Where Is Jesus Now?

Forty days after his resurrection, the risen Jesus ascended bodily into heaven, as the disciples watched (Acts 1:9). We confess it in the Creed: “he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” So the answer to “where is Jesus now?” is that the same crucified and risen Christ—still fully God and fully man, still bearing the scars of his wounds—reigns at the Father’s right hand. His human body did not evaporate; he took our humanity with him into the presence of God.

The ascension is not Jesus retiring or going away for good. To sit “at the right hand” is biblical language for ruling with full authority. God “seated him at his right hand… far above all rule and authority… and put all things under his feet” (Ephesians 1:20-22). So Christ is not absent from the world’s affairs; he is actively reigning over them, guiding history toward his purposes, even when his rule is hidden. The King is on his throne right now.

And here Lutherans add a point with real consequences: God’s “right hand” is not a golden chair in some far corner of the sky but his almighty power, which is everywhere. So the ascension did not lock Christ’s humanity away at a distance. Exalted to the right hand, the whole Christ—true God and true man—is present wherever he wills to be. This is how he keeps his promise to be with his Church always, and how his true body and blood can be given at ten thousand altars at once. The ascension does not put Christ farther from you; it is precisely what places him, in his full person, at his Table for you.

And he is doing two things for you there. First, he intercedes: “he always lives to make intercession” for his people (Hebrews 7:25). Your Savior is not a memory but a living advocate, pleading his finished work on your behalf before the Father. Second, he prepares the way and pours out his Spirit—for the ascension is what made Pentecost possible, and Christ now rules his Church through Word and Sacrament.

There is comfort here in a strange direction: because Jesus is at God’s right hand, and because you are united to him by faith, your true life is already anchored there. “Seek the things that are above, where Christ is” (Colossians 3:1). And the angels’ promise still stands: “this Jesus… will come in the same way as you saw him go” (Acts 1:11). He ascended visibly; he will return visibly. Until then, he reigns—for you.