The Ascension of Christ: It’s Historic Value and Importance
The Ascension of Jesus Christ • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Text: Acts 1:9-11
Text: Acts 1:9-11
Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,
who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
The ascension placed Jesus Christ back in the glory which he had with the Father before the world was. The ascension, not the resurrection, is the completion of the transfiguration.
Oswald Chambers (Lecturer and Missionary)
Resurrection is not complete, however, without the ascension and Pentecost. The death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus and the sending of the Holy Spirit all come together as a seamless whole.
Paula Gooder
The resurrection offers us transformation in Christ, the ascension gives us the motivation to act and Pentecost the ability to do it.
Paula Gooder
The Historic Aspect of the Ascension of Christ
Claims of Ascension:
Ascension of Mohammed: No Witnesses, only speculation and questions by the Meccans about his trip that they say he could not have known unless he had gone and met alla.
Ascension in Indian Religions: Tukaram, Arjuna, Buddha. Experiences of individuals who found a way to ascend to the heavens, come back and write about, telling others how they can do it also. No Witnesses.
Assumption of Mother Mary: Dogmatic Teaching of the Church of Rome that Mary ascended to heaven as did her Son Jesus. This is based not on scripture, but on apocryphal writings and oral tradition. No witnesses.
According to the Passing of the Blessed Virgin Mary, attributed to Joseph of Arimathea, which is a later version of the Virgin Mary's Dormition, probably from sometime after the early seventh century, one of the apostles, often identified as Thomas the Apostle, was not present at the death of Mary but his late arrival precipitates a reopening of Mary's tomb, which is found to be empty except for her grave clothes. [7] Finally, Mary drops her girdle down to the apostle from heaven as testament to the event.[8] This incident is depicted in many later paintings of the Assumption.
Another account reads:
St. Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, at the Council of Chalcedon (451), made known to the Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria, who wished to possess the body of the Mother of God, that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened upon the request of St. Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to heaven.
The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the (Roman) Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus as follows:
“We pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”
— Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, 1950[2]
Other Assumptions in The Bible**: Enoch (Gen. 5:24); Elijah (2 Kings 2:11); Moses (Deut. 34:5-6)
And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day.
Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
Only one of these has an eye witness, Elijah by the prophet Elisha and fifty of the sons of the prophets.
The Assumption of Enoch apparently has no witnesses. If there were any witnesses, they are not mentioned. He went missing and was not found. (Hebrews 11:5
By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
Moses’ assumption had no witnesses other than the fact that it was divinely revealed to Jude. Whether or not he was quoting from the apocryphal book, The Assumption of Moses has not answer. Early Church Father Origen (c. 185-254) mentions that the book was extant in his time, containing this very account between the Archangel Michael and the devil about the body of Moses.
The Ascension of Jesus is as well attested as His Resurrection. (1 Cor. 15:1-8)
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
Witnesses to Jesus’ Ascension: Acts 1:9-11)
Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,
who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
It seems as if only the Apostles were present at Jesus’ Ascension, based upon how the scriptures are worded. There are those who believe that others were present including Jesus’ mother Mary, other disciples and some even believe that Moses and Elijah were present. They are conjectured to be the “two men in white apparel.” The bible says nothing about this; it is pure conjecture.
What Difference Does it Make?
Prophecy Would Go Unfulfilled
Jesus Wouldn’t be Back with the Father
The Holy Spirit Would Not Have Been Sent
We Would Not Have the Gifts of the Spirit
Jesus Would Not Be At The Right Hand of The Father, Interceding for Us.
Jesus Would Have No Where from Which to Return and Receive Us To Himself
Jesus Is Enthroned, Reigning Over His Kingdom Until All Things Are Put Under His Feet.
Is Jesus King Of Your Life?
How Are We Saved?
Repent of Your Sin!
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
