We Believe He Ascended into Heaven & Sitteth on the Right
Hand of God the Father Almighty
or,
Ascension & Session
We
Believe –Apostles’ Creed part 8
Intro: This series
(review); (keeping the lines of the Creed in order instead of saving this
sermon for Ascension Sunday)
Thesis: The
doctrines of Jesus’ Ascension and Session have significant implications for us
as Believers.
I. We believe
Jesus ascended into Heaven.
1.
Read Acts 1:9-11; discuss
it
2.
Again, an actual historical
event
a.
Not mythical, allegorical,
or spiritualization
b.
Jesus really left this
world
c.
Witnesses saw it happen
(the disciples)
3.
The going up part is
not the key – the point was that He was leaving this world
a.
Doesn’t mean the Heavenly
Realm is above us in the sky
b. “We have to
think less of a transition from one locality than of a transition from one
condition to another. .... The real meaning of the ascension is that … our Lord
withdrew from a world of limitations to that higher existence where God is”
(Milligan, Ascension and Heavenly Priesthood, 26)
c.
The disciples were not
simple-minded; they knew better; just like we speak of the sun rising
and setting (that’s not what really happens, but it’s the way we represent it
figuratively in our speech)
d.
“Christ disappeared from view, and no question need be raised
either of distance or direction. We accept the fact without any scientific
explanation. It was a change of conditions and mode of existence; the essential
fact is that He departed and disappeared.” (W. H. Griffith Thomas; “Ascension,”
in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
4.
Sometimes said that He was translated
to heaven; good word – shows the change from one paradigm to another
1.
Continuation of the what
happened with the resurrection
a.
Jesus said it would happen
(Jn. 20:17 – “Jesus said to her, ‘Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet
ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, “I ascend to My
Father and your Father, and My God and your God.”’”)
b.
Part of the transformation
of the new kind of body that Jesus has (He exists in another reality somehow);
we will one day have different bodies, too (more on this in a few weeks)
2.
Glorification/ exultation
a.
Reversal of humiliation
(Eph. 4:8-10)
b.
Left behind the conditions
of this world and the suffering He experienced here
c.
Part of a series of events:
the resurrection, the ascension, Christ’s session, and His second coming
3.
God’s doing – passive – was
received
a.
Six weeks earlier, God
turned His back on His Son, who had become sin for us
b.
Now God accepted Him and
took Him into heaven
c.
Further evidence that
Jesus’ mission on the cross was successful – He did conquer sin
4.
Making way for the Holy
Spirit
a.
John 16:7à “It is to your advantage
that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but
if I go, I will sent Him to you.”
b.
On earth, Jesus was one
person, limited in time & space like us. But Holy Spirit indwells all
believers
5. Incidentally, a glimpse of His 2nd Coming (Robinsonà “so in like manner” describes both fact & manner of 2nd coming by “emphatic repetition”) (Robinson’s Word Pictures of the New Testament)
1.
Jesus is in the heavenly
realm with His Father
2.
Understood as an anthropomorphism
a.
Doesn’t mean God really has
hands or a body; we know that He is Spirit
b.
Joke (from a song by
Carman) – the Psalms say He’ll protect us with His feathers and His wings, but
that doesn’t mean that God’s a great big Chicken!
c.
“Care must be taken in the
use of the expression. It is a figure to express the association of Christ with
God in glory and power.” (L.D. Bevan, “The Exaltation of Christ,” in International
Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
d.
On the other hand, doesn’t
mean that He shed His humanity; not a reversal of the Incarnation (we know from
other Scripture passages that He still has a body, the special resurrection
body)
1.
Redemption accomplished
a.
His mission on earth was
complete
b.
Heb. 1:3 – “When He had
made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on
high”
c.
He finished the job set
before Him, and He sat down (figuratively perhaps, but it gives a sense of
completion)
2.
Exaltation
a.
Phil. 2:5-11
b.
