The Ascension

So welcome! Welcome to this podcast. We call these podcasts Kingdom Offerings. This is the podcast environment of 100 Fold Ministries. My name is Dave Scherrerrer. I am the president and founder of 100 Fold Ministries. On these podcasts, as the name implies, we like to unpack the offerings of Scripture with a special emphasis on the biblical texts that celebrate and advance the gospel of the kingdom. 100 Fold Ministries is all about the gospel of the kingdom. Today we are wrapping up a brief podcast series set in the ancient times of 1st century Judea. The king, the king of the cosmos, is on display with all his authority and his holy week. With all the drama surrounding Jesus' betrayal and death and resurrection, we might miss the kingdom symbolism if we don't pay attention. In the last few weeks, we have looked at the triumphant entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem. We now call that Palm Sunday, but it is just dripping with kingdom authority. We also consider the king of Good Friday, and we have celebrated the Waymaker King of Easter. This is going to get a little confusing, but I see Easter as the end of the beginning of the story. See, the beginning of the beginning of the saving of the world begins with Jesus' birth. It celebrates his life, his work, his teaching. And so today, as we tackle his ascension, Jesus' ascension, that would make the ascension the end of the end of the beginning. So my point is, I think that we shouldn't skip over the ascension. The ascension is no small deal. In 21st century Christianity, especially maybe Protestantism, we tend to skip over the ascension. We look at Jesus' words of his great commission just before his ascension, and then we kind of move on. So let's refresh our memory of the story, and we can read all about the passages on the ascension in about two minutes. So let's try these passages out. Our first passage we find in the Gospel of Mark, in chapter 16. So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken into heaven, and he sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the message by accompanying signs. That's kind of a quick story about the ascension. I can see where, if it was only the Gospel of Mark, you might kind of read past the ascension. There's only a handful of words associated with it. But in Luke, it gets a little more interesting. We read in Luke 24, and he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. And while he was blessing them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. They worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, blessing God. All right, that gives us a little more kind of backfill on the story. Let's go ahead and look at the story, as Luke continues it, in the work of Acts. In Acts, right at the get-go, chapter 1, we read, starting in verse 6, So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and Samaria, and to the very end of the earth. When he said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven, as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who has taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. So that really begins to fill in the Ascension narrative. Let's get to the punchline. The Ascension means that the work of Christ did not end on the cross. In Acts 1, in the very first two verses, we read in the first book, O Theophilus, and that's Luke talking about his gospel that he wrote. We call it the gospel of Luke. So he says in the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up. You see where the Ascension finds its way into the narrative right there. So that small but important word, began, signals that Jesus' Ascension doesn't mark the cessation, but rather the continuation. I think it's even the expansion of his work as Savior and Messiah. That's what Luke's second book is all about, the acts of the risen Lord Jesus, which he works from heaven through his people by the Holy Spirit for the accomplishment of God the Father's purposes. And the acts of the apostles and the disciples through the ages was, of course, dependent on Christ's presence through the Holy Spirit. And for some mysterious reason, the sending of the Holy Spirit couldn't happen unless Christ returned to the Father. And Jesus was intent on sending the Holy Spirit. John recorded Jesus' words in John chapter 16, where Jesus said, But now I am going to him who sent me, speaking of the Father. And none of you asks me where are you going, but because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you, and when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. The verse just before the Luke 24 account of the ascension that we just read, Jesus told his followers, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Then after the Spirit comes, in his Pentecost sermon, Peter explains of Jesus to the Jewish officials that have put him on trial, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. That which was predicted by Joel, the prophet Joel, in chapter 2 of his book, I will pour out my Spirit on all my flesh. This promise of Joel is fulfilled by the sending of the Holy Spirit by the now heaven-seated Lord Jesus. The Ascended Lord sent the Spirit to be present with his people to empower them for worldwide mission and to transform believers to live new lives that reflect the power and authority of their King. That brings us to my last thought this morning, that Christ returned to the Father to be enthroned as King, and now we are his kingdom. Think about this. I imagine that there was no sweeter reunion in the