Unlike John or Peter, the gospel writer Luke was a cool-headed intellect. Luke was a physician. As a physician, he was trained to keep his emotional distance from the events he saw. Nobody wants a physician who lets emotion run ahead of intellect. We want our medical doctors to be able to confront the most remarkable experiences and stay calm; to analyze, decide the best course of action, and prescribe whatever it takes to get the patient well again. Above all else, "Keep calm and carry on." That is, do not let the moment possess you. Yet there was one moment in the life of Jesus that so impressed Luke that he could not stay calm. He had to tell it. In fact, it so impressed the physician-follower that he wrote about it on two different occasions. Luke understood that this was the moment when history and modernity came together; when heaven met earth as never before for Jesus and his first disciples. That moment in time was the ascension of Jesus into heaven. Luke writes about it here at the close of his gospel. Next, he records it again as he begins the book of Acts.
As Luke closes out his record about the life of Jesus, he writes: "Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven" (vv. 50-51).
In Acts 1, the same Luke records that moment in these words:
"In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. 'This,' he said, 'is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.' So when they had come together, they asked him, 'Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?' He replied, 'It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.' When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.' Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey away." (Acts 1:1-12)
Did you catch it? Did you spot what looks at first glance like a Bible discrepancy? Luke's gospel says the ascension takes place in Bethany, but in Acts 1:12 the same author records that Mount Olivet was the place. Is it really a discrepancy? No. In fact, anyone who has visited the Holy Land soon discovers that if someone is on the Mount of Olives, he can be said to be at Bethany. The two locations are so close in proximity that the two names are used interchangeably, even today.
We celebrate Ascension Sunday one day each year on the church calendar. However, we affirm Christ's ascension every time we say the Apostles' Creed, "He (Jesus) ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty."
Now, here we are, two millennia later. We are well ordered and well run. For 2,000 years the church has been affirming the ascension. We have everything we need to really make a positive and eternal difference in our communities and our world, except one thing: Where is the "power from on high"? Why have we not, in our generation, fulfilled this command to go out in Christ's power? Is it because so many of us have not taken this promise as authentic? Would things be different if we ordered our lives by it? Given this, my question is how much do we think about what the ascension really means and how much does it impact our daily lives? In Luke's record of the final discourse between Jesus and his disciples, Jesus recollects some highlight events of his life on earth before commissioning them to carry on his work. He recalls his suffering and resurrection. He relates it all to the Old Testament: " 'These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you -- that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.' Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures" (vv. 44-45).
History and Modernity Meet in Christ's Ascension
Think once more about what we say in the Apostles' Creed: "He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty." Now listen once more and allow the transitional tense of verb sink in this time: "He ascended (past tense) into heaven and sits (present tense) at the right hand of God the Father almighty."
Through this one sentence, we know we are different from our non-Christian friends. We have an answer they do not have. "Where is your Jesus when life makes no sense?" the skeptic asks. Our answer is that he is at the right hand of God where, "He is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).
History and modernity come together in the ascension of God's Son, Jesus, as in no other world religious system or philosophy. We can say, "He died for me and he lives for me!" What a mighty master!
To whom can anyone compare our Jesus? "I serve a risen Savior,"1 the old hymn says. We sing it and say, "He lives, He lives, salvation to impart! You ask me how I know He lives: He lives within my heart." That is true but it is not the best part of its truthfulness. The best part of its truthfulness is that he was witnessed ascending on high and "when he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people." (When it says, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) (Ephesians 4:8-10).
History and modernity meet in God's Son Jesus. We know where Jesus is and what he is doing there. In Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 Paul speaks of gifts given to people. In Ephesians 4, Paul speaks of people given to the church as gifts by the ascended Christus victor. In his death and resurrection, Jesus overcomes the hostile powers that hold people in subjection; those powers of the devil, sin, the law, and death are conquered in the Lord's resurrection. Just as an Old Testament military victor has the right to give gifts to those identified with him, so Jesus Christ, who conquered sin on the cross, has the right to give those who follow him to the church along with the gifts he has placed in them. Following his resurrection and after forty days with his disciples, Jesus is taken up to heaven where he sits with the Father, pleading our cause. He bridges the gap between the eternal God and people in our generation.
Philosophy and Practicality Meet in Jesus' Ascension
Repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. (vv. 47-49)
Now we come to something else that sets Christians and Christianity apart from every other philosophy or religion: that is, the practicality of the gospel of Jesus. This gospel works and it puts us to work. Christianity is not a spectator sport. Think again about all the statements of the Apostles' Creed that precede the declaration of Christ's ascension. They fall under the heading of forensic theology. That is, they are foundation stones for our Christian belief system.
I believe in God the Father, Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and was buried,
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Our scripture reading about the Lord's ascension makes it clear that we are not to rest on Christ's laurels, uncaring and uninvolved in the world we are called to live in for now. When Jesus ascended, all the work of the gospel was not done. There is a world to be won and there are people to be served and issues to be addressed. In short, Christianity is more than a religious philosophy. It brings to those who become disciples a practical responsibility.
