The Ascension

Amen. All right. Well, if you have your copy of God's word, you can go ahead and grab it and meet me in Acts chapter one. As it says in the bulletin, we're going to be considering Acts one versus six through 11.

Acts chapter one versus six through 11. We're going to be considering an ever important doctrine that we find in God's word. but I would argue is often slept on. So my prayer is that you would consider this doctrine afresh this Lord's Day.

Acts chapter 1, verses 6 through 11. I'll read the text in its entirety, and then we'll dive right in. This is God's word. So when they had come together, they asked him, they being the disciples, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

— Acts 1:7-8 (CSB)

The Ascension Narrative in Acts

When he said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and the cloud took him out of their sight. While they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and—

They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.”

— Acts 1:11 (CSB)

The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Amen. Amen. All right.

So what many of you do not know about me is I am a movie connoisseur, and a common thematic device used in many inspirational movies is a leader training someone for a task and then unexpectedly stepping away for the good of the trainee. Think of Men in Black. If you've seen Men in Black, if you're a 90s baby like me, then you've certainly seen the movie. Tommy Lee Jones, what's he do?

He scoops up Will Smith and trains him on how to properly monitor alien activity. And by the end of the movie, he surprises him by saying he's stepping away from the game. He's been training him to be his replacement the entire time. And then he, as he speaking to him, highlights the good of him stepping away. This is a common theme again across films: the sorrow felt by the followers of a great leader who steps away for the group's good and the joy of the followers realizing that it was indeed for the highest good.

We find a similar dynamic here in this passage with Jesus and his disciples. When the apostles seemed downtrodden because Jesus would leave them, he informed them that it was for their good. John 16 verse 7 says,

Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you.

— John 16:7 (CSB)

Now, put yourselves in the sandals of the apostles. You fully recognize that you missed the mark time and time again. You say things that you shouldn't. You fail to cast out demons by prayer as you should, but Jesus is always there to graciously stand in the gap and lovingly lead you.

And now all of a sudden you're hearing he's about to leave. Your knee-jerk reaction would probably be this is horrible earth-shattering news. They didn't seem to understand initially at least that Jesus teaching was that his leaving was good for them because if he didn ascend to the Father the Holy Spirit couldn come among other things we consider this morning I like how R Sproul once articulated it I think he was right We seem to still don get it He says, in a sense of nostalgia, we wish we could have been alive during the earthly sojourn of Jesus, missing that his absence from this earth is better for us right now than his presence was during the first century. Do you believe that this morning, beloved?

Do you believe that you're better off than John the Baptist, who was alive during the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, his earthly ministry, that you're better off than the apostles even, at least during the three‑year earthly ministry that they had walking with the Lord Jesus? In order to properly grasp this truth, one would need to consider the ever‑important doctrine of Jesus' ascension. That's where we're landing this morning. That's what we're going to consider: the importance of the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This should not be an afterthought for believers, as we will consider. Without it, many of the beloved truths that we hold near and dear to our hearts would fall apart. They would cease to exist if we didn't have the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to what Augustine said regarding the teaching of Christ's ascension.

He says, unless the Savior had ascended into heaven, his nativity would have come to nothing, and his passion would have borne no fruit in us, and his most holy resurrection would have been useless. Do we think like this today, church? The early church certainly did. It was considered important enough to be in many of the early and seminal creeds.

Listen to the Apostles' Creed. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to hell.

On the third day, he rose again from the dead. Typically, we would stop right there and praise God for all of that. I don't want to downplay that, but they kept going. They also said he ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. See, they understood the ascension as being a pivotal, important, vital piece of the gospel message itself. Yes, the Lord Jesus lived the perfect life on our behalf. Praise God. Without it, we're dead into our sin.

We need him to live for us. We need him to fulfill the law. That's why he didn't just come and die as a baby, die early on. He had to actually fulfill the law that we could not.

We needed his substitutionary death. It should have been us on the cross for eternity, but he took our place. He needed the resurrection, or else we would still be dead in our sin. But we also need the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why the Ascension Matters: Five Key Reasons

Oftentimes, again, we stop after the resurrection as if the ascension is not of utmost importance, myself included. This is not just you preaching to myself. Again, I think it would be an error to emphasize the ascension as much as the cross or the resurrection. That's not what I'm saying.

