5 Crucial Reasons Not to Neglect the Ascension

This differs from studying a bodily guide, the place sometimes a extra pure ending level exists. With audiobooks, the hiatus may come at a key second. I bear in mind listening to the guide Prepared Participant One. I pulled as much as our home proper when the protagonist mentioned, “After which all of us died.”

The identical factor can occur once we summarize the story of the Scriptures. We can also repeatedly hit the pause button on the scriptural story earlier than key occasions happen. A concentrate on sure points can come on the expense of others.

Normally, once I hear a gospel abstract, I hear individuals point out Jesus’s life, dying, and resurrection. Hardly ever do I hear a whisper concerning the ascension. At occasions, evangelicals have targeted on the cross and the resurrection to the purpose that the ascent of Christ has been overshadowed. As Peter Orr states, “Christians have tended to focus their consideration on what Jesus has achieved (his life, dying and resurrection) and what he will do (return and reign).” Research on what Christ is doing now or what occurred after the resurrection are comparatively uncommon.

Nevertheless, if the ascension resolves the narrative, if it confirms Christ’s authority, if it’s a important step to carry the story full circle, whether it is central to Christ’s work and to trinitarian theology, then we have to embrace it and train it usually. We can not, we should not, abandon the ascension.

Right here I present 5 essential causes to not neglect the ascension.

The New Testament’s theology is built upon the ascension
The earliest Christian preaching—in Acts—proclaims Christ’s ascension
Christ’s ascension functions as a canonical hinge
The church has always confessed the ascension in her creeds & confessions
The ascension shapes our theology & practice
Conclusion

1. The New Testomony’s theology is constructed upon the ascension

Although Scripture narrates the ascension in solely seven verses, and the Greek phrase for “ascent” doesn’t happen within the New Testomony, these particulars may be deceptive. Verbs that describe the ascension are plentiful. Persistently, phrases happen in reference to Jesus’s ascent:

“To go up”: John 3:13; 6:62; 20:17; Acts 2:34; Eph 4:8–10
“to go away”: Luke 24:51; John 7:33; 8:14, 21; 13:33; 14:4; 16:5, 7, 10, 17
“to enter”: Heb 6:20; 9:12, 24
“to undergo”: Heb 4:14
“to go”: John 14:2, 12, 28; 16:7, 28; 1 Pet 3:22
“to be taken up”: Luke 24:51; Acts 1:2, 9, 11, 22; 1 Tim 3:16
“to take a seat”: Eph 1:20; Heb 1:4; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2
“to be exalted”: Heb 7:26

As well as, references to the repercussions of the ascension are ubiquitous within the New and Outdated Testaments. Although the particular phrase “ascent” doesn’t happen, the thought of exaltation and triumph is pervasive. All of what’s written within the New Testomony stems from the life, dying, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.

The ascension within the Gospels

Whereas Luke alone immediately narrates the ascension (Luke 24:50–53), this doesn’t imply the opposite Gospels don’t train it.

In Matthew’s ardour narrative, Jesus predicted the occasion: “You will note the Son of Man seated on the proper hand of Energy and approaching the clouds of heaven” (Matt 26:64). Extra notably, the top of Matthew incorporates two clear clues of Matthew’s acknowledgment of the ascension (28:16–20). First, the command to go to all nations in Matthew 28:16–20 mirrors the command in Luke 24:47, which connects Jesus’s directions to his ascent. Second, readers attuned to the Outdated Testomony will understand that Matthew not directly refers back to the ascension in Jesus’s final phrases: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt 28:18). This alludes to Daniel 7:13–14, which recounts the ascent of the Son of Man.

Mark’s ending isn’t any totally different, although he shocks and surprises. He deliberately leaves readers questioning what’s going to come after the resurrection, which in its personal means anticipates an extra act (Mark 16:8).

John’s Gospel incorporates probably the most references to the ascension. The fourth Gospel emphasizes the Son’s distinctive relation to the Father and the way he got here from him and can return to him. Six occasions Jesus references going to the Father (John 14:9, 12, 28; 16:10, 17, 28), 4 occasions he makes reference to his ascent (1:51; 3:13; 6:62; 20:17), as soon as to departing to the Father (13:1), and as soon as to leaving the world and going to the Father (16:28). All of those naturally level to the ascension weighing closely on John’s thoughts.

