I.　Receiving from God the believers as gifts after bringing them to the heavens and giving them to the church—Eph. 4:8:

A.　When the victorious Christ ascended, He led a train of vanquished foes and constituted them into gifts with His resurrection life and gave them to His Body for its building up.

B.　Before Christ gave the believers as gifts to the church, He first had to receive them from God the Father:

1.　In His ascension Christ brought the believers to the heavens in His train of vanquished foes, and then He presented them to the Father.

2.　The Father gave all the believers to Christ as a great gift.

3.　Having received the believers as gifts from the Father, Christ gave them to the church.

II.　Sending forth the Holy Spirit, promised by the Father, upon the believers economically for His propagation to produce the church—Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8; 2:1-4, 16-18:

A.　In order to carry out the work of propagation, Christ's disciples needed to be equipped with the Spirit economically.

B.　After His ascension and enthronement, Christ poured out the economical Spirit upon the believers, who had already become members of the Body essentially:

1.　The sending forth of the Holy Spirit, accomplished by the Lord in His ascension, was economical.

2.　The indwelling of the Spirit of life is essential for our life and living; the outpouring of the Spirit of power is economical for our ministry and work.

III.　As the Lord of all exercising His sovereignty over all for the accomplishment of the divine economy—Acts 2:36; 10:36:

A.　In His ascension Christ is the Lord of all, not only of all men but also of all things.

B.　In His ascension He is the Administrator in the divine government:

1.　He is carrying out God's governmental activities over all persons and things on earth.

2.　He is administrating with the view that all situations on earth may serve the purpose of accomplishing the divine economy.

IV.　As Christ, God's Anointed, carrying out God's commission concerning the New Testament economy—Acts 2:36:

A.　In His ascension He was made the Christ to carry out God's commission through His heavenly ministry.

B.　He is the Christ of God working to carry out the spreading of the gospel and building up of the church, His Body, for the constitution of the New Jerusalem to be God's eternal habitation and manifestation according to God's New Testament economy.

V.　As Head over all things to the church, making all things work together for the producing and building up of the church—Eph. 1:22-23:

A.　In His ascension God gave Christ to be the Head over all things to the church that all things may be subjected to and headed up in Him (Eph. 1:10), through the building up of the church, which is His Body.

B.　The phrase to the church implies a transmission from the ascended Christ to the church, His Body:

1.　Whatever Christ has obtained and attained is being transmitted to the church.

2.　This is the continual transmission into the church of the ascended Christ with the full significance of His ascension.

VI.　As the Mediator of the new covenant, executing that covenant, which is the new testament, enacted and bequeathed to us by His death—Heb. 9:15:

A.　The new covenant consummated with the death of Christ is also a testament with all the things which have been accomplished by the death of Christ bequeathed to us.

B.　Christ is now in the heavens, living, divine, and capable of executing the new testament in every detail.

VII.　As the surety of a better covenant, guaranteeing and ensuring the effectiveness of the new covenant—Heb. 7:22:

A.　Christ is not only the consummator of the new covenant; He is also the surety, the pledge that everything in that covenant will be fulfilled.

B.　Everything in the new covenant will be fulfilled not by us but by Christ as the surety of a better covenant.

VIII.　As our Paraclete, our Advocate with the Father, taking care of our affairs—1 John 2:1:

A.　As our Advocate with the Father, as the One who cares for our case, Jesus Christ the Righteous intercedes on our behalf and pleads for us if we sin.

B.　He takes care of our case on the ground of His being the propitiation for our sins—1 John 2:2.

C.　On the cross He made propitiation for our sins, and now He can propitiate our present situation with the righteous God.

IX.　As our High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec, interceding for us—Heb. 5:10; 7:24-26:

A.　As our High Priest Christ undertakes our case by interceding for us.

B.　He appears before God on our behalf, praying that we would be wholly saved and brought fully into God's eternal purpose.

X.　As a Minister of the true tabernacle, serving God's people with the bequests of the new covenant—Heb. 8:2:

A.　As our heavenly Minister with a more excellent ministry, Christ is carrying out the better covenant by making the facts of the new covenant effective.

B.　As a Minister of the true (heavenly) tabernacle, Christ ministers heaven (which is not only a place but a condition of life) into us, so that we may have the heavenly life and power to live a heavenly life on earth.

C.　As the heavenly Minister He transmits what we need from the Father, who is the source, into our spirit to supply and sustain us. This is the dispensing of the processed and consummated Triune God into our being.

XI.　As the great Shepherd to the church to consummate the New Jerusalem according to God's eternal covenant—Heb. 13:20-21:

A.　The heavenly ministry of Christ is mainly to shepherd the church of God as His flock which issues in His Body.

B.　The eternal covenant is the covenant of the new testament to gain a flock, which is the church as the Body of Christ and consummating in the New Jerusalem.

XII.　Carrying out His sevenfold intensified heavenly ministry as the sevenfold intensified Spirit—Rev. 1:4; 4:5; 5:6:

A.　To intensify His organic salvation.

B.　To produce the overcomers.

C.　To consummate the New Jerusalem.