The Ascension of Jesus
Luke 24.44-53
Video - https://youtu.be/xehlGxdhBH4
Summary Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father and promised the Holy Spirit so that He could be closer to us in a new way - through the Spirit and the Word, and so the Gospel could be preached to the end of the earth.
Introduction
Do you ever feel that your faith would be stronger if you could just see Jesus face to face, touch Him, and listen to Him speak? Many have wondered about that. Many more have turned away from God because they don’t think He has given us enough evidence of His existence. Forty days after He rose from the dead, Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father, and His physical presence was hidden from this world. As important as His physical entrance into this world was – Jesus physically taught, healed, suffered, died, and rose from the dead – His physical hiddenness and the giving of the Holy Spirit was just as important. Jesus’ physical presence was a good thing, but it severely limited the number of people who could benefit from it. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, and particularly the New Testament and those who believe it, the miracle of Jesus and the blessings of His salvation are going out to the ends of the earth. Let’s think about the impact the ascension of Jesus makes upon our lives as Christians. Let me begin by pointing out the three basic views of life.
Three Views of Life
The first view of life is that it is all an accident. The world is an accident. We are all accidents. In this way of life, the goal is to be as happy as you can in any way that you can. Some may choose a path of good morality, but others may not. I strongly suspect that this is the view of life of the mass murderers that we see so often in the headlines. In the end it doesn’t matter what we do because there is no eternal justice in their minds. No matter how much happiness you create, no matter how much good or bad that you do, everything is haunted by the inevitability and the utter annihilation of death. There is no eternal life or eternal joy here.
The second view of life is that there is a god or gods who created the world. Some say they don’t talk to us or help us. That puts them in the first category – Just try to find happiness, but death is the final result. Others say they do talk to us and help us, but everything is based on performance. This is the common view of all man-made gods. They are rewardersnot saviors. They are reflections of ourselves. They are the idols we see in our mirrors. Any eternal life or joy they offer is a deception, a self-deception. How can we reward ourselves with or earn eternal life?
The third view is the one taught by the Bible. God created the world and ordered it in perfection. Sin created disorder and destruction. God immediately called for repentance and gave forgiveness. This call for repentance and gift of forgiveness continued through the ages and culminated in His coming into the world and making a sacrifice of love for the forgiveness of all. Jesus made that sacrifice as God’s Son. His resurrection and ascension are the signs that it was a divine sacrifice of salvation. Though we must die because of our sins, through our repentance and forgiveness we will rise, and we will also be taken to heaven. Filled with joy in this divine love, we live by faith doing good that glorifies God and promotes His grace.
Of these three views of life – The reality of the first is that life is a flickering fumble of nature that quickly falls back to vast expanse of nothing. The reality of the second is that life is a futile effort to climb an imaginary stairway to God. The reality of the third is that life is a gift of God. The flaws of sin that we know so well have been healed in forgiveness of Jesus, and His Spirit testifies to our spirit, “that we are the children of God” (Romans 8.16).
Let’s take another look at the last words of Jesus just before His ascension to see how they teach this third view of life and assure us that life is a gift, that forgiveness heals sin, and that we will be God’s people forever.
Jesus Explained: Everything Written About Me in the Law of Moses and the Psalms & the Prophets
Jesus went back to the books of Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets and showed how they all pointed to Him. After He had healed the paralyzed man at the Pool of Bethesda the Jews wanted to kill Him because it was on the Sabbath Day when no work was to be done. Jesus explained that He was God's Son, and that He was doing the work of God - the work of redemption and salvation. What better day to overcome sin and death than on the Sabbath Day? But it wasn't just the Sabbath Day that concerned the Jews. It was that He claimed to be the Son of God. It was then that Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me." All of the Old Testament points to Jesus, the Son of God. Without Him the Old Testament is like a book that is missing its last chapter. But together, the Old and New Testaments are a migthy affirmation of God's salvation. The Old Testament prophecies and the New Testament fulfills.
But, if someone gives me a check for a large amount of money, it remains nothing more than a worthless piece of paper until I believe what it says and act upon it. God’s word and the message of Jesus is like that also. The sixty-six books of the Bible are a much heavier than a single check. But if we do not believe them and the Author who wrote them, the Bible becomes for us nothing more than a paper weight. But if we will believe in these words, we will receive the gift that money could never buy. All three views of life that I mentioned above involve death. But only in the Christian view of life from the Bible is death a temporary reality. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though He may die, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11.25-26). I urge you with all my heart to cash that check.
