Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Psalm 110:4 | Date: January 2, 2022 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

The Kingly Rule of Christ

If you would turn in your Bibles, please, to Psalm 110. We are continuing our series on the doctrine of salvation. We have looked at redemption planned. We have looked at redemption accomplished. We have been now transitioning to redemption applied. Particularly now, we’re looking at the session of Christ. He has ascended. He has taken his seat on the throne, and he is reigning. The session of Christ.

We saw last time that from the throne he sends his Spirit to advance his kingdom. And we will expand on that more, Lord willing, next time. Today we take another look, though, at the session of Christ, and here we look at his other chief work there in his kingly session, and that is his work of intercession.

So you have Psalm 110. If you would keep your finger there, and then turn to Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one. Keep these two in mind. Our marker may be in Hebrews. We’ll be to that one in a minute. We’ll begin with Psalm 110. Notice the superscript says this is a psalm of David. That becomes very important for the interpretation of the psalm. A psalm of David. “The Lord says to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.’ The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power in holy garments. From the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.’ The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings in the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way. Therefore, he will lift up his head.”

All right, we have been exploring then the saving significance of the ascension of Christ, especially in connection with Psalm 110. We’ve looked at this a few times, and we’ll begin there this morning as well. It is what is most striking, I think—well, there are several things that are very striking about this psalm. This is a psalm that the New Testament picks up more than any other psalm. Significant in its implications for the doctrine of Christ and for the interpretation of his work.

Jesus quoted this psalm in debating with the Jewish leaders of his day, but one of the most striking things about the psalm is that the opening line: “The Lord says to my Lord.” Now here’s where it’s important to recognize who’s speaking. This is David speaking. It’s a psalm of David. “The Lord”—notice the capital letters, this is Yahweh—”The Lord says to my Lord.” Well, who is this Lord of David to whom Yahweh speaks? Is there anyone greater than David? Well, clearly it’s speaking of David’s greater son, the Messiah. But here he is, David’s Lord. All right, if the Lord, Yahweh, speaks to the Lord, how does David know it? When was he let in on this conversation?

And what we find here then is what we call an oracular prophecy. This is an oracle. This is a direct prophecy of the Messiah, a revelation that was given to King David concerning his greater son. And he finds out that the Lord God himself had said to him, Messiah, David’s Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies my footstool.” Now she’s brimming with all kinds of implications, one which Jesus picked up in Matthew chapter 22 when he asks the Jewish leaders of his day, “You’ve heard of Messiah, whose son is he?” And they said, “Well, that’s an easy question, he’s David’s son.” And Jesus then, referring to this psalm, says, “If he is David’s son, how then did David in the Spirit call him Lord?” And they didn’t want to take that line of argument any further, so they quit asking him questions and they left.

The obvious answer is an answer that they’re unwilling to give. It’s a head-scratcher. David’s son is David’s Lord. What do you make of that? We’re into the rudiments of the doctrine of the Trinity. We’re into the doctrine of the two natures of Christ, the Messiah, God incarnate who has come. He is David’s son and he is David’s Lord. And here we’re led in on a conversation that God himself has had with his son, the Davidic son, his son from eternity, who has become incarnate and now has told him with reference to his incarnate work, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies my footstool.”

Well, then we have in verses 1 to 3 where the Lord speaks in terms of the kingship of Christ. He has taken his position at the right hand of God. Verse 1, “The Lord says to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.'” Verse 2, “The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies.” So Christ is enthroned, reigning and ruling as king. He has the prospect here of a universal kingdom. All of his enemies will be defeated. And then verse 3, his people willingly enlist also. “Your people will offer themselves freely in the day of your power.” They join the ranks of his army, as it were, and enlist in his service and follow him in his kingly rule.

