Jesus' Resurrection and Ascension

Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension – Manuscript Our Scripture this morning is Acts 1:1-11. I invite you to follow along as I read Acts 1:1-11: In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 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; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 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 end of the earth.” 9 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. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 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.”1 This is the Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Prayer of Illumination: Blessed are you, Lord God, King of all creation: You have taught us by your Word. Open our hearts to your Spirit and lead us on the paths of Christ, your Son. All praise and glory be yours forever. Amen. For the past month, we have been taking a look at one section of the Apostles’ Creed. The Apostles’ Creed was not written by the Apostles but it is a summary of their teaching as found in Scripture. It is a summary of the basic beliefs that Christians have always held. And what we’ve been doing for the past month is we’ve taken one part of the Creed and examined it. Last week, we examined the part of the Creed that says Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. This morning, we’re going to look at the part of the Creed that says on the third day he rose from the dead. He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father. I know right before we began this series, was Easter and we looked at the resurrection. But that morning, we looked more at the historicity of the event. Today, this passage from Acts, we’ll see what the resurrection proves about Jesus and what the ascension means for us. The Resurrection After the dedication, Luke begins his second volume with these words: He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.2 He summarizes the major events of his first volume, his gospel account. Jesus presented himself alive after his suffering. What was his suffering? His suffering was his crucifixion and death, which we looked at last week. And yet after having been beaten with whips and punches, nails punctured through his hands, and finally dying, Jesus shows himself to be alive by many proofs. We’re not told here what those proofs were but other parts of the New Testament do. At the of Luke’s Gospel Account, he tells us that on the day Jesus rose from the dead he first appeared to two disciples as they walked from Jerusalem to Emmaus. At first the two men didn’t recognize Jesus, but when he broke bread with them “their eyes were opened, and they recognized him” (Luke 24:31). When the two men ran the seven miles back to Jerusalem and were reporting what happened to the eleven, Jesus appeared and asked for something to eat. So they gave him some broiled fish which he ate. Ghosts don’t eat. At the end of John’s Gospel, we’re told that when Mary recognized Jesus, she held him tight. He was physically there and she could wrap her arms around him. She held him so tight that Jesus had to tell her to let go. You can’t hold a ghost. There are other proofs of Jesus being alive found in Scripture. So what exactly does it mean that Jesus rose on the third day? It proves two things. First, it proves that Jesus defeated death. Do you remember last week when we said that Jesus defeated death by dying? We were look at Hebrews 2:14, which says, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil”.3 If Jesus truly defeated death by dying, what is the proof of that? What is the proof that death no longer has power over those believe? The proof is that death couldn’t keep Jesus, death couldn’t hold him. I was never really good at math. I’m still not. So when the teacher told us to write out our work, I had no problem doing that. If I didn’t, there’s a good chance I was going to get that problem wrong. The teacher wanted to see proof that we know how to do the problem. My brother, on the other hand, was and really good at math. I remember that he corrected his math teacher a couple of times. Unlike me, he never needed to write out his work. He could do it all in his head and keep it all straight. And because he didn’t need to write out his work, he wouldn’t. Even though he would get the answer right, the teacher would take points off for not showing his work. The teacher wanted to see proof that he knew what he was doing and not just lucky. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead proves that Jesus defeated death. The power of death was to keep people locked up. But Jesus defeated death by rising from the dead. And death’s power over humanity is gone. His resurrection proves that. What means for us is that we don’t need to fear death. Until Jesus returns, each and every person alive will experience death. Even though death has been defeated, death still lingers and affects everyone. But for those who are in Christ, we know death is not the end. We can face death knowing that death cannot separate us from God. We know that because he defeated death by dying we will be with him. When it comes time for us to die, we can accept the fact that our bodies will give way but our spirits will go straight to Jesus’ side to join with the great chorus praising him. More than that, we can face death knowing that there will come a day when we will be like. There will come a day when Jesus returns and death will be defeated once and for all. And on that day, we will be made like him. We will have our bodies again and enjoy Jesus for all eternity. In a few weeks, we will look at that section of Creed and then we can dive in deep about what Scripture tells us about the resurrection of our bodies and the new creation. Second, the resurrection proves that Jesus is God. The very fact that Jesus rises from the dead makes him unique. It is his resurrection from the dead that makes clear that Jesus is fully God and fully man. Who can rise from the dead? When I die, I won’t be able to raise myself after three days. So who can do that? The only person who can override death is God. Alister McGrath writes, “The resurrection answers the question ‘Who is it who died on the cross of Calvary?’ It declares that the Jesus who died on the cross is none other than the Son of God. Jesus is not merely another human being suffering unjust and cruel execution at the hands of an oppressive government; he is the Son of God, suffering pain and rejection for us.”4 The resurrection proves that Jesus truly defeated death and that he is God-incarnate The Ascension Luke also tells us that Jesus ascended to heaven. In verses 6-11, Luke writes, “So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 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 end of the earth.” 9 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. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 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.” 