The Miraculous Ascension Jesus is a fulfilled Biblical theme. After Resurrection Sunday, Jesus led the disciples out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven (Luke 24:50-51).
Luke began his Gospel with the “coming” of Jesus when he was born in Bethlehem. He ends the gospel with the “going” of Jesus when he parted from his apostles and was carried into heaven. We see a note in the gospel of Mark: [The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have verses 9–20.]. Both Luke and Mark end their gospels with the story of ascension. Luke begins his next volume of history called the book of Acts. The Gospel of Luke tells the story of Christ on earth; the book of Acts tells the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the fulfillment of the Great Commission in the establishment of the church. So Luke again in his two overlapping, interlocking histories ends with the ascension and begins with the ascension, which then should affirm to us its importance. It is the culminating end of one history and it is the inaugural beginning of another history. As we look at this miracle, I like to consider three aspects: The event itself the miraculous ascension, the response of the witnesses, and its significance.
Birth, Death, Resurrection, Ascension and Return of Christ are fundamental to Christian Faith
We celebrate his humility at Christmas as a baby in a lowly manger. We celebrate his power over death at Easter. We celebrate his crowning and the coming King at his ascension. From condescension as a baby to coronation as the King of Kings, from humiliation to exaltation is the story of redemption.
Luke’s inspired presentation of Christ is arranged in two great movements: first the “Coming” of the Lord from heaven to earth; and then his “Going” from earth to heaven. . . . Appropriately, the climax of the “Going” shows the man, Jesus, rejected and crucified on earth, but now risen and ascending, being received up into glory. Between the “Coming” and the “Going” is the sum of the message of salvation. The pre-existent and eternal Son of God came to our world and became a man like us so that he might secure for us here in this world forgiveness, wholeness, peace with God and the certainty that God’s will shall eventually be done on earth even as it is done in heaven. But there is more. By his “Going” he has taken humanity to the experience of glory as all who believe in Him will one day be brought to share his glory and to reign with him at his return
Commonly called the ascension, the belief that Jesus “ascended” into Heaven, has been essential to followers of Jesus for almost 2,000 years (e.g. The Nicene Creed, 325 A.D.). But what does it mean that Jesus “ascended into Heaven”? Did Jesus take off into outer space? Is the point of the ascension that Jesus floated away into the clouds, or is it something else? More importantly, why does any of this matter? To answer these questions, and to better understand Jesus’ powerful ascension, we need to step back and start with the big biblical concepts of Heaven and Earth—God’s space and human’s space. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In Hebrew, the word “heavens” (Hebrew, shamayim) literally means “the skies.” In modern English, we usually use the word “earth” to refer to the whole planet or globe, but the Hebrew root word, ehrets, simply means “land.” So the heavens and the earth are most basically the skies and the land, but there’s more.
Throughout the Bible, the biblical authors use “the skies” or “the heavens” to refer to the place where God lives—God’s space. And they use “land” or “the earth” to refer to the place where people live—humanity’s space. The key here is that both spaces were included in the natural, created world. So why do we say that God is “up there” when he is also right here?
When ancient Hebrew writers talk about geographic locations and spatial relationships in the physical world, they often use these physical descriptions to represent a higher, transcendent reality. For example, death and emptiness are down or under in Sheol. And because God is transcendent, or above all, his space is described metaphorically as being above, or up, or in the heavens. God’s vision for Heaven and Earth—God’s space and humanity’s space—is that both would be fully integrated as one. God’s space and our space are to overlap, “on Earth as it is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:10) when we pray "Your kingdom come.Your will be done,On earth as it is in heaven."
Restoration of the creation.
God is going to restore the world to look like life in the Garden of Eden as the creation story begins where Divinity and Humanity coexisted. Having ascended up as he did, and as we will, Jesus now exists permanently in both God’s space and humanity’s space at once. Adam and Eve experienced this kind of overlapping togetherness with God. Jesus chose to follow God’s will from beginning to end. “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19).
And his uniting of Heaven and Earth in himself is now complete, or as he said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Jesus is the new creation of humanity that we are invited and called to become the new creation like like Him. He blessed them with a benediction. This pronouncement of a benediction became the tradition for all of Israel’s priests as we see the well-known Old Testament benediction found in Numbers 6:24–26, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
Significance of Ascension
Right from the early church history, the church affirmed the death, resurrection, ascension and coming again of Christ as we see in the Christian Creeds. Apostles Creed: (390 AD) "He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead." Nicene Creed: (325 AD)“He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.”
