Christ’s Ascension For You
Acts 1:1-11
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:1-3 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… This Ascension Day couldn’t have come at a better time. As we know all too well, the world has seemingly gone mad. The news is one strange horror story after another. We have social unrest, moral decline, fear, rage, uncertainty, a teetering national and global economy, and whatever else has arisen in the past two months. Truth and fact matter to fewer and fewer people. Throw into this cauldron our own sinful flesh which continues to war against our spirit and seeks to drag us away from Christ.
In the midst of this mess, St. Luke’s words in the Book of Acts still ring out today in churches around the world: “The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up.” But how, you may ask, is that helpful?
First, there is an account of the doing and the teaching of the Man named Jesus. That account is known as the Gospel according to St. Luke, and there is great comfort for us in that account as we live in this crumbling world. Along with the other three Gospel accounts, Luke proclaims how the God who made this world sent His Son into it, born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary. But did He do that to make this world a nicer place to live? Did He do it to set up an earthly kingdom where justice and honor prevail? You know the answer to that question: certainly not. This world was doomed from the first sin of Adam and is destined for fire and destruction.
The history of mankind is not one of evolution or progression upward toward a better and brighter world. On the contrary, the whole history of mankind is a history of violence and immorality, of regression and decay. The defining qualities of mankind are sin and death, not justice, righteousness, and peace.
No, Christ came into this world to reveal God to us in person – the real God; not a God who fixes or ignores our sin, but a God who suffers for it Himself, who pays for it with His own blood, who makes atonement for it by His own death and offers us a refuge against the judgment and condemnation that our sins deserve. That refuge is Christ Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God and Son of Man; that refuge is Christ crucified, dead, buried, descended into hell, and risen again on the third day, now ascended into heaven and seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
It is God-given faith in Christ and the blood He shed for us which reconciles us to God, which brings us back together with Him, which places us in His good graces, and guarantees us a future life that is far better than this present one. That’s what St. Luke’s Gospel account is all about.
But notice what else St. Luke said: “Of all that Jesus began both to do and teach.” The whole earthly life of Jesus, which St. Luke chronicles for us in his Gospel – from His birth all the way to His ascension – was just the beginning, it was what He began both to do and to teach. And the ascended Lord Jesus continues both to do and to teach. The Book of the Acts of the Apostles is the record of the continued doing and teaching of Jesus after His ascension into heaven. It is literally Luke part two.
And it was Christ who sent out the apostles and has been sending out their successors ever since. It was Christ who first sent His Spirit on Pentecost and who worked through the preaching of His apostles to spread His word and to build up His Holy Church. As we heard Mark record at the end of his Gospel, “they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them.”
The ascended Lord Jesus continues both to do and to teach. Only now He does and teaches from His throne at the right hand of God from where He reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Everything that happens in the world, everything that happens in the Church is under the supervision and control and allowance of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. Paul wrote this to the Ephesians, I pray that “you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (Eph 1:18-23)
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But we don’t see that; not really. The reign of Christ at God’s right hand is a matter of faith, not sight. When we take in all the chaos and turmoil in our lives and in this world, we don’t see how Christ is governing the affairs of this world, nor do we know the reasons behind what He does. We cannot see the Holy Spirit’s plans, nor can we predict when Christ will come back in glory on a cloud.
His disciples wanted to see, they wanted to know. They said, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” What did they mean by that question? Were they thinking about Jesus setting up an earthly kingdom and making the physical nation of Israel into a prominent nation? If it was, then it was a foolish belief. But that foolish belief is held by many Christians today as they imagine that the physical nation of Israel has some special meaning and as they imagine that Christ will come and set up an earthly kingdom for a thousand years or rapture believers up into heaven while the earth goes on in its mess. All of that is foolish.
Or maybe Jesus’ disciples were only thinking of the restoration of the kingdom to the spiritual Israel, that is, the Holy Christian Church, made up of people from every nation, tribe, language and people – all who believe and are baptized, when Christ will come and rescue His Church from this world and reign visibly over it forever in the new heavens and the new earth? If that was what they meant, then their understanding was exactly right.
But their timing and their desire to know the timing was way off. That is why Jesus told them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.” God has reserved for Himself the knowledge of when He will finally come and crush the kingdoms of this earth under His feet and remove His Church from this dying world. That time was not yet at the time of the apostles, for they had much to do, and much to suffer first.
And it has not yet come for us, either. God knows the work He still has to do with this world. That is the very reason Christ ascended, to do that work for as long as it takes, according to the times and seasons known to the Father, until His whole Church is completely built and the world has had the opportunity to hear the Gospel.
For now, the ascended Lord Jesus continues both to do and to teach. “But,” Jesus said, “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Here we are, at the end of the earth, from where Jesus spoke those words, gathered together 2,000+ years later in the name of Him whom we have not seen, and yet have believed.
Here we are, gathered together – preacher and hearers, baptized in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, hearing and honoring His Word, ready to receive His Sacrament of the New Testament, receiving the forgiveness of our sins, committed to living lives of love according to God’s commandments, committed to confessing the name of Christ Jesus in Niwot, in all the surrounding counties, in Colorado, and to the end of the earth, as the ascended Lord Jesus gives us strength and opportunity.
Where did we Christians come from? Where did our faith and our confession of it come from? It came from Christ Jesus, sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, as He has continued to send forth His Spirit in Word and Sacrament, as He has continued to give pastors and teachers to His Holy Church, and as He has seen to it that the Gospel has been preached and continues to be preached among us.
No matter what the world does around us, no matter how it rages against Christ and His Church and wallows in its filth, no matter how much lawlessness abounds and the love of many grows cold, Christ Jesus has ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, where all things have been placed under His feet, where He continues both to do and teach through His Holy Spirit, in His Holy Church, preaching sin and grace, repentance, and the forgiveness of sins until He comes again to judge the living and the dead.
Rejoice, dear fellow redeemed, in the crucified, risen, and ascended Lord Jesus. He lived for you. He died for you. He rose for you. He ascended for you. He forgives all your sins. He gives you strength. He gives you Himself in His Holy Supper for forgiveness, life, and salvation. And He is coming again in glory on the Last Day. All for you.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
