The Ascension (Luke 24:50–53; Acts 1:9–11)
Ever found yourself staring at the clouds wistfully?
Today we are thinking about a time when the disciples were doing just that and suddenly two angels appear ‘guys, he’s gonna come back in the same way but until then, you’ve got work to do!’
Reading Acts 1:4-11
Luke alone records Jesus’s ascension, not once but twice. Jesus had evidently directed his followers to return to Jerusalem early for Pentecost. Luke describes him as leading them out to the Mount of Olives overlooking Bethany. Being back in Jerusalem, the disciples are naturally curious: will Jesus finally establish his earthly kingdom? Jesus responds not by denying the reality that he will one day establish an earthly kingdom, but by emphasising that it is not for his followers to know God’s timing. He then Commissions them yet again, to make clear, once again, what they should be doing while they wait for his return.
After making this commission clear once again, Jesus blesses them and disappears into a cloud. What on earth are we to make of this? Indeed, what in heaven are we to make of this? It’s the same question.
You probably need to let go of many of the ideas you have got about heaven. Too many fables have probably taken hold in your lifetimes imagination.
Heaven certainly isn’t a place somewhere up in the sky
In the bible, heaven and earth are the two halves of God’s created world. They aren’t like two halves of an orange, more or less identical but occupying different space. They are more like the weight of an object and the stuff it’s made of or perhaps the meaning of a flag and the cloth it’s made of: two ways of looking at the same thing, two different and interlocking dimensions of the same thing.
Jesus didn’t go up into the clouds like some spaceman, meaning that if we travel to the stars we will find heaven somewhere and find Jesus there.
in the OT, Clouds represented Gods presence
God’s presence was signified by pillar of cloud guiding the Israelites through the wilderness. When God came to meet with Moses on Mount Sinai He came in the cloud. The cloud of his presence filled the temple. Daniel has the vision of the Lord, The Ancient of Days coming in the clouds. This is a prophecy of what the two angels had just promised to the disciples. He is coming again.
Luke coming from a background of Hebrew spiritual thought was trying to describe what they saw to people just like them.
So this is the first thing to get straight,
– heaven and earth overlap and interlock and one day will be joined fully
Jesus left the realm of heaven to become flesh and blood living as a man on earth
We read all about this in the great hymn Paul quotes when writing to the Philippian church.
Jesus – Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped;
but made himself nothing
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
Whilst breathing the same air you and I breath to keep his flesh and blood heart beating he pointed to the fact that with his coming the Kingdom of heaven had come near – He said Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. When he sent his disciples out to preach he told them to say to people the kingdom of heaven has come near to you.
Paul’s hymn continues
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death–
even death on a cross!
But then of course as we have been exploring over these last weeks. He didn’t stay dead. He rose from the dead and appeared to his followers on numerous occasions in a variety of settings.
His resurrected body was not that his physical earthly body had been regenerated but that he had a new resurrected body that was fit for both heaven and earth. Hence the reason, he was not initially recognised and that he seemed to walk through walls like a ghost, but could eat, very much not like a ghost!
Jesus is the forerunner of the joined-up-heaven-and-earth reality which is God’s plan for the whole world.
2 Peter 3:13 in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
We too, one day will have resurrection bodies, the same as Jesus, fit for both the new heaven and the new earth.
The ascension of Jesus marked his returned to Heaven,
still two overlapping and interlocking spheres
The ascension in a sense links the two
Luke writes both books so that Theophilus in particular and everyone in general would know the truth and significance of what God has done in Christ.
The resurrection and ascension are critical to this message.
Luke writes because he wants Theophilus and us to know that Jesus is the saviour who enables us to have a relationship with our Father God
A dead saviour is no saviour at all. If Jesus were still in the grave, he could do no one any good. But raised and ascended to the side of the Father, Jesus can empower his children and enable his church.
For Luke, the death and resurrection of Jesus are important, but more important is his reign, both presently and in the age to come. For Luke, Jesus is not passively sitting in Heaven awaiting his return. He lives, administers the benefits of salvation, and rules in anticipation of what is to come.
This brings us to the second thing we need to get straight.
- He is in charge
Did you notice it is after he ascended that they worshipped him. They recognised that he was a present reality on earth still with them and in heaven, exalted,
The final bit of Paul’s Hymn in Philippians
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
The ascension joins the two realities of heaven and earth. Indeed the main benefit for us in the here and now is that because Jesus has ascended into heaven he can now ‘empower his disciples from on high’, he can send the holy spirit indeed he had told them before he ascended to wait for this gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Great Commission can only be fulfilled by us if we are filled, empowered by the Holy Spirit dynamite power.
Bit of background you need to know – God’s Holy Spirit is at work in the accounts we read in the OT but he comes upon specific people at specific times to enable them to do specific things but then leaves. The Holy Spirit could not permanently reside in Unholy people. We are all of us sinners
Jesus was unique because he lived a sinless life full of the Holy Spirit
Jesus death on the cross was to pay the punishment our sins deserved.
His resurrection was a victory over death and over the death we deserve.
We now have a new life that goes on beyond the grave and in order to live in this fullness we now have the capacity to be filled with the Holy Spirit because our sins are forgiven.
The disciples are commissioned but will need power enabling of the Holy Spirit and are commanded to wait for him
Jesus ascends so he can send the promised HS to empower them
At Pentecost this is fulfilled.
But that’s for another time!
Prayer
Come fill us, empower us,
Kingdom of Heaven open up before us and increasingly become a reality for us in the here and now
One day we all of creation will enjoy a new heaven and a new earth
‘Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid’. – (Frederick Buechner)
Real dangers are everywhere, whether we’re in a pandemic or not. A simple flip through scripture reveals time after time where God’s people encounter trials and tribulations. Equally as prevalent are the scriptures that reveal God as a refuge, shelter, stronghold, savior, provider, defender, and more in those trials.