Sunday after Ascension – May 4, 2008
It is usually easy to remember the
significant life-changing events in our lives, events such as marriage, our
first job, our first house, and the birth of our children and
grandchildren. However, it is difficult
to remember some of the insignificant events, such as why we chose to go to a
particular college or which sport was our favorite in high school. Yet, these
insignificant events often lead to the biggest and most important events in our
lives. For instance, I played football
in High School and I wanted to continue to play football in college. I choose to apply to
Christians have a habit of marking
with significance those doctrines of theology that are life changing; doctrines
such as Jesus’ intercession and mediation on our behalf, the assurance of our
redemption through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and the guarantee that Jesus
Christ will be, and already is, victorious over our mortal enemies.[1] We cherish these doctrines, yet we often
forget that these doctrines are dependent upon Jesus’ Ascension, an event we
often treat as insignificant. For
instance, the author of a book titled A
New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith has only six pages dedicated
to the historicity and significance of Jesus’ Ascension[2]
while devoting twenty-four pages to Infralapsarianism/Supralapsarianism debate
(a debate about whether God choose to redeem humanity before or after the fall).[3] Is the ascension a mere historical fact void
of theological significance that can be expounded in six pages, or is the
ascension absolutely vital and necessary for our redemption? The Ascension is full of theological
significance and is vitally necessary for Christians, especially as it pertains
to Jesus’ three offices of King, Prophet, and Priest.
St. Luke’s description of the
Ascension, Jesus ascending into heaven amongst the clouds, reinforces Jesus’
kingship. St. Luke’s report of Jesus
ascending amongst the clouds is not a weather report, it alludes to Daniel’s
description of the Son of Man, who comes "with the clouds of heaven"
and to whom is 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." Upon his ascension, Jesus was enthroned as the world true and
only King and given a kingdom that shall embrace "the ends of the earth." Furthermore, as it says in the Creeds, when
Jesus ascended into heaven, he sat down at the right hand of the Father. A king can only sit down on his throne when
all his enemies are defeated. King Jesus
defeated his enemies upon the cross as
However, if
King Jesus can sit upon his throne because he has triumphed over his enemies,
what is he now doing? Our king is also a
prophet and one of a prophet’s responsibilities is to intercede on behalf God’s
people. For example, Moses interceded on
behalf of the Israelites during the Exodus. Elijah interceded on behalf of the people to
end a three year drought. Habakkuk’s
prayers are intercessions on behalf of the poor and oppressed. Daniel interceded on behalf of the Israelites
during their exile. King David, who connects
the offices of King and Prophet, interceded on behalf of the Israelites during
a famine. When Jesus ascended into
heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, he ascended to intercede on our
behalf. Some imagine Jesus’ intercession
is like a lawyer pleading the case of his client before a judge who would
rather not forgive, but this is incorrect.
When Jesus ascended into heaven he took his humanity with him. This means, as someone said, “As The Westminster Larger Catechism puts
it, his intercession is ‘his appearing in our nature continually before the
Father in heaven.’ The ascended Christ's continuing intercession is his
constant presence with the Father as man.”[4] Just as the rainbow reminds God of his
promise not to destroy the world again with a flood, so Jesus’ humanity reminds
God of his promises to forgive all those who repent. Furthermore, Jesus sits beside God the Father
with visible reminders of his crucifixion, the nail scars in his hands and feet,
and scar from the spear piercing his side.
These healed wounds remind God the Father that the sacrifice of his Son
has healed the breach between God and man.
Without the Ascension, there would not be a nail- scarred person, who is
both fully God and fully man, sitting beside God the Father acting as our
mediator and advocate. Before the throne
of God above, we do have a strong and perfect plea. Without the ascension we would not have this
great mediator and advocate.
However, what
makes Jesus such a great mediator? Jesus
is not just a king and prophet he is also a High Priest, whose completed work
as a priest guarantees our redemption. In
the Old Testament, a sacrifice was not complete or effective until the priest brought
it into the temple and offered it before the presence of God. This means, as someone once said, “[Jesus’]
death and resurrection could not have their full effect until he ascended to
the presence of his Father, to whom he presented his finished work of
atonement.”[5] As it
says in Hebrews 10, “When Christ came as
high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the
greater and more prefect tabernacle that is not man-made…. He did not enter by
means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once
for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of
goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are
ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much
more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Sprit offered
himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to
death, so that we may serve the living God.” To accomplish our redemption, Jesus not
only had to suffer death and be bodily resurrected, he also had to ascend into
heaven and present before God the Father his one perfect and sufficient
sacrifice. As it says in Hebrews, “when this priest [Jesus] had offered for
all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God…because
by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” The Ascension of Jesus guarantees our redemption
because when he ascended into heaven he passed through the heavenly tabernacle
and presented his completed sacrifice before God the Father. Without the Ascension, Jesus’ sacrifice would
not have been presented before God the Father and would have been incomplete, ineffective,
and unable to redeem us.
In light of the marvelous benefits procured
unto us through Jesus’ ascension- a mediator and advocate sitting on the right
had of God the Father, the assurance of our redemption through the completed
atoning work of Jesus, and the guarantee that Jesus has already triumphed over
his enemies - we can have but one response: worship. This is the very response of Jesus’
disciples, who upon witnessing Jesus’ ascension worshiped him. We were created to worship, as it says
somewhere, “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully enjoy him forever,”[6]
and Jesus’ ascension eliminates all those roadblocks that keep us from enjoying
God through worship – sin, doubt, and guilt.
Therefore, in light of the great
benefits Jesus’ ascension has procured, let us join the countless hosts of
heaven surrounding the thrones of our God and our King , let us worship and
mingle our voices with theirs so that “every
kindred, every tribe, on this terrestrial ball, [may] to him all majesty ascribe, and crown him Lord of all.”
[1] One may note that we tend to remember and mark with significance those doctrine that most affect us, this should make us pause and think.
[2] Robert Raymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, pg 575-581.
[3] Pg 479-488. Note that Raymond spends more time dealing with an issue of our salvation then he does with an important event in Jesus’ life, a serious error for a book that claims to be “God centered.”
[4] Robert Letham, The Ascension of Christ in Biblical and Theological Context, 22 September 2004. As one Church Father said, when Jesus’ ascended into heaven, the dust of the earth sat down besides the Father
[5] G.L.Bray, Ascension and Heavenly Session of Christ, New Dictionary of Theology.
[6]