At his ascension, Jesus hands the torch of his gospel to us. The late Dutch pastor John DeVries lets his imagination picture what might have happened when Jesus entered heaven at his ascension. The angels rejoiced. Their master's earthly mission was accomplished. They welcomed him home. They remembered how in the past one of them was always used to carry God's good news to earthlings. Like school children vying for their teacher's favor, they jostled among themselves for who might be given the privilege of telling the world God's new good news. Christ was born, lived, died on a Roman cross, and rose from the dead to provide salvation from sin. They waited anxiously for the answer to their question. Jesus pointed back to the little band of followers he had just left behind, "There they are. They will be my witnesses. They have experienced the thrill of redemption and they will tell my story to the world."
The gospel torch that was handed over to the church in Jerusalem has been carried down through generations and across continents until today, when we hold it and determine what future, if any, it has. The reality of the ascension of Jesus is this: We have work to do.
Our Lord has already indicated this in his parables of the talents, each is designed to help the people who first heard them know that his kingdom is not to come immediately. Many of the people who follow him expect the kingdom to be fulfilled when Jesus reaches Jerusalem. These parables should have dispelled those hopes but it seems they do not for: They asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6). The disciples fail to understand that each of those parables speaks of work to be done by the servants of the king. Even though the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost (Luke 19:10), the national deliverance of Israel must wait. In the parables, the nobleman represents Jesus. The far country he travels to stands for heaven, and the place he will return to is the earth. Jesus goes to heaven to receive the kingdom from his Father.
In the meantime, we have work to do. For 2,000 years now, the followers of Jesus Christ have been carrying out his work around the world, whether in a hospital to bring health and healing in Chonju, Korea; a school to educate Maasai children in East Africa; or a church to spread the gospel in the former Soviet Union. On every continent more work for human advancement has been done in the history of the world by the disciples of the ascended Christ than by all other groups -- religious or otherwise, in the history of the world, including most of America's historic ivy league institutions. Now add to these individuals the number of helping organizations that have been established in Christ's name and you begin to get some sense of how philosophy and practicality meet in the ascended Jesus. The Christian faith is nothing if not practical.
In time, the disciples were "clothed with power from on high" (v. 49). The Greek word for "power" is dunamis, the root of our English words dynamic, dynamo, and dynamite! Behind it is the idea that those who have this power can do anything with God's might behind them. This power is limitless. In ourselves we are weak and can do only limited things. Paul, whom we often think of as unlimited in power and potential, tells us, "I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it" (Romans 7:18). But he also knows, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). Both statements come from the same man and both are true. The question is which one will we allow to guide us? I submit to you that what we accomplish for the Lord comes about to a large degree because of which of these two statements we decide to follow. Eleven ordinary men clothed with God's dynamic power literally changed their world. They were not super men. Their ways were not otherworldly. They were practical. What they did worked because the gospel of the ascended Jesus Christ is nothing if not practical.
It can happen again. It can happen now. It can happen through us. A.W. Tozer said, "Anything God has ever done, he can do now! Anything God has ever done anywhere else he can do here! Anything God has ever done for anyone else, he can do for you!" Do you believe that? Of course you do because philosophy (what we believe) and practicality (what we do) meet in Jesus Christ's ascension.
Time and Eternity Meet in Christ's Ascension
Lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God. (vv. 50-53)
In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also... "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:2-3, 6)
Time and eternity meet in Christ's ascension. So far, we have considered the practical application of the gospel of the ascended Jesus on every continent, but his work is higher and better even than that. There is a further practical implication in Jesus' ascension. His physical part in earthly ministry accomplished, he yet had a heavenly mission to fulfill. He left to prepare our place in the Father's house.
Heaven is a promised, prepared, perfect, paid-for place for prepared people. The Lord of heaven himself prepares our place there. We get there as a gift simply by taking him at his word. In his ascension, our ascension is guaranteed. We shall reign with him in glory. Meanwhile, we are charged to bring the message of heaven to earth.
So "why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11). That question asked by the ascension angels still has merit. The Bible says that when we least expect him, the ascended Christ is coming again. If he came today, what would you want him to find you doing for his church and his kingdom? Go and do it for Jesus' sake!
During World War I a talented young concert pianist was drafted and sent to the front line. His right arm was horribly mangled in a fierce battle. Medics recognized that unless they amputated that arm, the young musician would die. They amputated the ruined arm. Devastated, yet determined, the young man refused to allow the loss of his arm to destroy him. He was discharged and shipped home, a onearmed piano player. He trekked from composer to composer asking for any piano compositions they might have written or know of for only the left hand. He found none. Finally, he visited Maurice Ravel, the brilliant French composer of Bolero and himself a veteran of that war. Ravel responded to the young musician's need by writing a new piano concerto, The Ravel Concerto in D Major for Left Hand. For years to come, audiences throughout Europe were stirred by the passion with which that young pianist rendered that piece. He could not play the two-handed pieces but he could play this one!
Jesus, our ascended Lord, is coming again. Whatever you imagine is your handicap, whatever you imagine is your limitation, there is kingdom work for you to do. In the name of Jesus, go out and play your piece with passion. Do all the good you can to all the people you can for Jesus who loved us all the way to calvary and loves us still. Don't stand around looking up, do something! You will soon discover that the place where you have been planted is the place where your deep gladness and this world's deep hunger come together.
There is a time when heaven and earth come together. That time is now!
1. "He Lives," Alfred H. Ackley, 1934.