5 Jesus had been meeting with the eleven at various times and places for 40 days after his resurrection. He spent those 40 days teaching and instructing his disciples. And on the final day that Jesus is with the disciples, they ask him about the restoration of Israel. That was the great hope of the Messiah; that when he appeared Israel would be restored to her former glory when David was king. They expected that Israel would be politically independent and her borders would extend from Egypt to the Euphrates. But Jesus’ answer is not what they expected; it’s not what we expect. He says, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 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 end of the earth.” With that answer Jesus is indirectly answering the eleven’s question. What Jesus means with this answer is, “You don’t need to know all the details. But the restoration of Israel will happen when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and empowers you to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the world. The restoration of Israel will happen through your preaching.” And with those instructions, “Jesus was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight”. He ascended into the heaven. The ascension means three things. First, the ascension means that Jesus’ earthly ministry has ended. Jesus’ disappearance here is not like the other times during the 40 days he spent with the disciples. This time, it’s different. The clue that it’s different is the mention of the cloud. Have you ever noticed that the Bible only records the bare-bones-facts? The Bible isn’t filled with these great flowing adjectives that describe everything in great detail like a story from Flannery O’Connor or Victor Hugo. The Bible is pretty spare. The only things recorded are the things that are of absolute importance. So when we see something like the observation that there is a cloud that takes Jesus out of sight we should note its importance. So what does the cloud mean? Was it just that the eleven noted it was a clear day other than that one cloud? No. The cloud is an indicator that Jesus has ascended to heaven, to the realm of God and that his earthly ministry has ended. Jesus is not going to randomly appear and instruct the disciples or appear and heal when his name is summoned. He’s not Rumpelstiltskin who can be summoned and controlled by his name. Jesus’ earthly ministry has finished. Those instructions that Jesus left with the disciples, to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth, is his way of indicating that his earthly ministry is over and the time is right for them to take over that portion of his ministry. This summer, we’re going to look at Acts and see this rag-tag group from some small corner of the Roman world continue that ministry. And we’ll see that those instructions still apply to us today. We are still called to be his witnesses in our hometown, our county, and throughout the world. But we’ll get more into that over the summer. Second, the ascension means that Jesus’ heavenly ministry is ongoing. We’re told in other places in the New Testament that Jesus is at the right hand of God the Father. Being at someone’s right hand means two things. First, it means that person has a special, trusted status. We have this expression, “he’s my right hand man”. What does that mean? That means they have special status. We trust that person with tasks we wouldn’t normally trust to others. Jesus has a special status in the eyes of God the Father by nature of who he is, he is the Second Person of the Trinity, and by virtue of his atoning work on the cross. Jesus is above everything else. Jesus being at the right hand of God the Father also means that he has the Father’s ear. By having the Father’s ear, he is ministering on our behalf in heaven. His ascension doesn’t mean that Jesus has stopped ministering. It means he is ministering now in heaven on our behalf. He is interceding for us right now at the hand of God the Father. When those of us who are in Christ sin, Christ goes before the Father and says, “Look at me. Count all of my perfection theirs and count their sin mine. Count my righteousness theirs and count their unrighteousness mine”. One hymn writers puts it like this, “Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea; a great high priest whose name is love, whoever lives and pleads for me. My name is graven on his hands; my name is written on his heart. I know that while in heaven he stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart”. Because he has ascended to the right hand of God the Father Almighty, we can be assured that he is ministering for us, he is interceding for us. So when we sin, we can take comfort knowing that Jesus is interceding on our behalf. So when you sin, when you look at that website you know you shouldn’t, when you let your anger get the best of you and say cutting words, when anger consumes you, when you spread lies, when you belittle someone, know that instead of getting the punishment you deserve Jesus is interceding on your behalf. He is saying to the Father, “Look at me. Count all my perfection theirs and count their sins mine. Count my righteousness theirs and count their unrighteousness mine”. That is why he has ascended. The fact that Jesus is interceding on our behalf when we sin doesn’t mean we have free license to sin. We don’t get a pass to disregard God’s way and commands. That would make a mockery of Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross and his heavenly ministry of interceding on our behalf. His intercession should comfort us. It should comfort us to know that Jesus is standing before God the Father interceding on our behalf so we won’t face the punishment we deserve. When God looks on us, he doesn’t see us and our sin. He sees his Son and his perfection and righteousness. That is because Jesus is interceding on our behalf in his heavenly ministry. Third, the ascension means that Jesus will come again. The angels tell the eleven in verse 11, “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven”. There will come a day when Jesus returns. On that day he will judge the living and the dead. I won’t say more about that now because next week we’re going to look at that part of the creed and take the time that section actually deserves. The ascension means those three things. It means Jesus’ earthly ministry has ended; it means his heavenly ministry is on-going; it means he will come again. Jesus really did rise from the dead. His resurrection proves that death is really defeated; that, that we don’t have to fear death. Our bodies may perish but death will not be able to separate us from God. We can take great comfort from the fact that Jesus ascended and is at the right hand of God the Father because from there he is interceding on our behalf. Behold Jesus, the risen lamb, our perfect spotless righteousness. One with him, we cannot die. We are purchased by his blood, we are hid with Christ on high. Christ our savior and our God. Let us pray.