Ascension

To witness for Christ in a corrupt world requires strength greater than our own, and we are called to bear witness to the kingdom of God, which is invisible. So Jesus left so He could send a Spirit on Pentecost and empower the church for its mission throughout the ages. There's often a lot of discussion and interest in the return of Christ, but as we consider the work of Christ, we must be careful not to skip from the resurrection straight to His second coming.

Hi, I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and thank you for joining us today for Renewing Your Mind. At the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, and as R.C. Sproul will explain, the ascension of Christ has been a topic that's been woefully neglected in the church today. So stay with us as we continue our week-long study on the work of Christ and discover four significant things that occur because of the ascension of Jesus.

Here's Dr. Sproul. We're going to continue now with our study of the work of Christ, and today we're going to focus on His departure from this world in the ascension. If there's any dimension of the life and the work of Jesus that I think is woefully neglected in the life of the church today, it is concern for His ascension. And yet in New Testament categories, this is the acme of Jesus' work inasmuch as after He finishes His task of the atonement and the resurrection, He returns to heaven.

You will recall at the very beginning of this series, we talked about the incarnation as a dissension, and we read that no one ascends into heaven except He who has come down from heaven. And so when the New Testament speaks of the ascension of Jesus, it speaks of something far far more weighty than His merely going up somewhere, that it's what He is going up to and for that is so important in our understanding of Jesus' work. And before I look at that, let me just read for you the brief description that we receive of the ascension of Jesus from the pen of Luke.

He records the ascension both at the end of His gospel and also in the first chapter of the book of Acts. First, let's look at the record in the gospel of Luke where we read, And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And it came to pass that while He blessed them that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.

Now there are just a couple of small details that are added in the version that Luke gives us at the beginning of the book of Acts, and let's listen to those if you will. Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in like manner as you saw Him go up into heaven. Now in the first account, we read that Jesus departed from this planet, and He was taken up.

It didn't say anything about how He was taken up. In here, in the Acts version, we're told that He was taken up basically in a cloud. And that is significant because this would be the Shekinah cloud, the glory cloud. The means of transporting our Lord from earth up to heaven was by virtue of the Shekinah glory of God.

Now there was a detail in the first reading that I went over rather quickly because I wanted to surprise you, but I want to go back to it and look again. In the book of Luke, it tells us that after Jesus was lifted up, that the disciples returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were constantly praising God. Now the reason I want to look at that for a moment in its significance is when Jesus first told the disciples that He was departing, there was no sense of joy whatsoever.

Let's look at that for a second. We find it in John in chapter 16, beginning at verse 16, where Jesus tells His disciples, "'A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.'" And some of the disciples said among themselves, what is this that He says? "'A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, you will see Me, because I go to the Father.'"

What is this little while? We don't know what He's saying. And Jesus knew what they were thinking, and so He said, "'Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said?

A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me? Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice, and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.'" I mean the worst thing that Jesus could tell His disciples at that point was that He was leaving them. They didn't want Him ever to leave, and they couldn't imagine how His leaving would be of any redemptive value whatsoever, but He explained to them that it was to their advantage that He depart. But at first, they didn't get it.

And in many ways, I don't think the church has gotten it yet. We still seem as if in a sense of nostalgia we wish we could have been alive during the earthly sojourn of Jesus, and yet we should understand that His absence from this earth is better for us right now than His presence was during the first century. And I think somewhere between Jesus' explanation to His disciples that it would be an advantage to them that He departed and His departure, their whole demeanor about it changed radically from deep sorrow, from fear, and disappointment. Now they return to Jerusalem with great joy. Why? Were they happy to see Him go?

Of course not. But they understood why He went and where He was going, and that was the cause, of course, for their great joy. Now I've written on the board four things that occur because of the ascension of Jesus, four things that fill up this idea of our advantage of having Him depart, the first I simply call glory. If we look at John chapter 17, in the high priestly prayer that Jesus gives in the presence of His disciples in the upper room, He begins the prayer in this way. Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and He said, "'Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.

