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Celebrate Jesus: The Ascension
John 3:13
"And
no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, even
the Son of Man."
1 Tim. 3:16
And
by common confession great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed
in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Beheld by angels, Proclaimed
among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.
In the ancient Hymn we've
used as our series text, (I Timothy 3:16) the Church sang of three acts
of God and three responses of his creation. Notice the three responses:
The angels beheld Him, (Beheld
by angels) the believers
proclaimed Him (Proclaimed
among the nations) and
the hearers believed on Him (Believed
on in the world). These
responses are made possible because of three acts of God. The Incarnation
(He
who was revealed in the flesh),
the Resurrection, (was
vindicated in the Spirit)
and the Ascension (Taken
up in glory.) Each of
the actions of God focus on times of transition in Jesus' life.
The miracle of the incarnation
is that the "eternal logos" became a man. It was a transition from eternity
into time.
During the advent and Christmas
seasons, Christians celebrate his incarnation. He lived, suffered, and
died, as all men do, but he did not remain dead. The second transition
was from death to life. He rose again on the third day. We celebrate resurrection
power at Easter, and for that matter, every week when we worship on Sunday
instead of Saturday.
But when do we celebrate
the Ascension? The ascension is the third transition, from earth to heaven.
Is it a lesser event than the other two, or have we lost a significant
opportunity for celebration?
Dr. Luke begins his second
treatise to Theophilus the same way he ended his first one, with a detailed
account of Jesus' ascension into heaven. "And
after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking
on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight." (Acts
1:9) This event was significant enough in Luke's eyes to occupy the most
important positions in a writer's work-the beginning and the end. I fear
that beside such events as His birth and His resurrection, we underestimate
the importance of the ascension, nevertheless, it occupies an important
part of our rich theology. This morning, let's explore the significance
of this great act of God:
-
•In the ascension, Jesus Closed
the Books. He accomplished the fulfillment of the Sacrificial system
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