The Ascension Of Jesus Christ: The Final Command Of Christ

"D.L. Moody made a deal with God that he would witness for Christ to at least one person each day. One night, about ten o- clock, he realized that he had not yet witnessed; so he went out in to the street and spoke to a man standing by a lamppost, asking him, "Are you a Christian?" The man flew into a violent rage and threatened to knock Moody into the gutter. Later, that same man went to an elder in the church and complained that Moody was "doing more harm in Chicago than ten men were doing good." The elder begged Moody to temper his zeal with knowledge. Three months later, Moody was awakened at the YMCA by a man knocking at the door. It was the man he had witnessed to. "I want to talk to you about my soul," he said to Moody. He apologized for the way he had treated Moody and said that he had had no peace ever since that night on Lake Street when Moody witnessed to him. Moody led the man to Christ and he became a zealous worker in the Sunday school." -W. Wiersbe, The Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, p. 205.

The moral of that story: It’s your job to share the gospel. And don’t let anyone temper your zeal. Jesus is alive. Everyone needs to know that.

We've considered the various evidences for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We've looked at the historical evidence, and the archaeological evidence and the massive expansion of the church. Now we consider the last moments that Jesus spent face to face with his eleven disciples.

Jesus died on the cross, and remained dead for 3 days, before rising from the dead, and appearing to his disciples and various people in Jerusalem. The female disciples encountered Jesus at the tomb, then later Jesus appeared to the men as well. They didn't really understand why they were seeing Jesus. They thought they were seeing a ghost. But Jesus wasn't a ghost, he was really alive. So we see in our scripture today from Luke 24, it says, "Then Jesus helped the followers understand these Scriptures about him. 46 Jesus said to them, “It is written that the Messiah would be killed and rise from death on the third day. You saw these things happen—you are witnesses."

What's the most powerful evidence in a he said she said court case? An eye-witness. Jesus appeared to his disciples after rising from the dead, because he was appearing to witnesses. Jesus knew he needed eye witnesses or people wouldn’t believe it. These people, his disciples saw Jesus face to face, they touched him, and ate food with him after he had resurrected. And so they were eye-witnesses. They saw these things happen. It continues, Jesus says,

"You must go and tell people that they must change and turn to God, which will bring them his forgiveness. You must start from Jerusalem and tell this message in my name to the people of all nations. 49 Remember that I will send you the one my Father promised. Stay in the city until you are given that power from heaven.”

Theologians call this "the great commission." It's a great command, an order, given by our King, Jesus. Go and tell this message to the world. Two thousand years ago they started in Jerusalem, proclaiming the message of salvation. They declared to the people that they must repent, change their ways, and become followers of Jesus. And I'm telling you the same thing today, you must change your ways and follow Jesus!

The gospel, the good news started in Israel, in Jerusalem, then it spread to the Roman empire, and further. It started with one country, today the gospel has spread to every country in the world, 193 countries.

Today, this great commission, this final order of Jesus our commander is yours to fulfill. It's not my job, as your pastor, it's your job as soldiers and followers of Jesus to get the message out there. You've got to win people to Jesus. Proclaim to them that they must change their ways, and turn to Jesus for forgiveness of their sins. It's the only way to heaven.

Our scripture today continues like this: “ Jesus led his followers out of Jerusalem to the mountain. He raised his hands and blessed his followers. 51 While he was blessing them, he was separated from them and carried into heaven. 52 They worshiped him and went back to Jerusalem very happy. 53 They stayed at the Temple all the time, praising God." -Luke 24:50-53

So Jesus was born, we celebrate that on Christmas. Jesus died, we celebrate that on good Friday. And Jesus resurrected from the dead by the power of God, we celebrate that on Easter Sunday. And today we remember and recollect the ascension of Jesus. The fact that Jesus was raised from the ground and taken into heaven by God. And that's where Jesus is right now, in this parallel dimension, this reality the Bible calls heaven. And the whole idea is that Jesus is coming again. He ascended, but he will come again, to rule and reign on Earth.