“…He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.”
When publicity shorts and previews and posters came out for the soon-to-be-released movie of Superman in 1978, the tagline heard over and over again was, “You’ll believe a man can fly”.
The line was chosen to pique interest in the film for two very logical reasons. One reason was that some innovative special effects were being used that had not previously been available, to make it appear as though actor Christopher Reeve really was flying. The other reason the line was employed to draw theatre goers was for the very simple reason that men cannot fly.
In fact, the idea of men flying was probably less astounding to theatre patrons of the 20th century than it would have been to people living almost 2000 years ago, the vast majority of whom never would have so much as dreamed of even aircraft or balloons sailing over head.
The most exciting exclamation one might have heard back then, would have been, “Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird!” And that’s as far as it would have gone.
Nevertheless here is this very brief and unapologetic narrative, written by a doctor, documenting the departure of our risen Savior from a mountain top in ancient Judea, from close and intimate proximity to His closest friends, into the blue sky and out of their sight beyond the clouds.
The ascension of Jesus Christ from the Mount of Olives 40 days after His resurrection from the dead does not seem to get the attention that the event deserves as far as I am able to observe.
I know that it is often mentioned in conjunction with a teaching either on the resurrection itself or in connection with a teaching on His second coming. I just don’t know how often it is approached as a single event focusing on its historical reality and its doctrinal significance.
For perspective’s sake I went to the website, SermonCentral.com and did a quick tally of sermons specifically categorized under these topics. Now these numbers change constantly because everyday there are many preachers submitting their sermons to the site. But on the day I checked, of those that were tagged as sermons on the Second Coming there were 681. Of those specifically marked as sermons on the Resurrection of Christ there were 899. The number of sermons categorized as being specifically about the Ascension of Jesus was 29.
So today I would like for us to begin on the premise that we all believe in the death of the Man Jesus Christ, God incarnate, for the propitiation of sin, and in His bodily resurrection from the dead on the third day as He had proclaimed in advance that He would rise, and in all the proofs that are documented for us in the Gospel accounts that He appeared bodily and personally to many witnesses over the course of the next 6 weeks.
As Bible-studying and Bible-believing Christians we believe those things without question and there is no need to go over those Scriptural claims for assurance. I would suggest to anyone who does have doubts or has simply never learned those things, that they begin a diligent search and inquiry of their own, with the assistance of a trusted helper who knows the Bible, and with the help of the Holy Spirit seek to become convinced of those fundamental truths so that you may come to Christ in the obedience of faith and receive life from above and a place in His eternal family.
For today though I want for us to focus entirely on this amazing doctrine of Jesus leaving the world and what it means for those who are of His church.
THE FACT
First then let’s talk about the historical reality of Jesus ascending into heaven.
As I mentioned earlier, the book of Acts is written by a physician. There is no need to defend Luke here. He has been lauded, even by some secular historians and archeologists with no interest in the Bible for its spiritual truth, as a serious and diligent gatherer and documenter of fact in his own right.
One of the most well known examples is “A biblical skeptic, Sir William Ramsay, (who) trained as an archeologist and then set out to disprove the historical reliability of this portion of the New Testament (referring to ‘Luke” and “Acts”). However, through his painstaking Mediterranean archeological trips, he became converted as – one after another – of the historical statements of Luke were proved accurate.” - Hank Hanegraaff, Christian Research Institute (parenthesis mine)
Well Luke opens his Gospel with this assurance to the intended recipient of his letter, Theophilus, “…it seemed fitting for me…having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order”. Luke 1:3
And when he comes to write his second letter to the same man, which in the Bible is called “The Acts of the Apostles”, he begins almost immediately with a reference to the ascension.
“The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen…” Acts 1:1-2
So what we have here is a Gentile believer, educated beyond the level of many of his peers, a meticulous and careful gatherer of facts, confirming from the testimony of eye witnesses something that both the Jewish scriptures and Jesus Himself predicted beforehand.
A thousand years before the birth of Jesus the psalmist David alluded to the ascension of the Messiah when he made mention of the enthronement of the Lord at the Father’s right hand. He opened Psalm 110 with words very familiar to us, by virtue of the fact that they are quoted more frequently in the New Testament than any other Psalm; itself an indication of the importance of the event.
“The Lord says to my Lord; ‘Sit at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet’.”
Then there are the words from Jesus’ own mouth referring to His ascension, by way of encouragement for His disciples…
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.” John 14:12
…and in response to the High Priest at His mock trial.
“You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of Heaven.”
Beyond the gospels there are numerous references that just take for granted the bodily ascension of Jesus into Heaven.
Just to cite a couple; 1 Timothy 3:16 may have been a song of the early church, considering that it is written in verse.
“He who was revealed in the flesh,
Was vindicated in the Spirit
Beheld by angels,
Proclaimed among the nations,
Believed on in the world,
Taken up in glory.”
And 1Peter 3:22 which, on the heels of referring to His resurrection, says, “…who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and power had been subjected to Him.”
So we conclude that only a desire for deliberate ignorance would bring anyone to deny what credible eyewitnesses not only testified to, but spoke of without defense or further elaboration, as though it was just a matter of historical record and irrefutable.
WHAT IT MEANS TO THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION
In his Lectures in Systematic Theology, Henry C. Thiessen comes to this conclusion:
“It is evident that we cannot stop with the death of Christ, important as that is, if we are to have a complete redemption; the physical resurrection, ascension, and exaltation of Christ must also be historical facts.” “Lectures in Systematic Theology”, H.C. Thiessen, Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1949
By the term ‘exaltation’ he is making a distinction from the actual ascension itself, and talking about the Father’s act of giving to Christ a position of honor and power at His right hand.
