He had come from so far, stooping from unimaginable heights. The Son of God, whose “greatness is unsearchable” (Psa. 145:3), left His throne and entered into something so very small—a virgin’s womb. It marked the beginning of a journey, the most important mission in the universe, when God invaded our world, not now with judgment for sin, but with a remedy for it, for inside the womb of Mary was the One Who would “save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). But the incarnation was only the beginning. For Christ to achieve this rescue mission, He had to go all the way to Calvary and offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. That path involved rejection, betrayal, sorrow, injustice, abuse, vitriol, false accusations, God-forsakenness, and ultimately death on a cross. And on that cross, He “suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3:18). It was a journey of a little over three decades but was in many ways the longest trek ever travelled and had been planned from a past eternity. However, if His story ended at the cross, or at His tomb, Paul rightly tells us we would still be in our sins (1 Cor. 15:17). Thank God that Christ “was raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). But emerging alive from His tomb on the morning of that third day was still not the end. Luke summarises the events immediately after His resurrection: “He shewed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days” (Acts 1:3). And after promising His followers the coming of the Holy Spirit, “He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight” (v9), Mark adding that He “sat on the right hand of God” (16:19). As there had been many steps downward to the shame of the cross, so would there be many steps upward until He sat down enthroned in heaven above. “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all…” (Eph. 4:10). The present book is a follow-up to the title All the Way to Calvary by the same author and emphasises those precious events in between the Lord’s death and that glorious moment when He was “received up into glory” (1 Tim. 3:16). The One Who was on a tree for us is now on a throne for us. Praise God! May these short meditations evoke worship from our hearts and make us more like the One Who for us has gone All the Way to Glory.
