Please turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1. We're going to consider the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. When He rose from the dead, He appeared to His disciples for 40 days.
And then he went back up into heaven. And that's a very significant event both for the individual Christian and also for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll make several observations concerning his ascension and then a few practical applications this morning. But I'll just begin reading in Acts 1 at verse 1.
The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which He was taken up, after He, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, you have heard from me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
And you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up. And a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in light manner as you saw Him go into heaven. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we give You thanks for the Holy Scripture.
We give You thanks for the Spirit who inspired it. We thank You for the fact that it is profitable to us for doctrine, for correction, for reproof, and for instruction in righteousness. And we pray that even this morning, God, You would fill each one of us with Your Spirit and guide us into an understanding of this most blessed truth that Christ ascended on high. that He led captivity captive, and that He gave gifts to men, that He sits enthroned at the right hand of the majesty of God on high, and that He will come again to judge the living and the dead. May these thoughts sober us, may these thoughts cause rejoicing in our hearts, and may these thoughts promote worship and praise and adoration to our great God.
And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Introduction
Well, as we saw, as I said a few weeks ago, the resurrection, the Lord Jesus, after He died, He was buried, and on the third day He rose again. And as we've just read here in chapter 1, verse 1, it says, The former account I made, O Theophilus. The author here is Luke. Luke wrote the Gospel according to Luke, and then he wrote this book of Acts.
So, the former account he mentions is the Gospel according to Luke. He's writing to Theophilus and he says, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, the Gospel according to Luke records all that Jesus began both to do and to teach. The book of Acts continues to report on what Jesus does in terms of teaching. He hasn't stopped.
He hasn't given up His authority. He hasn't given up His role in the church. He continues on at the right hand of the Father as a prophet, priest, and king to His church. And then we notice there in verse 2, it says, until the day in which He was taken up after He, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs. being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
So even in this time frame, Christ is preparing His apostles. He's preparing these followers so that they can engage in the missionary and evangelistic enterprise. And that's what the primary emphasis of the book of Acts is on. Disciple making and church planting.
And the power of Jesus is with His people. And in verse 8, we see the outline of the book itself. Christ says, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem.
Now in chapter 1 through chapter 8, the emphasis in the book of Acts is on Jerusalem. And then he goes on and says, and in all Judea and Samaria. We see that in chapters 8 to 12. And then he says, and to the end of the earth. with the call of Paul the Apostle.
The Gospel then goes forth from Judea and Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth in the power of the Spirit, testifying to the grace and majesty of our Lord Jesus at the right hand of God. It's the general outline of the book of Acts.
Six Observations on the Ascension
Now, let's focus in specifically on the ascension. It is His going up. It is His being received up into heaven upon the successful completion of His role, of His duty as the covenant mediator. As the One who came and died and rose again for the salvation of His people.
We have six observations on this ascension. And
Ascension Followed Atoning Work
the first is simply this, the ascension followed the atoning work of Christ. This did not happen in a vacuum. It did not happen as an isolated incident. But when Jesus was taken up before their eyes, He had already accomplished the purpose for which the Father had given Him.
He came into this world in the fullness of the times. He was born of a woman and born under the law. And He did this in order to redeem those who were under the law. We know He did this through His life and through His death and through His resurrection.
In fact, Luke highlights this. He also presented Himself alive after His suffering. So this Ascended Lord was first the suffering Savior. This Ascended Lord first accomplished what we could never do.
He fulfilled all righteousness. He obeyed the Father. He never questioned authority. He always submitted Himself perfectly.
In fact, He used to say in His earthly ministry, My meat is to do the will of the Father who sent Me. He says this so often to show that He is indeed the Man of Integrity who satisfies fully the requirements of God's covenantal dealings. Philippians 2 highlights this reality as well. That the ascension followed on the heels of this wonderful work of redemption performed by the Lord Jesus.
Philippians 2, beginning in verse 5. He says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Beautiful statement. Being in the very form of God Himself.
Remember in Jesus' earthly ministry, in the upper room, they said, show us the Father. Christ says, if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. He is in the very form of God. He images God.
