Today I
would like to talk with you about three results, or meanings, of the Ascension
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Before we think about each one in detail, let's just
list them to start off with:
1. The
Ascension of Christ launches a period in history in which the Church must be
His representative in the world.
2. The
Ascension underlines the deity of
Christ.
3. The
Ascension directs our attention to the source, the starting point, of our
salvation.
So let's
begin with the first point: "The Ascension of Christ launches a period in
history in which the Church must be His representative in the world." Christ's ascension appoints and establishes a
period in world history in which God's
nation can be witness of Him in a unique manner that was impossible earlier.
Jesus says to His Church: "You will
be my witnesses."
The apostle
Peter tells us (read 1 Peter 2:9). We are to manifest the excellencies, the majestic glories, of Christ. In as
much as it was God's will to receive Jesus Christ back to Himself and appoint
the Church to do this, as the Body of Christ, it means precisely that God desired
and intended such a period in history, one in which His people, His holy
nation, would, as witness, manifest
the fullness of what it means to be God's people.
The Lord
could have, of course, remained on the earth after His resurrection and
immediately set up the Kingdom. But He didn't. That was His choice, and all
God's choices mean something. The fact of His going away speaks of God's holy
intent to appoint the Church to an age and mission on earth, to sojourn here,
for a time, in a fallen, mutinous world, bearing the light of the Gospel and
testimony of Christ.
Can we
fully comprehend why this was God's
choice? Of course not. But there are in the history of God's work some hints
and glimpses as to why. And the starkest one of all is the history of the
Israelite nation. How long the Lord wrestled with His people, exhorting,
blessing, punishing, forgiving, rescuing, handing over into captivity and
delivering yet again. It all points to the central fact that God desires and wills that on this earth there should be a nation faithful to Him, that lives by faith and in the freedom of
love demonstrates perfect obedience (or as near as Man may ever attain it this
side of eternity), to the glory of His name.
The pain
and grief in the heart of God Himself are audible in the words of the apostle
Paul when he writes (read Romans 9:1-5).
This divine
desire was not fulfilled in the Israelite nation the way it must be fulfilled
before that final, "great and terrible" Day of the Lord. But
Scripture declares that, no matter what, the Lord God was determined to display
the riches of His grace in a chosen people in
this fallen world. And nobody will stop God from enacting what He has
determined will be. (Read Romans 9:22-26).
About this very nation the apostle Peter says: (read 1 Peter 2:9).
Today you
and I are that nation, in a sense
"wandering" in this desert of a fallen world, as we show forth the
life and might of Him Who leads us, just as God once led Israel in the desert;
even more, He lives in us to unfold and display His redemption and salvation
through us. If Christ had not
ascended, then this unique period would never have been—precisely this unique
period in which exactly this divine
intent and desire comes marvelously true once
and for all. It is a special moment in the plan of God that never happened before the advent of Christ, and in fact
it will never happen again—when we
are here, and He is there, but He is in us, and we are in Him,
and all of this is a fallen world desperately needing His witness. For His reasons, desires and will, God so
deigned it to be: that we should be left
here, for now, by our Risen Savior in
this world—but not left as orphans
(read John 14:18).
And now my
second point: the Ascension underlines the deity
of Christ.
A few weeks
ago, at Easter time, I mentioned in a sermon that, for now, only Jesus Christ has been resurrected, in the full and true
sense of the word. Others were raised from the dead but they died again. Only
Christ is risen in true Resurrection.
But we, who have a share in Him,
await a resurrection like His: (read
Romans 6:5). Yes, we will rise like
the Lord Jesus Himself. It's amazing!
But when we consider the Ascension of Christ, we realize
there's a uniqueness in this event that sets it apart even from the
Resurrection. And I can sum it up in one
phrase: we won't ascend to the Father
just like Jesus did! The Ascension is Christ's unique right and glory as God the Son.
Christ
ascended and sat down at the right hand of His Father in heaven. Christ
declared, "I am returning to my
Father." He says (read John 16:28).
Which of us
can say the same? None of us. None of us came from the Father into this world or
will return to the Father from Whom we came. Which of the prophets of God or
the patriarchs of Israel could ever speak such words? None of them! And none of
them dared try.
The
Ascension of Jesus Christ to His Father testifies
uniquely of the deity of Christ, and it perfectly concludes the
earthly/heavenly revelation of His first coming. It reminds us that He Who
returned to the Father is the very One of whom the book of Revelation says:
(read Rev. 21:22-23).
Scripture
doesn't say that the Lord God and the Lamb and the Church are the temple of the
New Jerusalem. Scripture doesn’t say that the Lord God and the Lamb and the
Church are the light of the eternal Kingdom. No. It is the Lord God and the
Lamb Jesus Christ who are the very Light, Glory and Life of the heavenly kingdom
forever. "I am returning to My
Father". (Read Hebrews 1:1-3).
Yes,
surely: Christ will come and take us to be with Him where He is; the apostle
Paul, led by the Spirit of God, tells of a day when we shall meet the Lord in
the air. It is all true. Amen. BUT,
no one but Jesus Christ will ever ascend
to the Father from Whom He came into this world, returning to the glory He
had with the Father before the creation of the world. This ascension, this return, belongs uniquely to the Son of
God.
The third
meaning of the Ascension that I wanted to talk about today was: the Ascension
directs our attention to the source, the starting point, of our salvation.
(Read
Philippians 3:20)
Why do we
await a Savior from heaven? Someone
will reply, "Isn't it obvious? It's because He is in heaven!" Well, yes, of course, but we await a Savior
from heaven also because Heaven—to be precise, the Lord God of Heaven—is the
Source, the Author, the Initiator of all our redemption, rebirth, new life and
world. The ascension of Jesus Christ testifies that we are called there, to our Maker, to reconciliation
with the Father Creator; it testifies that the very essence of life for us is now no longer to be found in this fallen
world but in the risen Son in whom we have an eternal inheritance.
(Read John
14:3; Colossians 1:13; 3:1-4)
We await,
we expect, a Savior from heaven
precisely because heaven—the heaven of God's holiness—is the very place where
the new, redeemed Man in Christ must
arrive and be forever with Him.
(Read John
14:3 again)
This
doesn't mean that our eternal dwelling is "out there somewhere", in
space or in some ethereal dimension we call "Heaven". No. About that
the apostle Peter says clearly (read 2 Peter 3:10), and the apostle John says,
(Rev. 21:1), and also (Rev. 21:5).
There is a
new creation, a physical creation,
awaiting us in which we'll live forever in new bodies that are like the risen
body of Christ Himself. It's a whole new universe God will create, in which
there's no decay, grief or tears. But we await
this ultimate, consummate redemption and glory from where precisely? From heaven, from the very place we are waiting
for our Savior from. God in Heaven is the wellspring and Author of all the
eternity we can possibly hope for. The
Ascension of Christ constantly prods us to look up, to strain our gaze in
expectation, and know where our hope comes from.
"Men
of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been
taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have
watched him go into heaven."
