JOHN 3:13 - NO ONE HAS ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN...|PART 2
This language of ascending and descending, the spirit descending as a dove and heaven was opened that's actually what this language of messengers ascending and descending means. Heaven is open to Jesus, there's a window open to heaven so to speak that wasn't open to other men just for Jesus and that's because he has the spirit upon Him, notice Joh 1:32. The dove was out of heaven and at Joh 1:51 you're told the heavens were open and that's because the spirit came out of heaven and upon Jesus. When Jesus received the spirit the heavens were opened to him, the messengers ascending and descending indicate direct communication with heaven, It is like an airplane having communication by radio with the airport. If you grab on to this. John 6:38 will shed a lot of light for you, I descended out of heaven. Nobody has really reached that level of intimacy with heaven into the same degree. The Son of Man understands these heavenly secrets so nobody has made this contact with God, and nobody has bridge that gap between heaven and earth.
Here are a couple of verses that will help explain the “ascending and descending” language. Pro 30:3-4 where the context is, the writer is deploring the fact that he hasn't learned wisdom, he's saying I haven't got the knowledge I should have, I don't have the knowledge of the Holy One and verse 4 who has ascended into heaven and descended. Who has gotten this divine knowledge, that's the context. if you read what Jesus says in John 3:13 and in John 6 He's saying that somehow a man or flesh descended out of heaven, because he says that's which came out of heaven gives life to the world. Later he says that which gives life to the world is my flesh, flesh didn't literally come down out of heaven, so you have to understand what Jesus is talking about and a little later in John 6 he says the flesh counts for nothing. When Jesus received the spirit, heaven was open to Him. The Spirit of God which is in heaven and in Jesus, communicates heavenly reality to this man of flesh the Son of man in the spirit. This man ascends to heaven and descends from heaven, this man of flesh ascends to heaven and descends from heaven in the spirit. Fleshly man is doing this and that's something a natural man cannot comprehend but anyone who's been filled with the spirit knows exactly what I'm talking about. When Jesus received the spirit, heaven was opened to Him Remember what happened to John himself when he was in the spirit in the Lord's Day, go to Revelation and read what happened to John Rev 1:10 and try to relate this back to John 3:13 and the lights will start to go on.
John 17 when Jesus is having His prayer He says Father I desire that they, also his disciples whom you have given me be with me where I am so that they may see my glory which you have given me for you love me before the foundation of the world. How in the world are the disciples going to be with Jesus where He is. Same way believers are born from above born of the Spirit, Jesus is in them and they are in him. Jesus is seated at the right hand of God and that's why Paul actually say that we are seated with Jesus in the heavenliest, in the spirit Eph 2:6. This is true and it's not just a metaphor it's actually true literally true. We are also blessed with spiritual blessings....Eph 1:3. Rabbi we know that you have come from God a teacher, God sending Jesus as a teacher from himself. Jesus was not incarnated, he was born as a baby and grow up as a man. Jesus starts talking to Nicodemus about being able to perceive the kingdom of God and how he can't do that unless, he's born from above. And then Jesus says truly, truly I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify what we have seen and you do not accept our testimony. What is Jesus talking about, in John eight and a couple other places Jesus makes it clear what he's talking about. But even if I do judge my judgment is true for I am NOT alone in it but I and the Father who sent me. Even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true I am he who testifies about myself and the Father who sent me testifies about me, we speak of what we know.
