Ascension Sunday

Texts

Scripture Reading: I Corinthians 15:1-22

Luke 24:36-53 (Emphasis 49-53)

Preaching Text:

The Stone Tablets:

Exodus 24:12 “Now Yahweh said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.””

Exodus 31:18 “When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.”

Exodus 32:15–19 “Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain. And the two tablets of the testimony were in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides; they were written on one side and the other. Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. Then Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted. And he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” But he said, “It is not the sound of the cry of triumph, Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat; But the sound of singing I hear.” Now it happened, as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain.”

Exodus 34:1 “Now Yahweh said to Moses, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered.”

Exodus 34:28–29 “So he was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Now it happened when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him.”

Deuteronomy 10:1–5 ““At that time Yahweh said to me, ‘Carve out for yourself two tablets of stone like the former ones, and come up to Me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood for yourself. ‘And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered, and you shall put them in the ark.’ “So I made an ark of acacia wood and carved out two tablets of stone like the former ones and went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. “And He wrote on the tablets, like the former writing, the Ten Commandments which Yahweh had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; and Yahweh gave them to me. “Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, as Yahweh commanded me.””

1 Kings 8:9 “There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses laid there at Horeb, where Yahweh cut a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.”

2 Chronicles 5:10 “There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, where Yahweh cut a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.”

Deuteronomy 4:13 ““So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to do, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.”

Deuteronomy 5:22 ““These words Yahweh spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud and of the dense gloom, with a great voice, and He added no more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.”

Jeremiah 31:33 ““But this is the covenant which I will cut with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh: “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

2 Corinthians 3:3 “being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, ministered to by us, having been written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of hearts of flesh.”

2 Corinthians 3:7 “But if the ministry of death, in letters having been engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, which was being brought to an end,”

Milestone Texts:

Exodus 32:19: Moses throws down the tablets

Intro: What is Ascension Sunday

Here is a question for you: What is Ascension Sunday?

I don’t normally do this, but to introduce what Ascension Sunday is, I asked ChatGPT to make a concise summary; what it gave me is an excellent account of the occasion, so I will read you the direct statement from ChatGPT:

“Ascension Day marks the moment—forty days after His resurrection—when Jesus Christ ascended bodily into heaven before the eyes of His disciples. It is recorded in Acts 1 and Luke 24. He did not merely disappear; He rose in glory, was enveloped in the cloud of God’s presence, and took His seat at the right hand of the Father. This was His coronation as King of kings.

Ascension Sunday is the Sunday that immediately follows Ascension Day. Since Ascension Day always falls on a Thursday, many churches, especially those less liturgically oriented, observe the event the following Sunday instead. While Ascension Day is the historic and biblically accurate date, Ascension Sunday serves as the more publicly accessible remembrance, allowing the whole gathered church to meditate on Christ’s reign.”

P1: Resurrection and Ascension

Ascension Sunday is probably the most glorious day in the Church calendar, as it is marks the date that Christ ascended into heaven after his death, burial, and resurrection. The resurrection is not the ascension and the ascension is not the resurrection; however, they are inextricably linked. We read in Corinthians that the resurrection of Christ is the confirmation that the benefits we have from believing in him are true—in other words, if Christ wasn’t resurrected then none of us will be and we should be pitied above all in this world because we laid down our lives for a lie that gives us nothing and has distracted us from living our best life now, or so the world would have us believe. But Nicholas, you’re focusing on the resurrection of Jesus and this is an Ascension Sunday Sermon—ah, right you are, listener. The ascension of Christ cannot be separated from the resurrection of Christ, as can be evidenced in Acts 2:22-36 and Ephesians 1:19-23. Please listen as I read through them:

Acts 2:22–36 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God did through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put Him to death. “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. “For David says of Him, ‘I saw the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. ‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; Moreover my flesh also will live in hope; Because You will not forsake my soul to Hades, Nor give Your Holy One over to see corruption. ‘You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’ “Men, brothers, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. “And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to set one of the fruit of his body on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither forsaken to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. “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 out this which you both see and hear. “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Until I put Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.” ’ “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Ephesians 1:19–23 “and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of the might of His strength, which He worked in Christ, by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

P2: Mountaintops

It is important to understand, in Scripture, that God meets with mankind on mountaintops. Mountaintops:

Represent man ascending, drawing close to God through God’s handiwork instead of his attempting to trespass into God’s domain through their labors

Are liminal spaces between earth and heaven; while on a mountaintop you are not in ordinary world, but you are also not transcendent with God.

