He Is the King of Glory

Today on this Ascension Day we remember and celebrate that Jesus the Christ, the unique God-man, who forever changed the course of human history when he walked the streets of Galillee and Jerusalem, the One who taught and befriended, the One who healed and delivered, the One who was crucified and who rose again three days later from the dead and appeared to many; we remember and celebrate that 40 days later he ascended into heaven. The Bible says that quite literally he ascended in the flesh right before the eyes of his disciples and others, was caught up in the clouds and is now rules over all heaven and earth as cosmic Lord and King.

Just before that event Jesus said the “all authority in heaven and earth had been given to Him.” God in Christ had become King and his Ascension was his glorious coronation day.

In Christ, the words of Psalm 24 have been remarkably fulfilled! The earth is the LORD’s says the psalmist and everything in it, but now we have seen Him. This LORD has come to us and we beheld His glory, the glory of the One and only.

Back to Psalm 24. The psalmist goes on to say, the whole world belongs to Him, as do all who live in it! Why? Because he created all things…he founded the earth and established it.

He is the King of Glory!

So you might ask, how does Christ’s ascension benefit us?

Well let’s try to answer that question through the lens of Psalm 24....a psalm that speaks of the tremdenous blessing of being able to ascend the mountain of the Lord.

OK, let’s ask ourselves this question: what is the significance of stating the fact that the earth is the Lord’s? Well for one it means that the Lord is both Maker and Owner and that means he can expect his tenants to look after the earth and can expect them to do so in the way that He intends.

We know from the opening chapters of the Bible that His tenants, his co-creators, humanity made in His own image, fail to do that, and they fail miserably. In fact we read how quickly they spoil it and everything in it! So God casts them out of the Garden of Eden, God sends them off of the mountain, and prevents them from dwelling in that Holy Place.

Now you might say, I don’t recall reading anything about a mountain in the opening chapters of Genesis. Well commentators have seen that the idea of a mountain is evoked in Gen. 2:10

Genesis 2:10 NIV

10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.

Since water can only flow downhill, and since the river flowed from Eden into four separate headwaters or rivers, it is concluded that Eden was also a mountain....the mountain of the Lord. And the Bible is full of mountains being the place where people meet with God.....Noah on Mt. Ararat, Abraham on Mt. Moriah, Moses on Mt. Sinai, and David on Mt. Zion, which was where the city of Jerusalem was located.

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who can go and meet with God? asks the psalmist. Only those with clean hands and a pure heart.

That’s bad news for the tenants because they’ve spoil God’s earth and everything in it. From the moment when they asked, “Did God really say?” they’ve put their own goals and purposes and pleasures above God and turned those things into idols....worshiping their own ideas or worshiping created things made out of wood and stone.

A remaking was necessary..... and so God put into place a plan to remake the tenants.... a plan to kill their rebellious idolatry without killing them.

He begins that plan by making it possible for his people to have clean hands, if not a completely pure heart. He made it possible for the blood of a substitute to cleanse us from our sin. Noah offered a sacrifice on Mt. Ararat, Abraham was given a ram on Mt. Moriah, Moses and God’s people offered lambs at Mt. Sinai.

And when King David brought the ark of the covenant into Mt. Zion, the holy city of Jerusalem, and set it inside the Tent of the Lord, we read in 1 Chronicles 16 that offerings were made continuously on the altar of the Lord.

I mention King David because quite possibly the words of Psalm 24 would have been used on the occasion of what is described in 1 Chronicles 16....the ark of the Lord entering the city of the Lord, the lesser earthly king David, meeting with the greater King, in Jerusalem, the mountain of the Lord.

Quite possibly, up to that point in history, that was a climactic moment. David the King who represented all the people of God, entering the mountain of the Lord to meet with God!

But even this King David did not have clean hands and a pure heart. We know the story of how he committed adultery with Bathsheba. We know the story of how he commissioned a census and put his trust in his own armies rather than in the armies of the Lord.

And so we come back to the question of our psalm, “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?”

In the fullness of time, God sent his own Son, the Word become flesh, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus knew no sin for he is God. And in offering his own perfect life for our sin he ensured that our sin could be atoned for once for all.

And so we might ask? Where is the hill or the mountain of the Lord today?

Well, in Jesus the two kings, human and divine have become one. In Him, God and humanity have been joined together and the dwelling place of God is found in Him.

Listen to Hebrews 12:22-24

Hebrews 12:22–24 NIV

22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

When Jesus ascended into heaven 2000 years ago he entered the true Mt. Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. And that means our flesh and blood are already in heaven with God. Jesus has gone ahead and taken our physicality with him because he has joined himself to our flesh and blood.

Because Jesus has ascended into heaven, already now we are reigning with him in heaven. John writes in Rev. 20:6

Revelation 20:6 NIV

6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

[Explain......]

Because Jesus has ascended into heaven, and our flesh and blood is there with him, all those who are in Christ, are reigning with him now. That means already now we experience the benefits of heaven, the life of the Kingdom through the Spirit of Christ who fills us. We don’t experience that fully, now only in part, but one day, we too will have our place on the mountain of the Lord and see God face to face.

And that is one significant way that Christ’s ascension benefits us!

Prayer for FIVE.....