Acts 1.1-11
Now today we are celebrating Ascension Day which fell three days ago on Thursday, which happened forty days after the resurrection. Now, if you would, I’d like us to consider the ascension as the essential ‘third movement’ of the completion of Jesus’ work – death on the cross, resurrection, and ascension.
The gospels and Peter’s and Paul’s letters also see Ascension Day as a third movement of the completion of Jesus’ work as the Son of Man.
He is just a sampling of how Scripture refers to the importance of the Ascension, then we’ll conclude by looking at what that means for us.
In Peter’s Pentecost speech, the climax of what God has done in Jesus is not the resurrection, but Jesus being ‘exalted to the right hand of God’ (Acts 2:23). In support of this, he quotes Ps 110, v.1, the most quoted Psalm in the NT, with its imagery of ‘the Lord’ (messiah) taking his seat at the right hand of ‘the Lord’ (Yahweh, the God of Israel) (v.1).
We can see how important this is even in Paul’s theology. In Phil 2, Paul’s great hymn to Christ, he omits the resurrection altogether; “he became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place” (2:8-9).
It is as if the movement from death to life to glory, in resurrection and ascension, are one movement. In John, Jesus makes reference to this in what happened outside the garden tomb. Jesus tells Mary not to hold on to him because he has ‘not yet ascended to the Father,’ and, most intriguingly, the gospel message she is given for the disciples is ‘I am ascending to the Father’ (John 20:17).
Jesus is saying here I think that, even though I have been resurrected and have become the first-fruits of eternal life for all people of all times, this great event is not over yet. It won’t be over until I have ascended.
Luke divides the work of Christ into two, that is Luke’s gospel and the book of Acts which he also wrote. But he separates the books not on the basis of the resurrection, but at the point of the Ascension. Just as our reading from the beginning of Acts says in vv.1-2: “In my former book, Theophilus, (that is Luke’s gospel), I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven.
The Old Testament prophesied it. Jesus uses the phrase, the ‘Son of Man,’ most often to refer to himself and he is fulfilling the prophesy of Daniel (7:13-14). Daniel prophesied that ‘[the Son of Man] approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” This is not about the second coming, but Jesus’ ascension.
The dominion that will not pass away is the very Kingdom of God where we have our citizenship now, not just when we die. This is the third movement of Christ that began on the cross – our ability to now dwell in God’s kingdom with Christ, to whom has been given all authority, glory and sovereign power.
By taking up the title ‘Son of Man’, Jesus, the first-fruits of eternal life, is claiming the full victory for us, the children of God, over the power of evil in our lives. How does he do that? Through the forgiveness of all our sins. The wiping out of all in us that separates us from God.
Why does he do this? Because the Father and the Son love us so much they want to come and make their home with us. They are light in whom there is no darkness. So for them to dwell with and in us, we, too, must be children of Light.
We become children of light when our sins are forgiven; which brings us back to the beginning of this movement of Christ – to the cross at Calvary. Because the Son of Man has ascended – he is now not just the Messiah, but Lord and God.
So what does all this mean?
Well firstly, authority. Jesus is enthroned with the Father. It is because of the Ascension that the lamb who was slain is seated with the one on the throne and shares his worship (Revelation 4). It is in the Ascension that, as Jesus says in the great commission in Matthew 28:18, that ‘all authority has been given to me’.
It is this authority that meant the first martyr, Stephen could be confident that he is held by a higher power, even to the point of death—his final vision is of Jesus ascended and seated at the right hand of God.
Secondly, it’s about the supreme value of our humanity – our humanness. In the incarnation, God entered into human existence. In the Ascension, that humanity is taken up into the presence of God. We have a High Priest interceding for us who is not unable to sympathise with our challenges, dilemmas, suffering and weakness (Hebrews 4:15-16).
Not only that, it guarantees our eternal life, as our life, our very breath and heartbeat, has been taken into the ascended Jesus when he and the Father make their home with us.
Thirdly, it means that we have now been given great responsibility, but also the power we need to exercise this responsibility, which we will speak more of next week at Pentecost. The Ascension marked the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry; he has now given us responsibility to continue this work, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Jesus is not distant or indifferent, but he has delegated his own power and responsibilities to us and is always with us, to the very end of the age. That is why we are called the body of Christ
And finally, the ascension is about the faithfulness of God. Jesus ascending in the clouds to heaven promised that he will return ‘in the same way’, as our reading from Acts promises (Acts 1:11). It is interesting to note that in the New Testament, Jesus’ return is never called the ‘second coming.’ They don’t pair Jesus’ return with his first coming as a baby human (what we call the incarnation).
In the New Testament it always paired with what we celebrate today – the Ascension. So he will come again in ‘the same way’ as he ascended. Because of his proven faithfulness to us, on that day we will reign with him as co-heirs with him, in the Kingdom of Heaven that has no end. When he will wipe the tear from every eye and there will be no more pain or suffering as death will have been defeated never to rise again.
Let me pray …