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QUESTION 161
Could you explain John 3:13 "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven?

ANSWER:
The verse if spoken by our Lord to Nicodemus would have to mean that HE, the Lord Jesus, was omnipresent (an attribute of God only, which means His presence is everywhere at all times). This would be true of Him, because He was God in the flesh, (see 1 Timothy 3:16) so His Presence would be everywhere at all times. However if you understand this verse as spoken by John, the writer through inspiration, it would mean differently. John is writing nearly sixty years after Jesus talked to Nicodemus.

During this time Jesus had died was buried and rose again. After forty days He ascended back to heaven. So John could write, "And no man hath ascended to heaven (apart from the Lord Jesus forty days after His resurrection, but He that came down from heaven (this was at His birth), even the Son of Man which is in heaven" (that is where He is presently and will be until He comes again. Now both of these views are true and scriptural. He is omnipresent and He did come from heaven and has gone back to heaven again; but of the two I am inclined to believe the later is the correct meaning of the above verse. You will notice in the first twelve verses He uses the personal pronoun "I" six times, but it stops at 1 Timothy 3:13 and is not used again in the chapter indicating that Jesus discourse with Nicodemus was finished, and John, the writer, picks up the theme of their conversation reminding readers about the "heavenly things" Jesus spoke of in 1 Timothy 3:12. He would have us to know that "NO MAN" has ever ascended up to heaven, but Jesus and that no one ever came down from heaven, but Jesus and that no man is in heaven, but Jesus. This would mean that no one in a bodily form is now in heaven, only the departed souls of the children of God are there. 1 Timothy 6:16, says that Christ only hath IMMORTALITY (that is a deathless body). He only dwells in the light (God Presence) that NO MAN hath seen or can approach.

All comments and questions to: Harold Smith

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Updated July 2009, by Shelly Allen