The Scriptures tell us that Jesus Christ is in Heaven,
seated at the right hand of the Father. He has been there, going about His
Father's business, since His ascension, as we know from Peter's words,
spoken on Pentecost:
29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of
the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is
with us unto this day.
30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath
to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would
raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his
soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this,
which ye now see and hear.
34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The
LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
35 Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath
made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (KJV)==Acts
2:29-36
Please notice that Christ is at the right hand of God
(vv. 33,34), not somewhere else, either here on in the heavens. The writer
uses a common Greek idiom 'Till I make' (heôs an thô) for the future.
Christ's dominion as Mediator will last until God's plan for the Kingdom is
completed (1 Corinthians 15:23-28), when complete subjugation will come.
This perhaps is a reference to the ancient custom when victorious kings
would place their feet upon the necks of their vanquished enemies (Joshua
10:24).
In v.34, Peter is quoting Psalm 110:1, "the Lord said
unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand." By the Lord that said, is meant
"Jehovah" the Father, who spoke the words that follow on the occasion of
Christ's ascension and entrance into heaven. The person these words were
spoken to, Messiah, had finished the great work of man's salvation
And the words spoken prophetically through the Psalmist
are:
"sit thou on my right hand" -- a figurative phrase,
expressive of the exaltation, dignity, power, and authority of the
Messiah; and of the honor done to him – an honor never granted to the
angels, nor to any mere man:
"till I make thine enemies thy footstool" -- till all
the enemies of Christ and His people, are subdued. Who are the enemies of
Christ and His people? They are carnal professors, such as the Pharisees,
and profane sinners, none of whom would subject themselves to His rule.
They include the world, the devil, the antichrist, all the powers of
darkness and the last enemy, death itself.
Jesus used these same words when speaking to the
Pharisees of Messiah (cf Matthew 22:44). There is no biblical record that
the Pharisees disputed these words were written by the prophet David and
concerned the promised Messiah. That Jews accepted these facts is clear from
a few selections from the Midrash:
Says R. Joden, in the name of R. Chijah, in time to
come the holy blessed God will cause the king Messiah to sit at his right
hand; as it is said, "the Lord said unto my Lord", etc.'--Midrash
Tillira in Psal. xviii. 35. apud Galatin. de Cath. ver. arcan. l. 8.
c. 24)
we do not find any man, or prophet, whose birth was
prophesied of before the birth of his father and mother, but Messiah our
righteousness; and of him it is intimated, "from the womb of the morning",
&c. i.e. before the womb of her that bore thee was created, thy birth was
prophesied of: and this these words respect, "before the sun, his name is
Yinnon", #Ps 72:17 i, e. before the creation of the sun, the name of our
Messiah was strong and firm, and he shall sit at the right hand of God;
and this is what is said, "sit at my right hand.--R. Isaac Arama in
Gen. xlvii. 6. spud ib. l. 3. c. 17
We do not know when Christ will return to claim His
bride, the Body of Christ, the True Church, for God has not chosen to make
that information known to us. (Matthew 24:36). However, when He does return,
it won't be a secret and He won't come as some created object. He will come
in power and glory, and His angels will gather up His elect:
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days
shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the
stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then
shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they
shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of
heaven to the other.--Matthew 24:29-31
When Messiah returns, it will be in the same manner as He
ascended. There is nothing in Scripture to indicate He will make a multitude
of descents on priestly command in order to dwell, no matter how briefly, in
a wafer or cup of wine. Rather, as the angels informed those present at His
ascension:
9 And when he had spoken these things, while they
beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold,
two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?
this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in
like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.--Acts 1:9-11
Rome holds to a different understanding. She teaches that
Christ also dwells in the consecrated host, sometimes referred to as the
Blessed Sacrament. Now, given that Rome claims there are some one billion
souls under her umbrella, I daresay it would not be an exaggeration to
suggest that Catholic priests, in the epiclesis, invoke Christ's
words and the power of the Holy Spirit call Christ down from His heavenly
post millions of times every day, with the result that the Real Presence
(Christ's body and blood, soul and divinity, according to Rome) may be found
in tens of millions of consecrated hosts at any given moment. Christ does
not long remain, really and substantially according to Rome, in the form of
wine or wafer, abandoning that form at the moment the transubstantiated
material begins to undergo corruption.
But what about the hosts that are consecrated but not
consumed? These hosts, referred to as the Blessed Sacrament, retain the real
presence (body and blood, soul and divinity) according to Roman doctrine.
Apparently, once transubstantiated, they cannot be untransubstantiated. A
number of these are to be stored in Roman Catholic churches, kept in a
ciborium or tabernacle with a light burning before it to indicate the
presence of Christ.
Can. 939 Consecrated hosts, in a quantity sufficient
for the needs of the faithful, are to be kept in a pyx or ciborium, and
are to be renewed frequently, the older hosts having been duly consumed. (
Can. 940 A special lamp is to burn continuously before the tabernacle in
which the blessed Eucharist is reserved, to indicate and to honour the
presence of Christ.--1983 Code of Canon Law
The place where Christ is stored, according to Rome, must
be thoughtfully located, in a place where the dignity and security of the
tabernacle might facilitate adoration. It is worthy of noting, I believe,
that other items might also be locked up in the Tabernacle with Christ the
Blessed Sacrament. Most noteworthy is the oil used in anointings, which is
venerated (surely with dulia)
1183. The tabernacle is to be situated 'in churches
in a most worthy place with the greatest honor.'[Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei:
AAS (1965) 771.] The dignity, placing, and security of the Eucharistic
tabernacle should foster adoration before the Lord really present in the
Blessed Sacrament of the altar.[Cf. SC 128.]
"The sacred chrism (myron), used in anointings as the
sacramental sign of the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit, is
traditionally reserved and venerated in a secure place in the sanctuary.
The oil of catechumens and the oil of the sick may also be placed there.--CCC;
Op. cit.
Can it be that Christ, Whom Scripture tells us is in
Heaven at the Father's side and for Whom the Holy Spirit was sent to be our
Helper during His absence, can also be locked up in a million or more
tabernacles around the world? In the article, "The Real Presence of Christ
in the Eucharist," the Catholic Encyclopedia tells us:
The Adorableness of the Eucharist is the practical
consequence of its permanence. According to a well known principle of
Christology, the same worship of latria (cultus latrić) as is due
to the Triune God is due also to the Divine Word, the God-man Christ, and
in fact, by reason of the hypostatic union, to the Humanity of Christ and
its individual component parts, as, e.g., His Sacred Heart. Now,
identically the same Lord Christ is truly present in the Eucharist as is
present in heaven; consequently He is to be adored in the Blessed
Sacrament, and just so long as He remains present under the appearances of
bread and wine, namely, from the moment of Transubstantiation to the
moment in which the species are decomposed (cf. Council of Trent, Sess.
XIII, can. vi). --Catholic Encyclopedia, Op. cit.
Where do YOU believe Christ is? The Bible tells us He is
in Heaven, doing the Father's work. Rome tells us He is in heaven AND locked
up in a million or more ciboria or pyx or in the mouths, throats or stomachs
of tens of millions of Catholic faithful.
As for me, I go with what God tells us in the Scriptures.