The ascension in Acts & the remainder of the New Testomony

The remainder of the New Testomony “thinks and speaks from this level, with a backward reference” to the ascension of Jesus Christ, as Karl Barth places it. The New Testomony writings had been birthed from the revelation and affirmation of Jesus’s work.

One of many surest markers of the ascension within the epistles includes the titles most frequently attributed to Jesus: Lord and Messiah. These turned the designations all of the New Testomony authors use for describing Jesus. As a result of he had been enthroned, he was now acknowledged because the “Lord Jesus” or “Jesus the Lord,” and plenty of occasions simply “Lord” (Acts 2:36). His new title was Lord and Messiah as a result of he had been correctly exalted.

Different references to Christ’s ascent are peppered throughout the epistles. Paul brings the resurrection and ascension collectively in 1 Corinthians 15. Twice within the passage following 15:1–2, he alludes to Christ’s ascent by referring to Christ’s current reign over each energy and authority and reigning till he has put all his enemies below his ft (15:24–25).

Total, the ascension looms massive within the epistles:

In 2 Corinthians, Paul speaks of the judgment seat of Christ, implying Jesus at present sits on the throne (2 Cor 5:10).
Ephesians largely considerations Christ’s triumph and frequently references how he’s seated within the heavenly locations (Eph 1:20; 2:6; 4:8–11).
Philippians facilities on Christ’s ascent within the well-known hymn, the place it briefly recounts Christ’s humiliation and exaltation (Phil 2:5–11).
Colossians compels readers to hunt the issues above, “the place Christ is, seated on the proper hand of God” (Col 3:1).
1 Timothy 3:16 recounts Christ’s life in a creedal method ending along with his reception into glory.
Hebrews largely considerations Christ’s present ministry because the exalted priest within the heavenly sanctuary (Heb 1:8; 4:14, 16; 6:19–20; 8:1; 9:12, 24; 12:2).
1 Peter connects Christian baptism to Christ’s ascent (1 Pet 3:21–22).

The epistles don’t forged apart or ignore the ascension. Moderately, it turns into the ballast for Christ’s current work and his future judgment, and the idea for Christian ethics.

John’s visions in Revelation, not surprisingly, additionally middle on the one he sees within the throne room (Rev 1:13). Within the Spirit, John sees the throne and one seated on the throne, who receives glory, honor, and energy (4:2, 9–10). Between the throne and the 4 dwelling creatures and among the many elders, John sees a slain Lamb standing (5:6). The Lamb is with God and is worshiped within the throne room (5:13).

Though the ascension is never talked about in express phrases, the New Testomony assumes its central place. All the authors write in response to, and work backward from, the ascension. The ascension revealed the Messiah’s exaltation and triumph, completed his work on the earth, assured his present sovereignty, broke the barrier between heaven and earth (thus pouring out the Spirit), and pledged his return. New Testomony authors make use of the occasion to consolation their readers, name them to holiness, and assist them to endure struggling. With out the ascent of Christ, Christianity wouldn’t exist.

2. The earliest Christian preaching—in Acts—proclaims Christ’s ascension

Not solely does the New Testomony as a complete present proof of the centrality of the ascension, however so do the primary Christian sermons in Acts. When the apostles went out and preached the message of Jesus, they highlighted the resurrection and ascension. All 5 of Peter’s sermons reference, both explicitly or implicitly, the ascension, and so do a lot of the speeches in Acts.

Peter’s sermons in Acts

Peter’s first sermon units the stage for the remainder of the sermons in Acts and supplies one of many fullest summaries of the Christian message. In some ways, the remainder of the sermons in Acts are condensed types of the identical themes. When Peter preached after Pentecost, he devoted a big portion of his sermon to the occasion of the resurrection–ascension of Christ.

The identical emphasis happens in the remainder of Peter’s sermons:

In Acts 3, after therapeutic the lame man, Peter defined the therapeutic didn’t come from his personal energy, however from God. He affirmed heaven should obtain Jesus till God restores all issues (3:21).
Later, in 4:10, Peter spoke of God elevating Jesus from the lifeless and mentioned salvation is present in no different title (4:12).
After Peter’s second arrest, he once more referenced the ascent, claiming, “God exalted this man to his proper hand as Prince and Savior. … We’re witnesses of this stuff, and so is the Holy Spirit” (Acts 5:31–32).
Peter’s closing sermon to Cornelius has no less than two references to the Messiah’s exaltation. He claimed Jesus is Lord of all (Acts 10:36) and mentioned Christ “is the one appointed by God to be the choose of the dwelling and the lifeless” (Acts 10:42).

