Jesus descended to earth by way of the incarnation. When He completed “the work the Father gave Him to do” here, He ascended back to the Father. He said, “I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father” (John 16:28 NIV). We make a mistake when we think that with this His mission was over; not so, His descent into the world and into death itself was the first part of His mission. On the day of Pentecost He poured out His own Spirit (John 16:7), beginning the second part of His mission. Then, from His throne, the Cosmic Christ set about the work of “filling all things”. Everything unlike Him, everything under the control of principalities and dark powers, everything filled with human pride, arrogance and selfishness, etc. will be filled with the Lord Jesus Messiah. This is more than I can understand, but it does mean that every messed up thing you know will be set right and made right by our Lord, when He fills all things.
“Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) (Ephesians 4:8–10 ESV).
