Closing Ranks

Introduction

Imagine...being part of army unit...charged with holding your ground at all costs. You’re running low on ammo...you’ve been fighting all day...friends and fellow soldiers are dying and wounded all around you...the enemy is pressing in hard. You seem to be out of options.

This was the precise predicament of the 20th Maine infantry regiment on July 2nd 1863...at Gettysburg...on Little Round Top...the extreme left flank of the entire Union army.

In that desperate moment, survival did not come through isolated heroics but through a unit holding together. They closed ranks. Men gathered ammunition for one another, covered one another’s weaknesses, and when the order came to “fix bayonets,”… they moved forward as one. What held them together was certainly not comfort, agreement on every detail, or even certainty that they would survive—it was shared purpose... forged in the crucible of battle.

The church knows something about this kind of struggle. Not with rifles and bayonets, but with grief, hardship, illness, disappointment, conflict, uncertainty, and the spiritual battles that test faith and fellowship. Battle has a way of either scattering people or binding them together.

Disciples of Acts 1

In our reading this morning...the disciples were...spiritually speaking...battle hardened. They had taken all that the enemy of the their souls could dish out...betrayal...abandonment...fear....they had witnessed the Lord Jesus get arrested...denied they knew him...and watched helplessly as he was crucified, dead and buried.

Their morale and stamina had been tested, and they were found wanting.

Then they saw the Lord Jesus’ glorious resurrection and we are told in the first 3 verses of Acts 1:1-3

Acts 1:1–3 NLT

In my first book I told you, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit. During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.

So our reading this morning has the disciples living with and learning more from Jesus after his resurection. 40 days of “free baseball” so to speak… “extra innings”

Similar to Jesus...they had been to hell and back and were still together. Growing closer to the Lord and to one another.

Like the soldiers on Little Round Top...the disciples had experienced front-line spiritual battle...and they “closed ranks” and remained faithful after Jesus was resurrected.

Last 2 Sundays

The last 2 Sundays we studied John 14, where Jesus laid out what was coming...namely the coming of the Holy Spirit...but the Holy Spirit could not come until Jesus had been fully glorified.

For those whom the supernatural is a bridge too far...the ascension of Jesus Christ....the focus of today in the church’s liturgical year...is just a weird story.

But I believe what the Bible says...that this was an actual event in the life of Jesus. Even though it’s recorded only in Luke-Acts (written by the same author)...

Jesus’ ascension is referenced in some 35 distinct verses about Jesus ascension and exaltation.

There are more than 50 verses that speak to the theological theme of Jesus ' enthronement or his being seated at God’s right hand or other related language.

Why does that matter?

Because this is not just a one-off event. The ascension of Jesus is of great theological importance to Christians. It really does matter to our everyday faith that Jesus ascended.

Jesus ascended; is Jesus enthroned

Acts 1:9–11 ESV

And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

“As they were looking on…”

“He was lifted up”

This is the literal ascension to the throne. This is what Jesus promised when he told his disciples John 16:7

John 16:7 ESV

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

The helper...the Holy Spirit...will now be sent to the disciples...remember...the disciples are not “orphaned”...but given the provision of the Holy Spirit.

“Why do you stand looking?”

The angels rebuke passive staring. We can all be guilty at times of Christian naval gazing. Pondering this or that thing of eternal significance.

When we do that...we miss the point that this passage is reminding us...namely that… “Faithfulness means movement.”

You and I...the church...cannot remain frozen in nostalgia...of the way things used to be. As Bob Dylan wrote... ”times...they are a-changing.”

That statement is more relevant today, in 2026, than ever before in human history. Times are a-changin'. As Christ’s church, we need to move from amazement to action.

We cannot merely admire Jesus. We must obey...

Jesus commanded the disciples… Acts 1:4

Acts 1:4–5 ESV

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Acts 1:7–8 NET 2nd ed.

He told them, “You are not permitted to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”

Closing

The disciples had their marching orders. First...wait. Wait in Jerusalem. Wait for the promise of the Father...the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The disiples did just that.

Jesus ascended.

They followed orders...back to Jerusalme...to wait...with no debate. Just obedience.

The disciples had been through it with Jesus and with one another. Shared suffering tends to create stronger fellowship. The more we go through together...the stronger our bond.

We close ranks. My dad used to say. “Son...there are two times when families need to close ranks...and that’s at weddings and funerals.”

What I understood him to be saying is that as a family...we have our disagreements...our pride...our frustrations...but when it’s time to celebrate love (wedding) or thank God for love (at a funeral)...we put all those other things aside. We are to focus on the main thing.

The main thing is...in our lives...even as the church...the family of God...we may feel...like I’m sure the disciples did from time to time...but we are not

abandoned...unheard...condemned...forgotten...purposeless. We are not leaderless. We are not without hope.

“Ascension means Jesus is not absent—he is actively reigning, interceding, empowering, and preparing the future for his people and the world.”

Church...it’s time to close ranks...and follow the orders given by our Ascended Lord and savior...no matter the consequences or troubles...

Thanks be to God...

AMEN>