Today is Ascension Day. So it is fitting in this blog to reflect upon the Ascension of Jesus.
Sunday by Sunday millions of Christian people proclaim as part of the Apostles Creed: ‘On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead’. The story of Jesus’ ascension is found in Acts 1.9-10 where Luke wrote that Jesus “was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight”.
Some people say, “No doubt those who lived before Copernicus could believe that Jesus went up vertically and sat down a few miles above the visible sky. But we live in the space age – we can no longer believe in a three-decker universe: heaven above, hell below and earth in-between. The Ascension doesn’t make sense in the 21st century”. However, what we have here is an ‘acted parable’. Jesus through his Ascension demonstrated to his disciples that he was going to the Father. How precisely that was achieved, I don’t know. But we don’t have to understand everything in order to believe. For instance, I don’t know how God became man in the person of his Son Jesus. What I do know is that “the Word became flesh” (John 1.14). Ultimately, what matters is not the manner of Jesus’ going, but the meaning of his going.
The Ascension marks the end of a chapter
The Ascension marked the end of Jesus’ resurrection appearances. Jesus could not just fade out. A decisive and deliberate withdrawal was called for. The Ascension was a necessity in the sense that there had to be an acted declaration of finality. Hence the importance of the “cloud” which “hid him from their sight” (Acts 1.9). The cloud marked the end of a chapter in the life of Jesus. It marked the beginning of Jesus ‘real absence’.
The Ascension was far more than a deliberate act of withdrawal. In the Upper Room Jesus had said to his disciples: “You will not see me any more because I am going to the Father” (John 16.10). The Ascension marked the return of Jesus to glory and is the counterpart of the Incarnation. The Lord of glory, who left his Father, now returns to his Father (John 16.28)
Why did Jesus return to glory? Because the work he had come to do in the world was completed. The Ascension marks the completion of our salvation. It points to the fact that Jesus has done all that was necessary for our sins to be forgiven. In the words of John Calvin, “Since Christ entered into heaven in our name, so now the gate is now open to us which was formerly closed on account of our sins”. It is this to which the Ascension points.
The Ascension marks the beginning of a new chapter
The new chapter begins with the risen, ascended Lord Jesus now seated at his Father’s right hand. As Peter on the Day of Pentecost declared: “God raised this very Jesus from death… to the right-hand side of God the Father” (Acts 2.32-33). This phrase, “at the right hand of God” was taken from Psalm 110, the most widely quoted in the New Testament, and a Psalm quoted by Jesus himself: “The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit here at my right [hand] until I put your enemies under your feet” (Psalm 110.1). This psalm was sung at the coronation of the kings of Israel. According to Jewish thought the king possessed divine authority; he was God’s representative. To speak of the king seated at God’s right hand was another way of saying that he was exercising power delegated to him by himself.
The Ascension declares that Jesus is Lord. It marks the coronation of Jesus as king of the universe. It has nothing to do with meteorology but everything to do with politics. The right hand of God is a place of authority. In the words of the Christ hymn: “God raised him to the highest place above and gave him the name that is greater than any other name. And so in honour of the name of Jesus… all will fall on their knees and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2.9-11). Yes, Jesus rules over “all demonic forces, all political forces, all economic forces, all sociological forces, all natural forces” (Richard Holloway). To say that Jesus has ascended and is seated at the right of God is to declare that “There’ s not a thumb’s breadth of this universe about which Jesus Christ does not say, ‘It is mine’” (Abraham Kuyper).
The Ascension anticipates a final chapter
The angel said to the disciples, “This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1.11).
Here we have the promise of Jesus’ return. One day, we know not when, Jesus shall return in glory. In the words of the Apostles Creed, “he will come to judge the living and the dead”. One day Jesus will return and bring in the Kingdom for which down through the years Christians have been looking. The time may be unknown (Acts 1.7), but the day is sure! In the meantime there is work to do. The angels reproved the disciples for dawdling there and for longing for Jesus to remain with them. “Galileans”, they said, “why are you standing there looking up at the sky?” (Acts 1.11). Fix your eyes rather on earth – for there is work to be done.