Luke 24 44-53
ASCENSION
Luke 24:44-53
Forty days after Christ's glorious resurrection from the dead. He ascended into heaven. He returned to the place from where He had come. Unfortunately this day has almost become one of the forgotten days of the Church calendar. And yet, what an important day it is! What great significance it holds! What a blessed event took place! What comfort, strength and joy we can derive from the glorious ascension of our blessed Savior!
Jesus had held His last interview with His disciples. And then our text reads: “He led them out as far as Bethany and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.” And it came to pass while He blessed them, He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.”
One might ask: Why did the disciples rejoice when Jesus departed from them and ascended into heaven? Do we not, as a rule, mourn the departure of dear friends? Of course we do. For us it is usually a tearful and difficult experience. Such, however, was not the case with the disciples of our Lord. They rejoiced when Jesus departed from them, praising and blessing God.
Let us see why they were filled with such joy, and what reasons we have to rejoice over this great and glorious event -the ascension of Jesus into heaven. Guided by the Holy Spirit, let us note:
FIVE PRECIOUS TRUTHS OF WONDERFUL COMFORT, STRENGTH AND JOY
AFFORDED US BY the ASCENSION OF OUR LORD
I
Scriptures Fullfilled
The first significant truth that we note from Christ's ascension is the fact that, with His ascension into heaven, THE SCRIPTURES WERE ONCE AGAIN Fulfilled. Even as our Savior's birth, His suffering, His death, burial and resurrection were foretold centuries in advance, so we also have references to His ascension foretold already in the Old Testament. Think of it, the blessed incident that took place forty days after Easter was foretold hundreds of years in advance! For example, in the 68th Psalm the writer sings of Christ's glorious ascension in these words: “Thou hast ascended on high.” In the 47th Psalm we read: “God is gone up with a shout.”
In the ascension of our Lord we have just another proof that God's Word does not fail It is dependable and trustworthy. All the prophesies concerning Christ with the exception of His return on the Last Day, have been fulfilled. Rest assured the words of the angels at our blessed Savior's ascension will also come to pass: “This same Jesus Who is taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven.” There is no question about it, Christ's glorious ascension into heaven is added proof that God's Word is, indeed, truth.
II
Christ’s Work Completed
The second precious truth of wonderful comfort, strength and joy in the ascension of our Lord is that His Work Here on Earth was Completed by Him.
Jesus came into this world for a definite purpose. What was His mission? To redeem lost mankind; to pay the price for man's sin; to bring about a reconciliation between God and man, “ to seek and to save that which was lost,” and as you know, this He fully accomplished through His suffering and death on the cross!
To be sure, it was a most difficult and costly task that our Lord was called upon to perform, but He never wavered. He never flinched. On and on He went doing the work assigned to Him by the heavenly Father. Christ's glorious ascension -His return to heaven -proves that He completed salvation for us. From the cross He announced, “It is finished!” In His great prayer to the heavenly Father Jesus declared, “I have accomplished the work which You gave Me to do.” And so we can rejoice over Christ's ascension for it assures us that we have been fully redeemed by the blood of Jesus. He “paid in full” the price for our sins. Nothing remains for us to do in order that we might be saved. He has done it all.
III
Christ’s Divine Presence is With Us
The third precious truth of wonderful comfort, strength and joy in the ascension of our Lord is that He is with us always with His divine presence. In the last chapter of Matthew we are told that on a mountain in Galilee, before His ascension, Jesus promised His disciples, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” At that time the disciples were under the impression that Jesus would remain as their earthly King. But now, at His ascension, it became clear to them that Jesus was not an earthly, but a spiritual King; and that His was not a temporal, but an eternal kingdom. Now, at the time of Jesus' ascension, the disciples understood the real significance of Christ's promise “to be with them always.” Now they firmly believed that even though He withdrew His visible presence from them, He would, nevertheless, be with them always; that He
would remain with each one of them until they would be taken from earth to heaven.
Even as the ascension of Jesus afforded His first disciples wonderful comfort, strength and joy -so we, too, have the blessed assurance of His divine presence. How rich and glorious our lives would be if we always remembered that the ascended Lord is ever at our side!
IV
Christ Intercedes For Us
And now here is a fourth significant truth of Christ’s ascension that ought to fill us with comfort, strength and joy, namely, that Jesus ever lives and prays for us. How very much it means to us when someone assures us that they are remembering us in their prayers! We find even more comfort knowing that our Lord Jesus prays for us; that He intercedes with the heavenly Father in our behalf! In the 17th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John we have Christ’s great Intercessory prayer. Here are just a few of His petitions for us, as He prays to His heavenly Father on our behalf…, “Holy Father, keep them (His disciples, all believers) in Your name which You have given me...I am coming to You; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled...I have given them Your Word...I do not pray that You should take them out of
the world, but that You should keep them from the Evil One...Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth...Father, I desire that they a1so whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to behold My glory which You have given Me in Your love for Me before the foundation of the world. I made known to them Your name, and I will make it known, that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” Day after day, hour after hour, our ascended Lord and Savior, is praying to the Heavenly Father in our behalf. What comfort! What strength! What joy!
V
Christ Prepares A Place for Us
The fifth precious truth of comfort, strength and joy which is ours in the ascension of our Lord is that He has gone to prepare a place for us.
When the Lord had announced to His disciples that He would be returning to His Father, He also said to them: “I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may be also.” However, at that time the disciples did not understand the meaning of that promise. Thomas, for example, asked: “Lord, we know not where You go; and how can we know the way?” However, on the day of Christ's ascension into heaven it became clear to them that the place He would go to prepare for them was in heaven. What blessed assurance, comfort and joy they must have found in the words of the two angels who said to them after Jesus had ascended: “You men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up into heaven? This same Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven.” It was now their firm conviction that they would see their greatest of all friends, Jesus, in heaven -and that they would never again be separated from Him. No wonder that we read, “They returned to Jerusalem with great joy, praising and worshipping God.” We, too, share in this joy. For to us, too, the Savior says: “I go to prepare a place for you...and I will come again and receive you unto Myself.” When our earthly course is done, we know that there will not only be a departure, but there will also be a wonderful, glorious arrival! The risen, glorified, ascended Christ promises: “I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there you may be also.” Oh, yes, the ascension of our blessed Savior affords us wonderful comfort, strength and joy -for it assures us that,
Scripture is fulfilled.
Christ's Work is completed
Christ's Divine Presence is With Us
Christ Intercedes For Us
Christ Prepares a Place for Us
Christ's ascension -what an important, significant, blessed event! We have every reason to pray and praise our glorious ascended Lord.
