The Ascension
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The Ascension
The Ascension
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 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.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 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.”
Have you ever made assumptions about your faith only to find that you are sometimes missing the point? Have you ever had to be re-directed by scripture to focus on what is truly important rather than what is trending in the news? Do you ever find that you need a solid reminder that what we believe is so fantastic it is almost unbelievable? Have you ever settled in to just believing what you believe about Christ, and forgot that there is still more to come? Have you ever thought, “I wish I was alive when jesus was physically walking this earth, so that I could have access to him physically”? Or how about this… Have you ever felt like I just don’t know HOW TO BE REAL WITNESS FOR JESUS?
All of these are common thoughts for believers and all of these will be addressed by this small passage. Here is how...
We will see the those closest to Jesus miss the point y getting too involved in their ideas of what they want in their world. This will remind us that our focus needs to be on what we see in scripture rather than what we see on the news.
This passage will tell us of an event that was amazing no doubt, yet it reminds us that we haven’t seen nothing yet. There is powerful hope in what is to come that should shake the apathy off of us and remind us of what powerful savior we have.
And there is a primary function of the Holy Spirit and a profound truth in knowing Christ has ascended and the Spirit he come to us.
As we look at this passage today we are shown a scene that we should try hard to understand what it looked like. Watching Christ Ascend into heaven… This was an amazing moment that Jesus talked about with his disciples many times and we see it here. I almost called this sermon”Don’t lose your Awe” because of how this passage ends, with the Apostles looking up at the heavens in Awe.
Have you ever witnessed an amazing event in the heavens that was breath taking? How many remember the Solar eclipse that happened here recently? You guys close to Totality or 100% coverage, right? Who remembers where they were when this happened? Who traveled somewhere nearby to be in totality? I heard stories of people who fight traffic and even went to remote areas to view this epic event. I heard that during totality, when the sun was 100% blocked the moon, animals who are nocturnal started to come out, the temp dropped 10 degrees, and many people had sore necks from staring into the skies.
As amazing as that was, what we see here in scripture speak of an event that will cause that day to pale in comparison to what is coming. let’s look at this passage and dive into the story Luke is telling his friend Theophilus.
Remember last week, Luke starts his story and Jesus was speaking… lets look at it again.
1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 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. 4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
So we are at the end of a 40 day period where Jesus has been showing himself to his followers after his resurrection. He is giving them a reminder; to stay in the city and wait, and he is giving them a promise; they will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
A quick point here, it is interesting to me that Jesus Jesus did not say you will be baptized by the Spirit in 10 days from now, rather he just said “not many days from now”.
Isn’t it interesting that the Lord never seems to tells us exacts about these epic events, rather he just gives some basic instruction and allows us to feel the tension in our obedience. Don’t get me wrong, much of what we could consider as Biblical prophesy about the times when Christ will return we can see as fulfilled, so I am not saying God doesn’t tell us anything… But I am saying that God who knows everything and is sovereign over everything, could tell us exact times and dates and yet he never does. Have you ever stopped to wonder why that is?
I would submit to you that even though we like to think of these things like tests from God about our Faith, God doesn’t need to test us in those ways because he knows all about our faith and lack thereof. In fact, we may get a tangible experience in these times of waiting and being obedient and that can be building to our faith, but that is simply a by product of something bigger...
God’s plans have perfect timing
God’s plans have perfect timing
Jesus could have sent the Spirit immediately once he went back up to the Father but he commanded them to wait, because the Father has a plan that needs not only their obedience but their patience… People were coming to Jerusalem to worship during pentecost and they were not there yet, so they needed to wait. we will see this more in a couple weeks...
And if Jesus says you need to be here in 10 days, how tempted would they be, to go do something else and try to make it back in time? Their obedience kept them from being distracted.
Why would they be distracted? Well for starters they needed to be told to wait in the city because they would not have wanted to stay in the town that had just crucified Jesus… but next we see that they are easily distracted because of what we see in our text today… they often miss the point.
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Jesus is preparing to go back to the Father, he has told them this in other places we see in scripture, they know their time with the resurrected savior is drawing to an end, and when they are all together this is the question they have for him.
What are they really asking him? Are they asking him about an event, or the timing of an event?
While we cannot construct their exact thoughts, (Luke doesn’t report that in this story), we can see that it does seem clear that they are expecting a political shift, based on this new Kingdom that has come and the tensions they all have with Israel being under roman occupation.
So at his Ascension his followers express a desire to be liberated from foreign oppression and urge Jesus to restore the Kingdom to Israel.
They expect Jesus to make good on an OT promises that Israel would become the eternal kingdom of the Messiah who reigns on the throne of David. In we see the Prophet spoke of a day when Israel would reign over the nations and people would stream to Zion to hear the Word of the Lord. Prophecies like this one speak of the end of all things and God’s kingdom and rule beginning for all time.
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 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, 3 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 forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
It is almost as if the Apostles are asking if it is now time for the end. But Jesus responds in an odd way. He does not really comment on this event, or at least that isn’t his focus...
