Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Milford

Introduction
Pastor Ben is continuing his preaching through the Gospel of John. Our reading today is from John 7: 31-44. It is fall in Jerusalem: The last days of the thanksgiving-like Feast of Tabernacles. As one of the three festivals all Jews are mandated to attend in person, the City of David is filled with Jewish worshipers from all over the known world. As prescribed by the Law of Moses, families have erected simple huts wherever they’ve been allowed, or been able to rent, space: On flat rooftops, up sidewalks and sidestreets, filling courtyards and market squares, lining the base of the Temple’s walls, and scattered up and down the Kidron Valley to overflow up the Mount of Olives.
As the rituals and celebrations continue, the Lord Jesus is teaching in the Temple courts…

John 7:31-44 [NLTse]
31 Many among the crowds at the Temple believed in Him. “After all,” they said, “would you expect the Messiah to do more miraculous signs than this Man has done?”
32 When the Pharisees heard that the crowds were whispering such things, they and the leading priests sent Temple guards to arrest Jesus. 33 But Jesus told them, “I will be with you only a little longer. Then I will return to the One Who sent Me. 34 You will search for Me but not find Me. And you cannot go where I am going.”
35 The Jewish leaders were puzzled by this statement. “Where is He planning to go?” they asked. “Is He thinking of leaving the country and going to the Jews in other lands? Maybe He will even teach the Greeks! 36 What does He mean when He says, ‘You will search for Me but not find Me,’ and ‘You cannot go where I am going’?”
37 On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to Me! 38 Anyone who believes in Me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” 39 (When He said “living water,” He was speaking of the Spirit, Who would be given to everyone believing in Him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into His glory.)
40 When the crowds heard Him say this, some of them declared, “Surely this Man is the Prophet we’ve been expecting.” 41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others said, “But He can’t be! Will the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 For the Scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where King David was born.” 43 So the crowd was divided about Him. 44 Some even wanted Him arrested, but no one laid a hand on Him.

Sermon
My name is BENJAMIN. It is a Hebrew name that means, “son of the right hand”. Growing up, in different classes across my elementary, junior, and high school years, I always thought that Benjamin was such a lame name. I mean, what does it mean to be the “son of the right hand”, anyway? But since coming to Christ I’ve learned in ancient times and in the Bible that the “right hand” was the place where a king or lord would seat someone who was their favorite or whom they were rewarding or who they were making their second-in-command. Calling someone “my right-hand man” still conveys a flavor of this sense of privilege, trust, and power. And when the patriarch Jacob’s beloved wife, Rachel, died giving birth, Jacob changed the boy’s name from the name Rachel had given him, Ben-oni, meaning “son of my sorrow”, to Ben-jamin, meaning “son of my favorite, son of my honored one, son of my power and greatness”. And we see that although Rachel’s firstborn, Joseph, was Jacob’s favorite and the recipient of many special gifts, that it was Ben-jamin whom Jacob doted over, who wasn’t allowed to go to Egypt in the event that something would happen to him and so break Jacob’s heart forever…
BENJAMIN: Son of the right hand; son of power; favorite one; mighty one; …

When the Temple guards arrived at the place where Jesus was teaching to arrest Him, Jesus said to them, “I will be with you only a little longer. Then I will return to the One Who sent Me. You will search for Me but not find Me. And you cannot go where I am going.” The Jews thought Jesus was speaking about fleeing Jerusalem to spread His teachings among the Greek-speaking Jews scattered across the surrounding empires. We, of course, have that wonderful perspective of hindsight to know that Jesus was really speaking about returning to Heaven from where He came.

The Bible makes clear the mystery that Jesus the Son of God came to earth from Heaven and – after His resurrection – that He returned to Heaven again.

Paul’s letter To the Philippians probably describes Jesus’ coming from Heaven most clearly when Paul writes about Jesus Christ, “Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.” (Philippians 2:6-7) So, Jesus was the Son of God, but He took off being God to be born a human being.
And Acts describes for us Jesus’ return to Heaven, saying, “After saying this, He was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see Him. As they strained to see Him rising into Heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why are you standing here staring into Heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into Heaven, but someday He will return from Heaven in the same way you saw Him go!’” (Acts 1:9-11)
The Lord Jesus Himself summarized it all later in John 16, when He said, “Yes, I came from the Father into the world, and now I will leave the world and return to the Father.” (John 16:28)
Jesus came from God and has returned to God, and since He’s now been given God’s stamp of approval in His resurrection and ascension, while He’s physically separated from us in Heaven Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit so that, by the Spirit’s ministry, Jesus might never be spiritually separated from us ever again.

Have you ever wondered what Jesus has been doing, now that He’s returned to Heaven? Well, Hebrews 10:12 says, “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.” (Hebrews 10:12)
God’s jamin – His right hand – the place of highest favor, authority, and might. To say that Jesus is seated at God’s jamin – His right hand – is to say, in the words of John Calvin, that “Christ was invested with lordship over Heaven and Earth, and solemnly entered into possession of the government committed to Him — and that He not only entered into possession once for all, but continues in it, until He shall come down on Judgment Day” (Institutes 2.16.15).

In sitting at the right hand of God, Jesus sits on the “throne of His father David” (Luke 1:26–33). He is the Messiah of Israel, “the highest of the kings of the earth” and fulfills the Lord’s promise to keep a descendant of David on the throne forever. (Ps. 89:19–37). So, we are not waiting for Jesus to enter into His messianic reign, He enjoys it now! All of His enemies are being put under His feet as His gospel is preached and His Kingdom expands across the nations of the Earth (1 Cor. 15:20–28).

We know that Jesus is in Heaven because the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost. Jesus had said that once He returned to the Father that He would send His followers another Advocate – another Comforter – to take His place. So when the Holy Spirit came the disciples knew that Jesus was indeed in Heaven at the Father’s right hand as He had said.

But what is He doing there?

The Bible tells us He’s preparing a place for us so that we will always be with Him where He is. And we know that that place is ultimately a new Heaven and a new Earth; that this sin-stained Heaven and Earth will be destroyed when the End comes, and that then Jesus Himself will come and all will be new.

The Bible also tells us that Jesus is directing the affairs of His Church from Heaven: Baptizing people into His Body by the Holy Spirit; handing out the Spirit’s gifts among His Church to build up, expand, and strengthen His Kingdom here on the Earth; speaking to Christian people through the Scriptures and by His Spirit, advising and guiding us; overcoming all of His enemies as we seek His Kingdom and right-living day by day.
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More personally to each one of us, the Lord Jesus is in Heaven overcoming His enemies in our lives as He prays for us; continuing to forgive us our sins as we fall and fail; shaping our character and empowering our obedience as we abide in Him and live surrendered to the Holy Spirit; continuing to stand between the Father and us so that when perfect Father looks at us it’s as though He always sees Jesus’ righteousness and never our sins.

In closing, hear these words from the apostle Paul’s first letter To the Corinthians: “The End will come, when [Jesus] will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. For Christ must reign until He humbles all His enemies beneath His feet. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death… Then when all things are under His authority, the Son will put Himself under God’s authority, so that God, Who gave His Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.