He is the exact representation of God. He did not think robbery to be equal with God. What that phrase means is that He didn't seize His prerogatives. He didn't come to earth and demand everybody bow down to Him.
No, He said the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. He said that the Son of Man did not come to be served, but rather to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. He didn't lay aside His deity. He just didn't insist upon the prerogatives associated with that deity.
And notice what the Apostle goes on to say in verse 7. But He made Himself of no reputation. It's a better translation than the emptied himself. There's a theory called the kenosis theory, where Jesus emptied himself of divinity, where Jesus laid aside the privileges of godhood.
That is not what the text is teaching us. The new King James has it accurately. He made Himself of no reputation. Taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of man, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death.
He says even the death of the cross, the most wretched form of execution ever imagined, Christ underwent on our behalf. And then notice, based on that reality, verse 9, Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." Great statement concerning Christ's redemptive work. He made Himself obedient to death, even the death of the cross. Based on that reality, God has highly exalted him.
And I want you to observe something in Philippians 2 here this morning. It's by way of an aside, but a very important one. You may not be a Christian this morning. You may not be professing faith in the Savior.
You may think all of this is just so much rubbish. It's all so much foolishness. You may think, why would anybody give their time and attention to the study of an ancient book? Why would anybody give their time and attention to the following of a man from Nazareth?
What possible benefit could there be in this? Well, I want you to see from Philippians 2. You may not confess Jesus as Lord right now, But you will one day. Rest assured.
You either confess Him now as Lord and Savior to His glory and your eternal bliss, or there is a day coming when you will confess Him as Lord to your shame and to your eternal damnation. He will drag your soul right out of hell and put you before Him so that you can make this confession, only to be discarded again. That's what the text tells us. Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess.
You may think that you have no need for this Christ whatsoever, and that He has no authority over you. He has absolute authority over you. He has universal power and reign, as we'll see as we move through these observations. There is a day coming, the day of reckoning, the day of judgment.
The Bible calls it that last day, when as sure as you're sitting here, you will confess Jesus. You will confess Him as Lord. Not necessarily as Savior, but you will confess Him as Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now you just think about that as you go about your daily life.
You just think about that reality that this Christ who is preached each and every week, and probably preached in your home, is the Christ whom you will most certainly meet on that day. Please do not fall prey to that idea that the Bible is an old-fashioned book, that Jesus is an old-fashioned Savior, that we don't have any need or desire for Him whatsoever. Christ is everything. Christ is all in all.
If you have Christ, you possess the riches beyond comprehension. That's who Jesus is according to the Scripture. Notice in Hebrews chapter 1, it's making this point that the ascension followed the atoning work of Christ. Hebrews 1 verse 1, God, who at various times and in various ways spoke.
Consider that yesterday morning. God spoke. That's the fundamental presupposition of Christianity. God spoke.
God revealed Himself. God addressed Himself to us. And we have the Bible. It alone is the Word of God.
It alone is that foundation for truth and knowledge and rationality. It alone is that declaration of God's mind for His creatures. It says that He spoke in various ways in times past to the fathers by the prophets, as in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." You see that link. He by Himself purges our sins at the cross.
He is placed in the tomb. The third day, He rises again. And then God exalts Him. God, through the ascension, stations Him at His right hand where He has all power and all authority.
And as the Apostle says in verse 4, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. And then over in Hebrews 10, beginning in verse 11, it says, And every priest stands ministering daily, and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. Beautiful testimony.
I guarantee you that on that Day of Atonement, according to Leviticus 16, when that high priest went into the Holy of Holies, he gave up the sacrifice and he got out. He didn't sit down in there. He didn't relax. His task was not completed at that point.
He still had to go out, confess the sins of Israel, lay His hand upon the scapegoat, and drive it out into the wilderness. When Christ offered up one sacrifice for sins forever, He ascended on high and He sat down at the right hand of God Most High. He is not coming again for sacrifice. He is not coming again to go through the earthly ministry.
He is not coming again to be a baby in a manger, to live as a toddler, to live as a young man, to work as a carpenter, to fulfill the righteousness of God, to die a substitutionary death, and to rise again. That's not what's going to happen. He finished that work. He said it on the cross in John 19.