But our error tends to go the opposite direction. We tend to under‑emphasize the ascension of the Lord Jesus, do we not? How about the Heidelberg Catechism of the 16th century? Here is the question and answer for questions 49 and 50—what it says. Question 49: How does Christ's ascension into heaven benefit us? Here is the answer, and many of these answers we are going to consider in detail this morning. But the first is, he is our advocate in heaven before his Father.

Second, we have our flesh in heaven as a pledge that he, our head, will also take us, his members, up to himself. Third, he sends us his spirit as a counter-pledge by whose power we seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God and not the things that are on earth. Question 50 in this catechism. Why is it at it and sits on the right hand of God?

So him sitting on the right hand of God is connected to the ascension, by the way. So it says Christ ascended into heaven and manifest himself there as head of his church through whom the Father governs all things. And it's not as if this doctrine just appeared in the New Testament. No, we see it also in the OT.

The psalmist prophesies the ascension and enthronement of the Lord Jesus. Listen to Psalm 24:7‑10: 'Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.' Who is this King of glory?

Yahweh the Lord strong and mighty The Lord mighty in battle Lift up your heads O gates Lift them up O ancient doors that the king of glory may come in who is the king of glory yahweh the lord of hosts he is the king of glory say la who is the king of glory the lord jesus who has come in the flesh who is strong and mighty the lord jesus who has come in the flesh his strength wasn't flexed on the centurions when he when he could have called down a legion of angels to destroy them as they blasphemed him, but rather his strength was seen in the fact that he was willing to obey his father even to the point of receiving his wrath on the cross.

His might was not in the fact that he could have got off as they taught him, yo, you healed others. You were able to save others. Why don't you save yourself? He didn't flex his might and say, oh, it's not these nails keeping me on the cross.

It's my love for my Father and my love for my people. That's the reason I'm staying on. It's the fact that he despised the shame but he was looking for the joy of purchasing a people for his Father, and after the humiliation of Christ by these grasshopper‑like peasants on earth, he's welcomed by the host of heaven to sit on his throne where he's given a name above all names next to his co‑eternal Father. And this Jesus, he is the Lord of glory.

This Jesus has ascended unto heaven. So we have the ascension told by the spirit‑inspired author of Acts, referenced through the New Testament in both direct and indirect ways, prophesied in the Old Testament, placed in creeds by the early church and taught during the Reformation period catechisms. It's safe to say that the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ is not, or rather should not be, an afterthought for the Christian. Now let's consider the specifics of the ascension.

Why is it important and what does it do for us? We're going to look at five reasons. Because as one author puts it, the ascension does explain Jesus's absence on earth. You know I on the side part work as a chaplain for the Salvation Army at a rehabilitation center in Pasadena, and we get a lot of new beneficiaries, a lot of folks who didn't go to church growing up, very ignorant regarding scripture and the Bible, skeptics have a lot of questions. I was talking to a guy this past week who had a lot of questions.

And one of them included, like, why is he just not here? Why didn't he just show himself? Well, we have an answer. That shouldn't stump us as Christians.

The answer is he ascended for a reason, for the good of his people. The reason he's not here is because he loves us. He ascended, and the five reasons we're going to consider—there are more than five reasons, but we're going to look at five reasons in particular this morning. Number one, first reason.

I just have one word for it, glory. Glory. has anyone here ever seen those heart heart wrenching videos of a soldier returning from war being greeted by their family anybody ever seen those some of you have if you haven't watch them have a tissue ready it's you know like the family they haven't seen and oftentimes they surprise their family as well right but they at the airport waiting for their father waiting for their husband or vice versa if it a woman returning as well right But they at the airport waiting for their father waiting for their husband or vice versa if it a woman returning as well And it just a sweet reunion, right? This is a person that they love.

They've been gone for years on the battlefield. You can even say a piece of them have died, and now they return. There's a sweet reunion between these family members. I want you to imagine the sweet reunion between God the Father and God the Son in heaven.