Then verses 5 and following continue in the same vein. “The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way.” It’s a refreshment metaphor. He’s finished. He’s done the work. He lifts up his head in triumph. So we have here the kingly office of Christ: he destroys his enemies, he’s ruling on the throne of the universe, and eventually this will result in his worldwide rule over all the people and all the nations, and all will submit before him. And anyone who has rejected his rule and resisted him will be put down and crushed. He has willing followers, verse 3, but those who do not follow willingly will be defeated. His kingly rule, seated at the right hand of God in session. The kingly rule of Christ.

You Are a Priest Forever

Now, what we’re going to look at today is that right in the middle of all of that you have verse 4. “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.'” Now that is just stunning. I want you to try to imagine how stunning these words must have been at least to a thinking Jewish reader. The priest comes from what tribe? Levi, right? The high priest, son of Aaron. Messiah, what tribe? Judah. David’s son. And here we are told implicitly that at some point the Levites are going to be out of work. He is prophesying here the eventual obsolescence of the Levitical priesthood. At some point to come, Messiah will be here, the son of David from the tribe of Judah, and he will be a priest of a different order, not from the family of Aaron, not from the tribe of Levi. He’ll be a priest after the order of Melchizedek, a different order of priesthood.

And so after Jesus came, and the Christians began to argue, “He is our high priest, the Levitical priesthood is obsolete,” they were able to say, “We haven’t just made this up. David said that centuries ago. He promised that Messiah would come, put the Levites out of business, and he would be priest and make intercession for his people.” Well, there we have that then. He’ll be a priest, verse four, forever. His kingdom is not only universal, it’s eternal. And he’s an eternal king-priest. And the book of Hebrews picks that up in a big way and unpacks it at great length, and we’ll see some of that this morning.

But these two offices then describe the two prominent aspects of Christ’s kingly session, his two great heavenly ministries: one as king, he sends forth his spirit to advance his kingdom, we saw that last time; and now as priest, he makes intercession for his people. Christ at the right hand of the Father, reigning as king, ministering as priest, making intercession for his people. Now the book of Hebrews is given in a large way to unpacking Psalm 110. Particularly verse one and verse four are picked up in Hebrews and unpacked in a very significant way.

And if you want to turn there now, Hebrews chapter one, we’ll start at the very beginning of Hebrews. We’ll look at just a couple of passages, and I’m going to assume some familiarity on your part with Hebrews in this, because we have so much to cover. We have now, keep in mind, Psalm 110, a prophecy of the enthronement of the Davidic Messiah as a king-priest. Now we come to the book of Hebrews; that position of king-priest has been achieved. Jesus has come, he has offered himself in sacrifice for his people, God has raised him from the dead, he has ascended to heaven, he has taken the throne at the right hand of the Father, where now he reigns as king-priest.

And we see in—pick it up with verse—well, we’ll start with verse one. “Long ago, at many times, in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son.” All right, God has spoken many times, said lots of things to us over the centuries. He’s revealed himself to us through the prophets, through another prophet, through another prophet, some through visions, some through oracular prophecy; various ways God has revealed himself to us. But now, verse 2, he’s revealed himself in a climactic way. He has spoken to us in his Son. God the Son has come. Well, why is he so well qualified to be the climax of Revelation? Well, keep reading then. “In these last days he’s spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the world.” So he’s creator. “He’s the radiance of the glory of God.” This is reflective of the doctrine of eternal generation that we have seen before. “He’s the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”

So here is God the Son, the Creator, the one who shares the same glory as the Father himself. And now, verse 3 at the end, “after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand… he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.” So here we have his cross work, having made purification for sins. That’s his priestly work done at the cross. I always think of this, I think every time I come to this verse, I think of the King James translation, which I first memorized decades ago. “He has purged our sins.” And I like that translation for several reasons, but one is it seems to me to be the perfect answer to the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory, where you do your works of penance and thereby purge yourself from your sins. And here we have the affirmation that Christ purged our sins for us. He is the one who, through his cross work, has made purification for sins. And then notice, verse three again, after he’s done that, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

