“[Jesus Christ] was crucified, died, and was buried; He descended to hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.” It is difficult to speak of the ascension of Christ without also touching on the debate over the descending of Christ. Christ went to the prison of spirits to proclaim the truth of the Gospel (1Pet. 3:18-20) so that Jesus may preach to those who are already dead (1Pet. 4:6). Christ was not abandoned there to decay as if He was being punished for sin (Ps. 16:10; Acts 2:31) because He lived without sin and was therefore there to accomplish the purpose of filling all places with His glory (Eph. 4:10). While scripture does not put forth enough evidence to solidify this doctrine, it also does put forth enough to allow for it as a plausible option.

His ascension was a fulfillment of what He prophesied; Jesus foretold of His ascension into heaven (Jo. 6:62; 14:2; 12; 16:5; 10; 28; 20:17). After Jesus resurrected, He spoke with a wide variety of people before ascending into heaven. First Jesus appeared to Mary (Jo. 20:11-28), then to both Mary and Mary Magdalene (Matt. 28:9-10), then to Cleopas and another man on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-22), then to Peter (Luke 24:34; 1Cor. 15:5). Second, Jesus appeared to Thomas and the disciple (Jo. 20:26; 31; 1Cor. 15:5), then again to the disciples (Jo. 21:1-5), then again to the disciples (Matt. 28:16-20), then to over 500 followers at the same time (1Cor. 15:6), then to James (7), then to the apostles (8).

After resurrecting, Jesus came to be with His disciples (Jo. 20:17; Mark 16:19), gave them final instructions (Matt 28:16-20), blessed them (Luke 24:50), and while blessing them He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9; Jo. 20:17; Luke 24:51) to sit at the right hand of the Father (Acts 2:33; Jo. 17:5; Mark 16:19) with authority over all (1Pet. 3:22). Jesus descended far below, and ascended high above (through heaven [Heb. 4:14]) in order to fill all places with the glory of God (Acts 9:3; 5). All that was done was orchestrated by God the Father (Eph. 1:20; 1Tim. 3:16; Heb. 1:3; 4:14; 9:24; 1Pet. 2:23).

Jesus Christ died (1Pet. 3:18; Rev. 5:9), which fulfilled God’s purpose for the Son (Mark 10:45; Matt. 20:28). Christ died publicly (Matt. 27:29; 39; 50; Mark 15:11; 20; 29; Luke 23:27; 36; 48; Jo. 19-20), so that God could demonstrate His righteousness through the propitiation of Christ (Rom. 3:25; 1Jo. 2:2; 4:10). Forgiveness of sins is the subtracting, or putting away, of sins so that they are no longer held against us. In the final moments of Christ’s life He cried out loudly, yielding up His Spirit into God’s hands (Matt. 27:50; Jo. 19:30) and breathed His last breath (Mark 15:37; Luke 23:46). The validity of Christ’s death is found in the Roman soldiers first observing that He was already dead (Jo. 19:33), and then piercing His side with a spear from which blood and water released from His body (Jo. 19:34). 

The resurrection is the most important feature of truth to grasp, because without the resurrection, faith is obsolete (Rom. 10:9; 1Cor. 15:17). Before He even went to Jerusalem, Jesus prophesied not just His death, but also His resurrection (Matt. 16:21), and even went so far as to prophesy what He would do after resurrecting (Mark 14:28). Jesus prayed not to die, but died anyway; after He died though, God raised Him to life (Heb. 5:7). After resurrecting, Jesus appeared to a large amount of individuals in varied locations, fulfilling what He prophesied He would do after resurrecting (1Cor. 15:5-8).

The proof of the resurrection is found in a two-fold declaration. First, the stone was rolled away (Matt. 28:2; Mark 16:4; Luke 24:2; Jo. 20:1), which showed Jesus’ body was not in the tomb (Matt. 28:6; Mark 16:6; Luke 16:3; Jo. 10:6). Second, the Angels of the Lord declared Christ had risen (Matt. 28:2; 6; Mark 16:6; Luke 16:4; Jo. 20:12) to Mary and to others (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10; Jo. 10:1; 6). The proof of Jesus’ Lordship is solidified in His resurrection; because it confirms what He said about whom He is, and validates His other prophesies about the future. If any one of the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb by royal decree (Matt. 27:60; 65; Matt. 28:14), who had been paid off by the chief priests (Matt. 28:12) and assured of their pardoning from the governor (Matt. 28:14), had the truth that contradicted the Messiah-narrative then why remain quiet and not expose it? The exposé of this flaw would have killed the Messiah-narrative within a generation.