Now, this point won't hit you unless you love the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to be honest: I don't really have any applications for this first point. I just want you to be happy for Jesus.

The fact that Jesus vacated his heavenly throne, the one he was one with for eternity—right, you know how married couples... And I've noticed that this is true.

Like married couples begin to look like one another as they, have y'all peeped that? As they live, have y'all recognized that? As they live long with one another, they begin to look like one another. Well, the father and the son, they've been with each other for eternity.

So they look just alike. That's why Jesus says, you're asking to see the father. Have you seen me If you seen me you seen the father So he loves his father He been one with his father And yet he had to be in a sense this can be overstated but in a sense he had to be separated from his Father on the cross He had to receive his wrath. This is why he cries out in the prayer of lament.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? So one scene we see Jesus being forsaken and the Father turning his back on his son, receiving the wrath that we deserve, click the double arrow, next scene the Lord Jesus and the Father are reunited. Praise God, right? Y'all can say amen.

It's all good. You can talk to me. Don't argue with me, but you can talk to me a little bit. John 16:28, Jesus says it, right?

Again, this can be overemphasized. I'm going back, but

I came from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

— John 16:28 (CSB)

So in a real sense, Jesus left the Father, was in the world, was rejected even by his father not because he was a sinner but because he was a sin bearer and then he went back John 20 verse 17 Jesus said to Mary do not

“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus told her, “since I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

— John 20:17 (CSB)

just let that sink in for a moment and know that the homecoming that the lord jesus he's our trailblazer so the homecoming that he experienced we too will experience when we either our hearts stop beating or the lord jesus returns we will be united with the father in a real sense So the first reason the ascension is important and such a beautiful doctrine is that our Lord Jesus Christ was able to be reunited with his father. First reason. Glory. Number two.

The Holy Spirit as the Promise and Empowerment

The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. There's much to be said regarding the Holy Spirit, and he's certainly the emphasis going into Pentecost as you continue to read the book of Acts, as some of you may know.

But what I want to consider is one of the names that the Spirit is given in verse four. If you go back to verse four, we read six to eleven. But if you look at verse four with me, he says, "And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father." I want to consider that. That's a title for the Holy Spirit. That's what they're waiting on: the Holy Spirit, also known as the promise of the Father.

Now what I'm going to argue is that this is not merely an allusion to Jesus' words in Luke and in John, certainly that Jesus is promising that he is going to send, you know, power from on high, but that's not merely what it's referring to. I think this promise from the Father finds its origins in the Old Testament. So to flesh this out, I want to use a framework that perhaps you may be familiar with, and it's also a framework that you can use in your evangelistic efforts with your neighbors. Again, this is something I use quite often, even at the Salvation Army where I'm the chaplain.

It's the framework of three questions that I think all of humanity is asking. Again, perhaps you're familiar with this. But how did we get here What went wrong and how do we fix it You don have to be a Christian to answer that question Or excuse me you don have to be you do have to be a Christian to be able to answer that question correctly I meant to say, you don't have to be a Christian to be asking those questions. I think everyone is asking those questions.

You come out the womb, like, yo, this world is not the way it should be. It doesn't look right. Something's gone wrong. Well, how did we get here first?

Like, how did we get here? What went wrong? Like, I know this world isn't supposed to, isn't the way it's supposed to be. 15 year old just trying to go to school or leaving from school.

A story I read or saw this week in the Bronx. Getting shot down. Senseless violence. Like this world shouldn't be like this.

Fires, tornadoes. Why? And then how do we fix it? So I want to use that framework in order to answer the question of why is the Holy Spirit given the title of the promise of the Father?

So keep that in mind. That's what we're trying to do. Trying to answer that question. Why is the Holy Spirit called the promise of the Father?

How does the Old Testament answer that question? But to answer it, to attack it, we're going to use this framework of how do we get here, what went wrong, how do we fix it, all right? So how do we get here? The eternal triune God who has always existed does not have a beginning nor an end created the heavens and the earth in six days And the crown of creation was on the sixth day which was humanity So God dwelled with humanity in the garden right Which would have been in one sense the first temple the first temple we see in scripture.