First: The Ascension teaches us that Jesus went somewhere. Jesus ascended to a location. The incarnation of Jesus added humanity to the Son of God, and he did not shed that humanity when he was resurrected. We have already seen some of the unique characteristics about Jesus’ resurrected body, but it is still a human body limited by space and time, though apparently to a lesser degree. But notice here that 'while' Jesus was blessing them – indicating more than a brief blessing, but while Jesus was blessing them he was taken up to heaven. Jesus didn’t just disappear. He rose – as Acts indicates and they watched him until a cloud hid him from view; there was movement from here to there – which means Jesus was going to a location at his ascension. He didn’t just disappear into the ether. It will be the same for all of us when we are taken up one day.
Second: Jesus is seated at the Father’s right hand
This is called the “session” of Christ, because a long time ago, “Session” meant the act of sitting down as we say in "sessions judge" or "sessions of Congress". The seating of the Son at the Right hand of the Father after ascension is the same seat that He left before coming to this world.
Third: Jesus will come again
“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11). They were to wait for the return of the same Jesus.
The Response of the Witnesses
The disciples were filled with Joy. The reason the disciples were so full of great joy is that they now clearly understood the person and work of Jesus. Whenever Christians struggle with a lack of joy, it is because we have taken our eyes off Jesus. We are overwhelmed by our circumstances, or we give in to temptation, or we believe Satan’s lies. The remedy is to look to Jesus and remind ourselves of who he is and what he has done to rescue us from the world, the flesh, and the devil. That is the reason why the disciples were full of joy when the saw Jesus departing to the clouds.
This same Jesus who was born in the manger, grew up in Nazareth and healed the sick and raised the dead will return. He is the same Jesus whom they followed and witnessed teaching in the synagogue He is the same Jesus who turned water into wine, the same Jesus who healed the sick and helped the people, the same Jesus who saw Zachaeus on a tree and went to stay with him in his house. He is the same Jesus who raised Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus from death. They were witnesses to all these events. At his time of ascension, they were reminded that this Jesus, the same eternal savior who is the same yesterday, and today, and forever, will not leave you alone. He will come to you in the midst of your worries and fears and will give you peace.
They have seen this Jesus being taken through the streets of Jerusalem, beaten and humiliated carrying a cross. They saw him nailed up on the cross. They saw him praying on the cross for those who were oppressing him. He forgave the thief of on the cross even at the time of his death. They saw him buried in the tomb, but rose on the third day. They are now seeing Him taken up into heaven.
This same Jesus appeared to you and many in the midst of our daily struggles, frustrated and afraid and gave you life and purpose. When He returns bodily again, He will raise the dead in Christ from their graves (1 Thessalonians 4:16). They will be raised immortal and incorruptible with a glorified body just as Jesus had when He rose on Easter morning. The believers who are living will be raptured off the face of the earth (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Our mortal bodies will put on immorality so that we will never die. Jesus will “transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). By death and resurrection, Christ defeated sin and death. He ascended to the right hand of God to come again and remove all evil from this world. He will establish a kingdom of peace and love. That is the hope of our fallen world.
Outside the Shibuya train station in Tokyo is a statue commemorating an Akita dog named Hachiko. The dog is remembered for unusual faithfulness to his owner, a university professor who commuted from the station daily. The dog accompanied him on his walk there in the morning and came back to meet him every afternoon just as his train arrived. One day the professor didn’t return to the station; sadly, he had died at work. But for the rest of his life—more than nine years—Hachiko showed up at the same time as the afternoon train arrived. Day after day, regardless of weather, snow or shine, the dog waited faithfully for his master’s return. Unlike Hachiko's master who was dead, our Master is the living Jesus.
We are asked to be faithful in waiting for the Master’s return. Unlike Hachiko’s master who died, we know that our Master, the risen Lord Jesus is alive. Paul calls it the enduring hope when he commended the church hin Thessalonica about their faithfulness, citing their “work produced by faith,” “labor prompted by love,” and “endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3). Despite harsh opposition, they left their old ways “to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven”.
Jesus Christ is surely coming again.
This is not a minor part of the Bible. It is a major part of the Bible. It is not incidental; it is fundamental to the Christian faith. The Bible refers to second coming of Jesus to this earth more than baptism or communion. Baptism is mentioned twenty times in the Bible. Repentance is mentioned seventy times and the new birth is mentioned nine times, but the second coming of Christ is mentioned three hundred eighteen times in the New Testament alone. There are more references in the Old Testament as well.
The last Book Revelation closes with the prayer: "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." (Rev 22:20). We believe in the second coming of Christ from heaven will be personal, visible and glorious, a blessed hope for which we should constantly watch and pray. It will be as sudden and unannounced as His ascension was. He will be coming back in the clouds with the angels. There will be trumpets of the angels, and all the world will see Him. "The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first." (1 Thess 4:16).
