Ascension of Our Lord
Preaching
Preaching and Reading the Old Testament Lessons
With an Eye to the New
Object:
The book of the Acts of the Apostles is the second volume of Luke's great account of God's act of salvation in Jesus Christ. The first volume -- the Gospel according to Luke -- dealt with the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord. Now the second volume concerns the results of that -- the formation and growth of the first-century church under the power of the Holy Spirit. Acts picks up where the Gospel left off -- with the ascension of the Lord (Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9).
Before rushing in to the account of the ascension, however, Luke wants to nail down some facts. First is the fact of the resurrection. That is necessary for everything that follows. Apart from the resurrection of Christ there is no basis for faith, for the gift of the Spirit, or for the formation of the church.
In verse 3 of our text, therefore, Acts affirms that Jesus appeared alive to the apostles after his crucifixion, showing himself for forty days and teaching them further about the Kingdom of God. That affirmation is similar to the one that Paul gives in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8. Jesus Christ really has been raised from the dead! The testimony of the apostles who saw him alive after his burial is true! As in the Fourth Gospel, everything hangs on that apostolic witness (John 20:29). And their testimony is confirmed by many witnesses.
Having said that, Acts also repeats the command that Jesus gives to his disciples at the end of the Gospel (Luke 24:49) -- that the apostles are to remain in Jerusalem until they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4). Only then will they be empowered to carry out their mission. The apostles and disciples are to be Christ's witnesses in all of Palestine and throughout the earth, but they cannot accomplish that task on their own power or by their own resources. They must wait for God's empowering Spirit and for the wisdom and guidance that he will give them. John's baptism furnished them with repentance and the forgiveness of their sins (Acts 1:5; Luke 3:3), but the work of the church requires much more than that. It requires empowerment.
Second, our text emphasizes the fact that there is a goal out there ahead of the church, toward which we journey. The apostles have come to realize that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and the long-awaited davidic Messiah of Israel. That means Christ has begun the reign of God on earth; the kingdom has begun to break into human time and space (cf. Luke 11:20). But from of old, the promise of the kingdom has always included the restoration and salvation of Israel, God's covenant people (cf. Luke 1:54, 68-75; 2:29-32; 24:21). While the risen Christ is teaching his apostles during his forty days with them, they therefore ask their Lord about that goal, about the time when the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness and all Israel will be saved (Acts 1:6; cf. Romans 11:26). It is the same question that we still ask: When will the Second Coming take place; when will Christ return to set up his kingdom on earth?
Acts' version of Christ's answer to the question is the same as we find recorded in the Synoptic Gospels. "It is not for you to know" (Acts 1:7). Only the Father knows. As it is written in the Gospel according to Mark, "Of that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Mark 13:32). It is certain that the Kingdom of God is coming on earth "even as it is in heaven." But when the kingdom will be established by the Father is known only to that Father. The apostles' task, and ours, is therefore not to try to calculate the time of the end, but to be about our Father's business of being his witnesses throughout all the world.
Having said that, our text continues, the Lord is lifted up and taken out of the apostles' sight (Acts 1:9). And that is our text's third emphasis in this passage -- the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ has ascended to be with the Father. The implication is, as we read before in Acts 7:55, that Christ now reigns at the right hand of power as Lord over all the earth.
Certainly this account of the ascension of our Lord, as in Luke 24:51, is incomprehensible to us, especially in our scientific age when we know that "heaven" is no longer "up." We will always speak of it that way, of course, because our thought deals in spatial categories. But the ascension affirms that the realm of God is totally other than our human realm -- that it is another world which our senses cannot penetrate and which is known to us only by faith. We have sometimes sensed that "other world" in the exaltation of worship, as if we were standing with one foot in heaven. But that sense too is given us only by faith.
The principal fact of which the ascension assures us, however, is that our Lord is no longer limited by a physical body or by geographical location or local time, but now reigns as Lord over all of creation to all eternity.
It is interesting in our text that the disciples are as mystified by Christ's disappearance into heaven as are we (Acts 1:10). They stand gazing upwards, wondering. But two angels, clothed in white (cf. Luke 24:4), ask them why they are just standing there gazing up into the sky (v. 11). Christ is ascended. This is no time to be standing around. He will come again. But in the meantime, the apostles have work to do. They are to remain in Jerusalem and wait for their empowerment by the Spirit. And then they are to go out into all the world and witness to what God has done in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We might say that this text in Acts furnishes us with the bedrock of our life in the church. It affirms that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and has ascended into heaven as the Lord over all. It warns us against idle speculation about those facts and instead, spells out their implication for us in the church. Our church membership is not just a matter of having our sins forgiven for another week and then returning home and going about our normal business. No. We have work to do. Christ has appointed us as the witnesses to what God has done for all people throughout the world. But we cannot carry out that witness on our own. No matter how big or small our congregation. No matter how rich or resourceful we are. No matter what the marvelous programs of our church, or how enthusiastic its life, we do not have the ability or strength within ourselves to accomplish on our own the task that God has given us. We are dependent on God's Spirit to be what he has chosen us to be. And that leads us to the question that we should always ask: Have we been given the Holy Spirit?