And so there’s Psalm 110. He pulls that in for service here. Christ has come. He has offered himself in sacrifice for sins, purged our sins by his sacrifice. Because it is successful, God has raised him from the dead. He has ascended to heaven. He has taken the throne of the universe. He now reigns as King-Priest over all. He has sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

Points of Contrast

Now there’s our theme for this morning: the priestly work of Christ. He makes intercession for his people. It may be helpful to think of this in contrast to the prophet. The prophet is one who represents God to the people. The prophet speaks for God to the people. And in that sense, he brings God to the people. The priest is the opposite. The priest represents the people to God. The priest, through his ministrations, brings the people to God, makes them acceptable to God through his intercessory work on their behalf.

So here we have now Christ spoken of in his priestly work. Just like Hebrews expounds this at some points, Leviticus chapter 16, the annual day of atonement: the animal is brought, sins are confessed over it, it is sacrificed, condemned in place of the sinful people, offered to God, accepted by God, and then on the ground of that successful sacrifice, an acceptable sacrifice, the people are then acceptable to God. That’s the high priest’s work of intercession. Now Hebrews explains this in terms of the work of Christ. All of that in the Old Covenant, the Mosaic Code with its sacrificial system, all of that was prospective of what Christ would do and what he accomplished in his sacrificial death. Verse three again, he made purification for sins.

Now if you want to glance at chapters nine and 10, this is where the writer expounds this notion of Christ’s priesthood at some length. He also does in chapter 7—we’ll get back to that one in a minute—but in chapters 9 and 10 he expounds at great length various points of comparison and really contrast between the work of Christ and the old Levitical priesthood. Note, I think, just three points of contrast here. We’ve seen these before, but we should keep them in mind.

First of all, he contrasts the sacrifices that were offered. All through chapters 9 and 10, he does this. Just as the high priest offered sacrifice for sin, so Christ offered sacrifice for sin. The difference between them, the leading difference between them, is that the Old Testament priests, under the Old Covenant, offered the blood of bulls and goats. Christ offered himself. And so there’s a big difference between the two. Christ then is both priest, offering the sacrifice, and he’s the sacrifice himself. He offers himself in sacrifice. And so those old sacrifices had a symbolic value and established the categories by which a sinful people could be acceptable to God. But at the end of the day, all it was was prospective and symbolic. It’s just the blood of bulls and goats. Blood of bulls and goats could never be enough to atone for human sin. And he unpacks that argument at some length in chapters 9 and 10. But Christ, his sacrifice is different because he offers himself to God. Keep in mind who this is, chapter 1, verses 1 to 3. He’s the radiance of God’s glory, he’s the creator, the exact imprint of his nature, and so on. This is the one who, chapter two, has become incarnate, become one of us to offer himself as propitiation for sins. And now here in chapters nine and 10, let’s contrast that with the old covenant sacrifices. They offered the blood of bulls and goats, Christ offered himself. And so what those old sacrifices pictured and anticipated, Christ’s sacrifice actually accomplished. He made atonement for sins and thus we are accepted in the very presence of God.

That brings us to the second point of contrast that chapters 9 and 10 develop, and that is the contrasting of the tabernacles. Two different tabernacles. In the Old Testament, the high priest entered the most holy place once a year with the sacrificial blood to sprinkle it on the mercy seat above the Ark of the Covenant, and there made atonement for the sins of the people in the most holy place. Jesus also, these chapters tell us, entered into the most holy place with his sacrifice, his superior sacrifice, offering it to God as an acceptable sacrifice on our behalf. The difference then between the old tabernacles and the tabernacle or the most holy place in which Christ entered is that the old tabernacles were just a copy. They’re just a picture of the reality. And that language is used in Hebrews chapter 7, verse 26. Christ has been exalted above the heavens. Chapter 6, verse 19, he entered the holy place behind the curtain. Chapter 9, verse 24, into the holy place not made with hands. Several times throughout these chapters the old Tabernacle is called a copy and a picture and a parable and a symbol of the one in heaven, and that is the one in heaven that Christ entered with his sacrifice.

