The Ascension: Maybe one of the most overlooked aspects of the gospel is the ascension of Jesus back into heaven. Why is this significant? Because the ascension of Jesus reveals both his kingly power and authority over all of creation and the wonderful comfort of his promise to return and take us to be with him. Recorded on Mar 20, 2022, on Acts 1:1-11, by Pastor David Parks.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 30:15 — 69.2MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Email | RSS
This message is part of The Supremacy of Christ sermon series. The Christian gospel claims that Jesus is far greater than anyone or anything. And it’s true that his first coming was marked by humility, suffering, and even death on a cross. But is that how Jesus is today? Absolutely not. Jesus has risen from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God. Today, Jesus reigns and rules over all of creation and will one day return in glory to judge the living and the dead.
Sermon Transcript
All year, we’re focusing on, The Greatness of God. And today, we’re continuing a sermon series called The Supremacy of Christ. The Christian gospel claims that Jesus is far greater than anyone or anything. And it’s true that his first coming was marked by humility, suffering, and even death on a cross. But is that how Jesus is today? Absolutely not. Jesus has risen from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God. Today, Jesus reigns and rules over all of creation and will one day return in glory to judge the living and the dead. But if we fail to get this vision of Jesus, high and lifted up, supreme over all, we’ll have all sorts of problems in our life and faith. We’ve considered the transfiguration of Jesus and also the exclusivity of a relationship with God through Jesus. That no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. Today, we’ll consider the ascension of Jesus back into heaven. This is one of the most under-appreciated aspects of the gospel. But the ascension of Jesus reveals both his kingly authority over the kingdom of God and the wonderful comfort of the promise of his return. So we dare not miss this. If you have a Bible/app, please open to Acts 1:1.
Acts 1:1–11 (NIV), “1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “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.”
Two weeks ago, we considered the story of the transfiguration of Jesus from Luke’s gospel. There, I said that Luke was the first of a two-part work in the Bible. The book called Acts is the second part of Luke’s work. Let’s go back to the start of this passage and work through it together. v.1.
Acts 1:1-3 (NIV), “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” Luke dedicates both of these works to a man named Theophilus. We don’t know much about this brother, but it is generally thought that he was a wealthy man who funded Luke’s work of doing this careful investigation into the life and ministry of Jesus. This is such an important point not to miss. Money is never the point of real ministry. Of course, in every generation, there are so-called ministers who use the gospel for selfish gain saying that God has called them to have a Lamborghini and a private jet. But the gospel isn’t supposed to be a means of increasing your net worth. That’s far too small of a goal for something as powerful and glorious as the gospel of Jesus. However, ministry, like so many other things in life, relies on money to make it work. The Bible presents God as the one who is ultimately in charge of providing for our needs in life and ministry. But so very often, God’s provision comes through the generosity of regular people, probably like Theophilus. So here, Luke reports back on what he has discovered after interviewing the eyewitnesses. Luke’s first work was about all that Jesus began to do and teach through his death and resurrection and ascension back into heaven. Here, the book of Acts is what happened next, what happened after Jesus rose from the dead. Don’t miss this point either. That after his suffering and death on the cross for the sins of the world, Jesus appeared to hundreds of eyewitnesses and gave them many convincing proofs that he was, in fact, alive. He was with the disciples for forty days and continued to teach them about the Kingdom of God. This was the main message of Jesus. But what does he say here? Look at v. 3.
Acts 1:4-5 (NIV), “On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Again, don’t miss that the specific context for this teaching is that Jesus is sharing a meal with his disciples. I’m not kidding when I say that few things bring people together like eating together. In the verses after our text for today, we know that this is taking place near Bethany on the Mount of Olives. Jesus had spent a lot of time there and had friends who lived there including Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. But here, in this familiar place with his friends around him, Jesus issues a command, Luke says. After the resurrection of Jesus, Jesus said that all authority in heaven and earth had been given to him by the Father in heaven. Even though he was a brother and a friend, he was also the King of all creation. When Jesus speaks, he doesn’t give suggestions or opinions as we might. His word has the weight of a command from the throne of heaven. And what did he command his friends and followers? Don’t leave Jerusalem until you are baptized with or immersed in the Holy Spirit. According to the Bible, all of human history might be separated into 4 ages: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation. Creation speaks to the time before the fall to sin, when God created a good and perfect world. The Fall is when sin entered into humanity through the rebellion of the human creatures who were made in the image of God. This age led up to the first coming of Christ, who provided the sacrifice needed to make atonement for the sins of the world. The age of Redemption started on that first Easter Sunday but really kicked off on the day of Pentecost, the day when the Father and Son sent the Holy Spirit into the world to allow the very personal presence and power of God to dwell among his people in their spirit, leading and guiding them as they learn to follow the way of Jesus. The final age, the New Creation, will fully arrive when Jesus returns, the dead will be raised, and all will give an account of their lives to their maker. Jesus is saying, don’t leave Jerusalem, don’t move on with your lives, don’t even try to do gospel-centered ministry, until what? Until you receive the Holy Spirit. You need him. You need him to be your advocate, counselor, and strong helper. You need him to remember and discern the truth. You need him to remind you of your identity as a child of God. In the OT, only at certain times and places would someone be said to be filled with the Spirit of God, usually a prophet, priest, king, or some strong deliverer. But then Jesus’ whole ministry seemed to rely on the work of the Spirit. Here, one of the marks of this current age of Redemption is that every believer is filled with the Spirit. In fact, the book of Acts could rightly be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit. Let’s keep going. v. 6.
