If you had asked most people, even most Christians, this past Thursday, “What special day is this?”, they would have responded, “Why, it’s the National Day of Prayer.” If you ask most people, even most Christians, today, “What special day is this?”, they will respond, “Why it’s Mother’s Day, of course.”
Now, don’t get me wrong. A day set aside to especially pray for our nation, and a day set aside in order to honor our mothers, are very good days to have. But for Christians, last Thursday and today are designated days for celebrating an event of much more importance and significance than either a National Day of Prayer, or even Mother’s Day. Last Thursday was Ascension Day, and this is Ascension Sunday. The Feast of the Ascension is no longer one of the best-known feast days on the calendar. Most of us hardly even notice it anymore, but it used to be one of the greatest days of the Christian year.
It can be again, if we will look a little closer at it, think about it, and experience it. The first chapter of the Book of Acts tells us about it. The passages say, “After His suffering He presented Himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the Kingdom of God.” On the fortieth day, Jesus told the disciples to remain in Jerusalem and await the empowering of the Holy Spirit. That took place on the day we will celebrate next Sunday – the day we call Pentecost.
So, fifty-three days after His crucifixion (3 days to Resurrection, 40 days to Ascension, 10 days to Pentecost), Jesus moves from death on a cross to the first earthly sign of His reign from Heaven – that sign being the appearance and indwelling of the Holy Spirit to the disciples, exactly as Jesus had promised. Why did it take so long for this to happen? Jesus could just as easily have transitioned from His death at Calvary and His resurrection to His place at the right hand of the Father in Heaven instantly upon His death. What was the purpose of those 53 days in between?
Those days were set aside by God in order to empower the disciples to fully grasp, with absolute certainty, the meaning and implications of what was taking place. God gave the disciples three days to be sure that Jesus had indeed died on the cross. There had to be no doubt about that. The soldiers had to be in place; the tomb had to be sealed, the disciples had to know in their hearts that the One who was their Lord had surely died on that horrible cross. Then, when the Resurrection took place, it would be, and it was, a totally earth-shaking event!
On that day of Resurrection, the earth indeed shook from a vast earthquake, the 1,000 – 2,000 pound stone was rolled away and up the ramp from the tomb entrance, and angels came to explain what had happened! After that, for the next forty days, Jesus, in His glorious, new resurrection body, appears and visits with His followers on several different occasions, teaching them about God’s Kingdom, their places in it, and our job as His witnesses on earth until we get called home to be with Him in His Kingdom of Heaven. Some of His appearances, according to God’s word, were as follows:
There are a few things that we must clearly understand about that taking up of Jesus, His ascension into Heaven. First, we must absolutely understand is that the Ascension of Jesus Christ is about God and God alone.
We must also understand completely that according to Scripture, it was not the essence of Jesus; it was not the spirit of Jesus; it was not the invisible part of Jesus; it was not the divine nature of Jesus; it was not the idea of Jesus; it was not anything like that, which ascended to the Father in Heaven. It was the resurrected body of Jesus; a body the disciples had witnessed with their own eyes; a body that had flesh and bones; a body that the disciples had touched; a body that had eaten and drunk with the disciples; a real, physical, yet gloriously restored body that still bore the marks of the nails and spear; that is what ascended to Heaven. What does all of this mean to us?
Well, the Incarnation and the Ascension are proof positive that God Almighty knows from personal experience what it means to be human. Those events prove to us that God believes we humans are important to Him and that He loves us. So much so, that God Himself became one of us, in order to provide for our forgiveness and salvation. Think about this. If we are so important to God that He did what He did for us, how should we treat each other?
Suppose we were told in scripture that God had chosen a different creature, say deer for instance, to be created in His own image? Suppose scripture said that not only had all deer been created by God in His image, but also God Himself had once become one particular deer. How would that affect our attitude and behavior toward deer? Might we not surmise that all deer were special to God? Would we not treat deer with utmost kindness and respect? We would most likely never go deer hunting again.
Well, the fact of the matter is, God did not become a deer. God became a human being. Should we not then suppose that all human beings are considered special to God? Should we not treat other humans with the same kindness and respect we would treat deer with, had they been the chosen creature of God?
Christmas to Ascension is the story of Jesus coming full circle from God to Man/God to God/Man. When we approach God it is imperative that we remember that we are dealing with a God who knows intimately what it is to be a human. God knows what it is like to laugh; to celebrate; to be joyful and to be loved. But God also knows what it is like to be hungry, to be thirsty, to be tired, to hurt and to mourn. God knows what it is like to live and to die. God knows all of this because He has been there and done that.
Because of that fact, because He knows what we are as human beings, we are able to approach God with confidence and with joy. We are turning to a God who is not only the creator of the universe and the ruler of time and eternity; we are turning to a God who lived our life and died our death. We are turning to a God who has come full circle and still loves us, even though we oftentimes do not deserve it.
Jesus traveled full circle in His God-Man/God-God/Man journey and we have a journey to travel to complete our circle as well. We humans were created in full fellowship with God, as a creature made in God’s own spiritual image. But through Adam and Eve, we fell out of grace and lost that fellowship. We became children of the Devil. Through Jesus Christ, we are offered the chance to regain the fellowship lost. We are offered the chance to be reunited with God, our Creator. We are offered the chance to reclaim our place with God for all eternity.
From child-of-God to child-of-the-Devil to child-of-God, that is the journey we each must travel. Where are you on the path? Have you come full circle? Jesus is the only way back. He did the hard work for you on the Cross of Calvary. If you have not yet accepted Him as your very own Savior and Lord, won’t you do it today? Repent of your sin and ask Him to forgive and save you. Jesus says, “All who call on My name will be saved.” Call on Him and He will give you eternal life. He is the only One who can. Amen.