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
acts1.
Jesus rebuffs their question by indicating that it is not their job to know the time of God’s plan to be fulfilled. their job is to be Faithful as they wait. It is almost as if Jesus is saying to them, “Guys Do not miss the point...” Do not get all wrapped up in wondering when the end is coming, It is not for you to know the times and seasons...
So the Apostles question is about an event more than timing, and Jesus answers them with timing more than the event. Stop getting sidetracked by trying to figure out when everything is going to happen, just know that it will happen and trust God as you are faithful to him until the days comes that he knows the timing of.
The future belongs to God not to us
The future belongs to God not to us
We really do not need to know the timing of events and we really do not need to worry about if the things God has revealed will actually happen. His word is full of encouragements to his people that he will do what he said he will do, and he is faithful even and especially when we are faithless. He who began a good work will surely bring to completion that which he began in us and this world… You can trust God because the Future belongs to him.
They should’ve remembered what Moses taught them...
deut29.
29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
There are many Secret things that God has knowledge of, but we have everything revealed to us that we may be able to follow his statues!
When the apostles ask him if it is now time… Jesus replies with a mild rebuke… It is not for you to know!
Jesus isn’t mad at them here but he does have to redirect them to what is important. It isn’t important for them to know when God’s calendar of world events and the destined end will come… they do not have to be a witness to that… But they need a reminder of what they have been a witness to… They are redirected to what is most important about their obedience. Look at what he says next...
8 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.”
What Jesus redirects their misconceived thoughts towards is one of the most important verses in the entire book of Acts.
There are 2 major thing I need you to see here.
The Power of the Spirit and Plan of God...
The Power of the Holy Spirit is Power to be witnesses to the Gospel
The Power of the Holy Spirit is Power to be witnesses to the Gospel
This is one of the primary functions of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer to this day.
Let’s be straight here… You cannot receive the Gospel and be saved unless the Holy Spirit softens your heart and makes you new on the inside. You cannot read the Word of God unless the Holy Spirit gives illumination to our darkened minds to see the truth of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin. The Holy Spirit reminds us of the truth and points us to Jesus. The Holy Spirit is God’s indwelling presence in us and it sanctifies us from this world. The Holy Spirit gives us special gifting’s that help us care for others in the family of God… and the list goes on and on… the Holy Spirit does so many things for God people, and yet there is a more primary function, and this is one of them.
Empowerment to be a witness is exactly what they needed. think about it. Even though they had walked with Jesus for 3 and 1/2 yrs, and now for 40 more days after he was resurrected, they were still being called to wait in a hostile city full of people who hated Jesus and were looking to squash anyone who would identify with him.
They wanted it to just be all over, they wanted God’s kingdom to finally put an end to the religious leaders and the Roman government, they wanted the Messiah to take his place on a physical throne to rule Israel… But what they needed was power to stand up and witness to the world that Jesus is alive and he is the promised Messiah.
And like them, Empowerment to be witnesses to Jesus power and the Gospel is what we need. It isn’t enough to just receive the Gospel and be saved because we all have the great commission found in … We are not to receive Christ and remain quite, we are to be witnesses to the Gospel at work in our lives to others that they may hear and be saved too. We need the Holy Spirit to give us power to overcome our fears and for many overcome persecution
We must go into all the world and make Disciples… and yet this brings me to my next point we see here, what some call the second great commission. How God’s plan to move his message of the Gospel out from Jerusalem to whole world will actually happen.
The Plan of God is to move the Gospel to the whole world
The Plan of God is to move the Gospel to the whole world
In this verse we not only see the empowerment to witness for the sake of the Gospel, but Jesus describes the plan of God in moving the Gospel message out in concentric circles from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth.
This will be the theme of the rest of the entire book of Acts. We will come back to this verse over and over in the next few years. God had a plan of when all this would happen and How all this would happen.
They had to wait for the Holy Spirit to come, because God knew that the city was about to be full of people from all over the world who would need to hear the Gospel on the day of Pentecost and God knew that unless he made them go they most likely wouldn’t want to leave the city and take the message to other people who were not like them.
And while they did not know how the Gospel would move from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and then to the ends of the earth, all they needed to know is that it would and they needed to stay put un til it did and not be consumed with thoughts of when the end would come. Their job was to be faithful, as is our job to this day. Faithfully preach and proclaim the Gospel and make Disciples of all nations until he returns.
And for those of us who have read the book of Acts many times we know how God moves the Gospel, by allowing persecution of his Church scatter his people into other regions where they can preach the Gospel to all kinds of people.
The Plan of God wasn’t completely revealed to them at that time yet they had enough information for them to be in the right position and to be empowered for the right time when they were prepared.