history of the world, in the history of all creation, than Jesus' return to his Father after his mission on earth. I'm thinking in human terms, perhaps the closest analogy in our world is a courageous wounded soldier returning to his loved family, maybe after a hard-fought victory or war. You see, Jesus fully accomplished his mission, and he glorified his Father on earth with his obedience, and at Jesus' ascension, the Father glorifies the Son in heaven. We take heart that Jesus' homecoming to his Father prepares the way for our homecoming to be with Jesus forever. This return to the Father is just as predicted as the resurrection. In John chapter 16, Jesus says, I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father. And at the resurrection, Jesus said to Mary, Don't cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. You see, here's the marvelous thing. At Jesus' ascension, as he comes back into the presence of the Father, he is installed as the true King of creation. It's a coronation, really. Let's read this in Daniel 7, and you'll see how it connects to the narrative in Acts regarding the ascension. I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the ancients of days, and was presented before him. Can't you imagine that that's exactly what's happening here? Jesus is called into the clouds, he's rising into heaven, and then Daniel's eyes see the scene as it unpacks as Jesus finds his way from earth, ascending into heaven in the clouds, and before the throne room of God. Let me read it again. I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the ancients of days, and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, and nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. What I read when I read this passage is that Jesus has returned to the Father to be coronated, to be enthroned before all the heavenly hosts. How did I miss that for all these years? And now, even yet, he is gathering his kingdom of followers to be the kingdom church eternal. So let's wrap up. Here is the impact on us. Jesus' kingdom cannot be destroyed and will not pass away, and that means that we, who are the kingdom of God, cannot be destroyed and we will not pass away. Our mortal bodies stop, and then we simply put on immortality. According to Revelation chapter 3, Jesus conquered and sat down with his Father on the throne where he receives unending praise, and that's the unending praise of the kingdom. And Jesus will reign at God's right hand until all enemies are subdued under his feet. Thus God's kingdom has been inaugurated through the enthronement of Jesus, who now sits on heaven's throne, and he will one day come to call us his bride to himself, to consummate his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. So let's remember four things. We remember that Jesus is presently reigning as king, and he remains active and engaged in our worlds and in our lives, and therefore, too, we should live boldly, confidently, and strategically as servants of the exalted King of heaven. We know that our labors in the Lord are not in vain. And we know that in this world we will suffer, but sufferers take heart that Jesus is not indifferent to our struggle. He's endured great struggle. He has endured great suffering and is thus the most merciful and sympathetic counselor and mediator. So take your cares to the Ascended Lord King, who hears your prayers and can respond with all of heaven's authority. And finally, hope, hope in a glorious future. You see, the Ascended Lord will return as judge and king. He will abolish injustice. He will end suffering. He will destroy death once and for all. And he will set up his kingdom of truth and righteousness and love. And best of all, we will be that kingdom, and we will be with our King. The significance of the Ascension is explained by Scripture, and that is that heaven is our home and not this world. The entire ministry of our Lord has been, and continues to be, to fit us for glory, for His glory. So the lesson should be clear. We must live above the world and not like the world, meaning that this present world system has no place in our hearts as compared to the Lord and His kingdom. Scripture again and again tells us not to love the world, neither the things that are in the world, for it is passing away. We are not to lay up treasures here on earth where there is corruption, but lay aside treasures in heaven. We are not to be conformed to this world. And I think these warnings go beyond material things. They go all the way to our attitudes. We get so caught up in worldly things—the petty competitions, the power plays, the desire for worldly fame, the somewhat dishonest and selfish ways of gaining these things. But the Word of God reminds us that our faith in Christ is the means of victory over the world. So we must not get attached to this world or this world's way of thinking. That would make us worldly. Rather, we must measure everything by heavenly standards, by spiritual, eternal things. We do not belong here, our rightful places, with Jesus in glory. The more we grow spiritually, the more we become like Jesus Christ, the more we realize that we do not belong here, and our stay here is an earthly ministry in our eternal life. So we're wrapping up our Holy Week series. Check out our new series here at Kingdom Offerings in a couple weeks. Until then, check out our Backyard Conversations, our blog format at 100FoldMinistries, 1-0-0-F-O-L-D-Ministries.org. That's our website. Dave Scherrer here. Thanks for checking us out. Talk to you soon.