It is finished. He sat down at the right hand of the Father where He ever lives to make intercession for His people. So, this ascension followed on the heels of the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
Ascension Was Visible
Going back to Acts 1, the second observation is that the ascension was visible. It's very important that we understand this. The ascension was visible. Men saw it.
This is a doctrine that's been under attack for, oh, let's say, 20 centuries. Men have denied the resurrection. Men have denied the ascension. Men have gone so far as to say, it really doesn't matter if those things happened or not.
It's the story. It's the idea. It's the existential event that meets us in the reading of these things. That's hogwash.
Christianity is established by God in history. It's not a cunningly devised fable. It didn't happen in the corner of the world where nobody saw and there's a bunch of cult members just drinking Kool-Aid and celebrating the founder. No, this is rooted in history.
Men saw these things with their own eyes. Men, by God's grace, reported it. And this is precisely what we see in verse 9 of Acts 1. Now, when He had spoken these things while they watched.
Notice in verse 10. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven. Twice it's repeated in these short verses that they saw this take place. Albert Barnes makes the good observation.
He says it was of importance to state that circumstance and to state it distinctly. It is not affirmed in the New Testament that they saw Him rise from the dead, because the evidence of that fact could be better established by their seeing Him after He was risen. When they saw Him, they knew of a truth that He rose from the dead. There wasn't several witnesses in the tomb at the time, but the fact that He was no longer in the tomb highlights the fact that He rose from the dead.
That the angelic refrain was true. He is risen. Barnes goes on to say, but the truth of his ascension to heaven could not be confirmed in that manner. Hence, it was so arranged that he should ascend in open day and in the presence of his apostles.
And that not when they were asleep or were inattentive to what was occurring, but when they were engaged in a conversation that would fix the attention and even when they were looking upon him. It's conspicuous, brethren. Luke wants us to know that these men saw Jesus ascend into heaven. It's not a myth.
It's not a fable. It's not a drug-induced report. It is historical narrative. It is accurate history.
It is the account of the life to death, the resurrection, and the ascension on high of the Son of Man and Son of God.
Ascension Was Bodily
The third observation is that the ascension was bodily. Bodily. He physically ascended into heaven. Remember that story or that report when Jesus had risen from the dead.
You go back to Luke's first book, the Gospel according to Luke in chapter 24. Luke 24, beginning in verse 36, Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, Peace to you. But they were terrified and frightened and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said to them, Why are you troubled?
And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold, my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
But while they still did not believe for joy and marveled, he said to them, Have you any food here? So they gave him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb, and he took it and ate in their presence. There was an early heresy called docetism. Docetism from the Greek verb dēkēō, which means to appear.
These people thought that Jesus only appeared in a physical body. This is associated with what's called gnosticism. Every time I'm giving you one of these words, I'm trying to define it, so you say, he's trying to confuse me. No, I'm not.
Gnosticism claimed to have a direct line of information between them and God. They also denied the physical. They thought physical was bad. I'm not suggesting that full-blown Gnosticism was a present reality in the New Testament era, but the seeds were definitely there.
And it developed not long after. This idea that the physical is bad. That we should be more enamored with the spiritual. That the soul is what's really important.
That these bodies are simply a prison house. And what's good is inside. That's not biblical. God made the body.
God created us physically with an immaterial part, to be sure, the soul or the spirit. But He's not got a war against our bodies. He's not got a war against our nature. He's got a war against our corruption, against our sin.
If we all drop dead right now, our spirits depart and they're with the Lord. But that's not it. There's a day coming when God will raise the bodies of all men and rejoin them with their spirit so that they may be in the presence of God. The physical is not bad.
Jesus is physically dwelling locally in heaven at the right hand of God Most High. That's a good thing. He sets the pattern. He tells us physical is not bad.
He physically ascended on high. A fourth observation. We'll pull these together in just a moment.
Ascension Was Glorious
A fourth observation is that the ascension was glorious. How do we know it was glorious? The presence of the cloud indicates this. It says, He was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
Take your concordance sometime and look up cloud and run through the Old Testament and see that cloud associated with the glory of God, associated with the judgment of God, associated with the power and authority of God. In fact, if you're reading Robert Mary McShane's calendar, you read Psalm 68 today, and it talks about this glory cloud in the context of God's judgment upon His enemies. If you're reading in a few days, you'll read Isaiah 19 where it says that Jehovah rode on a cloud into Egypt. That doesn't mean you saw some physical picture of God on a cloud.