The Funnel effect
And while all of the OT builds to a point where the whole story culminates around just one… From the garden where 2 people fill the earth, to the nation of Hebrew slaves that are delivered from Egypt, to a kingdom established with a King like David, to a kingdom that gets split in two and a nothern kingdom and southern kingdom emerge, to a nation that goes exile under the rule of harsh godless countries and rulers because of their disobedience, and eventually God’s prophets speak of a remnant that will be saved, and the story gets cut down to just one… Jesus.
It is at this point that the funnel is now reversed. It went down to just one and now get expanded slowly from one to 12 to hundreds to thousands to ultimately countless millions over the past 2 millennia. This is the point in the story when we see the funnel begin to open and the message begin to spread to all. This was God’s plan!
9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
This is the Ascension. Jesus Physically leaves this earth, while they are watching . Why is this so important? Isn’t it important that Jesus was raised to life after his death on a cross? YES it is important because it showed that the power of death over us has been swallowed up in victory by Jesus. It proved that he really was divine, that Jesus is God and there is no stopping him. The resurrection is vastly important to every believer everywhere, but that in no way should take importance away from this moment. Why do I say that?
Think about it, Jesus is alive here, and he goes up into heaven with a glorified body. What is he going to in heaven, why is this so special?
Because this is the beginning of a new covenant!
The Ascension is the beginning of a New Covenant
The Ascension is the beginning of a New Covenant
You need to understand a little about the old Covenant and the new Covenant. In the old covenant there was a high priest who would make sacrifices and atone for the sins of the people before a Holy God. That is how sin was handled in the Old Covenant...
The Bible declares that Jesus is our new High Priest, and with him ascending into heaven then something significant happens. Let’s look at Hebrews where they are talking about how Jesus is our High Priest...
heb7.16-
heb7.
22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. 23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is witnessed of him, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” 18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. 20 And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, 21 but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever.’ ” 22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. 23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
So Jesus goes into heaven Alive as our High Priest… the scriptures say he always live to make intercession for us! declares he is at the right hand of God interceding for us! tells us that God not only raised Christ but seated him at his right hand...
Jesu is in heaven Alive, but the scriptures declare that the work is done, so now our great High Priest sits… This is significant! It is a declaration of his covenant being completed...
heb10.
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” 17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
When Jesus Sits it means the work is done… His sacrifice was once for all and the Holy Spirit reminds us of the promise Made through Jeremiah the Prophet, that he would put his laws on our hearts in our mind and remember our sins no more… , go read it in community group.
This covenant is not just founded on the Resurrection… I like what Al Mohler said about the Ascension.
“In Fact the resurrection was not the finishing point of Christs journey - it was part of the route to his Ascension and Exaltation”
The Ascension is the beginning of this New Covenant being inaugurated! This new Covenant is different from the old one because it is not just to those who are descendants of Abraham… it is not to just a physical people from a certain bloodline… This Covenant will now include men and women from every tribe, tongue and nation!
And all this happens here at the Ascension… When Jesus Physically goes up into heaven right before their very eyes.
And this Scene leaves his Apostles in awe...
10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 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.”
Couple things here...
Please notice these guys are just left standing and staring into heaven in amazement. He tells them stop asking me about the times of the end, thats not for you to know… you need the Holy Spirit for power to witness so that the Gospel will spread to the whole world, and then he goes up to heaven right before them… They are in shock!
Then 2 angels come and tell them, “what are you doing?” they can’t just stay there looking up, they have to go and wait like Jesus told them...
But the best part is what these angels tell them… In fact what we hear from Luke at the Scene of the Ascension is something that has been held in such high esteem by the church for thousands of years and it is our Blessed Hope.
Our Hope - Jesus will come again the same way he went
Our Hope - Jesus will come again the same way he went
Unlike the first Advent, or coming of Jesus, in obscurity born to lowly people in poor conditions, his second coming will be just as amazing as his going up to heaven was.
In the midst of this scene we have a promised delivered by Angels to us that Jesus is coming back… and this is not the first time we hear this… Jesus told them himself...
luke
27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
These Angels place Jesus’ Ascension in equality with his return. Just As he went… He will come! That Means Jesus will return Physically, with the same glorified body that he went to heaven with!
The same Jesus that appeared to them over 40 days… the same Jesus they couldn’t hardly believe was Alive will come back for his people! With his nail pierced hands and the wound in his side that Thomas stuck his hand in… The physical return will be for real, not some vision or some fairytale but a real bodily return to the earth from heaven!
Hear the words of Christ himself assuring us of this...
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
This is the end of every Believer who puts their faith in Christ, and the Hope of the church, that someday he will return. But what a day that will be. While we who are his very own possession long for that day I must warn you that it will not be joyful for all.
If you have heard this gospel that God would freely forgive your sins, if you repent from your wicked ways and put your faith in Christs work on your behalf, and for some reason have yet to receive and believe that then I must warn you that the day he returns will be fearful and terrible.
As I read this last portion of scripture to you, you will either have great hope and anticipation of dreadful fear… if it is the later, then repent today and receive new life in Christ!
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Church he will surely come, let us pray that we will be joyfully expecting that day!