34. The Ascension of Christ
“The Day He Was Taken Up”
The Ascension of Christ
“AND HE LED THEM AS FAR AS TO BETHANY,
AND HE LIFTED UP HIS HANDS, AND BLESSED THEM.
AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHILE HE BLESSED THEM, HE WAS PARTED
FROM THEM, AND CARRIED UP INTO HEAVEN”(Luke 24:50–51).THE STORY OF the ascension of Christ is specifically described only three times. Luke records it twice. With simple brevity Mark wrote, “So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19). Luke adds a further touch in addition to the words at the head of this chapter, “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). Although these are the only detailed references to the episode, eleven other New Testament books make reference to it.
This crowning event was not without previous intimations. Jesus Himself had clearly predicted it when He said, “What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?” (John 6:62) or again, “I go unto him that sent me” (John 7:33). The psalmist had written anticipatively, “Thou hast ascended on high … thou hast received gifts for men” (Psalm 68:18), a passage that Paul applies to Christ (Ephesians 4:8).
It is a matter of surprise that so small a body of literature centers on this amazing and important event, especially as it has such far-reaching implications for the Christian. W. H. Griffith Thomas rightly claims that the ascension is not only a great historical fact of the New Testament, but a great factor in the life of Christ and Christians, since it is the consummation of His redemptive work.
The ascension was closely linked to, and the logical outcome of, the resurrection. No more fitting climax could have been conceived for such a life as Christ lived. When He ascended, not a claim of God on mankind was left unsettled, and not a promise left in uncertainty. The spectacular method of His departure from earth was entirely consonant with the miraculous achievements of His life and work.
Golden harps are sounding,
Angel voices ring,
Pearly gates are opened,
Opened for the King;
Christ, the King of glory,
Jesus, King of love
Is gone up in triumph
To His throne above.F. R. HAVERGAL
The Manner of the Ascension
It was of tremendous importance that our Lord’s final departure from earth should not be a mere vanishing out of their sight, as He did at Emmaus. This would result in uncertainty as to whether or not He might again appear. Accordingly, the ascension took place, not at night, but in broad daylight. “While they beheld” He rose from their midst, not because He must do so to go to His Father, but in order to make the act symbolic and intelligible to them.
Significantly, it was not at Bethlehem, or the Transfiguration mount, or even Calvary that the event took place, but at Bethany, the place of His sweetest earthly fellowship. “On the chosen spot, at the chosen moment, the little Church being gathered round Him, His extended hands still overshadowing their heads in blessing, and they watching the order of His going—so did He leave them. He went up into heaven in the entireness of His well-known visible Person, the same aloft as below.”
This appearance and disappearance of the risen Christ is represented as an episode as real and objective as His other appearances during the forty days. Those appearances were calculated to assure His disciples that He had conquered death and hell and was recognized as God’s Messiah. The ascension was intended to convince them that they need not expect Him to appear again. No other mode of departure would have left the impression this did. The period of transition had ended, and they need no longer remain in suspense. He left His own in the very act of blessing. For this He had come, and blessing He departed, not as condemning judge but as compassionate friend and High Priest, with hands outstretched.
The Necessity for the Ascension
An ascension such as the gospels record was essential for a number of reasons. It is not a marginal doctrine of Scripture. As J. G. Davies puts it, “If it is through the ascension that Jesus entered upon the office of Son of Man, became no longer Messiah designatus but Messiah indeed, and received the regal dignity and title of ‘Lord,’ then the ascension belongs not to the periphery, but to the heart and substance of the gospel.”
It was essential for these reasons among others: The nature of our Lord’s resurrection body necessitated it. Such a body would not be permanently at home on earth. He must depart, but by glorification rather than by mortal dissolution.
The unique personality and holy life of our Lord demanded an exit from this world as remarkable and fitting as His entrance into it. If a miraculous exit was granted to sinful men such as Enoch and Elijah, how much more to the sinless Son of God?
His redemptive work required such a consummation. Without it, it would have remained incomplete for it rests on four pillars—incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The ascension was a complete and final demonstration that His atonement had forever solved the problem created by man’s sin and rebellion. Only thus could He be constituted Head of the church (Ephesians 1:19–23).
If the Christ who died had stopped at the cross,
His work had been incomplete,
If the Christ that was buried had stayed in the tomb,
He had only known defeat.
But the way of the cross never stops at the cross,
And the way of the tomb leads on
To victorious grace in the heavenly place
Where the risen Lord has gone.ANNIE JOHNSON FLINT
The gift of the Holy Spirit was dependent on His glorification. “The Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified,” was John’s comment on the Lord’s promise of the Spirit (John 7:39).
It enabled the disciples to give to the world a satisfactory account of the disappearance of Christ’s body from the tomb.
To question the historicity of the ascension would be to thrust the whole drama of redemption into the realm of myth.
The Significance of the Ascension for Christ Himself
To Him the ascension came as the culminating divine assurance that the work He had come to do had been completed to the entire satisfaction of the Father, to whose right hand He had now been exalted. “The right hand of God” is metaphorical language for divine omnipotence. “Sitting” does not imply that He is resting, but reigning as King and exercising divine omnipotence. The doctrine of the ascension is therefore the divine affirmation of the absolute sovereignty of Christ over the whole universe. “There is no sphere, however secular,” says B. M. Metzger, “in which Christ has no rights—and no sphere in which His servants are absolved from obedience to Him.”
It was a divine vindication of His claims to deity that had been disallowed by the Jews. He had claimed the right to ascend into heaven as His own prerogative. “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven” (John 3:13). Henceforth He can again exercise those prerogatives and dignities that He laid aside for our salvation.
Finally, it was His divine inauguration into His heavenly priesthood, a subject treated in another chapter.
For the believer, our Lord’s ascension has blessed implications for us. Though physically remote, He is always spiritually near. Now free from earthly limitations, His life above is both the promise and the guarantee of ours. “Because I live, ye shall live also,” He assured His disciples (John 14:19). His ascension anticipates our glorification and leaves us the assurance that He has gone to prepare a place for us (John 14:2).
“His resurrection and ascension to heaven involved nothing less than the making of His humanity eternal in transfigured and glorified form, even if in a manner wholly incomprehensible to us.” It brings Him very near to us as we remember that He carried His humanity back with Him to heaven (Hebrews 2:14–18; 4:14–16).
“He led captivity captive” (Ephesians 4:8). His ascension was His triumphant return to heaven and indicated that the tyrannical reign of sin is ended.
“The ascension helped to clarify the nature of the Messiah-ship to the apostles,” writes R. H. Laver. “They expected a Davidic king, whereas the crucifixion presented them with a suffering Servant. Then the resurrection proclaimed a king after all. The ascension further clarified the nature of His Kingship. The Kingdom of Christ is indeed not of this world. He will reign, but it shall not be simply from an earthly throne. His Kingdom will be glorious but it shall not be achieved through the blood and steel of men. The Cross was the decisive and atoning conflict; the resurrection was the proclamation of triumph; the ascension was the Conqueror’s return with the captives of war which issued in the enthronement of the victorious King.”
The Collect for Ascension Day voices a worthy aspiration:
“Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe thy only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens, so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with Him continually dwell, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.”
Where high the heavenly temple stands,
The house of God not made with hands,
A great High Priest our nature wears,
The Guardian of mankind appears.
He who for men their surety stood
And poured on earth His precious blood,
Pursues in heaven His mighty plan
The Saviour and the Friend of man.
Though now ascended up on high,
He bends on earth a brother’s eye;
Partaker of the human name,
He knows the frailty of our frame.
In every pang that rends the heart
The Man of Sorrows has a part;
He sympathizes with our grief,
And to the sufferer sends relief.
With boldness therefore at the throne
Let us make all our sorrows known;
And ask the aid of heavenly power
To help us in the evil hour.MICHAEL BRUCE