Doctrine of the Ascension

Faith Foundations • Sermon • Submitted 7 months ago • Presented 8 months ago

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Introduction

The doctrine of the Ascension is an important part of Christian beliefs, but it’s often forgotten, overlooked, or misunderstood. When thinking and talking about Jesus it’s sometime easier to think of Him in the abstract, rather than thinking about Him being a real person in a real place, right now.

The Book of Hebrews actually places a very great focus on the Ascension of Christ and some of its implications. Right from the beginning it references the three major roles that Christ accomplished through his ascension: prophet, priest, and King.

Hebrews 1:1-3 “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

Those three roles, or offices, are what I want to briefly walk us through today so we can see why the ascension was needed and important. But first...

What is the ascension, and why is it difficult?

There are several reasons why the ascension is often overlooked.

Scripture doesn’t tell us a whole lot about it - the ascension story is only told twice, both times by Luke, and the narrative of both takes up less than 10 verses combined!

Luke 24:50-52 “And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,”

Acts 1:9-11 “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.””

Another reason is that on the surface, the ascension seems like a ‘bad plan’ or we just don’t understand why it was necessary.

Some might ask, “Why did Jesus even have to leave? Wouldn’t it have been better for him to stay on earth with us after the resurrection?”

In both of his accounts of the ascension, Luke doesn’t provide much theological explanation for the event. So like the original disciples we might find ourselves staring up at the sky in confusion, too.

Speaking of confusion - from a modern perspective it’s just very weird to think of physically. Jesus ascended past the clouds…into the atmosphere…into space? Where exactly is ‘heaven’ that he ascended to?

Finally, Scripture often talks about the resurrection and ascension together - and doesn’t often separate the two. For example, when talking of being ‘lifted up’ it’s not always easy to tell if the writers are talking about being ‘lifted up’ from the dead, or being ‘lifted up’ to heaven…or both.

One early book (that wasn’t considered inspired, or Scriptural) that was written called the ‘Gospel of Peter’ depicts the resurrection and ascension as happening on the same day. Which showed that the early church even thought of the two events as being very closely related.

To put it simply, the ascension is when Jesus was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father, and thus pouring out the Holy Spirit upon the Church. In this way Jesus fulfils three key offices: prophet, priest, king.

Ascension of the prophet

Jesus, among many other things, was a prophet. This is how he was viewed by most people during his earthly life.

Matthew 13:57 “And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.””

Luke 7:16 “Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!””

Matthew 21:11 “And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.””

What does a prophet do?

Prophets had a radical encounter with God’s presence and were empowered with the Spirit.

Prophets proclaimed the word of God.

Prophets performed signs and wonders.

Jesus did all of these things as a prophet.

How did his ascension further this office as Prophet?

Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit, and when he ascended into heaven, this led to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the Church.

In Acts, Luke portrays the ascension as the ‘cornerstone’ event that leads to the birth of the Church, because it enabled the Holy Spirit to be poured out.

From heaven, Christ uses His Holy Spirit to build his church and spread his kingdom throughout the world.

John 16:7 “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.”

“Jesus’ leaving was superior because the incarnate Jesus was limited by space and time by virtue of his humanity. When he ascended, he went to heaven, the place of God, which transcends space and time, and sent his Spirit. Jesus could not be with all his followers in the same way on the earth. When he left the earth, his prophetic voice became cosmic in scope. With the arrival of the Spirit, Jesus’ presence and words could fill the world in a more expansive way. To put this negatively, if Jesus were still on the earth, his words and presence would not be able to spread as they did after Pentecost.”

The Bible doesn’t think of Christ as being in a particular place, but rather He is now everywhere because heaven is everywhere, and the Spirit is everywhere. Paul says that Jesus ascended and descended so that He ‘fills the entire universe’.

Jesus, as a prophet proclaimed the word of God, but after His ascension, His church is now empowered to continue to spread the prophetic word through the Spirit.

“The word, after the Messiah’s ascent, was therefore authorized in a greater sense than before, because God’s word was confirmed in Christ and his exaltation.”

Jesus as prophet performed many signs and wonders. Through his ascension, he empowered the church to do likewise.

John 14:12 ““Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”

The Church is Christ’s body, and He is our head. What the head commands, the body does. So through the church, Christ continues to perform wonders and signs throughout the earth.

To accomplish these things, Christ gave the church many gifts through the Spirit after his ascension:

Ephesians 4:7-12 “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,”

In conclusion, Christ’s role as prophet was and is continuing through the Church after He poured out the Holy Spirit on us after his ascension.

The ascension of the priest

The author of Hebrews heavily focuses on the implications of ascension related to the priesthood of Jesus.

Jesus acted very priestly throughout his earthly ministry, but the author of Hebrews laid out key qualifications of a priest, which Jesus ultimately did:

Hebrews 5:1 “For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.”

When Jesus ascended, Jesus went from merely acting like a priest, to being installed as a priest in heaven.

We know from Hebrews that once Jesus ascended into heaven:

He became a greater High Priest

In a better ‘tent’ (heaven).

Allowed him to intercede on our behalf by being directly in the presence of the Father

A priest’s job was to gain blessing from God and give it to the people: through his ascension, Christ pours out his blessings on us from the Father. Specifically, these blessings started with the outpouring of the Spirit, and continue with the gifts of the Spirit.

Ultimately, Christ’s ascension as priest also allowed us, his church to become priests as well, which we see throughout Scripture.

Revelation 1:5-6 “and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Isaiah 61:6 “but you shall be called the priests of the Lord; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast.”

