On things unseen this week, we've been thinking about the ascension of our Lord Jesus. Yesterday

was ascension day in the Christian year, and we've been reminding ourselves of the way

the Lord Jesus continues his ministry as prophet and priest and king. There are some fine

explanations of this, and the Westminster catechisms. And I commend to you questions 43

to 45 in the larger catechism, and questions 23 to 26 in the shorter catechism. But I especially

love the answer the shorter catechism gives to the question, how does Christ execute

the office of a king? It focuses on what Jesus is doing now. Christ executed the office

of a king in subduing us to Himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining

and conquering all His and our enemies. Earlier in the week when I said that Christ ascension

was His journey through the heavens to His coronation at the right hand of God, I hinted

at the big picture of Christ's kingly ministry. He's now begun to exercise the dominion or

authority that He's one as the second man and the last Adam, recovering and then completing

the dominion that Adam was given and called to extend, but in his sin actually lost.

And he's doing that now, according to Matthew 28 verses 18 to 20, through the spread of

the gospel. But what does this mean for us as individuals when we become Christians?

Well, the first implication is that when we become Christians, we come under the dominion

or Lordship of Christ. He subdues us to Himself. You know, I feel I shouldn't really need

to say this, but because there's so much confusion today, I think I should. We don't come to Christ

as our Savior without simultaneously coming to Him as our Lord. And for the simple reason

that you can't have half a Christ anymore, then you can have half a wife. Yes, it's important

and perhaps for some it's helpful to say that our trust in our fellowship with the Lord

Jesus is a progressive reality like any relationship with any person. We're called to grow in our

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