44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while
I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me
in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 45 Then he opened
their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them,
“This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise
from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance
and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these
things. 49 I am going to send you what my
Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power
from on high.” 50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany,
he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them,
he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him
and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually
at the temple, praising God.
- Luke 24:44-53, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House) 1984.
Dear Friends in Christ,
For those who live in a land governed by a king or queen, there is no event more meaningful or celebrated than the coronation, or crowning, of a new leader. For many it is a once-in-a-lifetime affair, so all the stops are pulled out to make it a grand, glorious and memorable occasion.
But it is more than just pomp and circumstances. Behind all the hoopla is the understanding that something tremendously significant is taking place. For the people, coronation means a new beginning. For the crowned, it is the consummate act of a life prepared and dedicated to serving others. For both, it is a declaration of royalty and the relationship that exists between the ruled and the newly ascended ruler...
Today we are observing the important and meaningful event that took place forty days after Easter: the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not difficult to understand how, throughout the centuries, believers have equated the ascension of Jesus Christ with thoughts of coronation. If you reflect on the hymns we are singing this morning you will find any number of references to thrones and scepters and Christ as our heavenly, conquering king. These are terms reserved for royalty. And they rightly apply to Jesus Christ today and forever...
Therefore, for the next several minutes let us contemplate
ASCENSION DAY: THE CORONATION OF CHRIST
Our text suggests three significant outcomes from this event. Christ’s ascension means:
1. His earthly work is fully completed
2. The spread of the Gospel becomes the responsibility of His followers
3. We have great reason for worship and praise
By way of background, the first portion of our text takes place on Easter Sunday evening. Earlier Jesus had revealed Himself to two disciples with whom He walked on the road to Emmaus. Now He appears to the ten disciples (minus Judas and Thomas) gathered behind locked doors in Jerusalem. He proves to them beyond a shadow of a doubt that it really is Him by eating a piece of broiled fish in their presence.
Having done that, He speaks to them (our text picks it up at this point): He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."
Notice that Jesus reminds them about things He said "while I was still with you." The verb tense and the tenor of the statement indicate something in the past. Clearly implied is the idea that a change has taken place and that things would now be different between them.
Why the change? Because Jesus had fully completed His work on earth. In His own words, He had come to seek and to save the lost. This He had done through His perfect life as our substitute, His death on the cross as our sacrifice and His glorious resurrection as proof that the price of our forgiveness had been satisfactorily paid.
Now that His work of redeeming mankind from the damning consequences of its sin had been achieved, He would be returning to His Heavenly Father and His rightful throne of glory as King of kings and Lord of lords. That blessed 33-year interval in human history when "the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us" was about to end. He would still be with them as He is always with His followers, but no longer visibly...
Jesus also reminds His disciples that everything He had come to do had been laid out long ago in "the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms" – a reference to what we today refer to as the Old Testament of the Bible. And although everything He said to the disciples on this Easter evening He had told them before, the truth of the matter is that much of it had escaped them. It’s not that they had rejected the words of Jesus; they just didn’t fully understand it.
Now, in the light of His resurrection, it was all coming together. So Jesus connects the random dots of saving truth as our text continues: Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." In opening their minds Jesus explained to the disciples and us a number of important spiritual matters...
First, Jesus reinforces for us the necessity of His suffering and dying; how it was necessary that the Savior suffer for the sins of the world as its substitute. But the work of our salvation doesn’t end at the cross. Jesus talks about the resurrection, because the empty tomb of Christ was God’s stamp of approval that everything necessary had been satisfactorily completed.
Next Jesus goes on to tell us that this message – the gospel message of the crucified but risen Christ – must be preached. Repentance on the part of those who have been led to see their sin and their need for a Savior and forgiveness of sins through that Savior is tied exclusively to the message of Jesus Christ. Shortly before His passion, Jesus put it this way: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Furthermore, Jesus lets us know that the proclamation of this grand and glorious Gospel message was to begin in Jerusalem and extend to the very ends of the earth, so all may know the goodness of God...
And finally, with these words Jesus lets His disciples know that His ministry on earth has come to a close and the spread of the Gospel now became their responsibility, for, regarding His death and resurrection, He says, "You are witnesses of these things."
And, of course, they were. Of all people ever created the disciples were especially blessed. What we see only through the eyes of faith, they saw through the eyes in their head. They would indeed soon become bold and effective witnesses (see the first chapters of the Book of Acts), but at the time Jesus originally spoke these words they were to wait in Jerusalem until He equipped them with the Holy Spirit in a newer and richer measure. That took place on Pentecost, an event we will observe next Sunday.