Paul’s sermons in Acts

Paul’s sermons, like Peter’s, additionally concentrate on the ascension. Paul’s first sermon in Antioch units the stage and informs the remainder of the summaries Luke supplies (Acts 13:16–41). Paul referred to Christ’s ascension by quoting from Psalm 2. God raised Jesus up and Jesus turned God’s Son, as quoted in Psalm 2:7. The following verses proceed Paul’s theme concerning the exaltation of Jesus, however from a unfavourable standpoint: Jesus is not going to see decay (13:34–37). This is identical textual content Peter cited in his Pentecost sermon (2:25–28).

Paul and Silas informed the jail guard in Philippi to imagine within the Lord Jesus (16:31). Even in Antioch, when Paul preached to gentiles, he twice referenced Jesus’s resurrection–ascension (17:18, 31). In Paul’s farewell speech at Ephesus, he referred to religion within the Lord Jesus (20:21).

The purpose is, when the early church proclaimed Jesus, it proclaimed his exaltation.

3. Christ’s ascension capabilities as a canonical hinge

The Messiah’s ascent is a key to the scriptural narrative due to its canonical placement.

Although the ascent is explicitly narrated in solely two locations, on the finish of the Gospel of Luke (24:50–53) and initially of Acts (1:9–11), these places are fairly vital. If Acts pushes readers into a brand new section of the story of God’s work on this world, then on the middle of this shift is the departure of Christ. The ascension marks the beginning of a brand new age—the brand new covenant—and the top of the previous period.

On the dime of the ascension, the Bible turns from the age of Jesus to the age of the church. The event of all the opposite themes within the New Testomony is sourced within the actuality of Christ’s enthronement and the Father’s plan. As Robert Maddox places it, “The ascension is for Luke the purpose of intersection of Christology, eschatology, and ecclesiology.”

Christ’s ascension and session due to this fact turned the hinge on which the New Testomony turns—a watershed second figuring out and directing the remainder of the narrative. A couple of explorations of how this canonical hinge informs the studying of the remainder of the New Testomony are vital.

The excellent news about Christ’s reign

The gospel, which brings salvation, immediately considerations Jesus’s reign over all.

Jesus was declared the king of the universe due to, or possibly higher, in his ascent. This Son of Man was given dominion, glory, a kingdom that every one peoples, nations, and languages ought to serve him; his kingdom is one that won’t be destroyed (Dan 7:13–14).

The exaltation and dominion of Christ was not solely the spur catapulting his individuals into the world, however the message they had been to share. Thomas Torrance writes, “The church lives and works within the time that’s established by the ascension for the proclamation of the gospel to all nations and ages.”

The place of Christ’s reign

The place of Jesus’s reign turned the bottom for mission to the ends of the earth.

The remainder of the New Testomony primarily recounts the expansion and wrestle of those Jesus communities as they popped up everywhere in the Greco-Roman world. They unfold out as a result of Jesus reigns in heaven. The unfold of the gospel geographically and the beginning of the church is inseparable from Christ’s cosmic reign within the heavens. Earthly house was reordered by the heavenly Christ.

Christ’s reign in heaven turned the first setting for the New Testomony, forming the theological and narratival perspective for the remainder of the story. With out the ascension, there can be no mission.

The Spirit despatched by the Christ who reigns

The ascended Lord and the Father despatched the Holy Spirit to his individuals.

The remainder of the New Testomony explains and encourages Christians in the way in which they are often frequently full of the Spirit. This may solely occur due to Christ’s ascent. Peter in his Pentecost sermon defined how Jesus’s ascension and the pouring out of the Spirit had been linked: “Being due to this fact exalted on the proper hand of God … he has poured out this that you just yourselves are listening to and seeing” (Acts 2:33).

4. The church has all the time confessed the ascension in her creeds & confessions

The fourth motive to not abandon the Messiah’s ascension is the fathers of the religion made it central and foundational within the early creeds. Each time the early Christians recounted the work of Christ in abstract type, the ascension was all the time included.

The Apostles’ Creed (AD 120–250)

The Apostles’ Creed consists of the ascent within the narrative abstract of Jesus’s work. The creed consists of the road “he ascended into heaven, he’s seated on the proper hand of the Father.” Jesus’s work, in response to this early creed, culminates in Christ’s ascension and session in heaven, from which he’ll come once more to evaluate the dwelling and the lifeless.

The Nicene Creed (AD 325, 381)

The Nicene Creed equally speaks of Christ’s work, which concludes and climaxes with the ascension. The Son was made incarnate, suffered, rose from the lifeless, and “ascended into heaven. From thence he shall come to evaluate the fast and the lifeless.”

The First Council of Constantinople (AD 381) consists of his incarnation, beginning, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. It doesn’t abandon the Messiah’s ascent, asserting he “ascended into heaven, and sits on the proper hand of the Father, from the place he’ll come once more, with glory, to evaluate the fast and the lifeless; whose kingdom shall don’t have any finish.”

The Athanasian Creed (AD 500)

The Athanasian Creed, although targeted on trinitarian doctrine and Christology, features a abstract of Christ’s life. Like the sooner creeds, it features a clause about Christ’s session. “He ascended into heaven, he sits on the proper hand of God the Father Almighty, from the place he’ll come to evaluate the dwelling and the lifeless.”

Historic Protestant confessions

The main Protestant confessions additionally embody the ascent of their doctrinal statements.

The Augsburg Confession (1530) states that Jesus “ascended into heaven, and sits on the proper hand of God.”
The First Helvetic Confession (1536) says, “He has set his flesh, which he raised from dying to life, on the proper hand of his almighty Father.”
The Scots Confession (1560) asserts Christ “did ascend into the heavens, for the accomplishment of all issues, the place in our title and for our consolation He has acquired all energy in heaven and on earth, the place He sits on the proper hand of the Father.”

In abstract, when the church creeds recount the fundamental narrative of Christ’s work, they all the time embody the ascent. The ascension and session is the triumph of Christ’s story. Early Christians by no means ignored or disregarded the exaltation of Christ in confessional paperwork. Christ’s ascension and session continuously got here after Christ’s resurrection and earlier than the assertion that he’ll return to evaluate the dwelling and the lifeless.

5. The ascension shapes our theology & apply

The ultimate motive the Messiah’s ascent is crucial is its relation to different doctrines and its sensible significance.

The doctrine of the Trinity

First, it is very important acknowledge that the ascension is essentially a trinitarian actuality. Within the ascension, Jesus returned to the Father (John 16:28; 20:17), they usually each bestowed the Spirit (Acts 2:33). Any studying of our Bible that neglects the Christological middle or the trinitarian nature of this work will likely be essentially skewed from the beginning.

The dominion of God

Second, the church conducts its new citizenship in response to the absence and in anticipation of the return of Christ as king and choose. The 2 angels in Acts 1:11 declared Jesus would come again in the identical means he was taken up. Torrance says, “By withdrawing himself from persevering with seen and fast contact as our modern in historical past, Jesus Christ establishes the individuals of God throughout the course of and structured patterns of historical past as a coherent physique.” Christ’s kingdom is right here, progressing, and can come once more. It’s localized within the work of the church via the Spirit.

Additional, Jesus’s rule over heaven and earth is the muse for our witness on the earth. His lordship is what we name others to bow earlier than.

A descent–ascent sample

Lastly, the actions of the church mimic a descent–ascent sample. We go underwater that we could be raised up. We undergo that we could be glorified. We sacrifice that we could be accepted. We bear each other’s burdens in order that we would expertise the presence of God. We go down with Christ that we would rise with him. Christ is our brother, and we comply with him into fullness of life.

Conclusion

The Messiah’s ascent is thus crucial for any studying of the Bible. It’s a important hinge on which the work of Christ turns. Although it may be ignored and even uncared for, Christ’s ascension was central to the New Testomony, the early creeds, the primary Christian sermons, and the transition from the Jesus age to the church age, and has theological and sensible significance.

This text is tailored from Patrick Schreiner, The Ascension of Christ: Recovering a Neglected Doctrine (Lexham Press, 2020).