Word of Salvation – Vol. 30 No. 13 – April 1985
Ascension
Sermon by Rev. J. J. Van Wageningen, B.D. on Acts 1:6-11
Scripture Reading: Psalm 24 and Luke 24: 44-53
Psalter Hymnal: 42 (opening Psalm); 233:1 (after procl. of grace); 235:1 (after Ten Comm.); 372:1,3,4 (after sermon) 366 (before benediction)
Brothers & Sisters in Christ,
What a tremendous joy it was for the Lord Jesus to return to the Father! Also for His church it is a tremendous joy, for what He is and what He does concerns us; our risen Saviour, our Head is in heaven at the right hand of God.
In our text the event of the ascension is stated in a very sober way. There is no trace of sensation. It is simply a statement of fact; of what actually happened on the Mount of Olives, ten minutes’ walk from Jerusalem. Jesus was taken up and a cloud hid Him from their sight.
1. In our text we hear first something about the coming of the kingdom.
2. In the second place we see that Jesus is taken up into heaven: the King occupies His throne.
3. Finally we hear the message about Jesus’ return.
1. After His death and resurrection Jesus showed Himself alive to the apostles. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the Kingdom of God.
This is important. The risen Lord continued to instruct His apostles on the same subject He had taught them before His passion: “the things concerning the Kingdom of God.”
And now they have come together for the last time. On this occasion the disciples put a question to the Lord, a question about the coming of the Kingdom: “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
It had become clear to them that Jesus’ death and resurrection had every- thing to do with the coming of the kingdom. Their crucified and risen Lord is King! On the mountain in Galilee He had told them: “All author- ity in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus is King, but He is King in a completely different way as they had expected Him to be.
We know that the Jews lived in occupied territory; their country was part of the Roman Empire. And they had strong aspirations with regard to the restoration of their earthly kingdom. The disciples had shared this longing. They had hoped for a political theocracy with a God-given king as in the glorious days of King David.
The Lord had taught them differently. His kingship is not of this world. Now, after His resurrection He opened their mind to understand the Scriptures. “This is what is written: the Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the 3rd day; and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His Name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem.”
In other words: the message of the kingdom is the message of a king who is Jesus from Nazareth, the crucified and risen Lord; it is the message of the kingdom of citizens who repent and whose sins are forgiven.
“Lord are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” This question shows that the kingdom is in the centre. No wonder, for Christ, their living Lord, is in the centre. But still there is in this question the element of “the kingdom now and here for Israel“. It is as it were the last flicker of their former burning expectation. “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” They expect it from the Lord: Lord, will you do it? Will you do it now? They want to know when it is going to happen.
Jesus’ answer makes it clear that He cannot satisfy their desire. “It is not for you to know times or dates which the Father has set by His own authority.” How and when God will realize His plan of the coming of the kingdom is not your concern, messengers of Christ! God keeps this knowledge for Himself. Certainly, the cause of God’s kingdom must be our greatest concern; we must have it seriously at heart, but no so-called “relevant, up-to-date explanations of prophecy”, no curiosity, impatience or speculation may determine our attitude. Only childlike faith and trust: the Father knows it and He fixes the times and the dates. It is in His hands.
One thing however is sure: His kingdom comes!
How?
Jesus says 2 things:
1. you shall receive power; and
2. you shall be My witnesses.
Power through the Holy Spirit; and proclaiming Christ and His salvation – also through the Holy Spirit. This points us to Pentecost. Christ will pour out His Spirit, and the Spirit will enable the apostles to fulfil their task. This power is a very special power, a unique power. They would receive no physical power, no worldly power, political, economic or intellectual; they would receive a power far greater and nobler: spiritual, heavenly power through God the Holy Spirit. Only so, through this power, their mighty works for the kingdom would be accomplished and their preaching would be made effective.
They had to be witnesses. And this is something special too. The apostles were unique witnesses; they were eye-and-ear witnesses of Christ. They could tell what they had seen and heard concerning His person, His work, His death, His resurrection. And they were called to do so in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.
In this way the kingdom comes, through the Spirit and the Word. The Spirit gives strength, courage, light, wisdom and insight. The Word, the witness of the apostles, the good news of Christ is to be passed on, and the Spirit makes it effective; the Word bears fruit, calling sinners to repentance, to faith and obedience.
This was the privilege and the task of the apostles. This is the privilege and the task of the church. This is our privilege and task, yours and mine.
So far about the Kingdom.
2. Secondly, the fact of the ascension.
He was taken up into heaven. All that had to be said, was said. All that had to be done, was done. Then Christ disappeared from their sight. It was as if an invisible hand lifted Him up. The Father took Him up. The disciples were looking on.
Jesus had appeared to them several times during those 40 days. After one such an appearance Jesus was gone, all of a sudden. He vanished from before their eyes. His glorious resurrection-body belonged to another world, to that exalted and eternal world which we cannot see and where we cannot come in our mortal bodies. The risen Lord visited them from there during those 40 days. At the end of this period, on the 40th day, these visitations came to an end. Now it was the last time the Lord appeared to them.
Then and there the Master went up to heaven. They saw it happen before their eyes. He was taken up and a cloud hid Him from their sight.