And then the third point of comparison and contrast: different sacrifice, different tabernacles, and then the contrasting efficacy of their work. The old covenant priests, we’re told throughout these chapters, offered their sacrifices day after day after day after day, again and again and again and again and again. They had to do it every day, every year, every year, every year, sacrifice made again, and he raises the question: wouldn’t you think that at least a thinking Jew going through all of that would wonder if this really works? Why does it have to be repeated? And then he answers with the point, for example here in chapter 10, verses 11 to 14, that Christ offered his sacrifice only once. Chapter 10, verse 11: “Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time, a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down.” There’s our Psalm 110 again. “He sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.” Psalm 110:1. Verse 14: “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

The emphasis is on the finality of Christ’s work. He had a superior sacrifice offered in the original tabernacle, the real one, the real presence of God, and there it is accepted. And because it is accepted of God—and if it is accepted of God—why would you need to do anything again? It’s a complete work, a finished work. And because it’s accepted of God and therefore efficacious to accomplishing what it was intended to do, obtaining the salvation of his people, he sat down. And we often hear that referred to popularly in terms of the priestly work of Christ. That’s part of the point here. There’s no more priestly work to do. The old covenant priests stood daily. Always busy at their work, there’s always another sacrifice to be offered. But Christ’s work is done, so he sat down. But it also has the other significance. Not only has he sat down because his work is finished, but he sat down at the right hand of the Father. It has kingly implications: Christ in his role as king-priest, ruling at the right hand of the Father as priest and as king.

Now, in view in all of this, keep in mind, is the whole package. The saving death of Christ—he’s purged our sins by himself, he’s offered the sacrifice, been accepted in heaven by God himself—there’s nothing you could possibly add to it. The death of Christ, because of his successful death, God raised him from the dead in vindication of his work. He has ascended into heaven where he is enthroned at the right hand of the Father and there makes intercession for us.

Now, back to chapter 7, he draws this out a little bit further. The entire chapter expounds Psalm 110, verse 4, which in turn looks back to Genesis 14 about this enigmatic character Melchizedek. Psalm 110:4, “You’re a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” And all of Hebrews 7 is given to unpack that. We can’t work our way through all of it; we’ll just focus on some of it for our theme this morning. Look down at verse 24. “For he,” that is Jesus, “holds his priesthood permanently.” That’s Psalm 110:4. You are a priest forever. Jesus holds his priesthood permanently. Why? “Because he continues forever.” That is, he’s been raised from the dead. He won’t die. So Jesus holds this priesthood permanently because he continues forever. Then he draws an inference from it, verse 25. “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

So we have first of all an emphasis on the resurrection of Christ. Because he’s raised, he lives forever, he has an undying priesthood—that’s Psalm 110 verse 4, you’re a priest forever. But implicitly here, there’s an emphasis on the ascension as well. He makes intercession. He’s in the tabernacle of heaven making intercession for his people. So the Old Testament priest would go before the Lord, offer the sacrifice. In a sense, they’re bearing witness to the Lord of what’s been done on behalf of the people. And on the ground of what they have done, the people are acceptable to God because atonement has been made. And so also he’s saying here, Christ has entered the true tabernacle, verse 25, to make intercession for them. And there in a sense, he bears witness to God to what has been done on behalf of his people, namely his sacrifice, and now he’s in heaven bearing witness to it, making intercession for his people before the throne.