Are covenantal meeting places in which God calls His people or an individual UP to receive revelation before sending them down to deliver that word.

Some notable mountaintop accounts in Scripture:

The Garden of Eden

Rivers flowed down from it (Genesis 2)

Ezekiel 28:13–14 ““You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz, and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx, and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise, and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared. “You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.”

Made man and Covenanted here

Mount Ararat (where the Ark ended up)

Genesis 8, where Noah steps out onto land and offers sacrifice; God covenants with Noah there - Covenanted

Mount Moriah (Abraham to sacrifice Isaac)

Genesis 22 - Provided sacrifice in place of Isaac

Mount Sinai (Covenanting with Israel and Giving of the Law)

Exodus 19-22 - Smote the mountain

Mount Carmel (Elijah and the Prophets of Baal)

I Kings 18 - Destruction

Mount Sinai (Elijah)

I Kings 19 - God meets with God in a still, small voice; intimate and corrective in a gentle way

Mount Zion (the temple in Jerusalem)

Initially the temple was built on Mount Moriah, but eventually it became subsumed into the identity of Mount Zion

Psalms state it is the dwelling place of God (Psalms 48, 132)

Was the place of worship and sacrifice

Mount of Transfiguration (Official mountain is not known with certainty)

Matthew 17 - Jesus meets with Moses and Elijah

A clear echo of Sinai—God met with both Moses and Elijah there and a confirmation of Christ’s divinity

Mount of Olives (Jesus prays before the crucifixion)

Luke 22; Acts 1

THIS IS ALSO THE MOUNTAIN JESUS ASCENDS FROM

P3: A Tale of Two Ascensions

When we think about Ascension, there are a few main figures that come to mind:

Jesus/Moses

Enoch/Elijah

For our purposes today we will only be looking at the ascensions of Jesus and Moses; the reason being that Moses and Jesus are key figures not only because they led God’s people, but because they are the figures through which the Old and New Covenant were mediated to God’s people.

In Exodus, God called Moses up onto Sinai to speak with him; so what did Moses do? He ASCENDED to where God was. Isn’t God everywhere, though? Yes, God is everywhere because He is omnipresent; however, God’s presence isn’t manifested the same in every place at every time. We know that prior to this event in Exodus Moses was on Sinai when he encountered God in the burning bush, which was a unique manifestation of the presence of God.

While Moses was there, God gave him the tablets of stone with the ten commandments on them. Moses would then go down and destroy the tablets in response to the Israelites breaking of them. Moses would go up again, and God, again, would write in tablets of stone, the ten commandments. Moses then came down with the ten commandments; they were so important that they were the only objects placed inside the ark of the covenant.

Application: From Glory to Glory

What does from Glory to Glory mean?

Read II Corinthians 3

2 Corinthians 3 LSB

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, having been written in our hearts, known and read by all men, being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, ministered to by us, having been written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of hearts of flesh. And such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, in letters having been engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, which was being brought to an end, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be even more in glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed what had been glorious, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which was being brought to an end was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the consequence of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is brought to an end in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart, but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

We see the first example in which God creates base elements which He then cultivates into the cosmos, with a biblical emphasis on earth, the garden paradise of Eden, and man. God made man out of what? The dust of the earth; and, despite our fallen state and the fact that we return to dust, God will resurrect and give us glorified bodies in the consummation that will be wholly unique and perfect, unlike anything we’ve experienced so far.

From glory to glory means that we are imitating God in the process of glorifying the elements God has entrusted us with:

Grain into bread, grapes into wine, chicken and cheese into chicken wing dip.

But it isn’t just external; you could argue that the heart of man is like a garden, meant to be paradise for God’s glory. Are you cultivating the garden that God has given you? Does Christ and following him look appealing based on the way others perceive your life? If any of us were to have seen Eden in its perfect state we would have wanted