Beloved friends, we greet you in the precious name of our beloved Lord and Savior, and we welcome you to the closing meditation on John chapter sixteen and verse twenty-eight. When the Lord Jesus said to his disciples, I came forth from the Father, and am coming to the world, again I leave the world, and go to the Father. We have emphasized that the pre-existence of our Lord Jesus, His blessed incarnation and His atoning death have been considered from our text. Now we come to the final words of our Savior when He said, I go to the Father. For from the Father we know that He came, back to the Father He returned. The words of John chapter thirteen in verse three. can certainly be substantiated by saying he came from God and he went to God. Now we must consider from these words his resurrection and his glorification in heaven above. The history of the Christ not only embraces his pre-existence, his incarnation and his crucifixion. but it embraces his resurrection. For by resurrection he returned back to his father to be glorified. My beloved, let me emphasize that the resurrection of Christ, part of his own history, is a fundamental doctrine of Christianity. Go through the book of the Acts, read the New Testament epistles all through. The resurrection of Christ is an essential doctrine found in them all. And it is an important part in applying this doctrine to the believing sinner, the truth of God's great salvation. Oh, the joy of knowing the fact of His resurrection. The fact of His resurrection is an essential truth in being saved. I quote the words of Romans ten, nine and ten. if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved they told in first Corinthians fifteen Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures the resurrection of Christ was the real resurrection of his body His body was seen, his body was touched, as you may read in the Gospels. He had flesh and bones, as you may read in Luke twenty-four. He was recognized after his resurrection by his disciples, which you may read of in the account of the Gospels. And you can also mark the fact that when he comes back again to the world, he will be a visible body. will have the marks of his crucifixion upon it. You'll find that recorded in Revelation chapter one, verse seven. Behold, he cometh again with clouds, and every eye shall see him, even they which pierced him. And they'll see the marks of his crucifixion. Zechariah chapter twelve and verse ten declares that in that coming day the nation of Israel will be restored. the godly remnant will look upon him whom they have pierced. And they may raise the question, what are these wounds that we see in thine hands, as recorded in Zechariah chapter thirteen? And in the Scriptures, in the New Testament, there are twelve different appearances of the risen Christ recorded. But going back to the Father, He went back not only resurrected, but he was to be glorified. He was to be exalted because of the death that he had suffered. We quote the words of Philippians two nine. God has given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. And thus he was exalted and glorified. The book of Hebrews tells us in chapter one and verse three, When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Mark and Luke and Paul and Peter, they all refer to him being glorified. And even in the prayer of John's Gospel in chapter seventeen, the Lord Jesus speaks of being a glorified man in heaven. And my beloved, may I say, He is not only resurrected and ascended, he is glorified at the right hand of God. Stephen, the first model of the church in Acts chapter seven and verse fifty-five, declares, I see his glory. Paul was blinded at his conversion in Acts chapter nine by the sight of that glorified man. John the Apostle on the Isle of Patmos in the book of the Revelation declares he saw his glory and describes the glory of the risen Christ. And beloved, my fellow believer, you and I, thy faith, according to Hebrews two, two, nine, we can behold his glory, his crown with honor and glory in him. We see Jesus there. Yes, beloved, he came from the Father. He returned to the Father. And you may go to Bethlehem today. Many will be going to Bethlehem on this occasion. Many may go to Nazareth. Many go to Galilee. Many go to Jerusalem. Many may go to Calvary. Many go to the garden of the tomb. But it's empty. You may go anywhere in the world today. But you will not find him in this world. Literally. Fatherly. Personally. He's yonder in the heavens above. At the right hand of God. with the marks of his suffering upon his body. My beloved friend, the history of Christ is also the history of Christianity. In twenty-two words, our Blessed Lord tells the history of himself and even the history of Christianity. I guarantee that you and I could never say so much about him in such few words. And when you seek to celebrate with many others, his work, don't stop there. Go back to eternity before the world even began and say, the one I remember at Christmas time, he was the pre-existent Son of God in the presence of his Father in all eternity past. Praise God that freed you and for me. He left heaven. He came down here. to do a work for our redemption. A finished and an eternal, efficacious work that saves every sinner who will trust his atoning sacrifice, confessing their sinnership, repenting of their sins and forsaking them. Thank God he lives forever to be a savior, to save and to keep. He's glorified and he's exalted. Oh, my beloved friend, Please take in the full history of Christ. But then don't let me forget to tell you the history of the Christ who is not yet finished. Thank God we know he's coming again. He's coming again. He's coming for his blood-bought church. He's coming to reign as the Mesmethianic king over all the earth. He's coming to be the king over the earth for one thousand years, the millennium. And even after that, when he presides at the last judgment of the great white throne, the judgment of all the unsaved dead when it is finished, he still goes on and on and on forever, the universal ruler of the universe, through endless ages. My beloved, let me state, the history of Christ will never end. And when the future eternal ages roll on, never ending, Christ will be the centrality of eternal glory. His history had no beginning. His history has no end. Now my fellow listener, my friend, I want to tell you something. He had no beginning, but you and I did have a beginning. He will never have any ending. But you and I will never end either. We had a beginning. We were born into this world. You did not have any beginning before you came to the earth. Don't tell me. You can't tell me that foolishness. Though I know there's many that claim to be incarnated coming back. Even the Egyptians believed in reincarnation. I don't. I believe in incarnation, but the incarnation of the Son of God. I had a beginning. You had a beginning. But let me remind you, you and I have no ending. Now the question is this. Please see more than a babe in the manger. Please see more than a boy who lives in Nazareth, a man who walked in Galilee, and one who suffered and thank God died for us at Calvary to save our souls, that we might be with him in eternal glory. I tell you, my dear friend, when this earthly life ends for you, I hope you know where you're going and that the choice will have been made that you want to go to be with Christ, who is far better. My beloved, please let me state to you very frankly, firmly, this pre-existent Son of God, the eternal Son of God, who became a babe in Bethlehem's manger and a man, boy and man that lived in Nazareth in Galilee, but who gave himself to die for our sins, his glory and power will never have an end. His history will go on. But may I ask you the question, will you spend that eternal history with him? Will you be with him in eternity? May I say frankly, firmly, I'm looking forward to going to be with Christ. For I shall be with him forever, spirit and soul and body, redeemed because he died for me upon the cross. Oh, my beloved, if you want the true history of Christ, and if you want the true history for yourself, you better get it from the Bible. Either you and I are going to heaven to be with him, or we're going to go to hell where we can never be with him. Which will it be, my friend? Oh, my beloved, apply the truth. The one who came at Bethlehem. went on through Nazareth and Galilee and to the cross of Calvary, and died and was buried and rose again, provided in eternal salvation, that you might spend eternity with him forever. Believe it, receive it today. Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, please make the Savior precious to every listener. as their own savor in Jesus' name. Amen.