And this is the eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth, and I have finished the work which You have given to me. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory that I had in My life, and with the glory that I had with You before the world was created.'" He left that glory in the dissension, in the incarnation, and now Jesus prays in the upper room, "'Father, let me have the glory back. Let me enjoy the glory I had with You from the foundation of the world.'" And so when Jesus departs this world on the Shekinah cloud, He's going back to the realm of glory. He's going to receive that glory that He enjoyed with the Father from all eternity, which He set aside during His earthly incarnation. And so that's the first thing that we have to understand about the significance of the ascension.

It's a glorious thing. And those who loved Jesus, His disciples who worshiped Him, and they went back to the temple to worship Him after His departure because they understood He was getting His glory back. The humiliation was over, and the exaltation was now increased. But there are other significant dimensions to that ascension. The next one that I mentioned here is Pentecost. In that same period of the upper room discourse that Jesus had with the disciples that's recorded for us in John, Jesus explains to His disciples that He's going away in order that He may send to them another paraclete. Often when we use the term paraclete, we're thinking that we're referring simply to the Holy Spirit. No, the Holy Spirit is not the paraclete. The Holy Spirit is the other paraclete. The original paraclete is Christ Himself as we looked at as His being the consolation of the Holy Spirit.

And so that's what we're going to talk about here. The Old English translation of it in the New Testament speak of the Holy Spirit as the comforter. And we think that the purpose of the Holy Spirit's coming into the life of the church is to bring consolation to those who are in pain and suffering and who need to be consoled.

Well, He does that. But that's not the primary meaning of the term comforter as it was used in the Old English. The Old English translation of the paraclete was the English word comforter based on the original meaning of comfort, meaning with strength.

So it's not soulless so much that it's in view as it is power and strength. The paraclete was the name given to the family attorney in the ancient world. And if you had a difficult problem that you were facing, you would summon the paraclete. Paracletos means one who was called to stand alongside of you. And Jesus tells His disciples, you're going to be dragged into prisons, and you're going to be hated and despised, but when you're delivered up to these councils, don't be afraid because I will send the comforter, the paraclete, to give you the strength to stand beside you that you may be faithful in times of crisis. You remember that He also instructed His disciples after He was going to leave them, He said, you're to go to Jerusalem and tarry there.

Tarry there. Wait for a while because you shall receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And again Jesus says to him, I won't let you alone. I will be with you.

Even though I'm going away in one sense, in another way, I'm going to be with you to the ends of the earth. The last question the disciples asked Jesus before the ascension was, Lord, will you now restore the kingdom to Israel? What did Jesus say?

He as much as said, it's none of your business when I'm going to restore the kingdom of Israel, but your responsibility is this, you shall be my witnesses. After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And so one of the most important reasons for Jesus' ascension to the right hand was that Pentecost would take place, that the Father and the Son would pour out the Holy Spirit upon the church. And the purpose of that outpouring of the Holy Spirit was to empower the church for its earthly mission, to empower the church for ministry. Again, to witness for Christ in a corrupt world requires strength greater than our own. And we are called to bear witness to the kingdom of God, which is invisible.

John Calvin said that the most important task of the church is that the church is to be the visible witness of the invisible kingdom. And that takes the Holy Spirit for us to accomplish that message. And so Jesus left so He could send the Spirit on Pentecost and empower the church for its mission throughout the ages.

The Spirit was His spiritual presence with us after His departure from this world. Well, there are still two more major significances to Jesus' departure in the ascension. And the next one perhaps is the most obvious, that where He was going when He was going up to heaven was not simply to enter into His rest, but He was going to His coronation.

He was going to His investiture service. He was ascending to the throne. He was being brought up to the right hand of God where He was given dominion and power and authority over the whole earth so that the Lamb who was slain would be seen now as the Lion of Judah who would reign over the earth. Again, the church has failed to understand. Many people still look at the kingdom of God as something in the unfulfilled future, but the kingdom has begun.

Why? Because the King has been enthroned. The King has gone to His coronation, and the Father has given Him His investiture service and handed over Him all authority in heaven and earth. This is a cosmic event, the coronation of Christ.

We call it the session. We say the apostles create that He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. That's being seated is the session of Christ.

And where He sits is not in the choir, not in the pew. He sits in the seat of authority at the right hand of the Father, as it were, the celestial prime minister. And the title that the New Testament gives Him at this point is He's the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. That means the highest seat of authority in the universe is occupied by Christ.