The idea is He's coming in authority and in judgment to punish Egypt for their wickedness. This cloud receives Jesus Christ. F.F. Bruce says, the cloud in each case is to be understood as the cloud which envelops the glory of God.
In the Old Testament, Not in the Scripture itself, but a word that has been used to define it called the Shekinah glory. When that cloud came down upon the tabernacle or the temple, that Shekinah glory of God manifested itself. He goes on to say, that cloud which resting above the Mosaic tabernacle and filling Solomon's temple was the visible token to Israel that the divine glory had taken up residence there. Remember Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.
What do we see? That glory cloud, when that sound of heaven or the sound of the God the Father comes up and He says, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear Him. The cloud indicates that this ascension of Christ was glorious. Pastor Cam read at the outset of worship, Daniel 7, 13 and 14.
We'll refer to that in just a moment. The idea there again, He's coming on the clouds of heaven. It's glorious. It's authority.
It's beauty. It's judgment. It's God being enthroned. That's what's in view here in Acts 1.
He was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
Ascension Patterns the Second Coming
A fifth observation is that the ascension set the pattern for the second coming of Jesus. Notice what He says in verse 11. The angel said, men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.
So in like manner as He went up, in like manner He comes back. The reason why this is important is that there's a teaching today, well it's not just today, it's been around for a while, called hyper-preterism. Preterism is a doctrine that teaches that things happen in the past. Hyperpreterism teaches that everything that the New Testament specifies concerning Jesus has already taken place.
The second coming has already happened. Use the language of Brian Adams, we're in heaven according to this doctrine. It was present in Corinth. It was present in 2 Timothy as well.
It is the Hymenaean heresy. Hymenaeus and Philetus had taught that the resurrection had already taken place. Not so according to the Scripture. If He's going to come in like manner, what ought we to expect?
That it's going to be visible. That it's going to be bodily. That it's going to be glorious. That every eye will see Him. that those who are His will marvel at His coming, according to 2 Thessalonians 1.
Those who are not His are going to run. They're going to cry out to the mountains and the rocks and the hills to fall upon them and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. Christ's ascension sets the pattern for His coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead. Turn to 2 Thessalonians for a moment.
Chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Paul is comforting the saints in Thessalonica. He comforts them in a way that we probably wouldn't do. Notice what he says in verse 3 of chapter 1.
He says, We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other. so that we ourselves, most of you among the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure." He's writing to a suffering church. He's writing to those who know persecution. He's writing to those who know tribulation. What's he saying?
Verse 5, "...which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer." Since, verse 6, it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you. Do we ever think that God's enemies, the persecutors of the saints, men who are committed to killing Christians, do we ever think for a moment that a comforting reality is that if those persecutors do not repent, they will be punished by God? We bear the image of God. And one of those aspects is justice and righteousness.
That's why when you turn to the book of Revelation and you see those souls of those martyrs under the altar, what are they crying out to God? How long, O Lord? How long will you not avenge your people? Vengeance is God's, to be sure.
But the saints of Christ ought to want to see that inflicted on God's enemies. Now at this point, you're probably saying, this guy's no longer a Christian preacher. Just stick to those imprecatory psalms. How dare you say mean things like that?
This is what Paul says. It's right for God to pay with tribulation those who afflict you. And if you don't think that way, you need to change your thinking. God is a righteous God.
God is a just God. Paul is able to sign off the Corinthian letter, 1 Corinthians 16, 22, if anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. Now, brethren, that doesn't mean somebody cuts you off in the street. God, send your wrath upon them.
It's God's enemies, not your enemy. Not your difficult situation. Not your problem. Not your challenge.
But when the enemies of God Most High do not relent or repent from their wickedness and their persecution and their ill treatment of God or His people, it is right to pray, it is right that God pays with affliction those who afflict you. That's how Paul rolls here. Notice in verse 7, "...and to give you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels." Christianity gets a lot of pot shots. People say, oh, you just have this pie-in-the-sky dream.