If you start thinking about this, where's the Father? in heaven, but the Spirit of the Father is also in Jesus, when Jesus is talking about ascending and descending in the context of being a teacher, look at Joh 14:10,24 Jesus says that the words that He speaks is not His, I do not speak from myself but the Father abiding in me does the works, and in verse 24 He says, the words He's speaking these words are not my own, but His who sent me, but the Father's. Jesus is using these words many times in the Gospel of John, for example at John 17-18 “my teaching is not mine “ remember what Nicodemus said. We know that you have come from God a teacher, “my teaching is not mine but His who sent me” If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching whether it is of God or whether I speak from myself. Jesus is not speaking from himself that's what he's telling you. Jesus says, he who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who is seeking the glory of the one who sent him he is true and there is no unrighteousness in him. John 6:45 Jesus says they will all be taught by God namely God the Father, and keeping in mind that Jesus speaks the words of the Father, that's how they're being taught by God. We are led by His spirit. Jesus is saying my teaching is not mine,
Jesus is saying that his teachings come from God in the spirit and that's how things work in the kingdom of God and you have to be in the spirit. Filled with the spirit to understand and see these things. That's what it means to be born from above and that's why he's telling these things to Nicodemus. Jesus was begotten of God born of the Spirit, the life of this fleshly man was the life of the Spirit in Him. It is the Spirit in us which gives us eternal life. As believers we got an old life but we have died to that life, so that we could have a new life. Jesus speaks in terms of this new life not a human mortal fleshly life but a spiritual immortal life, the life of the Holy Spirit. This life in Jesus was a spiritual life from above, His teachings came to Hm in the spirit. Jesus became a life giving spirit for all believers 1Cor 15:45. Jesus now operates through the Holy Spirit Act 1:2 and He is giving holy spirit to all those who accept Him as their saviour. Keep in mind the Holy Spirit is the Father that is another title for Him. He is the source of all life. Heaven was open to Jesus and the messengers of God ascended and descended upon him which means he was in direct communication with heaven because he was in the spirit. In the spirit this fleshly man is ascending and descending from heaven and that's what Jesus is talking about, He's not literally floating up and down bodily to heaven and earth but in the spirit. He's ascending and descending, the best way to say it is God pours out his spirit from heaven on Jesus, it doesn't mean the spirit left heaven and now the spirit isn't in heaven, and the only place the spirit is is on Jesus.
When God pours out his spirit on Jesus at the Jordan, the spirits is also still in heaven. When you are in the spirit as a believer, you are in that same spirit, which is also in heaven, in that spirit you ascend and descend to heaven. We have direct communication with heaven because we are in the spirit. Jesus is communing with the Father in the same way that John says in his first letter as believers were communing, with the Father and the Risen son. If we're in the Holy Spirit, and they're up there in heaven, how can we be communing with them if they're up there and we're down here? The answer is we're in them and they are in us. Just one last thing there's a longer ending at Joh 3:13 “the son of man who is in heaven” remember when Jesus prayed for his disciples to be where He is, believers can be where He is, in heaven.
No one has received these heavenly things but He who is heaven and who is ascending and descending by the Holy Spirit, because Jesus has that Holy Spirit that descended out of heaven. Heaven was opened to him, that's what the messengers of God ascending and descending mean and He has these teachings from God from heaven to Him. It is the Father's teaching He has accessed directly to the Father who was in heaven. Jesus also teaches his disciples the same thing, I am the way the truth in life no one comes to the Father but by me. Now in this life right here right now, we have access to the Father, our Father who is in heaven. How are we going to have access to the Father right here right now. Unless we ascend into heaven by the spirit, by being born of the Spirit of God. God Bless.
Here are a couple of verses that will help explain the “ascending and descending” language. Pro 30:3-4 where the context is, the writer is deploring the fact that he hasn't learned wisdom, he's saying I haven't got the knowledge I should have, I don't have the knowledge of the Holy One and verse 4 who has ascended into heaven and descended. Who has gotten this divine knowledge, that's the context. if you read what Jesus says in John 3:13 and in John 6 He's saying that somehow a man or flesh descended out of heaven, because he says that's which came out of heaven gives life to the world. Later he says that which gives life to the world is my flesh, flesh didn't literally come down out of heaven, so you have to understand what Jesus is talking about and a little later in John 6 he says the flesh counts for nothing. When Jesus received the spirit, heaven was open to Him. The Spirit of God which is in heaven and in Jesus, communicates heavenly reality to this man of flesh the Son of man in the spirit. This man ascends to heaven and descends from heaven, this man of flesh ascends to heaven and descends from heaven in the spirit. Fleshly man is doing this and that's something a natural man cannot comprehend but anyone who's been filled with the spirit knows exactly what I'm talking about. When Jesus received the spirit, heaven was opened to Him Remember what happened to John himself when he was in the spirit in the Lord's Day, go to Revelation and read what happened to John Rev 1:10 and try to relate this back to John 3:13 and the lights will start to go on.
