JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations."
(Mt 28:18-20; Mk 16:15; Lk. 24:47-48; Jn 20:21; Ac 1:8)
The one who was not esteemed but despised by people began to be universally heralded
as the Savior of the world on and after Pentecost. He was not the exclusive possession of any
race or nation, He belonged to the whole world.
Jesus also, according to this hymn,
". . . was believed on in the world."
BELIEVED ON IN THE WORLD
The miraculous expansion of the church is here stated with utter simplicity. A mere 70
years following Jesus' death and resurrection the gospel had gone out to the ends of the then
known world. People since then from virtually every tribe and nation have worshiped Jesus as
their Lord and Savior, which had been predicted by the prophets (Gn 12:3; Ps 72:8-11; Am 9:11-
12; Mic 4:12).
TAKEN UP IN GLORY
Jesus not only appeared in a physical body, met every demand of the Holy Spirit in the
sight of the angels, was believed on throughout the world, but the last line of the hymn states that
"[He] was taken up in glory."
The story of Jesus begins in heaven and ends in heaven. He came from heaven to be born
as a little baby on earth. He lived as a servant. He was branded as a blasphemer. He was crucified
a heretic and criminal on a cross. He rose from the dead with the nailprints in His hands. And He
ascended to heaven as the God-Man with those nailprints still upon Him. Once God the Son
becomes a man He remains a man. He never ceases to be a man. In eternity Jesus Christ remains
the God-Man, God incarnate.
The crowning act of Jesus' mission and ministry here is seen as the Ascension where
Jesus was taken up in glory:
"While the echo of men's voices, 'Crucify, crucify,' had scarcely died, heaven
opened wide its portals, and, upon receiving back its victorious King, resounded
with the echoes of the jubilant anthem, sung by ten thousand times ten thousands
and thousands of thousands, 'Worthy is the Lamb!"6
This hymn of the early church then is a hymn of adoration of the Christ. It is a confession
of Christ's glory from His incarnation to His coronation.