No, that's not all we have, but you know what? There is some of that. You may be called on this earth to suffer. You may be called on this earth to persecution.
You may be called on this earth to tribulation. You may be growing up a God-fearing man, woman, boy or girl in Somalia. You may be growing up a Christian in the Orissa state in India. When we talk about our persecution here, brother, I don't think we have a clue.
Pakistan. Saudi Arabia. North Korea. You may be called upon to suffer, but what does Paul say?
You have an exceedingly great reward in heaven. This lower world may be filled with trial. This lower world may be full of difficulty and hardship. You know what?
If it weren't, you'd probably get settled into this lower world and have no longing for heaven. Maybe we don't think about heaven enough because we got it so good. Most of us probably aren't ready to check out yet, because quite frankly, it's nice here. But if we were in some places in the world, if we were on the run for our faith in Jesus Christ, we'd be saying, Lord, Lord, Lord, I can't wait to be in Your presence.
Paul says there is something far greater coming for you in the future. And to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. When He comes in that day to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.
Don't you love that? Look at that last portion in verse 10. When He comes in that day to be glorified in His saints and to be admired. Don't you love that?
What are you going to do in heaven? We're going to admire Jesus. You say, oh, I can't wait to get to heaven because I get to play basketball all the time. Some people say, oh, I love golf.
You know, it's going to be like gold paved putting grains. Can't wait. We got this idea that whatever we like, that's what heaven's all about. It was Roy Rogers, one of these old cowboys.
He said, if dogs aren't in heaven, then I don't want to go there. For him, his canines were heavenly. Do you know what makes heaven heaven? Jesus.
Do you know what makes heaven glorious? Admiring Christ. That's what heaven is all about. To see Him.
To be in His presence. To see His holiness. To see His beauty. To see His majesty.
To learn of Him. To grow in Him. to dwell with one another without sin so that we may stand in the presence of our thrice holy God and say salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb who sits upon the throne. When Christ comes, it is to be marveled at or admired by His people. The ascension sets the pattern for the second coming.
It will be visible, it will be bodily, it will be glorious, contra-hyper-preterism, or any other doctrine that de-heavens Christianity. And
Ascension Resulted in Enthronement
the sixth and final observation is that the ascension resulted in enthronement. See, Jesus was received up in that glory cloud, but as we've already intimated in Hebrews chapter 1, He sat down. What did He do when He sat down? Look over at Acts 2 for just a moment.
Acts chapter 2, verse 22. Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know. Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.
You have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death, whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it. We see the death of Christ. We see the resurrection of Christ. God raised Him up.
The appeal to Psalm 16, where Peter says, David wasn't writing about himself. David was writing about his greater Son. David was writing about his great Lord. David was writing about Jesus Christ.
Notice in verse 29, Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to Him that of the fruit of His body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on His throne. He, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. He says, therefore. The Bible, the sermons in the New Testament aren't just to fill your head with knowledge.
I want you to learn this about Jesus. Don't you understand this about Jesus? No, the sermons in the New Testament end with, therefore. This has application.
This has implication. This speaks to your life. This has meaning for you. It is personal.
The ascension of Christ isn't just a sermon that you listen to in Chilliwack on May whatever, and then go home and not be changed. Therefore, he says, let all the house of Israel know assuredly There's no potential here. There's no possibility of knowledge here. Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus both Lord and Christ.
God has stationed Him at His right hand. Jesus' ascension led to the current session. The current session means that Jesus is now reigning and ruling over all things. Jesus is enthroned on high.
Jesus, according to John in Revelation 1, is the ruler over the kings of the earth. Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, he tells his church. Jesus is exalted above every name that is named, both in this age and the age to come. Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Jesus Christ has been given this kingdom. He has been given this dominion. He has been given this majestic position by His Father. And it's not Jesus Christ as God the Son.
It is Jesus Christ as the Messiah King. It is Jesus Christ as the victor. It is Jesus Christ as the One who is the surety of a better covenant and who has in fact done all that the Father had given Him. I said that the passage that Pastor Cam read was fitting.
