THIS JESUS WHO WAS TAKEN UP FROM YOU INTO HEAVEN, WILL RETURN JUST AS YOU SAW HIM GOING TO HEAVEN
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: “Hierdie Jesus wat van julle opgeneem is in die hemel, sal net so kom soos julle hom na die hemel sien opvaar het.”
Someone wrote to me as follows:
“In 2 KINGS 2:11 Elijah ascended to Heaven – but according to JOHN 3:13, no one on earth has been in heaven except He who came from heaven.
It’s not that clear to me?”
Let’s just read John 3:13 – not unconnectedly, but in context.
Why do I want us to read it in context?
Because this is an excellent example of how much confusion satan can spread, if someone, as there are many, builds an entire gospel, by taking only one verse and only wants to preach what he or she reads in that verse/section and so a whole new gospel is preached – but not the gospel of Jesus Christ.
.We read:
JOHN 3:9-15
9Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be possible?” 10Jesus replied, “You are the [great and well-known] teacher of Israel, and yet you do not know nor understand these things [from Scripture]? 11I assure you and most solemnly say to you, we speak only of what we [absolutely] know and testify about what we have [actually] seen [as eyewitnesses]; and [still] you [reject our evidence and] do not accept our testimony. 12If I told you earthly things [that is, things that happen right here on earth] and you do not believe, how will you believe and trust Me if I tell you heavenly things? 13No one has gone up into heaven, but there is One who came down from heaven, the Son of Man [Himself—whose home is in heaven]. 14Just as Moses lifted up the [bronze] serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross], 15so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life [after physical death, and will actually live forever].
First Jesus says that He does not preach on hearsay testimony, but He preaches what He knows and what He has personally seen:
JHN 3:11 11I assure you and most solemnly say to you, we speak only of what we [absolutely] know and testify about what we have [actually] seen [as eyewitnesses]; and [still] you [reject our evidence and] do not accept our testimony.
Then we come to verse 13
JOHN 3:13 13No one has gone up into heaven, but there is One who came down from heaven, the Son of Man [Himself—whose home is in heaven].
Jesus says here and now I use my words:
I was there.
I have seen and I know – that is why I am speaking to you from heaven, so to speak, from home.
Never has anyone spoken to you who came out of heaven – and will go back there again:
JOHN 3:13 NLT
No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven.
I, Jesus, who is speaking to you now, come from Heaven. And I, Jesus, will again – (after I have sacrificed Myself on a cross for all people who want to accept Me as their Lord and Saviour) – return to heaven from this earth.:
JHN 3:14 14Just as Moses lifted up the [bronze] serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross],
JHN 3:15 ], 15so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life [after physical death, and will actually live forever].
To summarize:
John does not testify here that Jesus is saying that no one has ever ascended to heaven -because Enoch and Elijah, for example, we know from testimony from the Word, went to heaven alive:
GEN 5:24 And [in reverent fear and obedience] Enoch walked with God; and he was not [found among men], because God took him [away to be home with Him].
2 KINGS 2:11 As they continued along and talked, behold, a chariot of fire with horses of fire [appeared suddenly and] separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
Therefore, what we read in John 3:13, what Jesus tells us is that no one but Jesus ever came down from heaven, and as a man moved among men and taught them, except Himself – and He did not only come from heaven and saved and taught us, but He also returned from this earth, back into heaven.
However, I will not have shown you the full truth from the Word, if I do not also share with you the following from our Lord’s precious holy words:
Our Lord Jesus descended from heaven to earth, to save us – who believe in Him, and accept Him as our Lord and Saviour. As we also read in John 3:14-15:
JOHN 3:14 14Just as Moses lifted up the [bronze] serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross],
JOHN 3:15 15so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life [after physical death, and will actually live forever].
Jesus, who descended from heaven, also, as He told us, ascended to heaven again.
If you now read the following, also remember that you are now going to read the last prophecy about Jesus, before His second coming, which has not yet been fulfilled.
Then think about it –
That if all the prophecies that were prophesied about Jesus – hundreds of years apart before Jesus ‘ birth, had come true – and that this prophecy was not prophesied by people like all the others – but by heavenly beings. Well then you can be sure that also this prophecy underlined by JOHN 3:13, will moreover come to fulfillment:
ACTS 1:9-11 The Ascension
9And after He (Jesus) said these things, He was caught up as they looked on, and a cloud took Him up out of their sight.
10While they were looking intently into the sky as He was going, two men in white clothing suddenly stood beside them,
11who said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This [same] Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will return in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”
Do you remember what you first read in John 13 to 15?
Now let’s read on to the essential verse 18:
JOHN 3:13-18
13No one has gone up into heaven, but there is One who came down from heaven, the Son of Man [Himself—whose home is in heaven]. 14Just as Moses lifted up the [bronze] serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross], 15so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life [after physical death, and will actually live forever].
16“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son (Jesus Christ), so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him.
18Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him [as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation];
but the one who does not believe [and has decided to reject Him as personal Savior and Lord] is judged already [that one has been convicted and sentenced], because he has not believed and trusted in the name of the [One and] only begotten Son of God [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, the One who alone can save him]
Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour?
Just read here what our Lord says in His precious holy Word about all those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour:
JOHN 1:12 But all who accepted him , to them he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name;
Sakkie