If we simplify the definition of a temple to a place where God dwells with his people, then the Garden of Eden in Genesis would have been the first temple. Does that make sense? So, again, a temple where God meets with humanity—the first one would be the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3 even speaks of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

So that answers the question: how did we get here? It was an accident. The God of the Bible spoke everything into existence. What went wrong?

Well, this is where the disturbance steps in. It was Adam and Eve's sin that severed not only them but all of humanity from God's presence. They were kicked out of the temple, out of the Garden of Eden, which resulted in God no longer uniquely dwelling with his people. However, we see that there's a promise in Genesis 3:15 that a seed will reverse the destructive effects of sin.

So there is a glimmer of hope. And one may say this is an oversimplification, I'll give you that, but nevertheless, the direction of the Bible from that point on, from Genesis 3 on, is looking to answer the question of how do we fix it? That's really it. Genesis 3.15, all the way to Malachi.

How do we fix what just went wrong? If what went wrong is God no longer dwells with his people because of their because of his holiness and their sin. How do we fix that issue? Right.

That's the primary issue. God is no longer dwelling with us. He's no longer with us because of our sin and God's holiness. So we got God's holiness up here, our sin up here.

Boom. How do we fix that? How do we remove both so we can be so he can dwell with us again? Well, God is holy.

That's not changing, right? Maybe we could say, OK, if he's no longer holy, then he won't mind our sin and we can be one with us. OK, that's not going to change. Humanity is sinful. This is something that we can change either on our own. You can try to clean up your life. We need not just a new start; we need a new heart, right? Again, I just kind of have this in my mind because I'm working as a chaplain, and I always tell people who are beneficiaries going through rough patches.

I say it's not just a new start you need. That is something you need. But read about Noah. Like there was a new start on the earth.

Like there was a new earth start, and that changed nothing. Really, humanity was still sinful. What was needed was a new heart given to people, so God's holiness is not going anywhere; our sinfulness is not going anywhere. But when you read the Old Testament, you'll discover these very things. We see certain foreshadowing measures taken with the nation of Israel, such as the ark of the covenant representing God's holiness, Him dwelling with His people in the temple through constant blood‑shedding atonement. God could dwell with His people in one sense without wiping them out and restarting year after year. However, according to God, that's not the permanent fix.

Listen to Ezekiel 36:27. He says, “My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” That sounds like a promise from the Father, does it not? The Father says, “My dwelling place shall be with them, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” So that text, I would argue, is the promise of the Father—the promise that He will once again dwell among His people and they shall be His God. In a sense, what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross was merely a means to an end.

What's the end? Reconciling and dwelling among His people. Again, what's in the way of this? We already said it.

The Father's holiness—or God's holiness—and our sinfulness. Well, the beauty of what Christ accomplished on the cross and with His resurrection, with His perfect life, is that it gets rid of both of those, right? Or it doesn't get rid of God's holiness; it gets rid of His wrath.

Rather, God's wrath. God has wrath on our sin. The cross takes the wrath, and we have rebellion toward God. Because the cross is effectual, it removes our rebellion.

And now we want God. We seek after him. And God because his wrath has been been already placed on his son he can be made right with us as well And now he can dwell among us the spirit of God This is why the cross has to come and the ascension of Christ has to precede the Holy Spirit It has to precede God dwelling among his people. But maybe you're here this morning and you still are outside the garden.

Maybe you're here this morning and you are still alienated from God's goodness. Perhaps you have not responded to the gospel. Perhaps this is your first time hearing it this morning. Maybe you feel the weight that something has gone wrong in the world.

Perhaps you feel it both externally in what you see, the sinfulness out there. but there's also the internal impact of sin and that we're not even able to meet our own moral standards, let alone meeting God's moral standards. My message to you this morning is to respond to the gospel. Repent and place your faith in the finished work of Jesus so that you too can dwell with God again via the Holy Spirit of God.