The spiritual paradox of
humiliation leading to exaltation (like death necessary for new life)
c.
“God has highly exalted
Him”
3.
Meaning for Christ Himself
(from W.H. Griffith Thomas, “Ascension”)
a. The proof of victory (Ephesians 4:8);
b. The position of honor (Psalms 110:1);
c. The place of power (Acts 2:33);
d. The place of happiness (Psalms 26:11);
e. The place of rest ("seated");
f.
The place of permanence
("for ever")
4.
High Priest (Heb. 5:1)
5.
Intercession
a.
Rom. 8:33-34 – “Who will bring
a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who
condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at
the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”
b.
“He is the perfect Mediator
between God and man” (Thomas)
6.
Gifts of the Spirit (Eph.
4:8-10)
7.
Preparing a place for us
a.
John 14:2b – “I go to
prepare a place for you”
b.
Often said that if He
created the world in seven days, and He’s been gone for about 2000 years,
imagine how great this place must be!
8.
Omnipresence
a.
I am with you always – Mt.
28:20
b.
Good news for us, His
followers
c.
Has been a source of
strength & comfort to Christians under pressure and persecution ever since
9.
Lordship every knee will
bow and every tongue confess Him to be Lord (Phil 2)
“We may
summarize what the New Testament tells us of our Lord's present life in heaven
by observing carefully what is recorded in the various passages of the New
Testament. He ascended into heaven (Mark
16:19; Luke 24:51; Acts
1:9); He is seated on the right hand of God (Colossians
3:1; Hebrews 1:3; 8:1;
10:12); He bestowed the gift of the Holy
Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (Acts
4:9,33); He added disciples to the church (Acts
2:47); He worked with the disciples as they went forth preaching the
gospel (Mark 16:20); He healed the impotent man (Acts
3:16); He stood to receive the first martyr (Acts
7:56); He appeared to Saul of Tarsus (Acts
9:5); He makes intercession for His people (Romans
8:26; Hebrews 7:25); He is able to succor the
tempted (Hebrews 2:18); He is able to sympathize (Hebrews
4:15); He is able to save to the uttermost (Hebrews
7:25); He lives forever (Hebrews
7:24; Revelation 1:18); He is our Great High Priest
(Hebrews 7:26; 8:1;
10:21); He possesses an intransmissible or inviolable
priesthood (Hebrews 7:24); He appears in the presence of
God for us (Hebrews 9:24); He is our Advocate with the
father (1John 2:1); He is waiting until all opposition
to Him is overcome (Hebrews 10:13). This includes all the teaching
of the New Testament concerning our Lord's present life in heaven.” (W. H.
Griffith Thomas; “Ascension,” in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
Christopher Wordsworth (1807-85)'s
hymn;
See the conqueror mounts in triumph,
See the King in royal state,
Riding on the clouds his chariot
To His heavenly palace gate!
Hark! the choir of angel voices
Joyful alleluias sing,
And the portals high are lifted
To receive the heavenly King.
Who is this that comes in glory
With the trump of jubilee?
Lord of battles, God of armies,
He has gained the victory
He who on the cross did suffer
He who from the grave arose
He has vanquished sin and Satan,
He by death has spoiled his foes.
Thou hast raised our human nature
On the clouds to thy right hand
There we sit in heavenly places
There with Thee in glory stand;
Jesus reigns, adored by angels;
Man with God is on the throne;
Mighty Lord, in thine Ascension
We by faith behold our own.
Glory be to God the Father;
Glory be to God the Son,
Dying, risen, ascending for us,
Who the heavenly realm has won;
Glory to the Holy spirit;
To One God, in Persons Three;
Glory both in earth and heaven,
Glory, endless glory, be.
The Apostles’ Creed
We Believe in God the Father
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ His only Son, our
Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered
under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day He rose
again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of
God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the
dead.
We believe in the Holy Ghost, the
holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the
resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen