Ascension
Acts
1:1-11
5/29/25
“It shall come to pass in the latter
days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as
the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come,
and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the
God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from
Jerusalem.”
These words from Isaiah chapter two
describe the end time work that Yahweh will bring about. Almost the exact same
words are found in his contemporary, Micah. These prophets describe a situation
in which Mt. Zion and Jerusalem – the place where the temple was located – is
the source from which God’s reign goes forth. It is the highest of the mountains
and all the other peoples and nations are coming to it. They are learning the
ways of Yahweh so that they can walk in his paths.
This scene is one in which God’s
reign has given victory to Israel.
Instead of being threatened by a superpower like Assyria in the days of
Isaiah and Micah, the God of Israel is acknowledged by all as they come in
submission before him. And this means victory for Israel.
They have been vindicated for believing in Yahweh and as God’s
people they are blessed by his reign. Isaiah says in chapter sixty: “Then you
shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because
the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations
shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels
of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They
shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of
the LORD.”
When you read the Old Testament prophets, it is easy get the
impression that God is going to restore the kingdom to Israel. As God’s chosen
people, Israel will reign over the nations. Zion and Jerusalem will rule over
all, and the nations will bring their wealth to the capital of Israel.
In the days of Isaiah and Micah, Israel was a small and divided
nation. In the days of Jeremiah and
Ezekiel it was even smaller, as only the southern kingdom of Judah
remained. In both cases the nation was
nothing in comparison to superpowers like Assyria and Babylonia. It was clear that God’s action to change this
would be sweeping and dramatic. It would
completely change the world.
This was all the more the case in the days of the apostles. Apart
from about a hundred years under the Hasmoneans, the Jews had never ruled
themselves. They had been just a small province of a series of empires, and now
they were ruled by the Romans. There was an expectation that only God’s end
time action could change all this and restore Israel.
In our text, we hear a summary of what the disciples experienced in
the time after the resurrection of Jesus. Luke tells us, “He presented himself
alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during
forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.” We are reminded that the resurrection was not
a one day thing. The risen Lord was with
the disciples during the course of forty days. He was with them in
Jerusalem. He was with them in Galilee.
He was with different groups of people, and as Paul tells us, on one
occasion this numbered five hundred people.
Jesus left the disciples in no doubt that he had in fact risen from
the dead. And we learn that during this time he was teaching them about the
kingdom of God. The kingdom of God – the reign of God – that was present in
Jesus had been the theme of Jesus’ whole ministry. But now, in light of the Lord’s death and
resurrection, the disciples were learning more about what this meant.
Now back in Jerusalem, Jesus told the disciples not to depart from
the city. He told them to wait for the
promise of the Father. He said, “for John
baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy
Spirit not many days from now.”
Jesus had spoken about the future. And so when the disciples had
come together they asked the question: “Lord, will you at this
time restore the kingdom to Israel?” It was a very natural question for
them to ask. Jesus had risen from the dead. This was not just a return to life
as Christ had done for others. He had risen with a transformation that was the
resurrection of the Last Day. His resurrection was an end time event, and so
the disciples naturally believed that now the prophecies of the Old Testament
would be fulfilled as God restored the kingdom to Israel.
Jesus did not answer in the way they expected. He said to them, "It is not for you
to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But
you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea
and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Then they were looking on as he was lifted up, and a cloud
took him out of their sight. He ascended into heaven, and while they were looking
as he went 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.”
Today we are celebrating the Feast of the Ascension of Our
Lord. Jesus Christ’s ascension is, of
course, directly linked to his death and resurrection. Paul told the Galatians
that in the fullness of time God sent his Son into the world. The Son entered
the world as he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary.
The Son of God had created the world. Yet as he was in our world,
Jesus did not use his powers to serve himself. Instead, he humbled himself to
carry out the Father’s will. Paul told the Philippians about Christ: “And being
found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point
of death, even death on a cross.”
Jesus died for our sins in order to reconcile us with God. Because
of Christ’s death we are now holy before God. Paul told the Colossians, “he has
now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present
you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”
Then, through the resurrection of Jesus, God defeated death
forever. The resurrection of Jesus was the beginning of the Last Day. It was the end time action of God as the age
to come broke into our world. Jesus
Christ’s resurrection is the beginning of the resurrection that will be ours as
well.
The ascension was the exaltation of the crucified and risen Lord. On
the Day of Pentecost Peter declared, “This Jesus God raised up, and
of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of
God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy
Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, ‘The Lord
said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your
footstool.’”
Peter quotes Psalm 110 as he says that Jesus has been seated at
God’s right hand. To sit at the right hand is to share fully in the exercise of
the power of God. Since God’s power is
present and at work everywhere, his “right hand” is not a place. In his ascension, Jesus withdrew his visible
presence as he now fully makes use of all his divine power.
The ascension has not changed anything about Jesus. He was true God
and true man before, and he is true God and true man now. It has not added any
power to him. As the Son of God he always had all power. It has not changed his
humanity, for in the personal union it has always shared in the communication
of attributes with his divine nature.
What has changed is that Jesus Christ now makes full and complete
use of all the power that he has. No longer does he humble himself. Instead, he
actively rules over all things.
Our Lord reigns, and everything has been subjected to him. Paul
referred to “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.”
We have the comfort of knowing that this is the Lord who cares for us. This is the Lord who is at work for his Church. This is the Lord who will return in glory on the Last Day. For as Paul told the Philippians, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
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