John 17 when Jesus is having His prayer He says Father I desire that they, also his disciples whom you have given me be with me where I am so that they may see my glory which you have given me for you love me before the foundation of the world. How in the world are the disciples going to be with Jesus where He is. Same way believers are born from above born of the Spirit, Jesus is in them and they are in him. Jesus is seated at the right hand of God and that's why Paul actually say that we are seated with Jesus in the heavenliest, in the spirit Eph 2:6. This is true and it's not just a metaphor it's actually true literally true. We are also blessed with spiritual blessings....Eph 1:3. Rabbi we know that you have come from God a teacher, God sending Jesus as a teacher from himself. Jesus was not incarnated, he was born as a baby and grow up as a man. Jesus starts talking to Nicodemus about being able to perceive the kingdom of God and how he can't do that unless, he's born from above. And then Jesus says truly, truly I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify what we have seen and you do not accept our testimony. What is Jesus talking about, in John eight and a couple other places Jesus makes it clear what he's talking about. But even if I do judge my judgment is true for I am NOT alone in it but I and the Father who sent me. Even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true I am he who testifies about myself and the Father who sent me testifies about me, we speak of what we know.
If you start thinking about this, where's the Father? in heaven, but the Spirit of the Father is also in Jesus, when Jesus is talking about ascending and descending in the context of being a teacher, look at Joh 14:10,24 Jesus says that the words that He speaks is not His, I do not speak from myself but the Father abiding in me does the works, and in verse 24 He says, the words He's speaking these words are not my own, but His who sent me, but the Father's. Jesus is using these words many times in the Gospel of John, for example at John 17-18 “my teaching is not mine “ remember what Nicodemus said. We know that you have come from God a teacher, “my teaching is not mine but His who sent me” If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching whether it is of God or whether I speak from myself. Jesus is not speaking from himself that's what he's telling you. Jesus says, he who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who is seeking the glory of the one who sent him he is true and there is no unrighteousness in him. John 6:45 Jesus says they will all be taught by God namely God the Father, and keeping in mind that Jesus speaks the words of the Father, that's how they're being taught by God. We are led by His spirit. Jesus is saying my teaching is not mine,
Jesus is saying that his teachings come from God in the spirit and that's how things work in the kingdom of God and you have to be in the spirit. Filled with the spirit to understand and see these things. That's what it means to be born from above and that's why he's telling these things to Nicodemus. Jesus was begotten of God born of the Spirit, the life of this fleshly man was the life of the Spirit in Him. It is the Spirit in us which gives us eternal life. As believers we got an old life but we have died to that life, so that we could have a new life. Jesus speaks in terms of this new life not a human mortal fleshly life but a spiritual immortal life, the life of the Holy Spirit. This life in Jesus was a spiritual life from above, His teachings came to Hm in the spirit. Jesus became a life giving spirit for all believers 1Cor 15:45. Jesus now operates through the Holy Spirit Act 1:2 and He is giving holy spirit to all those who accept Him as their saviour. Keep in mind the Holy Spirit is the Father that is another title for Him. He is the source of all life. Heaven was open to Jesus and the messengers of God ascended and descended upon him which means he was in direct communication with heaven because he was in the spirit. In the spirit this fleshly man is ascending and descending from heaven and that's what Jesus is talking about, He's not literally floating up and down bodily to heaven and earth but in the spirit. He's ascending and descending, the best way to say it is God pours out his spirit from heaven on Jesus, it doesn't mean the spirit left heaven and now the spirit isn't in heaven, and the only place the spirit is is on Jesus.
When God pours out his spirit on Jesus at the Jordan, the spirits is also still in heaven. When you are in the spirit as a believer, you are in that same spirit, which is also in heaven, in that spirit you ascend and descend to heaven. We have direct communication with heaven because we are in the spirit. Jesus is communing with the Father in the same way that John says in his first letter as believers were communing, with the Father and the Risen son. If we're in the Holy Spirit, and they're up there in heaven, how can we be communing with them if they're up there and we're down here? The answer is we're in them and they are in us. Just one last thing there's a longer ending at Joh 3:13 “the son of man who is in heaven” remember when Jesus prayed for his disciples to be where He is, believers can be where He is, in heaven.
No one has received these heavenly things but He who is heaven and who is ascending and descending by the Holy Spirit, because Jesus has that Holy Spirit that descended out of heaven. Heaven was opened to him, that's what the messengers of God ascending and descending mean and He has these teachings from God from heaven to Him. It is the Father's teaching He has accessed directly to the Father who was in heaven. Jesus also teaches his disciples the same thing, I am the way the truth in life no one comes to the Father but by me. Now in this life right here right now, we have access to the Father, our Father who is in heaven. How are we going to have access to the Father right here right now. Unless we ascend into heaven by the spirit, by being born of the Spirit of God. God Bless.
