The Present & Future Work of Christ

The present work of Christ—The present work of Christ begins with His exaltation by God, after the completion of His “finished” work in His death and resurrection.

The first aspect of His present work was the sending of the Holy Spirit to dwell in His people. “If I do not go away,” He had said to his disciples in the Upper Room, “the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). The fulfillment of this promise was announced by Peter on the Day of Pentecost: “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear” (Acts 2:33).

The promise of the Holy Spirit can be traced back to John the Baptist, who prophesied that the One who was to come after him, mightier than himself, would “baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:8).

But the present work of Christ that receives the main emphasis in the New Testament is His intercession. Paul, quoting what appears to be an early Christian confession of faith, spoke of “Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Rom. 8:34). So too, the writer to the Hebrews says that “He ever lives to make intercession” for His people (Heb. 7:25). He describes in detail Jesus’ exceptional qualifications to be their high priest.

Jesus’ presence with God as His people’s representative provides the assurance that their requests for spiritual help are heard and granted. To know that He is there is a powerful incentive for His followers. No good thing that Jesus seeks for them is withheld by the Father.

The exaltation of Christ is repeatedly presented in the New Testament as the fulfillment of Psalm 110:1: “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” This means that Christ reigns from His present place of exaltation and must do so until all His enemies are overthrown. Those enemies belong to the spiritual realm: “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26). With the destruction of death, which occurred with the resurrection of Jesus, the present phase of Christ’s work gives way to His future work.

The future work of Christ—During His earthly ministry, Jesus declared that He had even greater works to do in the future. He specified two of these greater works: the raising of the dead and the passing of final judgment. To raise the dead and to judge the world are prerogatives of God, but He delegated these works to His Son. While the Son would discharge these two functions at the time of the end, they were not unrelated to the events of Jesus’ present ministry. Those who were spiritually dead received new life when they responded in faith to the Son of God. In effect, they were passing judgment on themselves as they accepted or rejected the life He offered.

The raising of the dead and the passing of judgment are associated with the second coming of Christ. When Paul dealt with this subject, he viewed Christ’s appearing in glory as the occasion when His people would share His glory and be displayed to the universe as the sons and daughters of God, heirs of the new order. He added that all creation looks forward to that time, because then it “will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21).

Both the present work of Christ and His future work are dependent on His “finished” work. That “finished” work was the beginning of God’s “good work” in His people. This work will not be completed until “the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6), when the entire universe will be united “in Christ” (Eph. 1:10).