Since Jesus is fully God (Col. 2:9), the attributes of God equally apply to Jesus (Heb. 1:8; 13:8; Jo. 1:18). Therefore, Jesus did not sin (2Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 6:18; 9:14; 1Pet. 2:22). Experiencing temptation is not sin, because Jesus was tempted in all things believers are tempted in (Heb. 4:15). Moreover, Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by Satan (Matt. 4:1). Satan was unsuccessful during his temptation of Jesus (Luke 4:13) which further affirms Jesus’ sinless life.

Since the Holy Spirit led Jesus to be tempted by Satan (Matt. 4:1), God is not aiding Satan to do something that contradicts the nature of God; God does not tempt anyone (Jam. 1:13). God led Jesus into the temptation from Satan to accomplish the purpose of further proving Jesus’ full deity by His sinless life beyond the sign given through His Virgin Birth (Is. 7:14) and the miracles performed during His life (Luke 5:12-14; Matt. 8:14-15; Mark 4:25-41; Jo. 6:1-16-21; Jo. 21:25). Since Jesus had enough knowledge to refuse evil and choose good (Is. 7:15), Jesus was then able to sin but did not sin, and this ability to know everything (Jo. 16:30; 21:17) is attributed to His fully divine nature.

Jesus is both fully God and fully man. Since Jesus did not leave earth into a divine form (Acts 1:9), but rather came to earth in human form (1Jo. 4:2; Col. 2:9; 1Tim. 3:16), there is an implied eternality of Christ’s deity (Heb. 13:8), which also existed while He was in human form (Jo. 1:14; Phil. 2:6; 1Tim 2:5). In His fullness of humanity, Jesus felt sadness (Jo. 11:33-34), betrayal (Jo. 13:21), taste (Jo. 19:30), thirst (Jo. 4:6-7), hunger (Matt. 4:2), compassion (Matt 9:36), He cried (Jo. 11:35; Luke 19:41), people touched and grabbed Him (Matt. 9:25; Mark 1:31; Luke 4:40; Jo. 9:1), and He grew in wisdom (Luke 2:52). In His fullness of deity, Jesus raises the dead to life (Jo. 10:18), is omniscient (Jo. 16:29-30; Jo. 21:17), omnipotent (Matt. 8:26-27), shows Himself as the Christ through means of miracles (Jo. 20:31; Jo. 2:11), and has divine authority (Mark 1:27; 4:40-41). In another sense, since God cannot be tempted (Jam. 1:13), the fact that Satan tempted Jesus (Luke 4:6-7; 13) indicates that Jesus at least had a human nature capable of being tempted, and perhaps why Jesus succeeded in not sinning is because of the coupling together of His fullness of humanity and His fullness of deity.

The Holy Spirit and Mary’s conception played a role in Jesus’ fullness of deity and fullness of humanity; they verified and confirmed His fullness of deity and humanity. Since Jesus was born of a sinful woman (Luke 2:7), He inherited a sinful nature; however, because the other member of Jesus’ conception was the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:20; Luke 1:35), the Spirit in its fullness of deity, corrected the defilements that would have been passed on by Mary, causing Jesus to obtain the fullness of humanity. Jesus was fully man in the sense that He was more man than Mary was, because unlike us, God the Holy Spirit filled the holes that exist because of sin. While Mary did not give Jesus His fullness of deity, through means of the miraculous Virgin Birth, Mary was the means through which God sent a sign that His Chosen One had arrived (Is. 7:14).

After Mary and Joseph were married (Matt. 1:16; 19), but before they had sex (Matt. 1:18; Luke 1:27; 34), Mary became pregnant (Matt. 1:18). An angel appeared to both Mary (Luke 1:26-38) and Joseph (Matt. 1:20-23) separately to announce that the Holy Spirit conceived the baby (Matt. 1:20; Luke 1:35) and that the baby would be the Son of God (Luke 1:32; 35). Mary and Joseph did not have sex until after the child was born (Matt. 1:25). Per the instructions of the angel, the child was named Jesus (Matt. 1:21; Luke 1:31). The Virgin Birth serves as a miraculous sign from God that the Chosen One had arrived (Is. 7:14). Mary and Joseph raised Jesus on earth (Luke 2:48). Both Mary and His adoptive father Joseph are descendents of David (Luke 3:31; Matt. 1:6; 16), from which the King was prophesied to emerge (Luke 1:32; Jo. 7:42; 2Sam. 7:12; 1Chron 17:11; Ps. 89:3-4; 35-36; 132:11; Is. 9:7; Jer. 23:5).