Before rushing in to the account of the ascension, however, Luke wants to nail down some facts. First is the fact of the resurrection. That is necessary for everything that follows. Apart from the resurrection of Christ there is no basis for faith, for the gift of the Spirit, or for the formation of the church.
In verse 3 of our text, therefore, Acts affirms that Jesus appeared alive to the apostles after his crucifixion, showing himself for forty days and teaching them further about the Kingdom of God. That affirmation is similar to the one that Paul gives in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8. Jesus Christ really has been raised from the dead! The testimony of the apostles who saw him alive after his burial is true! As in the Fourth Gospel, everything hangs on that apostolic witness (John 20:29). And their testimony is confirmed by many witnesses.
Having said that, Acts also repeats the command that Jesus gives to his disciples at the end of the Gospel (Luke 24:49) -- that the apostles are to remain in Jerusalem until they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4). Only then will they be empowered to carry out their mission. The apostles and disciples are to be Christ's witnesses in all of Palestine and throughout the earth, but they cannot accomplish that task on their own power or by their own resources. They must wait for God's empowering Spirit and for the wisdom and guidance that he will give them. John's baptism furnished them with repentance and the forgiveness of their sins (Acts 1:5; Luke 3:3), but the work of the church requires much more than that. It requires empowerment.
Second, our text emphasizes the fact that there is a goal out there ahead of the church, toward which we journey. The apostles have come to realize that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and the long-awaited davidic Messiah of Israel. That means Christ has begun the reign of God on earth; the kingdom has begun to break into human time and space (cf. Luke 11:20). But from of old, the promise of the kingdom has always included the restoration and salvation of Israel, God's covenant people (cf. Luke 1:54, 68-75; 2:29-32; 24:21). While the risen Christ is teaching his apostles during his forty days with them, they therefore ask their Lord about that goal, about the time when the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness and all Israel will be saved (Acts 1:6; cf. Romans 11:26). It is the same question that we still ask: When will the Second Coming take place; when will Christ return to set up his kingdom on earth?
Acts' version of Christ's answer to the question is the same as we find recorded in the Synoptic Gospels. "It is not for you to know" (Acts 1:7). Only the Father knows. As it is written in the Gospel according to Mark, "Of that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Mark 13:32). It is certain that the Kingdom of God is coming on earth "even as it is in heaven." But when the kingdom will be established by the Father is known only to that Father. The apostles' task, and ours, is therefore not to try to calculate the time of the end, but to be about our Father's business of being his witnesses throughout all the world.
Having said that, our text continues, the Lord is lifted up and taken out of the apostles' sight (Acts 1:9). And that is our text's third emphasis in this passage -- the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ has ascended to be with the Father. The implication is, as we read before in Acts 7:55, that Christ now reigns at the right hand of power as Lord over all the earth.
Certainly this account of the ascension of our Lord, as in Luke 24:51, is incomprehensible to us, especially in our scientific age when we know that "heaven" is no longer "up." We will always speak of it that way, of course, because our thought deals in spatial categories. But the ascension affirms that the realm of God is totally other than our human realm -- that it is another world which our senses cannot penetrate and which is known to us only by faith. We have sometimes sensed that "other world" in the exaltation of worship, as if we were standing with one foot in heaven. But that sense too is given us only by faith.
The principal fact of which the ascension assures us, however, is that our Lord is no longer limited by a physical body or by geographical location or local time, but now reigns as Lord over all of creation to all eternity.
It is interesting in our text that the disciples are as mystified by Christ's disappearance into heaven as are we (Acts 1:10). They stand gazing upwards, wondering. But two angels, clothed in white (cf. Luke 24:4), ask them why they are just standing there gazing up into the sky (v. 11). Christ is ascended. This is no time to be standing around. He will come again. But in the meantime, the apostles have work to do. They are to remain in Jerusalem and wait for their empowerment by the Spirit. And then they are to go out into all the world and witness to what God has done in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We might say that this text in Acts furnishes us with the bedrock of our life in the church. It affirms that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and has ascended into heaven as the Lord over all. It warns us against idle speculation about those facts and instead, spells out their implication for us in the church. Our church membership is not just a matter of having our sins forgiven for another week and then returning home and going about our normal business. No. We have work to do. Christ has appointed us as the witnesses to what God has done for all people throughout the world. But we cannot carry out that witness on our own. No matter how big or small our congregation. No matter how rich or resourceful we are. No matter what the marvelous programs of our church, or how enthusiastic its life, we do not have the ability or strength within ourselves to accomplish on our own the task that God has given us. We are dependent on God's Spirit to be what he has chosen us to be. And that leads us to the question that we should always ask: Have we been given the Holy Spirit?
