everything is meaningful because everything finds its meaning in Christ. The messianic power penetrates all things and reality is thus emptied of every demonic depth and burden. On the basis of this perfect but concealed salvation in the present, Scripture expects the return of Christ and the unveiling of this salvation. The kingdom of God exists in the present in its modality as kingdom of Christ. In other words salvation is concealed in the flesh. Our complete salvation in Christ is distributed and applied to the world in the way and in the mode of the Spirit. The concealment of the regnum Christi is its presence in the Spirit. In the eschaton our salvation will no longer be concealed in the flesh or mediated by the Spirit - all particularity will fall away and God will be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28).
We will now move on to a discussion of the concealed presence of the kingdom of Christ and the Holy Spirit.