Is Jesus in the Heavenlies?

“For Jesus Christ after the resurrection rose up to heaven, and is seated at the [right] of God the almighty Father and from there will come to judge the living and the dead… By which it follows well, that if his body is in heaven, at this same time, then it is not on earth…” (Placard Against the Sacrifice of the Mass, 18 October 1534; translation mine).

The truth that Jesus is objectively in heaven—at this time—is an unavoidable fact in the Scriptures. Or is it? Does the New Testament clearly state that Jesus is in heaven at the right hand of God interceding for His people?

Here are some prominent verses on this topic:

“Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” Hebrews 7:25.

“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2:1.

Do these verses unequivocally teach the current location of Jesus? Or is this truth to be ascertained from other Scriptures?

Another verse on this topic is John 3:13:

“No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.” John 3:13 (NKJ).

However, in the 19th Century A.D. the last line, “who is in heaven,” was determined to be a scribal error and has since been removed.

“No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” John 3:13 (ESV).

Again, another verse on this topic is Romans 14:9:

“For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.” Romans 14:9 (NKJ)

Textual critics removed the verb “rose” from this text. The verse now reads:

“For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” Romans 14:9 (ESV).

When the second verb, “rose,” was removed, the third verb “lived again” became a synonym for the resurrection. The heavenly work of Christ, penned by Paul in a most unique way, appears to have been cleverly extinguished from this verse by the science of textual criticism.

Yet, how can we know the truth? All that we can ascertained is that the Greek Orthodox Greek New Testament contains both readings that the editors of the German Bible Society Greek New Testament now consider glosses. Here they are:

“καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ.” John 3:13 (GOT).

“εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ Χριστὸς καὶ ἀπέθανε καὶ ἀνέστη καὶ ἔζησεν, ἵνα καὶ νεκρῶν καὶ ζώντων κυριεύσῃ.” Romans 14:9 (GOT).

It turns out that these same readings are also found in the Majority Text and Textus Receptus. Might it be that textual critics knowingly or unknowingly altered several verses supporting the early Protestant belief that Jesus is currently interceding for His people in the heavenlies at the right hand of his Father? We cannot know.

However, for us today, from whence is Jesus Christ ministering right now? Is He in heaven with the Father, interceding on behalf of His people? Or is he to be worshipped in the element of the Host through the sacrifice of the Mass? A good many people lost their lives in France after the 1534 Placard Incident because they believed and professed the former.