The last time I presented a devotional here I spoke about Paul’s exposition of the Resurrection in I Corinthians 15, and especially about how that text ought to inform the way we think of heaven and the afterlife against the dualistic popular notion that heaven is the place where we go after we die to live in an eternal state of disembodied bliss. Having just completed the Easter season and celebrated the bodily resurrection of our Lord, with all the rich and joyful implications of that event, I thought I might talk a little this morning about the great event that followed shortly thereafter: his Ascension. The Ascension is approached in all four of the gospels, but given its fullest treatment in Acts. From Chapter 1, Verse 1, Luke writes:
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[a] 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 in[b] the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time reestablish 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.”
I have a suspicion that this passage is misunderstood in modern popular theology, not because anyone disbelieves the core points, but because they have slightly forgotten what the core points are and gone on believing other things in their absence—as has happened with the resurrection. We are just now at that time of year when everyone has been reminded of the importance of the bodily resurrection, and it all seems clear again, but after a month or two we might revert back to some muddled compromises. The central truth of the Ascension, as far as I can see, is the entrance of Jesus into heaven as King and Ruler, rather than as a departure away from earth. In short, the Ascension doesn’t mean absence, it means sovereignty. I’ll briefly talk about what this sovereignty means, how this event was anticipated in the Old Testament and by Jesus himself, and what it means for us in the present.
No Christian would dispute the claim (just as no one would dispute the claim that Jesus is raised from the dead) that Jesus is Lord. But what does that really mean? The Evangelical movement in which most of us have served has taken great care to emphasize how Jesus is Lord of our personal and individual lives. We’ve been deeply concerned, and rightly so, with bringing people to confession of personal faith that Jesus is Lord. Thanks be to God, however, that he is not merely the Lord of our private interior lives, but is also the world’s one true Lord in the cosmic and political sense. To put it another way, he is not only a religious Lord, but the Lord of all lords, and all things are subjected to and summed up in him—one need not look further than Ephesians 1 for a great summary of this high Lordship. It is sovereignty in this sense that the New Testament writers meant when they announced the gospel to the 1st century Mediterranean world. To call someone kurios kai huios theou—the Lord and Son of God—was not to use religious language, but political, and political language that threatened the other man who laid claim to such titles: the Caesar of Rome. When the New Testament writers call Jesus Lord, they do not mean only that we owe him private obedience, but that he is in fact the world’s true king, and Caesar, or whoever else might be claiming power against him, is not. What’s this to do with the ascension? Keep in mind that the ascension was not merely an entrance into heaven, but an entrance into heaven to be seated at the right hand of God the father. If your controlling metaphor for heaven is someplace a long way off where eventually we might go to strum ethereal harps in disembodied bliss, you might mistake the ascension as a departure story—E.T. getting back into his spaceship and returning home, only with the second person of the Trinity. If however, you draw from all the biblical language portraying heaven as the control room of earth—which is as much as to say, God’s domain—then Jesus’ enthronement at the Father’s right hand is about becoming the world’s true sovereign. When he said in Matthew, all authority in heaven and on earth is given to me, he meant it! We are even given a glimpse of Jesus in his glorified state in Revelation 1—where he is described as the ruler of the kings of the earth.
Thus was the language the New Testament writers used to describe the ascension event—an event prophesied in the Old Testament and looked for by expectant 1st century Israel. The ascension was not an afterthought to Jesus’ Messianic career, nor was it a tidy wrap-up to the gospel accounts. Rather, it was the final task of the Messiah as foretold in Daniel 7: And behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. Though there were many varieties of Messianic expectation in second temple Judaism, all camps were roughly agreed that God’s Messiah would be the one to put an end to exile, drive out the pagan oppressors, restore the true temple worship of YHWH in Jerusalem, and lastly to share YHWH’s throne ruling as the king of Israel and the world. Jesus was keenly aware of all of these Messianic vocations, which he fulfilled in unexpected ways. His ascension represented the completion of this final task, having, as was foretold in Daniel, defeated Israel’s monstrous enemies, he went upon the clouds to share God’s throne, with all authority given to him for the everlasting kingdom he proclaimed. This would not only have been looked for by the Jews of his day, but was clearly anticipated by Jesus himself. Being tried by Caiaphas, he was asked directly whether he was the Messiah, the son of God. He answered thus: You have said so, and I tell you from now on you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and going on the clouds of heaven. When asked directly whether he was the Messiah, Jesus replied to the Jewish leaders that indeed he was the son of man foretold in Daniel, the one who would defeat Israel’s enemy—by his death on the cross—and would be exalted to share the throne of the Ancient of Days, being given the everlasting power and kingdom, that Kingdom not from this world, but the Kingdom from heaven, which Jesus at the ascension received as coronation.
This brings me to my third and most important point—that Jesus’ omnipotent rule and kingdom are a present as well as a future reality. As I said earlier, the meaning of Jesus’ ascension is not absence, but sovereignty. I believe, and am willing to discuss with any interested party, that the last 150 years of popular eschatology has misunderstood this badly, though it’s not my task to address eschatological questions here. As the people of God on earth we are not called to bemoan the degradation of a world ruled by evil—we are to remind the world that it already has a King. Some here might quickly object that the world does not look as though anyone were in charge, let alone the supposed son of God. But keep in mind, it was no ordinary king who ascended to the right hand of the Father—it was the man whose kingdom looked like peasant fishermen, and whose crown was made from thorns. The Jesus of the gospels rarely ruled as the kings we know, those kings who are but a parody of his power. Rather, his kingship is through service and suffering; ultimately, through sacrifice. It is in this present reality of his Lordship that the church is to act for the world, in religious and public life. We do not fill the vacuum of his absence. Rather, we pray, work, play, and act as the subjects of the already-crowned king. We should be constantly asking ourselves, “What would it look like if God were in charge here?” For in and through Jesus, he is. Ask yourself today, “What would it look like if God ran the show at Lima Christian School? Not, keep in mind, the God of watery Deism who looks down from way up high and pulls the puppet-strings, but the God who in and through Jesus forgives prodigally and feasts and creates. Or what would it look like if our Lord ran the city of Rochester? We remind those in power who is the true Lord of the world. We take care of the poor and widowed, we reflect the creator God, and we tell stories of his exalted Messiah—the Messiah whom God raised to heaven to share his throne. His ascension does not mean absence, but sovereignty.
Let us pray. Almighty God, we thank you this morning that you have raised your son Jesus to the right hand of your throne, and him we do confess to be our Lord, he to whom all authority and power is forever given. We pray that we might be faithful stewards of his kingdom on earth, and that through our efforts and the working of the Holy Spirit that kingdom might be realized on earth as it is in heaven. Give us, O Lord, the courage and wisdom to bring Jesus’ kingdom to the world’s believing and unbelieving, and especially to our students. To you be all glory and praise forever more, our gracious God. All these we ask in the name of your son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Good question. :)
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