But today we’re talking about Ascension. That’s taken up next. At this point our text moves ahead in time. It’s no longer Easter Sunday evening, but forty days later. The Gospel according to St. Luke concludes with these words: When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
The way in which Jesus left the disciples on Good Friday filled them with fear and dread and sadness. Their response now was decidedly different. As Jesus slowly, visibly left them, gradually ascending until a cloud hid Him from their sight, the disciples responded with worship, joy and praise. And so does every other disciple of Jesus Christ...
Now let’s briefly apply the points made in our text to our own lives, and we’ll clearly see why Ascension has always been considered such a high, holy day for believers.
The Ascension means, first of all, that Jesus’ earthly work was completed. And, we might add, completed for us. Therefore, the Ascension means the assurance of our personal salvation. The coronation of Christ as He returned to His throne on high was the last and final step of our redemption. Now, like a victorious king who has conquered all enemies in a far off land, Christ was returning home undefeated. And because He was undefeated and because He ascended, we will someday do the same. It is against the backdrop of His ascension that we understand the full comfort of Jesus words to us: "In my father’s house are many rooms... 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." And so we sing with confidence, "On Christ’s ascension I now build, the hope of my ascension..."
The Ascension of Jesus means, secondly, that the spread of the Gospel now becomes the responsibility of His followers. That’s us. It’s not in the Bible, but some of us may have heard the story told about how, when Jesus returned to heaven, he was given a grand and glorious welcome by all the saints and angels. Gabriel especially welcomed Him, and then asked how the spread of the Gospel would take place now that He was back and visibly absent from the world. Jesus answered by saying He had a handful of devoted disciples on the earth, and that to them He entrusted the spread of the Gospel to all the world. Gabriel, who knew of the frailty of men, looked troubled and asked, "But what if they fail? What’s your plan then?" To which Jesus replied, "I have no other plan."
The point of that little legend is clear. We are the plan. The spread of the Gospel has been entrusted to those who know it. So while we glory in the Ascension and what it means regarding our personal salvation, it is also a reminder of the glorious responsibility we have while we remain on this earth. The Ascension is our encouragement to keep praying hard, contributing generously and working in whatever ways are open to us for the spread of the Gospel. Likewise, the Ascension is our encouragement to live our lives as Christian witnesses and, in the words of Jesus, to "let our lights shine before men" in such a way that may cause them to take notice and investigate the hope that is within us... Yes, the Ascension of Jesus Christ reminds us that we are the plan and invites us to respond with lives of service.
Finally, the ascension of Jesus fills us with the same spirit of worship and praise and joy as experienced by the first disciples. What is the joy attached to Christ’s ascension?
It is the joy of knowing Christ’s abiding presence in our lives. It is our unseen but ever present Lord who comfortingly tells us: "Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." And knowing that our Lord is present in our lives and that He stands beside us through every situation in our lives is indeed a great consolation.
Related to that, the joy of Christ’s ascension is the assurance of His rule over all things. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians reminds us that not only does Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords rule over all things, but He does so specifically in the interest of His church and His children.
This is especially helpful to remember during a time of personal trial or when things just don’t seem to make a lot of sense. And those times come. When our faith in a just world gets shattered or our personal lives are punctuated by the unexpected and unwanted, let us remember this: Our God reigns. And although we may not always understand why He does what He does, of this we can be sure: Nothing happens in our world or in our lives that does not first pass through His hands. Paul ties it all together in Romans 8:28 when he reminds us that "in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose." And the knowledge that Christ, our ascended King, is ultimately in control fills us with joy and peace and moves us to worship and praise Him.
In bringing our thoughts to a close on this Ascension festival, I have prepared a very special visual aid to help us remember what we’ve talked about today. Actually, I can’t take credit for it. Give that to our forefathers at St. John’s. When they built this church in the late 1920’s they chose a theme for the window that would catch our eye every time we come back from communion or exit the church. I’m talking about the beautiful Ascension window...
Look at it as you leave this morning. Let it remind of you of the meaning of Christ’s ascension for your life... He leaves us to prepare a place for us in heaven where we await our own personal coronation day. He leaves us behind temporarily to spread the Gospel message to every land, nation, tribe and tongue. And He leaves behind in us a spirit of joy and peace knowing that as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He rules the world in truth and grace.
Blessings of the Ascension to you all. Amen.