What does it mean that no one has ascended to heaven (John 3:13)?

Nicodemus can only express his bewilderment: "How can these things be?" he asks. The Lord asks in turn how he can be the teacher of Israel, and yet not know them. Then He affirms His own knowledge, from which He speaks, not with the uncertainty of their traditional teachers. Yet Israel received not His witness, even when He spoke of things upon earth, where what He said could in many ways be tested. New birth was a thing in this way sufficiently within their knowledge: for the work of the Spirit in men had a voice if they could hear it, and the prophets also had borne witness to it. Now if still they believed not, how would they believe if He spoke of heavenly things? of a sphere as to which they would have no witness but His own? For it was plain that there was no one — He is speaking of accessible witness only, as is manifest, not of Enoch or Elijah or the spirits of the dead — no one who had ascended up to heaven, to give any confirmation. His own witness must stand alone. He, the Son of man, had been in heaven; from heaven He had come down; still, by the mystery of His nature, the One who is in heaven. The divine-human Person comes out distinctly here, the One always in heaven, though a man on earth: of no created being could such a thing be said. And here at once comes in the witness of heavenly things; which, alas, Israel would reject, as we know they rejected Him who bore the witness, and of whom the witness was.

There were still the heavenly things. Now if Nicodemus did not understand these earthly things of Israel's blessing, how would he understand if the Lord spoke to him of heavenly things? Now no one had ascended to heaven, so as to be able to bring word of what was there, and of what was necessary to be able to enjoy it, save He who had descended thence, who spoke of what He knew, and bore witness to what He had seen; not the Messiah - that had to do with the earth - but the Son of man, who, as to His divine nature, was in heaven.

The Lord, it is true, could and did go farther than the prophets: even if He taught on the same theme, He could speak with conscious divine dignity and knowledge (not merely what was assigned to an instrument or messenger). "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." (Verses 11-13) He (and He was not alone here) knew God, and the things of God, consciously in Himself, as surely as He knew all men, and what was in man objectively. He could, therefore, tell them of heavenly things as readily as of earthly things; but the incredulity about the latter, shown in the wondering ignorance of the new birth as a requisite for God's kingdom, proved it was useless to tell of the former. For He who spoke was divine. Nobody had gone up to heaven: God had taken more than one; but no one had gone there as of right. Jesus not only could go up, as He did later, but He had come down thence, and, even though man, He was the Son of man that is in heaven. He is a divine person; His manhood brought no attainder to His rights as God. Heavenly things, therefore, could not but be natural to Him, if one may so say.

Only a few isolated passages remain, which I notice because they refer to scripture. "The verse, 'And no man hath ascended up to heaven, save he that came down,' John 3:13, is intelligible as a free comment near the end of the first century, but has no meaning in our Lord's mouth at a time when the ascension had not been heard of." Now he has quoted only half the verse — it goes on, "from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven; and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness." That is, it is clearly presented as applicable before His death, not after His ascension. What precedes makes it still more evident: — "We speak that we do know and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you of earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" This He could do because He had come down from heaven and was divinely in it, though no man else had come down to bring word. Christ was then speaking to Nicodemus, and so speaks in the passage; it is no comment, free or unfree. The Evangelist might have added: — and no one has gone up to do it like Him save He who came down, the Son of man who is now there, being gone back. This would have been very intelligible as his remark, without being free at all. But it is not so. They are the Lord's words at the time, only half of which are given by the reviewer; and their meaning is very simple and very evident. How shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things, when you cannot believe the earthly things of your own prophecies, which as a master in Israel you ought to have understood? And if you do not believe them, you must remain entirely ignorant of heavenly things, for nobody has gone up there to bring word back: but I can tell them; I came from heaven, and not only so, but I can, even in all their divine freshness, for I am in my divine nature always there, and it flows in my human nature to tell it according to my perfect knowledge of it.

In John's Gospel chapter 3 there is further testimony to the deity and omnipresence of the Lord Jesus: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that We do know, and testify that We have seen; and ye receive not Our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven" (vv. 11-13). The Lord Jesus had been speaking of the necessity of new birth, but Nicodemus, "the teacher of Israel," did not know what the Lord meant (vv. 3-10. See J.N.D. Trans.). He should have understood that this new birth, and the moral change which results from it, is necessary before Israel can enter into the earthly blessing appointed for the nation (Ezek. 36). But if there was ignorance in relation to something as basic as this, something essential even for earthly blessing, how could the Lord Jesus speak freely about the heavenly things which filled His heart and that He had come from the Father to make known? He knew all things, just as the Father and the Holy Spirit knew them. He had come down from heaven and could speak of what was in heaven. And in virtue of the glory of His person He would return to heaven again. Indeed, at that very moment when He was speaking on earth He was "the Son of man which is in heaven." He is God and as such He is present everywhere at the same time. The incarnation did not change this. We can distinguish in Him the attributes of deity and the characteristics of humanity, for both deity and humanity are united in His person and this is emphasised here. The Son of man and the Son of God are the same person. Mark 13 verse 32 makes the same emphasis on the other side: "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father."

These are the wonderful truths of the Gospel of John, for here we have the words of One from heaven telling people on this earth what heaven is and what is in heaven. There came One on this earth not only to give eternal life to men, not only to die for sinners on the cross of Calvary that there should be no judgment for them, but to reveal to them what was in the heart of God and what their portion was in heaven if they accepted Him. This He could only do because "no one has gone up into heaven, save he who came down out of heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven".