He's no longer this peripatetic rabbi walking around Galilee and Judea. He's enthroned. And no ruler in this world can rule for a second apart from His authority. He brings kingdoms up. He brings kingdoms down. And our King, who's the King of the kings and the Lord of the lords, is accountable to no earthly ruler.

And so that's a tremendous situation for us. That's why it's better for us that Jesus would leave than if He would stay, because He left to be seated at the right hand of the Father. Finally, the fourth thing that takes place in the ascension is that Jesus, as our High Priest, enters into the heavenly tabernacle, into the Holy of Holies, where He functions there as our Priest-King. He's the King, and He is the Priest. And having these do-well roles is very significant for us, because we have a Priest. We have a High Priest. We have a great High Priest who has lived among us, who understands our feelings, who understands our infirmities, and He lives in the presence of God, carrying on His chief priestly work of intercession.

He's not making sacrifices for us up there. The sacrifice that was made on the cross was made once and for all, and the Son doesn't have to remind the Father in a daily mass in heaven to tell Him of what He did and accomplished once and for all in the atonement. That work is finished. But that's not all that was involved in His priestly ministry.

The other priestly ministry goes on, and that is the ministry of intercession. Let's look again at John 17, and let me begin at verse 6, where Jesus said, I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given Me out of the world. They were yours. You gave them to Me, and they have kept your word. Now they have known all the things which you have given Me are from you, for I have given to them the words which you have given Me, and they received them. And they have known surely that I come forth from you, and they have believed that you sent Me.

Now listen to what He says. I pray for them. I don't pray for the whole world, but I pray for those whom you have given Me, for they are yours. And they have given Me for they are yours. And all of Mine are yours, and yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. And He asks the Father to keep those whom He has given to Jesus, that they may persevere. We have a doctrine called the perseverance of the saints. I don't like that name for it, because those saints do persevere.

It's not because we have the power of perseverance within ourselves. If it were left to me to persevere in my Christian walk, I would fall and stumble and leave the kingdom tomorrow. But the one who really perseveres is God.

He perseveres with His children, and He works to preserve them. And one of the chief ways in which God preserves His people is through the priestly intercession of Jesus. Let me finish this by just reminding you of an episode that took place on the night before Jesus died. When He was gathered with His disciples, He announced to them that one of them was going to betray Him, speaking of Judas. And after they went around the room saying, Lord, is it I?

Is it I who will betray Him? Finally, Jesus looked at Judas and said, Thou hast said, and what you have to do, do quickly. And He dismissed Judas to carry out His treachery.

And we know that the end of Judas was catastrophic. But that same night, there was another disciple at the same table whom Jesus said would deny Him publicly three times. But what did He say to Peter? He said, Simon, Simon, Satan would have you and sift you like wheat.

So go ahead and do your thing. No, but I have prayed for you so that when you turn, strengthen the brothers. What was the difference between Judas and Peter? Jesus didn't pray for Judas. He says, I've lost none whom you have given to Me, except the son of perdition, who was the son of perdition from the beginning. But Peter was one whom the Father had given to Jesus, and the Son of the Son of the Son of the Son of Jesus.

And his denial was ghastly and a heinous crime. Jesus said, Go do it, but I've prayed for you. So if you turn, no, not if you turn, but when you turn, strengthen the brothers. And that same Jesus is in heaven today, interceding for you and for Me, if indeed we belong to Him. So the ascension is a matter of glorious triumph of Jesus. It's kind of the exclamation point given to His earthly ministry. That's a memorable summary from R.C. Sproul that the ascension of Christ is kind of like an exclamation point given to Jesus' earthly ministry. You're listening to Renewing Your Mind.

I'm Nathan W. Bingham. The work of Christ for His people is more than merely His death and resurrection. As we heard today, it includes His ascension, but also His incarnation, His baptism, His triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

And you can study along with R.C. Sproul when you request the 12-part series, What Did Jesus Do? When you give your gift of any amount at renewingyourmind.org, in addition to sending you this DVD set and giving you lifetime digital access to all 12 messages, we'll also send you the hardcover edition of Dr. Sproul's book, The Work of Christ. So give your gift today at renewingyourmind.org or by calling us at 800-435-4343. As we approach the end of this study of the work of Christ, next time R.C. Sproul will consider the second coming of Jesus and the rapture. That's tomorrow here on Renewing Your Mind.