Ascension of the King

The office of King is probably the role most impacted by the Ascension of Christ.

To use an illustration from the children’s movie The Lion King: When Simba is born, everyone knows that he will be king one day. It’s not in dispute. But after being exiled, he returns and defeats his enemies to ‘reclaim’ the throne. Despite all of this, he’s not officially ‘declared’ the king until one thing happens: at the end of the film, Simba triumphantly climbs Pride Rock where all the other animals officially see him installed as king.

In a similar, but even better way, Jesus was always king and Lord. But it wasn’t until his ascension that he was installed as king.

Jesus had to ascend into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father and claim his rightful throne. He did this after defeating his enemies (death) and then ‘sitting down’.

By sitting down on the throne of heaven, Jesus began his reign over both heaven and earth. The ascension is about the triumph of the King.

Kings also played the role of priest and prophet - interceding for the people, and pronouncing God’s word to them. And so Jesus fulfils all three offices just by being King, and his ascension declares that.

Four portraits of kings in Scripture that we see Jesus fulfilling:

Kings were chosen by the Lord, they were his sons and representatives.

Kings were essentially called to rule.

Kings were to follow, delight in, and promote the Law of God.

Kings were to bless both the nation and the world through the wisdom, justice, and authority they had received from God.

While the Old Testament had many kings that fulfilled many of these duties, none of the fulfilled them completely. But Jesus does. And he does it from heaven.

To give a better understanding of just how vital the ascension is to the kingship of Christ:

Jesus had authority on earth, but he received power over the whole cosmos at his ascension. Thus he says in Matthew 26:64 “Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.””

In Jewish and Greco-Roman literature, ascensions implied humans being transported from the human world, to the world of the gods. Jesus choosing to leave in this manner, signified to those who witnessed it what was happening.

This was a coronation event that the disciples only saw one half of (from earth), but what they didn’t see was what happened when Jesus entered the other side into Heaven.

Daniel gives us a glimpse of what happened when Jesus entered heaven:

Daniel 7:13-14 ““I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

Paul tells us how through Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, he triumphed over his enemies as a King does:

Colossians 2:15 “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

Ephesians 1:19-23 “and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things 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.”

Since Christ is our king, and he dwells above everything in heaven, as his Church, we are his kingdom that is spreading his dominion throughout the earth.

Luke opens the book of Acts by telling us about everything Jesus ‘began’ to do, which he recounted in his Gospel.

Acts 1:1 “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,”

After the ascension, Christ continues to rule over the world and do great things through His Church.

We put on the ‘armor of faith’ so that we can be good soldiers of our King who has empowered us through His Spirit to fight the cosmic powers of darkness.

Because Christ is king, that makes the church royalty. Our royalty is found in Him.

Colossians 3:1-3 “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

The ascension predicted in the Old Testament

The ascension of Christ may seem ‘random’ on it’s surface. But when looking at the Scriptures, it’s actually not all that surprising. Here are some ‘shadows’ of the ascension of the three offices we’ve talked about

Prophet

Adam and Eve were the original ‘prophets’ commanded by God to spread his dominion, and word, throughout the world. This took place on Eden, which was on a mountain. But Adam and Eve failed in this regard and were forced to ‘descend the mountain’ - so the implication from the very beginning was that God would send a prophet who would ‘ascend’ back to that mountain.

Moses (a prophet) ascended Mount Sinai to bring God’s word (through the Law) back down to the people. The ultimate goal of this was that the people would take God’s Word and use it to bless the other nations - which they failed to do. Christ fulfilled this to a greater degree, by being the Word, and through his church blesses the nations.

Elijah ascended into heaven and gave a double-portion of his prophetic spirit to Elisha. Jesus ascended to heaven, and like Elisha, the disciples watched Him go up. And then Jesus poured our the Holy Spirit on them.

Priest

Moses ascended Mt. Sinai and interceded on behalf of the people before God. This set the standard for how the Levitical Priests would also work. Hebrews tells us how Jesus does this to a greater degree by interceding to for us in the very presence of God.

The High Priest entering the Holy of Holies also foreshadowed Christ’s ascension into Heaven, the true ‘Holy of Holies’.

David’s prophecy of the ‘one who will ascend the hill of the Lord’ in Psalm 24. Specifically, Psalm 24:3-5 “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”

The imagery here of being clean and receiving blessing is priestly language.

King

Similar to how they had a ‘prophetic’ task, Adam and Eve also had kingly roles since they were made in the Image of God. Kings in the ancient world represented the image of their gods. Adam and Eve were the first ‘king and queen’ that God appointed over the earth - but they failed, and were forced to descend from their mountain throne of Eden. Therefore Christ’s ascension completes the story of redemption, returning humanity back to the ‘mountain’ of God.

Psalm 2 prophesies about this King and his ascent. The author of Hebrews quotes this Psalm to testify to Christ being God’s son. Specifically the middle part of the Psalm points towards the ascension. Psalm 2:6-9 ““As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.””

Psalm 110:1 “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”” This is the most quoted OT verse in the entire NT - and it clearly points to someone (‘David’s Lord’) ascending and sitting at God’s right hand.

Conclusion

The ascension may be overlooked or misunderstood, but it is important. It was the crowning moment for our King. And because of it, Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God, ruling the universe. He is empowering his Church to expand his kingdom and domain on earth through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Credit for quotes and content: Patrick Schreiner, The Ascension of Christ: Recovering a Neglected Doctrine, ed. Michael F. Bird, Snapshots (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020)

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