The description is very sober, but the event is glorious. This scene must have deeply impressed the disciples. How great was the majesty, the glory of their Master! Although His glory was even much greater than they could see.
Jesus entered heaven and He was welcomed by all with praise, glory and adoration. He received the place of the highest honour and power at the right hand of the Father. God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name. All authority in heaven and on earth is His. The Father rules through Him all things. Christ is the King of kings, the Lord of lords. What a glory for Christ, our Saviour!
The disciples however could not see this; a cloud hid Him from their sight. We, men, even men who are apostles, must remain humble and lowly. That is contrary to our sinful nature. Sinful man is proud, self- conceited, critical. He wants to see heaven; he wants to see God; he wants to see Jesus Christ; otherwise he cannot believe, or so he says.
Others think that our knowledge of the universe makes it impossible for us to accept the ascension-story. You can accept that only if you have a naive, simple view, a very limited knowledge, like the disciples and the Bible-writers. But this is not true at all. Even today a person who leaves the earth looks as if he is going up.
The real issue is whether we humbly accept God’s Word; whether we believe what God says about the spiritual reality of heaven. The apostle Paul writes that the Lord Jesus, who ascended into heaven with His resurrection-body, His spiritual body, became a life-giving Spirit. “Flesh and blood”, our body as it is during our life here on earth, cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable, (1Cor.15:45,50). Paul himself was caught up into heaven, into Paradise, whether in the body or apart from the body (he did not know) and he heard inexpressible things, that man is not permitted to tell, (2Cor.12).
Christ told His disciples that He went back to the Father, and that in His Father’s house are many rooms. And the angels on the Mount of Olives told the disciples that Jesus was taken up from them into heaven.
The question is not whether we can see anything, whether we can find out where and how; no, the question is whether we believe.
The disciples had to believe; they had to believe the word of the Lord and the word of His heavenly messengers. Only by faith we see Christ, crowned with glory and honour. Only by faith we see the significance, the riches of His ascension. Only by faith we know that we do not belong to this world, but that we belong to Him, our ascended Lord. God raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Eph.2:6).
Do you believe in your risen and ascended Lord? Do you see Him with the eye of faith? This is the only way to celebrate the feast of Ascension.
Ascension is not just a fact which took place long, long ago. It is more, because it concerns our living and glorified Lord and Saviour. It concerns us, who are His people, His body.
What is your life like? Do we lead a superficial life, totally wrapped up in the things of this world? A life without the Spirit, without Christ, without hope? Or do you live by faith in fellowship with Christ through the Spirit, rejoicing in the Lord, who is our King? Do you seek his kingdom, His glory, in a life of dedication, in a life of new obedience?
This is the point. O, Love the Lord with your whole heart, show it in everything, and look forward to His coming.
3. Finally we listen to the message about Jesus’ return – verses 10 and 11. “They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.’”
We can visualise those disciples. Look, there they stand, gazing into the sky. They forget all about this world and their earthly life. They are completely wrapped up in that wonderful, impressive event: Jesus taken up into heaven! They cannot stop, as it were, looking into the sky. Therefore the angels ask them: “Why?” Why do you stand here looking into the sky? That does not serve any purpose! Indeed, it does not. When you have seen somebody off, and the plane or the train has left, it is senseless to remain at the airport or the station, looking after him or her. You may have a sad feeling of emptiness, of loneliness, but you must go back into ordinary, everyday life.
So the disciples must go back. But their ordinary, everyday life will be filled with, dominated by and directed towards one great, mighty, glorious happening: “This Jesus will come back in the same way you saw Him go into heaven.”
“In the same way”; this means, this Jesus will come again bodily, visibly, suddenly, gloriously and triumphantly! Every eye will see Him on that great day of His final and perfect victory. He will raise the dead, judge all men, and usher in the new heaven and the new earth. The eternal kingdom of God will be there in radiant perfection. God will be all in all!
This glorious fact of Jesus’ return must determine their whole life. It must determine our whole life, as people of the ascended Lord.
What does it mean to us, to you?
Once we made this a point at the yearly family-visitation: “What is your attitude with regard to Christ’s return? Are you really looking forward to the coming again of your Lord and Saviour?” The answers were often negative and disappointing.
What dominates your life? Your ordinary, everyday life? Is Jesus and His coming some thing very loosely connected with it? Or has it no connection with your life at all?
O, let us ask ourselves whether we are consciously on our way to that great day of Christ? Is our heart full of Him? Is our life devoted to Him in every way? So many hearts are full of worldly things and there is no room for Jesus. Out of sight, out of heart.
So often we see only men and circumstances; and often our hearts are filled with anxiety.
We must see Jesus crowned with glory and honour. We must look forward to His return. He rules this world. He makes His kingdom come.
Be a living member of Christ and His Church. Live through His Spirit, trust in His Word. Be true Christians in what you say and in what you do. So you reflect Christ; so you are His witness.
Look forward to Him with a deep longing and with great expectation.
Look up and raise your heads, for your redemption is drawing near. Pray with the Spirit and the Bride: “Come, Lord Jesus; come with haste!”
Amen