And if you want to have a conversation about that with any member here afterwards, I'm sure they would love to talk to you about what it means to become a Christian and to respond to the gospel. So that is the second one. If you are not a believer, the application of this point is to repent. If you are a believer, the application of this point is to rejoice.

the fact that you now, that God now dwells among his people. Don't sleep on that. That God's very presence dwells among the temple, that is the church, and that is the body, the physical body of his people. That's the second point.

Christ’s Coronation and Future Judgment

Third point, third importance of the ascension is, I use the word coronation. We have a coronation. In other words, Jesus sits as he has been installed as the king. Now he already the king even prior to the ascension but this was the coronation of his kingship Think of David the king who in 1 Samuel 16 he anointed as king but he doesn't sit down as king until 2 Samuel after the death of Saul.

And there are a plethora of New Testament texts that speak to this, but one is Revelation 3:21. Listen closely.

“To the one who conquers I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

— Revelation 3:21 (CSB)

So a throne is for kings. And where did Jesus sit on the throne? In heaven, next to His Father, after He conquered death and was resurrected. The ascension is how He got to the throne.

Therefore, saints, be encouraged that Jesus is on the throne. Maybe you need to hear, I need to hear that, going through some things in my own life. I need to be reminded that despite what is taking place in my life, despite what's taking place in your life, Jesus is on the throne and he reigning and he ruling Oftentimes there seems to be a gap That what we perceive A gap between my circumstance, or maybe it's just me, maybe y'all are good. And if so, amen, praise God.

Maybe somebody next to you is not good. But I know for me, oftentimes there's a gap between me knowing Jesus is sovereign and he's the king and he's reigning and that he's good and that he cares for me and loves for me and the circumstance I'm in. and I'm like trying to reconcile like yo, I know this is true but I also know the circumstance I'm in how do I make these two fit together? Like if he's sovereign and the king shouldn't this look differently?

Then I read the scriptures and I'm reminded that the two may not all I may not always in my finite mind be able to perceive how they perfectly fit together as a glove it's just an act of faith that we believe it That's what it is. This is an act of faith. Jesus is on the throne. Therefore, there are a lot of things we can be discouraged by in this world.

A lot of things in your own life and just again certain instances and stories that are already mentioned And yes our hearts should break over the endless tragedies that plague humanity There nothing wrong with that As a matter of fact the Bible gives us language for this Oftentimes we lament and we should offer up prayers of lament. However, we're not without hope because we know the sovereign king is running all things. In other words, a believer, this is just an anecdote, right? A believer and an unbeliever should be able to watch the news and have two different responses.

So you sit next to an unbeliever watching the news, and the news is saying the sky is falling. They're trying to alarm you as much as they can. The unbeliever may respond pulling out hair or getting crazy or whatever it may be. The believer should be able to say, okay, but God is still in control.

Jesus is still on the throne. I was reminded of this when I saw a report that outside of me believing Jesus is on the throne, I would be quite terrified. When that whistleblower came out and said, AI is going to be trying to kill us in 10 years. I was like, oh, okay.

If I didn't think Jesus was on the throne, all those Terminator and I, Robot, all those movies would be coming to mind, I would lose my mind. But Jesus is on the throne, so even if that happens, it's all good. One person places their hope in the circumstances of who's in office, what's taking place out there, what's taking place on their block, what's taking place in their home. again, all those things are important.

We should care about them. But we should just give them the proper weight that they deserve and not the improper weight. So we don't watch the news as unbelievers do. We don't live life as unbelievers do.

We recognize this truth that when Jesus ascended, there's very practical implications to this, that Jesus is king and he's on the throne. and whenever you need a trailer of the coming kingdom we just look inside the church that should remind you that there's a coming kingdom it's one of my favorite illustrations I like to give when talking about this again I said this earlier but I love trailers I love movies I just love to watch movies I been like that since I was a child And I'll, like, watch a trailer like it's, I'll, like, turn off the lights. I'll, like, turn it up really loud, get some popcorn, and watch it over and over again. That's how much I love cinema.

I love movies, right? There was one, yeah, I've done some pretty ridiculous things over trailers. But what they do is they get me excited about the feature presentation. I'm ready for the movie to come out because I'm watching the trailer over and over and over.

