2830.—In Heaven and on Earth.
By Editor
Please explain John 3:13, the last clause. Can the Son of Man be on earth and in heaven at the same time? P. L. D. The text reads: "And no one hath ascended into heaven, but He that descended out of heaven, even the Son of Man, who is in heaven." The margin of the Revised Version tells us that many ancient authorities omit "who is in heaven." It may not be in the oldest Greek text, but is it not true? The Lord counts us where our hearts and our affections are. As in Matt. 6:20, 21: "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, . . . for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also." Or in Phil. 3:20; "For our citizenship is in heaven, whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ;" and so it is that we are counted as being where we are not, because our hearts are there. Take also that expression found in Eph. 2:6, "And raised us up with Him, and made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Now Christ is our Head and the Head over all things to the church, and we are His body, "members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." In Him, our Head, we also are sitting in the heavenly places, and in Him we have a right to count ourselves there, and yet we are still here as "pilgrims and strangers" in the earth. Therefore while our Lord Jesus Christ was here upon the earth to save men, His character, His thoughts, His life, and all His abundant blessings which He brought to earth, were heavenly, and He was indissolubly linked by living faith to the throne of God.