Daniel 7. Most older commentators, until the rise of dispensationalism, took this as a reference to the ascension of Christ. It's an ascension passage. Daniel 7, verse 13.
It's not a second coming in glory passage. It is the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of God Most High, where He then receives this kingdom, majesty and power. The text tells us as much. Daniel 7.13, I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one light, the Son of Man.
When Jesus took that title, Son of Man, His audience knew what He was talking about. His audience knew that He was identifying Himself with Daniel, Son of Man. They understood when He said, you will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of power with great glory. And the High Priest rips His garments and accuses Him of blasphemy.
Why? Because the High Priest understood His claims. He was referring to this passage. And behold, one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven.
Notice, He came to the Ancient of Days. In this passage, the Ancient of Days is the Father. Jesus comes to Him, not from Him. Jesus comes to Him at the Ascension.
And it's then that all these things are true. They brought Him nearer before Him. And then notice in verse 14, then to Him. He's come to the Ancient of Days.
He's enthroned at the right hand of the Ancient of Days. then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed." And the New Testament confirms this time without end. John Calvin in his Institute said this, carried up into heaven, therefore, he withdrew his bodily presence from our sight, not to cease to be present with believers still on their earthly pilgrimage, but to rule heaven and earth with a more immediate power. By his ascension, he fulfilled what he had promised. that He would be with us even to the end of the world.
Praise God for the ascension of Christ and the enthronement of Christ where He was given universal dominion, sovereignty, authority, and power.
Application
Well, we learn from this a couple of things and then we close. First,
Ascension and the Individual Christian
the ascension and the individual Christian. Where ought our comfort to be? The Heidelberg Catechism, number one, tells us. In Jesus our Lord.
Both in life and in death. The book of Hebrews tells us that as well. Look at how it links Christian comfort with the ascension of our Lord Jesus. The ascension and the current session of our Lord Jesus.
Hebrews chapter 4. A passage I hope that is near and dear to every heart here. A passage that I believe is one that ought to be there when you are tried or having difficulties or persecutions or trials. Hebrews 4.14, saying then, he says, that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens.
What is that? The ascension. He passed through the heavens to be seated at the right hand of God Most High. What's the implication of this reality?
Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. Here's the first implication. Let us hold fast our confession. You know what he means there?
Read your Bible and know doctrine. That's one of the important lessons in the book of Hebrews is to hold fast your confession. You may not ever fly to the moon. You may not ever be a Hudson Taylor rowing along ponytail and being a missionary in China.
You may not single-handedly restore the economy or put in place a decent economy in Haiti. But this one thing you are charged to do, one thing that I'm growing more and more convinced is the most important thing, to make it, to finish. to persevere. What Kevin DeYoung calls the glory of plodding. Hold fast your confession.
Why? Because Jesus, the Son of God, has passed through the heavens. Notice verse 15. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Another implication. Verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. The fact that Jesus is at the right hand of God the Father gives you access, bold access, to the throne of grace.
Do you ever consider the ascension in your prayer life? Jesus has secured for you prayer. Jesus has won that privilege for you to come boldly to the throne of grace. Notice what he goes on to say, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
I ask you, when is that time of need? It happens when the alarm clock goes off in the morning And when you lay your head down at night to sleep, it's still there when you're asleep, but thankfully you're unconscious. What's he saying? Come boldly to the throne of grace.
We have Jesus, the Son of God, our High Priest, who has passed through the heavens. He has won your redemption. He has secured your salvation. He has given you the ability to approach God corporately as the body of Christ and individually in your private prayer to come to God.
Fetch help in your time of need. Our minds, according to Colossians 3, verses 1-4, are to be focused on the ascended and reigning Lord. We saw that in great detail looking at Colossians 3. Set your mind on things above, where Christ is.
Why? So you'll be of no earthly good? So everybody that comes around and says, well, no, I'm just thinking about Jesus. Don't mess with me.
I'm thinking about Jesus. That's not what Colossians 3 says. Colossians 3 says, set your mind on things above so that you as husbands can be good to your wives. So that you as wives can submit to your husbands.
So that you fathers will love your children and bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. So that you children will honor and obey your parents. Instead of being like all the other kids. Instead of reveling in rebellion, you do what you're supposed to do.