Heavenly things in their very nature must be wholly inaccessible to men. Their feet tread the earth and they have a familiarity with it, but to heaven they have never come. But here was One wholly competent to reveal heavenly things. An astonishing paradox greets us. He came down from heaven, yet He was in heaven. If however we remember how the Gospel started, the paradox disappears. Here is the Word who was God and became flesh. In becoming flesh He certainly came down from heaven: yet He never ceased to be God who is in heaven. But He said, "the Son of Man which is in heaven." Yes, and evidently we are intended to learn thereby that we are not at liberty to dissect in our minds His person, as some are inclined to do. We must not say, In that position He is wholly as God; or, That He did altogether as Man. We may distinguish of course, but we must not divide. Even when in Manhood His personality is one and indivisible. Hence the Son of Man is the completely competent Spokesman of heavenly things. How different from all who had gone before!

The disciples saw Jesus ascend up to heaven, but a bright cloud received Him out of their sight. But the Lord had said to Nathanael, "Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." The angels came down when He was in Gethsemane, and when He rose from the dead; and they shall ascend after their present service for His saints has been completed. But Stephen saw the heavens opened, and witnessed to Jesus standing at God's right hand. By faith, the saints of God now look through an opened heaven to see Jesus crowned with glory and honour, knowing that the angels obey His word, not only in heaven, but as sent forth to minister to His own on earth.

This wonderful statement was made while the Lord was on earth: "And no man has ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven" (John 3:13). Two men, Enoch and Elijah, were taken up to heaven; they did not ascend in their own right and title. But Jesus, the Son of Man, belonged to heaven; it was His home. He came down from heaven, having the right to leave heaven because of who He was. No angel could come down from heaven of his own volition; to do so would be to leave his first estate, which some angels did, and are reserved in everlasting chains awaiting the judgment of the great day.

Here the Lord anticipates His going up to heaven, speaking of what was yet future as if already accomplished. It is not here His being received up, but His ascending as a divine Person, going to the Father after having finished His work on earth. But He also speaks of Himself as actually there, though still on earth. This brings out the glory and greatness of the Person of Jesus who, though still retaining His place in the unapproachable light, was yet upon earth, a perfect Man, revealing God and making known the Father's Name.

Eternal life could never have been acquired by man apart from the coming of the Son: it was impossible for any man to ascend up to heaven where eternal life belonged to have part in the joys of that blessed scene. Not even Adam innocent could have gone there, much less any of his defiled and guilty progeny. Only the Son of Man who came down from heaven to make known the mind of God could, in His own right, ascend up where He was before; and, being a Divine Person, could add, "even the Son of Man which is in heaven." Such is the mystery of His Person that the Lord could speak of Himself as being in heaven though a Man upon earth. While perfect Man, He can never cease to be what He ever was and is, the Only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father, and dwelling in light unapproachable which no man hath seen or can see.

191 But this brings out the difference of the Lord's instructions and their character here from the way in which the prophet had spoken of the matter. He had stated it prophetically, as the practical operation of Jehovah's grace; and that was all right and in its place. But the Lord had another kind of knowledge. The prophecy had perfect divine authority, because the prophet said what he had been inspired to say. But the Lord knew the things themselves, in their very nature. He could tell absolutely what was needful for God, because He was God and came from God. This is indeed divine teaching, teaching of infinite price. We learn from Him, who essentially knew it, what is needful for God. It tells us what the Christian is. He has the knowledge of God from God Himself, according to His own nature, and is partaker of that nature — in order to know it, and to be able to enjoy it — without which he does not know it; and this brought down in man to us. But as the Lord spake that which He knew, so He testified that which He had seen. He could tell of the heavenly glory and what became it, what was needed to have a part in it. Man did not receive this testimony. The human mind understood human things — what was heavenly and spiritual not at all. That which was heavenly and spiritual was darkness and foolishness to it. Those who received this witness were born again. (Chap. 1:12-13.)

192 Let our hearts dwell a little on this blessed truth. In Christ we have One fully revealing God Himself. His words told His nature, the nature of God Himself; told it to man, so as to reveal what was needed in man in order that he might have to do with God in blessing, but told it directly, fully. His words were a revelation of the divine nature, which He knew. We are in the full light, with God Himself. We have — not merely messages, however true, and however blessed it be to have them from God, but what leaves nothing behind — the revelation of God Himself, and in His nature; so that what is perfect in blessedness is revealed, and revealed perfectly. Here it is nature first of all, then the fact of what He had seen; but it is the competency of witness specially which is expressed in this verse. But this necessarily leads to the nature of the things. No prophet could say "We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen." (Ver. 11.) God revealed future things to them, or sent messages to the people; and they announced the one and the other. But if Christ announced what He knew, and testified that which He had seen, these were necessarily heavenly things. Of course He knew what had been foretold of God; but, in speaking of the nature needed in order to have to say to God, and of that which He knew and had seen, He goes beyond that to that which is above. Thither consequently He leads us. "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." (Ver. 13.) No one had gone up to bring down word of what was there. But He came thence; and He could tell perfectly what was there, and was ever there, for He was God. But this divine knowledge was knowledge for man; for it was the Son of man had it. Heaven and man were connected in the person of Christ. If man out of Christ — as all yet were — had not in any sense entered there, still there was One who was in His person the revealer of that which was heavenly. But how could man — who could not, even if a teacher of Israel, understand the reality of the new nature (even as needed for the known earthly things), for he thought in the old nature — understand heavenly things? But this brought out another truth, the necessary door of what was heavenly; but if so, it is the open door to every one that should believe. Not only was it necessary to be born again, even for earthly blessings, but there were further counsels of God.