ASCENSION DAY

Again God’s Church on earth is privileged to commemorate the coronation of King Jesus. O that our hearts may be filled with the glory of Zion’s eternal King, and that we may praise Him unto whom belongs all praise, honor, and adoration both in heaven and upon earth. By nature we have no eye for Christ. By virtue of our deep fall in Adam we do not know Him either as a person or in the state of His humiliation or of His exaltation. Christ must be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. Paul says in Galatians 1:15, 16: “. . . when it pleased God . . . to reveal his Son in me.” From all eternity He was ordained by the Father to be a Mediator and the head of His Church. In Him the Church has been elected and chosen from before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). In the silence of eternity Christ was united with His Church, but also the Church with Him. To glorify and magnify God’s attributes as well as to save His elect, Christ was sent into the world by the Father. Already in Genesis 3:15, in the promise to Eve, Christ was introduced in the announcement of His battle and victory; and in the fullness of time “God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law” (Gal. 4:4).

Excepting a few instances, Christ lived a hidden life for thirty years in His hometown Nazareth. Yet these years, too, were mediatorial and redounding to the salvation and blessing of the Church. Every step He took and every sigh He sighed was for the benefit of His own. The people who may experience here:

O turn to me Thy face,
To me Thy mercy show,
For I am very desolate
And brought exceeding low

receive support and comfort from that precious life of the Mediator of the covenant. Fathomless mysteries are revealed unto us when it pleases God to guide us into them.

But especially the public life of Christ is of the utmost significance. Again and again we must learn how blind and poor we are. Christ, as the Servant of the Father, carried out the good pleasure of the Father and finished the work to which the Father had called Him from eternity. He satisified the justice of God; He paid the utmost farthing and drank the last drop from the cup of God’s anger and wrath. For the salvation of the Lord nothing was left to be paid except our sacrifices of thanksgiving. “The chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” When Christ arose from the dead, He received the receipt that all the sins of the elect were paid in full. The curse had been removed, eternal life had been obtained, and eternal righteousness had been provided.

With His ascension the High Priest went up to the celestial temple, the King ascended His throne, and the Son returned to His Father. Luke gives us a very simple but at the same time very impressive account of the ascension of Christ.

Between the resurrection of Christ and His glorious ascension to heaven lay a period of forty days. During these forty days the Lord Jesus instructed His disciples by many infallible proofs regarding the Kingdom of God. Already for three years they had received such precious instruction, but now they received lessons they had never had before but which were so necessary for their important work as apostles of the Lamb. For soon they would be sent out to lay the foundation of the New Testament Church. Christ prepared them for this work, for He did not want to send them into the world as ignorant men. To be sure, their preparation would not be finished after these forty days, for as long as God’s children and servants are in this world they are instructed by the Holy Spirit. They are in need of the prophetic ministry of Christ as long as they remain in this dispensation.

Christ did not remain longer than forty days on this earth to wean His disciples from His physical presence. And even during these forty days things were quite different from what they had been before. Before Christ died, the disciples used to go to Him every morning, for they always knew where He was. But during this period of forty days the Lord Jesus showed Himself only a few times to them. They had to wait until He came to them, and every time His coming was a joyous surprise. The Church has to learn to become more and more dependent upon its Head. God’s people must learn that they are saved by grace.

The ascension of Christ had been foretold in the Old Testament in various places, such as Psalm 24, Psalm 47, Psalm 68, Isaiah 53:13, Ezek. 44:2, 3; but it had also been symbolically expressed by the high priest’s entrance into the inner sanctuary with the blood of calves and goats on the great day of Atonement, to make atonement for himself and for the people. And Christ Himself had foretold His ascension to heaven to Mary Magdalene: “I ascend to my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17).

When that day arrived, Christ took His disciples to the Mount of Olives. For the last time He looked down on the Promised Land, through which He had walked up and down, blessing the people and healing the sick and afflicted, even those who had been possessed by the devil, and preaching the full counsel of God. He looked down on Jerusalem to the west of Him, the city of blood, in which He had been condemned to death, and from which He had been led, carrying His cross. North of Him the hill of Golgotha lifted its head, on which He had died the death of the cross. And Gethsemane, where His soul had been sorrowful unto death, and where He had borne the wrath of God against sin and fought the fiercest battle of His entire life, lay near him at the foot of the mountain. Undoubtedly Christ thought back on all these things. But all that was behind, never to return again. “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Heb. 10:14).

God is now reconciled with the elect sinner, and Satan’s head is crushed forever. Christ spread His hands in blessing over the heads of His disciples. Now they would never have to fear again. They were written in both palms of His hands. They were safe under His protection. The gates of hell would never prevail against His Church. And even though they lacked everything in themselves, they would be provided by Him. From His fullness they would receive grace for grace.

Even though Christ parted from them, He nevertheless remained with them forever. With His divinity, majesty, grace, and Spirit He never departs from His children. There was no reason to be sad, for He would never leave them.

Whatever our distress may be

He stays with us eternally.

O how poor the world is, and how rich God’s people are! The poverty of the world can never be put into words, but neither can the riches of God’s children be expressed! If the sun but shines and our eyes are open, and we may have a faith the size of a mustard seed, then there is no cloud in the sky. What a wideness we then see in God’s mercy! That we may experience something of it in these days!