Now, lying behind all of this is the implicit question: if a priest is making intercession, what happens when the priest dies? Happened all the time in the Levitical priesthood. A priest would come, a high priest would be appointed up, first Aaron, he died; next one, he died; next one, he died, he died; next one died. What if it’s cut off? Or, what if you have a priest who’s not faithful? Who will make intercession for us before God? And here he makes the point that our Lord, having offered himself in sacrifice, has been raised from the dead, ascended to heaven, into the true tabernacle of heaven, presence of God, offers his sacrifice there where it is acceptable, and there he lives endlessly and without interruption to make intercession for his people.

And so he draws another inference in verse 25: “He always lives to make intercession for us.” If Christ being raised, he’s undying, he has an undying priesthood, the never-ending intercession; consequently, he’s able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him. Now this word “uttermost” is very important here. I think probably most of us have heard at some point someone expounding this verse as though the word “uttermost” means something like “guttermost.” God can save the worst of us, the worst sinner. He’s able to save to the uttermost. That’s gloriously true. That’s not what he’s saying here. Uttermost. We could even paraphrase the Greek word here. It means something like he’s able to save all the way to the end. Completely. Forever. He’s able to save forever. Why? Because he has an unending priesthood. He lives forever. He’s making intercession for his people before the throne. He won’t die. He’s the risen Savior. And so he’s able to save them forever. All the way to the end.

You can almost see what lies behind this. Is someone fretting maybe a little? Wondering perhaps about their sinfulness? Will I ever make it? Might I lose it? And what he is saying here is that he lives ever, and we never have to fear his priesthood being surrendered to someone less competent or able to carry it out for us. So in a sense, it’s like do the math. Christ’s sacrifice has been offered. It has been accepted. He has been raised from the dead in vindication. He’s ascended to the throne of the universe where God has installed him as king. And there he’s enthroned forever to make uninterrupted, endless intercession for his people. You add all that up and it means we are safe forever. In Jesus. Our point here is that Jesus is enthroned as priest-king to make intercession for us. That’s Hebrews 7, that’s Hebrews 9 and 10. All we did was glance at that.

Saved By His Life

I want to look at two more important passages. Rather than extend this into four or five messages, I decided to try to run it all into one. Look at Romans, the book of Romans now. Paul picks this up as well. Look at Romans chapter 5. I want you to see how Paul expands the thinking on all of this. Chapter 5, verse 9: “Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, how much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life.”

I want you to follow the thinking here. You’ve got to follow it carefully. This is packed. Let’s go through it again. Notice the contrast. It’s a “since… then” kind of argument. “Since this, then much more that” kind of argument. So at the beginning of verse 9, “Since therefore,” then halfway through the verse, “much more shall.” So it’s “since therefore we have now,” “much more shall.” All right, there’s the argument. “Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood,” what does that mean? Christ has offered himself in our place because he’s paid the penalty of our sin. There’s nothing to be held against us, and we are pronounced righteous in Jesus. We’ve been justified by his blood. So that’s the premise. “Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood,” that’s already a reality. “Much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” That is, in the end, when the wrath of God is poured out, it will not come to us, because we’ve already been justified. It pictures the great day of judgment, when God pronounces guilty or not. We’ve already been pronounced righteous. We’ve been justified by his blood now, and so in that day of judgment, we will be saved. If it’s already happened, it’s a given that we’ll be saved from his wrath in the end. That’s verse nine. See that?

Now he elaborates further in verse 10. Explains it a little further. “For if while”—and there again we have a “since… then” kind of argument—”for if while,” and then halfway through the verse, “much more now,” same kind of argument. “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled”—what’s that word? Reconciled. Remember, we have seen, and under redemption accomplished, that’s just an extension of justification. In justification, we’re declared righteous before God. Reconciliation is an unpacking of that, that we have actually been made friends with God, brought one with him in fellowship. So if we’ve been justified, we’ve been reconciled. “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life.”