Right. Y'all know Jesus's ministry was a trailer of the kingdom. That's what it was. If you ever wondered, “Why did Jesus do the things that He did?”

Why did he come and why did he heal the sick? He's saying this is a trailer. Like in my coming kingdom, when I set up shop on earth, there's going to be no sickness. Alright?

So watch me just heal the sick. In my coming kingdom, there's going to be no death. So watch me raise the dead. In my coming kingdom, there's going to be no demonic opposition and no demonic oppression.

So watch me cast out demons. In my kingdom, there's going to be perfect leadership. So watch me lead my disciples graciously. Like if you were to look at Jesus' life it would be like, okay, if this is just a trailer I definitely want the real thing. And how do I get into the real thing? Repentance and faith.

So now that He's ascended, where's the trailer? Well, the world gets to see the trailer. It should see the trailer of the kingdom being among the church, the people of God—like, yo, the way they love one another, the way they forgive one another, the way they share with one another, the way they're gracious to one another, the way they serve one another.

And we get to say, "If you like this, wait for the real thing." This is just a trailer. It's just a foretaste. This is just going to whet your appetite.

This should just get you excited about what's to come, because it's going to be all this that I named minus sin. That's what the kingdom is going to look like when Jesus brings the kingdom on earth—all that I just said, minus any type of sin or flesh.

So we get to be reminded when we in the church that Jesus is king and he on the throne We see it common grace here and there in the world But when we come among God people we should at least not that it going to be a perfect picture but we should at least because y'all know how it is with a misleading trailer. Again, maybe it doesn't make you as mad as it makes me, but like, I don't like misleading trailers. It irks me. One more thing on this, now I'm done.

You remember that movie Godzilla that came out like in 2015? I went to see it just because of Bryan Cranston. I like him as an actor, right? And I thought he was going to be in a whole movie.

And then I went and watched it, and he died like in the first 10 minutes. I'm like, yo, you lied to me. Like you said, like the trailer made it seem like. Let us not be a misleading trailer for the kingdom, amen?

Because a misleading trailer for a movie, I can live. I got over it after a few weeks. But we don't want to be a misleading trailer for the world. That means the world saying, "Yo, that's what the kingdom's going to look like—a bunch of backbiting?"

The kingdom's going to look like gossip? The kingdom's going to look like anger? The kingdom's going to look like unforgiveness? I'm out.

I got that in the world. So we don't want to be a misleading trailer. We want to be an accurate one. Number four, judgment.

Judgment. So we've had glory, coronation. No, we've had glory, Holy Spirit, coronation, now judgment. Let's look at verse 11 again because it will show you how Jesus' ascension points to the coming judgment.

And said, the angels rather 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. So His ascension to His heavenly throne indicates that He will return and consummate His kingdom. This is the message of the most quoted Old Testament passage in the New Testament.

And that's Psalm 110. It's the most quoted verse. Listen closely to Psalm 110, verse 11, because this is what it's referring to. It says the Lord says to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool." All right, so that referring to the ascension where He sits at His right hand—we already looked at that—the timeline of what takes place. Then listen closely. So we know Psalm 110; the context of this passage is the ascension.

Now listen to verses 5 and 6.

The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his anger.

— Psalm 110:5 (CSB)

Wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. As one author puts it, His ascension isn't a stopping place.

It's a launching pad for His conquest and His return. Right. So Psalm 110 makes it clear that when the Lord Jesus returns, He will indeed wreak havoc over His enemies and all those who persecute the people of God. Now, this hits different to the Christians who, around the globe, our brothers and sisters, who are experiencing severe persecution.

For instance, if you're familiar, perhaps, with 2 Thessalonians, listen closely to what Paul says in this passage because it is this very point. He says, “Jesus, when He returned, and since God indeed considers it just to repay with afflictions those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels and flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might.” You know what is interesting? It's funny; I was listening to it a while back. This was a while ago.

I was listening to a podcast that was pretty whack, to be honest with you. But I want to hear what's going on out there, both the dope and good and whack podcast. And in this podcast, the podcaster said, yeah, you know, the idea that Jesus is going to return and judge enemies and shatter kings and all this, the stuff that I literally just read to you. This idea, this is Western.