Because it pleases God. when a 10-year-old or a 15-year-old or an 18-year-old or a 20-year-old renders honor and obedience to their parents. God is pleased with that. Where do you get the power to do such things? By setting your mind on Christ.
This ascension is intensely practical. How are you supposed to work? You're to set your mind on things above. Now, when your employer comes and he says, I want you to put this here or do this, I can't, I'm thinking about Jesus.
No, you're thinking about Jesus so you do what your employer says. You're thinking about Jesus so you as a master are kind-hearted to your employee. You see, this isn't just ethereal stuff up here. The ascension is intensely practical for each of us down here.
That's Colossians 3. That's what the Bible tells us.
Ascension and the Church's Mission
What about the ascension in the church? Go back to Acts 1. I want you to see something interesting. Acts 1.
Remember we saw in verse 8, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Jesus gave them their marching orders, didn't he? This is what you're supposed to do. You're not just supposed to sit around and say, what a great Savior we have.
You're supposed to go out and witness. You're supposed to go. Remember the Great Commission? We interpret it as a command.
Go, therefore. It's not a command. It's a presupposition. He uses a participle.
Going, therefore. He supposes the people of God are going to want to go tell others about God. Crazy thought, I know. You see something of this in David, in Psalm 51, then I will teach transgressors your way.
Once I have received that benefit, once I have known that cleansing, once I have known the purging of sin, I can't but then teach transgressors your way. It's presupposition, the Great Commission. So here Jesus outlines for them their mission. Now notice verse 10.
And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven. You know what I think they're saying? Go do what he told you.
They want to stand there and look in the glory cloud and all that. He says, why do you stand there gazing into heaven? Go do what you're supposed to. Jerusalem isn't going to preach to itself.
Judea and Samaria isn't going to preach to itself. The uttermost parts of the earth isn't going to preach to itself. He saved you. He converted you.
He changed you. He gave you this gospel so that you won't stand gazing up into the sky, but so you'll go out and preach. You'll go out and teach. You'll go out and engage in the mission.
You'll go do what He says in Matthew 28. Going, therefore, make disciples of all the nations. Baptize those disciples in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And teach those disciples to observe all things that I have commanded you.
And what does He say? And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. physically located at the right hand of God the Father, Jesus is with His church in that going, in that making of disciples, in that teaching, or baptizing and teaching. Jesus is with His church when they are doing what they are supposed to be doing. We ought to spend time gazing into heaven and praising our God, but we ought to get busy with the work of the Kingdom.
We ought to stop and go. That's what He says. He's coming back. Don't worry about that.
He's got that all taken care of. What are we supposed to do between that first and the second coming? You've got to go preach, you've got to go teach. That's if you're an apostle or a disciple, you're called by the church for that work.
If you're a wife, you serve in the home. If you're a husband, you love your wife, you work hard at work. You conduct yourself in that faithful plotting, knowing there is a day coming when Jesus will return in glory to judge the living and the dead. Christ has absolute sovereignty and authority over all things.
He has commissioned His church according to Matthew 28. He has equipped His church according to Ephesians chapter 4. Therefore, the church, based on this reality, ought to be about disciple-making. ought to be about baptizing, ought to be about teaching, ought to be engaged in apostolic doctrine, in the breaking of bread, in fellowship and in prayers. We ought to be about those things that God has outlined in the New Testament for the church to engage in.
And we ought to do it waiting and patiently, knowing that our Lord is coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead. This ascension has practical benefit and import for the Christian mission of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Ascension and the Gospel
And then finally, the ascension in the Gospel. Gospel simply means good news. Good news is not that I'm about done. That may be good news to some of y'all.
But good news, according to the Bible, is simply this. God is a holy and righteous God. Actually, in some sense, that's terrifying news. The fact that the prophet Habakkuk says his eye is too pure to behold any evil ought to promote fear and trembling in all of us.
We ought to be afraid of this God. Pastor Cam referenced Isaiah 6 when he was confronted with the exalted glory of Jesus Christ in his pre-incarnate state. The prophet Isaiah didn't say, wow, there's my big buddy. There's my big friend.