I suspect that very few of us tend to contemplate anything happening in Heaven in terms of ‘historical’, but Thiessen is surely right in his assessment. As recorded for us in the Bible, the Father’s invitation to the Son to sit at His right hand until He makes His enemies a footstool for His feet, is without question the recording of an actual, historical event that transpired upon Christ’s return to Glory. Yes, it was determined in eternity, and prophesied in antiquity, but it came to pass in history, in Heaven.
Getting back to the fact of the ascension, it is essential to the plan of redemption first of all because scripture indicates that it was, quite simply, necessary. On the road to Emmaus Jesus put this question to the doubting, grieving disciples:
“Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Luke 24:26
Even on a human level it only makes sense, really, that when a prince goes out at the behest of his father, the king, to accomplish a purpose that will enhance and benefit the kingdom, when he has accomplished his goal the natural thing to do is go home. Furthermore, if the task he has completed has been at great peril and sacrifice of himself, the Father is most certainly going to reward his obedient and valiant son with honor and position at the very least.
Another reason the ascension was necessary to the plan of redemption is that it was necessary to the birth of the church. If the risen Christ had stayed on earth, although glorified and although able to be where He wanted to be at will (as we see evidence of in His appearing in the locked room with His disciples), still He would be in only one place at a time as far as His physical body is concerned.
By His Spirit He is in you and me; as the verse says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory”. But right now the God-Man, Jesus, in His glorified body, is in a place called Heaven waiting for the Father’s command to return for His bride.
His ascension to Heaven was necessary in order for Him to fulfill His promise and send the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to indwell all believers, thus effectively being, Himself, present where every believer is.
In His farewell discourse to them He said;
“But 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.” John 16:7
Then Peter confirmed this truth to the gathering crowds on the day of Pentecost after the fulfillment of that promise.
“This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33 “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34 “For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, 35 UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET.” ’ 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” Acts 2:32-36
His ascension was necessary to the plan of redemption because a part of that plan, beyond the atonement and the subsequent resurrection of the One who made that atonement, is the on-going redemption of those who, one by one, come to Him in faith to be saved in history.
And they come largely as a result of the ministry of the church. As Paul said to the Ephesians,
“But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.” 9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) 11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
Jesus leaving the world was not an abandonment, but the deliberate accomplishment of a plan, entering into His glory with the Father so that,
1. The Father could make His enemies a footstool for His feet, 2. So that He could send the Holy Spirit to indwell believers, convict of sin, grant repentance and lead men to Christ to be saved, 3.So that He could lavish His gifts on His bride, the church, giving her what would be necessary to do the work of ministry and build the Kingdom, 4. So that He could return to receive to Himself His purchased bride and take her to where He now is.
And that brings us to talk about;
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU AND ME IN THE FUTURE
The first thing the ascension means to our future is that at the appointed time for each of us we will go somewhere else. There is a place to which we will go.
If Jesus had stayed on earth we could have no assurance that there is anywhere else to go but here. He was born of a woman, just as we are, so He had to depart the world in a radically different way than we to give substance to His assurances.
“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:2-3
So His visible and bodily ascension into the sky assures us that there’s another place for us.
The ascension of Jesus means that all the suffering of His saints in this evil world will be vindicated. They mock, they scoff, they write volumes of books full of the wisdom of men to deny and disprove the claims of the faithful.
They harass in the classroom. They shun in the workplace. They titter and snicker behind the back.
They act with loathing and violence to shut the mouth of the witnesses of truth. They torture and kill because He is no longer within their reach so they attack His followers.
But one day there will be a trumpet blast and the voice of the archangel and all the dead in Christ will rise in their own glorified bodies, and those who are alive at the time will be caught up with them and we will meet Him in the air. And a short time afterwards we who reign with Him will follow Him out of the clouds, coming back once more to the earth where He will touch down on the same spot from which He departed long ago.
And the eyes of men will see and they will know our God reigns and the scoffing and the mocking and the snubbing and the snickering will cease. And the loathing and the violence will be avenged. And all His saints will be finally vindicated.
What the ascension of Jesus means for our future is that we too, like our High Priest, will pass through the heavens. Hebrews 4:14
He identified with us in our weakness so that we might be identified with Him in His indestructible glory. We will say a passing ‘farewell’ to Andromeda and Antilia and Orion and Pisces and Ursa Major and her cub, and to constellations and galaxies undreamed of by man, as we go to that much better place He has prepared for us and calls us to.
Yes, Jesus leaving the world is something to be believed by faith as literally as belief in the existence of God Himself, as the Creation, as the virgin birth of Christ, as His sinless life of obedience and piety for which the Father raised Him from the dead, and as His bodily resurrection from the tomb.
The angel asked, “…why do you stand looking into the sky?” Acts 1:11
Why indeed? Because they expected He’d come right back?
After all, hadn’t He said “I will come again and receive you to Myself”?
Was it, perhaps, because it wasn’t the sort of thing you see everyday; a man rising into the air and continuing to rise until He is hidden from sight by the clouds?
Hey. Y’think it might be possible that as He went up they were finally beginning to remember some of the things He had said to them, and that just maybe they were thinking, ‘we will go that way also’?
Well probably not at that point.
But I have to tell you friends and family, that with each passing day and each new sound byte on the news and with each new quickening I receive in my spirit from His Spirit within me I think more and more about that soon coming day when I will in response to His beckoning, and as the songwriter said, “…rise to worlds unknown, and behold Thee on Thy throne”…
And I’ll believe a man can fly!