It's a Western idea. And, you know, nowadays, if you like something, just say that it's Western, right? That's pretty much what I've noticed, right? But that's what they said.

It this Western idea And there some things that are Western for sure I just saying Not everything So you know it interesting because it actually the opposite The idea that when you read those passages and are not encouraged is Western. You say that because you're in a Western civilization that doesn't experience any persecution. But if you go to the East, where they are experiencing persecution, when they read these passages that literally say it word for word. They rejoice like God cares.

Jesus actually cares about His people. That's why we're crying out, “Maranatha.” He's going to return. Read the first few chapters of Revelation.

You'll discover He's writing to persecuted churches, and Jesus is reminding them time and time again, “I'm going to come back.” It's not going to keep going like this. I know how you are being persecuted; you are being opposed.

But I am going to place I'm going to judge those who are doing just that. So as God's people, we cry out Maranatha. We praise God for the privileged position we're in. Praise God that we're that we have the liberties that we have and that we have the freedom that we have.

That's a blessing from the Lord. Don't get me wrong. but nevertheless, when we read about the ascension of Jesus, we should also look to look to his return and the fact that he is setting up shop. Lastly, and I'm out, you're here.

The Ascension’s Role in Intercession

Number five, intercession. Intercession. We can't talk about the ascension without touching on the intercession. here's where the ascension is the flip side of the same coin of Pentecost and the giving of the Holy Spirit this is something I read in a book one time and I thought was really informative and instructive so what happens at the Pentecost if you're familiar and know your Bible the Holy Spirit God himself comes down.

We talked about that in the second point. God himself comes down and dwells with humanity or God's people to be more specific. The ascension is the flip side of that. So both instances, the ascension and Pentecost are both about bringing God and man together.

And the ascension Jesus brings are human stuff to the father We read that earlier Right And the catechism perhaps you remember that this is a sure sign Jesus going to heaven is a sure sign that our human selves will also be brought up to heaven. And in the other direction, God himself comes down and dwells with us. In other words, our eldest brother is in the presence of the Father and he brings us with him, Ephesians 1, and the Father also sends the Spirit of God so he's with us.

Ephesians 2 rather 1 and 2 so we're seated with him in the heavenly places already but there's a not yet aspect to it we will be seated with him although we're seated with him already and he's with us dwelling with us already but then there's a not yet aspect because he will dwell with us in his person as well so now we have Jesus fully God fully man with the father and he is our mediator he intercedes on our behalf. So his intercessory work is key to the doctrine of the ascension. That's why we're closing with this. Again, remember Psalm 10, most quoted passage in the New Testament from the Old Testament, talking about the ascension of Christ.

Notice what it says in verse 4. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek Now think about it In Jesus high priestly prayer he intercedes on behalf of those that he about to make atonement for And then he continues his priestly duty by interceding for those who his sacrifice was interceding for us through the sacrifice of the cross. As Robert Peterson once said, the ascension is the great linchpin of Christ's saving work as it forms the transition from Jesus's earthly ministry to his heavenly ministry. Consider the author of Hebrews, how he words it.

The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office. But he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he also lives to make intercession for them. Let that sink in for a moment.

That Jesus is interceding for you. Prospering, Jesus is interceding for you. In a trial, Jesus is interceding for you. Experiencing poverty?

Jesus is interceding for you. Faith dry at the moment? Jesus is interceding for you. Health body breaking down? Jesus is interceding for you. Romans 8: who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who is indeed interceding for us. Perhaps you've heard the term "representation matters."

Now, I don't like how that term is always used because it's used in some crazy ways sometimes, But nevertheless, I generally agree with the sentiment. And to give an example, I remember when I was a kid, I, again, love movies, but I love superhero stuff. I love Marvel, love DC, loved all of that. And I remember, and I'm not telling anybody to go watch this movie.

I'm just giving you some biographical information about my life and making the illustration here. But I remember as a kid, actually, I shouldn't even have been allowed to watch this now that I think about it as like an eight-year-old. But as a kid, man, when the movie Blade came out, I lost my mind. I lost my mind.