Several contrasts going on here. We were enemies, now we’re reconciled. When we were enemies, he gave us Christ through whose blood we were justified and reconciled, and that through his death. That’s the first part of verse 10. “If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,” here’s the other hand: “much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life.” Christ has died for us when we were enemies; then don’t you think now that Christ is alive forever for us, that we are safe in him forever? That’s the logic of the verse. If by his death we were reconciled, think of the implications of his resurrected life. If we’re reconciled by his death, do you think now that at the throne of heaven any accusation against us could stand? He’s there. That’s the point.

Now, he makes that more explicit in chapter 8. Look at verses 33 and 34. “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” And here’s our point. Verse 34: “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God”—there’s Psalm 110:4 again—”who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”

Now, what is this intercessory work of Christ that goes on now? Part of his intercession, the basis of his intercession, was his sacrifice that was offered to God on behalf of his people. Now he’s in heaven making intercession. What does that look like? The Bible doesn’t fill in all of the details for us, but we can get a pretty whole picture from it. Notice in verse 34, it kind of raises the possibility of an accuser in heaven before the judge, accusing us? “Who is he that condemns?” Implicit in that is that there’s someone there who might accuse us. So who would that be? Satan? Would he dare go to the throne of God and say, “Hey, look at Fred Zaswell, he sins in this way and in that way and in this way and in that way, he’s mine”? Could that be what’s going on? There’s courtroom imagery of some kind. Someone making a charge. Verse 33, “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?” Verse 34, “Who is he to condemn?”

And as soon as that charge, as soon as that allegation is made, Jesus Christ is there to answer. “No, no, no, no. He’s mine. I offered myself in sacrifice for his sins. He belongs to me. God raised me from the dead in vindication, and I’m here. As long as I’m here, you won’t have him.” Isn’t that what’s going on in this verse? Paul seems to take a challenging, an almost combative kind of tone here. Christ is there. Who in the world could ever bring successful charge against his people when he’s there? Look at what he’s done. Look at where he is. Look at who he is. Could anyone possibly bring a charge against any of his people while he is there to do that?

Now this, I think, is just marvelous for us to consider. The whole point of it all is that now with Jesus as our advocate, enthroned in heaven as a king-priest, no one can possibly bring a charge against us with any success. It is as though Jesus is standing there saying, “I have died in their place. I’ve been raised from the dead. Not while I’m here will they ever be lost.” As I say, we don’t have all of the picture filled in for us, but it is something like that.

Of course, Wesley captured this in a famous way in a hymn that we love to sing here. “Arise, my soul, arise. Shake off thy guilty fears.” I love that symbolism. Arise, my soul, arise. Shake off thy guilty fears. The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears. Before the throne, my surety stands. My name is written in his hands. Five bleeding wounds he bears, received on Calvary. They pour effectual prayers. They strongly plead for me. “Forgive him. Oh, forgive,” they cry. “Don’t let that ransomed sinner die.” The Father hears him pray, his dear anointed one. That’s Psalm 110, isn’t it? Father hears him pray, his dear anointed one. He cannot turn away the presence of his son.

I think Wesley has captured it very well. It’s exactly the point that Paul expounds here that we see in the book of Hebrews, and it’s entirely in keeping with the New Testament witness. And it’s just a wonderful thing to consider. In fact, I think it’s important for us to ask the question: why has God revealed this to us? This is a behind-the-scenes kind of thing. This is the kind of thing we could never have known apart from his revelation. Christ exalted to the throne of heaven now making intercession for his people. Why does God reveal that for us?

The only answer I can come up with is for our encouragement and our joy and our comfort that we may glory in Jesus Christ all the more. Look at what I have in him. I really can shake off guilty fears. In the wake of my sin, repentant as we must be, I need to think like a Christian. Think as one who knows the gospel, someone who understands who Jesus is and what he has done and what he is doing today. We have an advocate before God the Father in heaven interceding for us. Well then, this is the saving significance of Christ’s ascension and his enthronement in heaven. Because he has taken his seat on the universal throne: one, his kingdom will advance all the way to its completion; and two, not one of his people will ever be lost. Amen. Let’s pray.