Acts 1:6-8 (NIV), “Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” I love that the disciples are still a little fuzzy on what Jesus was resurrected for. They still thought of the Kingdom of God in a physical or political sense. Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Meaning are you going to set our nation free from the Roman Empire? This isn’t a bad question, but Jesus gently corrects them saying, this is not for you to know. It’s for this reason that I am astonished by the proliferation of ministries that try and connect the dots between contemporary political events and the return of Jesus. If you read back through history, it seems as if every generation thought they were the generation that would be alive on the earth when Jesus returned. But here, Jesus clearly says that we won’t know when he will return. It is not for you to know! But that doesn’t mean we can just sit around and wait for him to return. He has given us the Holy Spirit, he has given us spiritual power, he has given us the gospel, and he says that his disciples will be his witnesses in Jerusalem, that is in the city where they were at the time, and in all Judea and Samaria, that is in the region of Jerusalem and in the next region, and to the ends of the earth. If we continued to study the book of Acts, this is really how Luke has structured his account. Chapters 1-7 center on what happened in Jerusalem. In Chapter 8 the disciples are scattered throughout Judea and Samaria because of persecution. And by the end of the book, we have Paul and others who have taken the gospel all over the Roman Empire, even to the ends of the earth. So it’s not our business to know the details of Jesus’ return, but it is very much our business to share the good news of the gospel, by the power of the Holy Spirit, starting out in our Jerusalem and radiating out from here. But now that these first Christians understood their mission, in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus, what would happen to Jesus? Would he stay with them as their king or maybe more like a general in this campaign of the gospel? We find the unexpected answer in v. 9.
Acts 1:9-11 (NIV), “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 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.” So after the resurrection, where Jesus defeated the Satanic powers of sin and death, and after he spent forty days with his disciples and appeared to hundreds of eyewitnesses, he ascended back into heaven where he is seated at the right hand of God, in the place of absolute power and authority. Did he need to fly up into the clouds? No, we know that he could appear and disappear in this physical realm, just as these men or angels or whoever these two characters are did to explain what was happening to the disciples. But not only was he raised from the dead but he was raised all the way up into heaven. Now, we talk a lot about the death and resurrection of Jesus, and rightly so. But in my opinion, the ascension of Jesus is one of the least appreciated aspects of the gospel. Why? Because his ascension is such a clear picture of the uniqueness of the person of Jesus. No one else is like him. In this sermon series, we’ve said that the Christian gospel claims that Jesus is far greater than anyone or anything. The ascension of Jesus, this image of Jesus high and lifted up is vital for followers of Jesus to understand, even today. Far too many Christians have way too small of a view of God. But here, we see that Jesus is greater than any person in your life or who has ever lived. Jesus is greater than any other prophet, priest, or king. Jesus is greater than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus is greater than Moses, David, and Daniel. Not only that, but Jesus is greater than the angels and all the hosts of heaven. He is far greater than our Adversary, the devil. It’s not even close. Jesus died, it’s true, but he was raised. And he has ascended back into heaven as the undefeated King of the Kingdom of God.
So what does this mean for us today? The ascension of Jesus means many things, but I’ll briefly share two thoughts. First, and I hope you never forget this as long as you live, Jesus is not currently meek and mild. His first coming was marked by humility, suffering, and death, but Jesus is no longer in that state. Read Acts 1, Col 1, Heb 1, Php 2, the whole book of Revelation, and on and on. Jesus has been exalted to the highest place. He is seated on the throne. He is in glory. He is surrounded by all the hosts of heaven. Is this how you picture him? Is this the one you picture when you pray? Or when you listen to his teaching? Do you understand that his word is the command of the King of kings and Lord of lords? Do you understand that it was by his word that all things were made and that it is by his word that all things are sustained in reality?? See him high and lifted up! See him in glory! And see that the only possible response to one like Jesus is to worship him and give your whole life to him in joyful obedience and service.
Second, and finally, the ascension of Jesus ought to remind us of the final thing these two heavenly men told the disciples: “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.” I love this. It’s like, ok I know you just saw a man taken up directly into heaven…but why are you still standing around here? Jesus has left you physically, but one day he will return. Remember the passage we considered last week? It started with Jesus saying, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (Jn 14:2-3). The ascension of Jesus should be a wonderful comfort for us not only of his kingly power and authority but of his care for us, his people. Jesus will never leave us or forsake us. Others might abandon you, but he never will. He has given us his Spirit and his Word. And one day, in the fullness of time, he will return and make all things new. So may we never lose this vision of Jesus high and lifted up, greater and more glorious than anyone or anything. And may we never forget his promise to return. He has gone into heaven to prepare a place for us. And one day, at just the right time, he will return and take us to be with him. Praise God. Let us pray.