Jesus Said: It Was Necessary that the Christ Should Suffer, Rise, and that Repentance and Forgiveness Be Proclaimed to All Nations.
If I have an infected wound in my body, I can take two approaches. I can live with it by always covering it up and scraping away the scabs and pus and hoping it will get better eventually, or I can clean it out with peroxide and alcohol. It is amazing how tempting the first way is. But experience teaches that while it may be less painful in the beginning, it will be much worse in the end. Better to take the pain of wound dressing and the good benefit of healing that will result in the long run. Sin is an infection in our souls. It takes the form of bad thoughts, bad desires and bad feelings. These eventually lead to bad decisions and actions that hurt us and others – and worst of all – spreads the disease of sin to others.
God has given us bandages, slings, and crutches in the form of good morals, education, psychology and medicine. These things can help us in some ways. But the deep infection of sin can only be cured through the medicine of Jesus’ blood. In repentance we open the wounds of our souls and cleanse them with the love of God in Jesus. The cure of our souls begins when we say, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Help me.” Into these open wounds of our souls God pours the words of forgiveness: To the paralyzed man Jesus said, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you” (Matthew 9.2). Regarding the woman who wiped Jesus’ feet with her tears, He said, “I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven” (Luke 7.47). Jesus came to live, to die, and to rise again in order to provide the medicine of forgiveness for the infections of our souls. And this is why, secondly, He told the disciples before His ascension that the most important thing in this world is the preaching of repentance and forgiveness. This is the key to life and to everything.
Jesus said: Stay in the City Until You are Clothed with Power from on High.
Thirdly, when Jesus ascended to heaven, He didn’t leave us. He told us in Matthew, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28.20). Here in Luke we see that the disciples “worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy” after His ascension. The ascension does not mean that Jesus left, but that He is still with us in a better way – through the gift of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist referred to this at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. He said, “I baptize with water... but one is coming who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Luke 3.16). The Holy Spirit works through the word, and even in Jesus’ earthly ministry this was something that He stressed. Once a woman cried out to Jesus, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts which nursed you” (Luke 11.27). She recognized that Jesus was an amazing man, and that those who were close to Him – and especially His own mother Mary must be truly blessed. But Jesus replied indeed she was, but, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Luke 11.27).
In the 1800s an Arab guide told a story to Russell Conwell about a man who wanted to get rich prospecting for diamonds. He sold all his property and spent the rest of his life unsuccessfully in the search for diamonds. One day the man who bought his property saw an unusual stone in a stream. It turned out that this stone was a huge diamond and that the stream was full of diamonds. Russell Conwell became a Baptist minister. He took this story and turned it into a famous sermon titled "Acres of Diamonds." The sermon emphasized that we are tempted to seek true happiness far and wide, but that the happiness of salvation is right in front of us. He preached that sermon more than 6,000 times, and he used the proceeds from that sermon to build Temple University in Philadelphia.
Many people do not realize the blessings that are right in front of them in the New Testament that Jesus gave us after His ascension into heaven. God gave Abraham one of the first promises of a Messiah. It was just a few verses long, not nearly as much sacred scripture as we have in our hands right now. And Jesus said, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad" (John 8.56). Moses was given the Law on Mt. Sinai, but he was also looking far ahead to Jesus. Again Jesus said, "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me" (John 5.45). Peter talked about this in his first letter. He said that we who have the gospel preached by the Holy Spirit have the things “which angels desire to look into” (1 Peter 1.12). At any time we can open the pages of the New Testament and receive the very power of the Holy Spirit. This book has transformed more lives than any book that has ever been written. It will transform your life and your world as well.
Conclusion
One of my favorite bluegrass songs is titled "Dust on the Bible." The song is about a Christian who visited and friend and noticed all the books and magazines in their living room, but the Bible was covered with dust. It includes these words: "There's dust on the Bible, dust on the holy Word, the words of all the prophets and the sayings of our Lord. Of all the other books you'll find, there's none salvation holds. Get that dust off the Bible and redeem your poor soul."
That's my advice for this Ascension week and the last week of Easter. You have Jesus at your fingertips. God bless you for taking time to be with Him in this service of Word and Sacrament. But don't let it stop there. Take up your Bibles this week and redeem and refresh your soul with the words of life and salvation in Jesus. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment