The Beauty of the Ascension

Image: John Singleton Copley: Study for The Ascension (60.44.16)". In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/copl/ho_60.44.16.htm (October 2006)

Sermon for the Sunday After Ascension - edited

Our world is filled with beautiful things: natural things, such as sunsets, flowers, trees, and man-made things, such as works of art, instrumental music, or good literature. But there is a difference between the beauty one sees in a tree and what one hears in music or reads in a book, is there not? There are different ingredients in what makes any one thing beautiful, and it depends on what one is talking about as to what those ingredients are. There are some things that are beautiful because they bring resolution or order to what was previously could be called “a mess”…. but my concern is not aesthetic philosophy so much as the wonderful beauty of the work of God for us in His Son, Jesus Christ. For, in Him, is the greatest of all resolutions to the greatest of all problems.

Many people live lives today that could be called “a mess;” we even use that term, do we not? Indeed, we all have experienced making a mess of our lives. Yet every mess we make is ultimately traced back to one simple act: the eating of the forbidden fruit by our first father and mother, Adam and Eve. When they did that, the seed was sown for every kind of problem the world has ever known since.

…The fall of Adam turned the beauty of the created world into a horrible mess, especially for the life of the people of this world. Just think of all the problems that suddenly arose:

1. how was man to be rescued from death?

2. how was man to be restored to fellowship with God?

3. how was man’s conscience to be settled?

4. how was the creation to be restored?

5. how was man to be healed from the ravages that sin brings into his life, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, even physically?

6. how was the marred image of God in man to be restored?

7. how was man to be restored to a place of respect and glory in the universe?

8. how was the power of the devil over man to be defeated and removed?

9. how was man’s judgment to be just without his being eternally destroyed?

As you can see, mankind has been in a huge mess ever since the fall! But here is the amazing beauty of the wisdom of God in His Son. All of it, all the mess man was in, and is in today, was resolved in the Person and work of Jesus. And each act of His is full of this beauty, for all kinds of problems were settled in every one thing that He did. Each of his acts is like the cut diamond, that has many facets to it and there is a special beauty in each.

Today we celebrate one of the things Jesus did for us: His Ascension. Forty days after His resurrection, Jesus fulfilled the promises made by God in the Old Testament that the throne of King David would some day become a divine throne and seated upon that throne would be a divine descendant of David, and he would rule for ever and ever. How did Jesus’ ascension to the right hand of God bring resolution to the mess of the fall? Well, first of all, obviously, when He became the king of all the universe, all authority in heaven and earth were given to Him so that He would have no obstacle in His way of fulfilling everything else that needed to be done after His ascension for our restoration. Part of what God did in Jesus to save mankind was to set up a new kingdom in the universe and make a way for people to be restored from the evil of the fall by becoming subjects in this new kingdom. That is why Jesus kept talking about the kingdom that He was bringing. This was a kingdom He was establishing for our salvation. Now that He has taken His seat on the throne of that kingdom, all the blessings of the kingdom may be poured out upon us and our lives may be rescued from the mess we are in. A new order was established by God in His King so that our own lives may have a new order in them and be healed.

But, wonderfully, that is only one facet of this glorious diamond we call the Ascension. The Ascension was also God’s seal upon the effectiveness of the shedding of Jesus’ blood on the Cross. In the book of Hebrews, we read of how it was that the priests in the Old Testament tabernacle had to offer up sacrifices to God every day, all day long, for the sins of the people. The tabernacle, and later the Temple, was a place of constant business. No one on duty had time to sit down because there were always more sins to atone for. But then we read in ch.10:12: But this man [referring to Jesus], after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 14: For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. The fact that Jesus ascended to the throne of God and sat down there was a demonstration, even a proof, if you will, that His work of removing our sins was finished and finished for ever. Never again would the Son of God leave his throne and his kingly crown and come to this earth to make an offering for our sins. His work was so perfect and so complete that this part of the mess we were in was resolved forever. So it is that the Ascension is meant to be an encouragement to our conscience that our sins really have been removed from us. Isn’t that wonderful?

But, again, that’s only one facet. I left a verse out. Verse 13 says he sat down on the right hand of God 13: From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. Here we see how the Ascension was meant to deal with the devil’s affliction of us and also the evil’s of the world, which opposes us. Jesus took up His throne that He might go to work on dealing with the works of the devil. In Revelation 12:5-12, we read these amazing words describing what happened in heaven when Jesus took up His throne….

The devil seems to have had access to the throne of God before the Ascension, such as we read about in the first chapters of the book of Job. But once Jesus was on His throne, no more. He was cast down to this earth and his sphere was limited. And he was very angry becaue He knew this was the beginning of the end for him. He knows he has only a short time here because Jesus is determined to bring all God’s enemies “under His feet.” Jesus is determined to bring all evil into submission.

And that includes the evil world we live in; this mass of fallen humanity under the sway of evil. Jesus said, “Be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.” And the proof that He has overcome the world and is determined to bring all human rebellion to an end is that He sits on the right hand of God until this is accomplished.

What a glorious facet of the Ascension diamond we have here! All the evils in the world that oppose us and discourage us and pain us are inexorably being dealt with by our King. He is bringing a triumphal resolution to all the mess of this sad and broken world. Praise the Lord for that!

But, there’s even more. Because of Jesus’ Ascension, there is a new place in the universe for mankind, for all that will submit to the King and enter the kingdom. The key is that all who believe in Jesus are spiritually united with Him in this life and in the life to come, will share with Him all the glories of His kingdom. Hebrews says that we who believe are “receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved” (12:28). The kingdom is being given to us. St. Paul writes in Ephesians 2: 4-7…. The new place for redeemed mankind in the universe is with Christ on His throne. We reign with Him, and we will reign with Him forever. So it is that we share His reign over this world as we overcome the world by our faith. And in the future, in the new heaven and new earth, we will share His rule in an even greater way. As Peter and Edmund and Susan and Lucy were made kings and queens in Narnia, to always be kings and queens in Narnia, so we have been made kings and queens in the kingdom of Christ, to always be kings and queen in His everlasting kingdom.

May I share one more wonder with you? When Jesus sat down on the right hand of God, He demonstrated that His sacrificial work on our behalf was over. But He then began a new role on our behalf: He became our intercessor. He is our High Priest who represents our concerns before the throne of the Father. He ever lives to make intercession for us, as the Scripture says. That means that, when we come before God in prayer, either by ourselves or with His people, though we come before the awesome throne of the thrice-holy God, we need not be afraid. There with us is our faithful friend, our High Priest, Jesus, representing us before that awful throne and speaking words of love on our behalf. And so we read in Hebrews 10:19-22: ….

We never pray alone. The Holy Spirit is in us, helping us to pray and the ascended Jesus is at the throne of the God we approach, making us acceptable before the Divine Majesty. What a wonderful Saviour! And a wonderful thing happened when Jesus ascended to the right hand of God!

The Ascension is the culmination of all we have been remembering and celebrating ever since Advent. It is such an important time in the Christian year and I hope that you will ever value the Ascension more and more the rest of your life.

I would like to say more, but let me close by relating what we have learned about the Ascension to the Eucharist, which we are about to celebrate. What are we doing when we come to the Lord’s table? Here, at the table, in a holy mystery, bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, not literally but spiritually. Here, by faith, we connect with, we commune with, our King. He meets with us at the table and offers His grace to us in fulfillment of the promises of His Word. Is it not simply the most rational thing for us to come with the utmost reverence? We come as close as it is possible to come in this life to the very throne of God Himself! Our hearts should be filled with awe and reverence as we celebrate the Supper.

At the same time, our hearts should be filled with comfort. We eat and drink the body and blood of our King – the One who has done everything that needs to be done for the resolution of the mess of our lives here and now, and who will someday do everything else that needs to be done for us for ever. As Bonar writes of the Eucharist:

I hear the words of love

I gaze upon the blood

I see the mighty sacrifice

And I have peace with God.

Oh, what comfort there is for us at this holy table.

Lastly, we should come with hearts of joy. Why? Because the enthronement is a reign of joy for Jesus. It was this enthronement which was the joy that was set before Him as He contemplated His cross. It is this joy which the Psalmist celebrates in that psalm about the Ascension and reign of Christ, Psalm 45, wherein he wrote:

6: Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. 7: Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

The oil of gladness has been poured out upon the Man of Sorrows! His throne is a place of joy and song because of all He has done, and because there is no one fairer than He in all the universe. Oh, what a pleasure to be His! Oh, what a joy to share in His kingdom. What a delight to meet with Him at His table and share in the power of His resurrected and eternal life. Oh, brothers and sisters, let us rejoice! The Lord, our beloved Jesus, is King!

Amen.