The disciples had been witnesses of Jesus’ suffering. Now they were also going to witness His glorification. The glory of this sight would replace the shame of His suffering and remove all the offense of His cross from their souls. With what determination they would soon afterwards testify to it when they had fully entered upon their ministry (Joh. 19:35; I Joh. 2:1, 2). Thus it was that these spiritual sons of Israel beheld the departure of their Father Jacob; thus these spiritual Elishas beheld their greater Eliah ascend to heaven — in a fiery thunder storm but on a beautiful cloud.

This was not the first time that a cloud served Christ. Think of Sinai in the desert, of the tabernacle and the temple, and of the mount of glorification. The cloud served as a chariot, which carried Him to heaven. In Psalm 104:3 the clouds are called His chariot. In ages past heroes were carried into the city on a beautiful chariot. So here, too, the Lion out of the tribe of Judah was carried to the place of His victory and the rest of His glory on a chariot of cloud. What glory, what majesty hast Thou prepared for this King!

When Christ was born, angels surrounded His birth. We read also of angels during His life, during His suffering in Gethsemane, at His resurrection, and now again at His ascension. And soon they will accompany Him at His second coming unto judgment. Christ is the head of the heavenly army, and angels have ever surrounded Him to give Him honor and glory. O that our souls were privileged to do the same! He is worthy to be confessed by every tongue.

Christ was taken up from the earth into heaven. The Father thus glorified His Son. God’s justice was satisfied; sin and guilt had been removed; and the curse had been taken away. Heaven was opened and the separation between God and man had been removed. God’s anger and wrath would no longer bum against His elect. He now descended into their hearts with His Spirit and grace. Now God’s children could go up to God’s altars. Indeed, since Christ their Head was received up into heaven, they would no longer have to remain on earth forever either. Indeed, true Zionites, your salvation is dawning. Soon you may come home and then stay there forever and ever.

The heavenly Ambassador was allowed to return to His homeland when all was accomplished that He had been sent to accomplish. God’s children may go home too, one day. Keep courage, you who fear God! Salvation is certain in God.

And what reception was prepared for Christ in heaven! The King of glory, mighty in battle, was received with joy unspeakable by the Father and the Holy Spirit. The heavens echoed the adoration of the holy angels and those already redeemed. Christ entered as the Conqueror but also with His glorified human nature which He had not had before. What this entrance was like exceeds all description and comprehension. God the Father gave Him the glory He possessed before the world began; but He also glorified Him as the Mediator. God exalted Him exceedingly.

Christ asceneded into heaven to occupy His seat as the divine Prophet and to appear as the High Priest with His blood before God. Thus this glorious King ascended the throne of His glory. We could go on to say many more things about His glorious ascension, but this would take too much of our time.

In churches everywhere this glorious event is commemorated. And with my mind’s eye I see here and there people in sickbeds and in homes reading sermons on Christ’s ascension into heaven, people who still show interest in this glorious event. We, too, are privileged to observe this day, whereas so many others were cut off from the circle of their families. For them it became eternity. O what a great difference there is between the eternal destiny of some and many others. Most people are terrified at the thought of meeting Christ, but God’s elect look forward to meeting Him with joy and gladness. How do you look upon it, my fellow travelers to eternity? Many people consider ascension day a day of traveling, while many others use it as a day to pursue their favorite pastimes, as they use every Christian holiday for this purpose.

Young people, do not spend this day in the pursuit of vanity and sin. In this world we meet with one disappointment after another, and grief upon grief. Christ led his disciples from Bethany, the house of sorrows, to the Mount of Olives. That all of us might have the same experience. How terrible it will be not to know Christ and to have no part in His grace. To be outside of Christ means to die an eternal death. We shall not see the dawn of day if we shall die the way we were born. O remember thou, at least in this day, “the things which belong unto thy peace!”

Heaven is still calling a pardon to all those who have learned to know themselves as being worthy of death and damnation before God. In Adam we tore ourselves loose from God, we shut the doors of heaven, and we destroyed this earth. Christ opened heaven and removed the curse from the earth. O, that we might be united with Christ through faith by the regenerating and renewing grace of the Holy Spirit! In Him is found all we need unto life and salvation.

And those of you who are downcast and downhearted on account of the burden of your sin and guilt, your inner doubts and struggles, may the exalted Christ lift you up. He lifts the poor and makes them great,

With joy He fills the desolate;
Praise ye the Lord and bless His Name,
His mercy and His might proclaim.

Christ’s birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension must be applied unto our hearts and experientially made known unto us by the Holy Spirit in order for us to derive benefit and comfort from them for our hearts. An outward and superficial contemplation of these things won’t profit us, neither in this life nor in eternity. O that we may lose everything in order to possess Christ and to embrace Him as our personal possession!

People of God, whether you are healthy or sick, that this day we may be encouraged to behold Christ through faith. He is worthy of all our love. The Father gave Him unto us out of sovereign grace. The Son gave Himself; and after His finished mediatorial work He returned to heaven. All this He did out of pure love and mercy. That we may exalt Him as the zenith of our joy! O eternal wonder, He ascended up into heaven in order to prepare a place for you!

He descended into hell in order to ascend unto heaven. Soon He will receive you, too, in His eternal glory. May our souls be heavenly-minded and look forward to this day of triumph and of glory! May our hearts be filled with longing to praise His Name eternally! Amen.

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