Isn't this grand? What a great room! He says, Woe is me, I am undone. Why?
Because I'm a man of unclean lips and I live amongst a people of unclean lips. When the prophet Ezekiel is confronted with the glory of God, what does he do? He falls as a dead man. What does the seer in Revelation do when he gets a view of the glorified Jesus?
I fell on my face as a dead man. We don't reckon with the holiness of God as we ought. We don't consider the righteousness of God as we ought. We don't think about Him as a consuming fire.
It's not popular in our post-modern world to have any negativity whatsoever. And the concept that God is going to punish sinners forever, that's just too much for us to entertain. People won't respond to that, so we have to cater the message to them. We have to paint Him in the most glorious language that He's only ever loved.
That He'll always wink at their sin. He doesn't really care about what they do. He knows that they're trying. That's what the picture of the Bible portrays.
Our God is a consuming fire. And then in our man, here's where the bad news starts. God made us upright. He made us in His image.
Ecclesiastes, the preacher Solomon says, I know this, God made man upright. You read Genesis 1 and 2? God made man upright. He made us in His image.
We retain that image to be sure. Solomon says we sought out many devices. We sought out many sins. Sometimes we look at Adam and Eve transgressing in the garden and we say, man, that's just overreaction.
Come on, they took a piece of fruit. You know what I've gotten away with? You know what I've done? Edward Fisher in the Marrow of Modern Divinity tells us they broke every Ten Commandments, every one of the Ten Commandments in that act of rebellion against God.
And we in Adam died. This is bad news. We cannot help ourselves spiritually. We cannot make ourselves better.
Our free will won't get us out of the mess that we're in. In fact, it's our free will that put us in this mess. The good news is that God undertook. The good news is that God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldean and He promised to save a great multitude through His seed.
The good news is that Jesus is that seed of Abraham. That Jesus did all that God calls us to do. That Jesus obeyed perfectly. That Jesus then died as a sacrifice and as a substitute such that God poured on Him the wrath due our sin.
And then God took that righteousness of Jesus and He put it on us. There's no better news, no greater news than the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of a righteousness that avails with God. And that ascension, that Christ now enthroned at the right hand of the Father assures you that if you believe this gospel, He will receive you. He is there.
He has power. He is glorious. He is majestic. He is a Savior for sinners.
A real Savior for real sinners. Not hypothetical ones. Not, I've got to pretend. No, you bring all your filth, all your wickedness, all your garbage, all your rebellion, every breaking of the Ten Commandments that you've committed.
Come to Jesus Christ and what does He do? He pardons your iniquity. He gives you a righteousness. It's like that picture in Zechariah chapter 3, when the Lord God orders that Joshua's garments be stripped away and that the clean garments be put on him.
And that's possible because God, in Christ, stripped away righteousness and imputed sin and punished him in our stead. If you don't know this Jesus today, believe the Gospel. You may not understand a lot of the language that I've used. You may not understand a lot of language or the words or the terminology, but this much you should know.
You're a sinner. God is angry with you. He's not like men. He's not like an earthly judge.
He won't just pretend that you didn't do that. God must punish sin. The Bible says all those who believe the Gospel, that Jesus died for sinners and rose again, will have everlasting life. That's my earnest prayer and desire for each one here, is that you believe that message.
You believe that truth. Men would much prefer to be told what they need to do, how they need to perform, how they need to buy, how they need to sell, how they need to function. The Gospel message isn't what you do. The Gospel message is what Jesus has done.
You need to believe that and you will be saved according to the Scripture. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank You for Your Word and we thank You for the ascension of Jesus Christ to Your right hand. We thank You that He ever lives to make intercession for His people. We thank You that He will come again to judge the living and the dead and that coming will be visible. It will be bodily and it will be glorious.
And God, I pray that each one of us here would rejoice in that day, that we would marvel at him, that we would admire him, that there would be none of us here found on that side of being dealt vengeance by a sovereign and a holy God. We just pray. Be merciful. I pray for the children.
I pray for the young people. I pray for adults. Any and all who do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, God, do what is impossible with men and open their hearts to respond to the truth of the Gospel. And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.