Because again, I love superheroes. And then I saw somebody that looked like me on the silver screen. A couple shades darker, but he looked like me, Blade. and he had hands and he protected the the which mean he could fight and he protected the innocent and i'm like yo i'm representing i see myself when i watch blade i used to i went to be blade i would get my pops like i got in trouble a few times doing this i would get his like his his sports jackets and like tape like a fake knife or a fake sword to the back and I would buy blades and get his sunglasses.

I'd be like running around the house like thinking I'm blade. Like I'm being represented by Wesley Snipes on the silver screen. Well, that was low-key empowering. And this has been the sentiment of others, but there's no greater representation than what we have as Christians with God the Father.

Y'all recognize that we have the Lord Jesus representing us with God the Father. Let that sink in. Jesus intercedes and represents us while He's with His Father. Keep that in mind when you are downtrodden because of unfair treatment by some type of authority figure, that you have a representative with the true authority over all that is in heaven and on earth below. When you feel the weight of your sin and the consequences, perhaps even condemnation from the enemy, remember that you have a representative with a compassionate and forgiving God.

As your body breaks down and doesn't work the way it used to, perhaps you're plagued by illness, remember you have a representative with the God of our anatomy who will one day give you a glorified body. This is all good news. We have Jesus who has ascended and is now representing all of His people. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the ascension. We thank you for the gospel, the good news, apart from, of course, the perfect life that the Lord Jesus lived that was required of us, that we should have lived. we should have been without sin we should have been without lies and without deceit and without sinful anger without lust, without pride, without false oaths without lying, and yet that describes every single one of us Heavenly Father we thank you for the cross we thank you for the cross The cross that saved us. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you, before the foundations of the world, agreed to take on our human flesh, to become like us, minus sin, and to receive the punishment that we deserved.

We thank you for the resurrection, for if you stayed in the grave you would have proven you would have failed to prove you are who you say you are, and yet everything was vindicated when you resurrected. But Lord, we also this morning want to specifically zoom our lens in on the ascension and praise you for that—excuse me—we praise you, Lord Jesus, and we just celebrate the fact that you were reunited with your Father. Jesus, you were cut off on the cross. There was a real separation that took place.

And yet what a sweet reunion for you to be back with the One whom you've been one with for all eternity! We thank you, although despising the shame, seeing the joy set before you in purchasing a people for your Father. We praise you for the ascension, for without it the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Paraclete, would not have come. And now you fulfilled your promise, Father, to be with us, that you dwell with your people, that you would be our God, and that we would be your people. We thank you for keeping that promise, for perhaps someone who's unfamiliar with the Old Testament would read Matthew to Malachi and just feel downtrodden.

Like, will we ever get it? But once that page is turned to Matthew and we see that the Redeemer has come down, we see that's the first step—at least coming in the flesh, in motion to us being reunited with you. We thank you for the coronation. Remind us of this, Jesus.

How often do we forget? How often do I forget? I would venture, I would guess that I'm not alone in this room, but I'd be the first to confess that I forget you're on the throne, that you're in control, that you're sovereign. But I thank you for the church as a beautiful and sweet reminder of that, a reminder that you are on the throne, that you are a king.

I thank you for the word of God that reminds me of just that. I thank you for the Spirit of God that reminds us of just that. Help those in this room, Lord, who are struggling with truly believing that Jesus is sovereignly reigning and ruling. And we thank you for the judgment that is to come, that though we experience opposition on this side of eternity, all those who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted.

So each of us experience our own type of social persecution. And yet we're reminded that Jesus will make will return and make all things right. We thank you that we await that beautiful day. And lastly, we thank you for intercession.

We thank you for representation. We thank you, Jesus, that you are representing your people—not a perfect people, but a repentant people, Lord—and that we can respond now to your beautiful mercy, grace, to the ascension.

Closing Worship and Response

By singing of the one true gospel that saved us, we pray all these things by the power of the Spirit, unto God the Father, in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.

Let's stand and sing, 'There is One Gospel,' on page 10 of our bulletins as we remind ourselves of Christ's life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Direction and ascension—so there is one. There is one gospel on me.