Asension - some jottings

Although it may have passed you by, Thursday was ascension day, the day 40 days after the resurrection of Easter Sunday and 10 days before Petecost or Whit Sunday, Whitsun, when the disciples received the Holy Spirit.

Ascension day is the day when we remember that the risen Lord Jesus was taken up to the glory of heaven.

It might seem like cartoon-land fairy-story kind of stuff: Jesus taking off into heaven like a human rocket.

(I don’t know how fast he went).

But the ascension is charged with theological significance.

Although we rather neglect it, in the Bible, the ascension is a really big deal.

What I want to do in the next few minutes is not to expound one particular Biblical text (as I normally would) but give something of a biblical and systematic theological account of the ascension, or, less grandly, at least some reflections on it.

The ascension completes the death and resurrection of Jesus.

In the Bible the cross, resurrection and ascension go together.

They are Jesus’ way back to his Father and the glory of heaven.

The gift of the Spirit is the consequence as the ascended Jesus asks his Father to send the Holy Spirit to be another Counsellor to the disciples.

Without Jesus’ going there would be no coming of the Spirit.

The resurrection and ascension prove that the cross worked.

When Jesus died, he paid the penalty for sin for all those who would put their trust in him.

Jesus drained the cup of God’s wrath to the dregs for us.

Hell spent all its furry on him, that there might be none left for you and me.

In John’s gospel the cross is Jesus’ glory:

The cross is Jesus’ throne: as he dies, the title above his head says “The King of the Jews” and he wears a crown of thorns.

Jesus is lifted up and glorified on the cross, but its as Jesus ascends to heaven that his glory is most clearly seen.

The ascension is the necessary conclusion to Jesus’ cross-work, the fulfilment and authentication of it.

Jesus’ resurrection and ascension are God’s seal of approval on Jesus’ life and death.

The resurrection and ascension should give us confidence that Jesus was who he claimed to be, that his work is done, that he is the Father’s beloved Son with whom he is well pleased.

When Jesus ascends to heaven he sits down.

Big deal, you might think, but in fact it really matters.

What do you do when you come in from work?

Sit down.

You collapse into your favourite armchair, you kick off your shoes, your wife brings you the paper and a single malt and your slippers and a pipe – or something like that anyway.

You sit down and sigh a sigh of deep satisfaction.

You relax in your chair, you put your feet up.

Work done.

Job finished.

Remember Jesus’ words from the cross: “It is finished!”

Not I’m finished but it’s finished.

Jesus’ work is done.

The Christian faith is all about what Christ has DONE before its about what we have to DO.

Jesus has done all things well, our doings will be a pretty mixed bag.

Jesus is seated in heaven.

But Jesus doesn’t sit down in his favourite arm chair.

Jesus sits down on his heavenly throne.

The ascension is Jesus’ enthronement.

Jesus is glorified and the Father has granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those whom the Father is pleased to give to the Son.

Jesus is glorified once again in the Father’s presence with the glory that he had with him before the world began.

The ascension shows us that Jesus is the King, the King of Kings, the world’s one true Lord.

In the 1st Century it was sometimes claimed that Roman Emperors became divine after their deaths, and for that to happen someone had to claim that they had seen them ascend to heaven.

Jesus, not the Roman Emperor, is the Son of God, the King of the world.

Jesus is always a threat to the powers that be.

Everyone must bow the knee to him.

He alone is the hope for our troubled and dysfunctional world.

Neither Cameron nor Obamah can put the world to rights, but Jesus will.

Now Jesus, the God-man, sits enthroned in heaven at the Right Hand of the Majesty of the Glory of God.

There is a man on the throne of the universe!

Which is how it was always meant to be.

Adam was meant to rule the world, under God, but he blew it.

Jesus lives in heaven to intercede for us.

He is our friend in high places.

He is the High Priest who was made like his brothers and sympathises with us in our weaknesses and temptations.

The ascension guarantees the return of the Lord Jesus as judge (Acts 1v11)

Remember that the risen Christ commissions his disciples.

Mt 28:19

For 10 days the disciples have to wait, but when the Holy Spirit comes they will have power to be Christ’s witnesses to the very ends of the earth.
And so the Gospel of King Jesus marches on in the power of the Spirit.

Everyday, more and more people bow the knee to him.

His kingdom goes on growing.

He is building his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.