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Is risen, he is risen indeed. Alleluia.” While Jesus blessed them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven; and they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God. You may be seated.
Dear saints, that’s not what I would expect that last line that told how the disciples reacted to the Ascension of Jesus. I would have expected something like: “He ascended into heaven. And he disappeared from their sight. And they went mourning back to Jerusalem, lamenting the fact that Jesus was taken from them. But it says in fact the exact opposite. Such that the disciples believe here and this is for us to believe also what Jesus promised that it’s better for us if He goes. If He didn’t go, the Holy Spirit wouldn’t come. But if He goes, He’ll send the Holy Spirit. And we will receive that great gift. So that the departure of Jesus into the heavenly realm to be seated at the right hand of the Father is for us tremendous good news.
It’s a change in the way that Jesus was with the disciples. I mean, first there’s the way that he’s with his disciples before His death and resurrection. It’s a pretty normal way. There’s just a few moments of strangeness like when Jesus is walking on the water. That’s a bit strange. When the crowd comes to grab him and he kind of goes through the middle of them, that’s a bit strange. But Jesus’ way of being with the disciples was pretty normal until the resurrection. And then for those forty days between the resurrection and today, the Ascension Day, Jesus is with them in a very physical bodily way so that they can put their hands in his wounds in his hands inside.
And so that he can eat fish with them and sit with them and make a fire with them but also so that he can walk through doors that are locked and appear in their midst and then disappear and hide his appearance from them and then reveal himself to them again. It’s a bit of a strange way that Jesus was with them for those forty days appearing to them remember over five hundred at one time appearing to them so that they would know that he was truly risen from the dead. We have fourteen, by the way. Fourteen appearances recounted for us in the Scriptures.
But then on this, the fortieth day after the Lord’s resurrection, he enters into a new way of being with us. That’s what He says. He says, I don’t leave you as orphans. In fact, with the disciples on the mountain in Galilee, He promises them, I’ll be with you always, even to the end of the age. So that Jesus when He ascends to the right hand of the Father and sits down there at the Father’s throne, He, according to the Scriptures, fills all things. He is not in one place. When he’s there at the Father’s right hand, that means he’s at the Father’s authority so that he might be in every place.
That’s how this text in Ephesians 1 that I’m going to read for you in a minute reflects on it. But I want you to, as we think about it, recognize what’s going on. The old theologians called this the ganis maestaticum. I wanted to say that because Because at the seminary they say, now don’t go out there and preach all your sermons about the genus majestaticum. And as soon as my professor said that I made something like a vow to say it as much as I could.
It’s a beautiful doctrine. It means the majestic genus, and there’s three different ways of talking about how the two natures of Christ are united to one another. And here is this marvelous one: remember that Jesus is one person with two natures, divine and human, and those two natures are united. That’s the personal union of Christ. And the attributes of both of the natures, his human and divine natures, are communicated to His person.
But here’s the marvelous mystery, and it’s something to think about. We can never quite truly understand it. But the majestic Jesus says that the attributes of his divine nature are communicated not only to his person, but through his person to his human nature. That means that the humanity of Jesus partakes in all of the divine attributes. The humanity of Jesus knows all things. The humanity of Jesus rules all things. The humanity of Jesus fills all things. So that Jesus is everywhere, not just according to his divine nature as if the two natures could be separated from one another; he’s everywhere also according to that nature by which He is our brother and our Saviour and our friend.
So that Jesus, the One born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus, the One crucified on the cross and laid into the tomb and risen on the third day, that Jesus is with you always even to the end of the age. This became particularly important in the debate of the Reformation, when there was those groups who were challenging the Lutherans saying how can the body of Jesus be in the bread on the altar if it ascended to the right hand of the Father? And the Lutherans answered with these passages and passages like it that when He ascended He fills all things. His body is everywhere but He puts it specially in the bread for us to eat.
He puts his blood there in the wine for us to drink. So that we can know His love and His mercy and His forgiveness. That’s the gain is my, you can tell your friends when they ask what the sermon was about, that’s what you can report to them. They’ll report me back to the seminary. That will be great. But it’s a beautiful comfort for us that Jesus does not leave us, that He does not forsake us, but that He’s with us, and that He sends forth the Spirit also not only from His divine majesty but also from that throne where he sits down as the Lamb who was crucified.
And this is part of what I want to reflect on with this passage in Ephesians 1. I’m going to read you Ephesians 1, 15 to 23. We talked about it on Sunday and Sunday School, and I just cannot escape this passage. It’s just one of the most marvelous, beautiful, wonderful, mysterious passages in all of the Scripture. Paul is reflecting on the death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus, and he makes this very specific point that when Jesus ascended He ascended above powers and principalities. He ascended above the demons.
And Paul wants us to know that, and I want us to leave here if we don’t know anything else, I want us to leave here knowing this. Now we might not know what it means. I don’t yet. But I want us to know it. So here’s verse 15 and following: “Therefore also,” says Paul, “after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you.”
Making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. That prayer that Paul is praying for the Spirit has to be connected to the ascension because remember the ascension is why Jesus pours out the Spirit. In John 7, remember that little mysterious verse, the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet ascended. So the giving of the Spirit and the ascension of Jesus are bound up to one another. And so he’s praying that we would have the Spirit. That’s the work of the Ascended Jesus, so that we with the spirit of the knowledge and revelation of him, that verse 18, “the eyes of your understanding would be enlightened,” that you may know the hope of his calling.
What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? That’s this prayer that Paul prays, that our heart eyes would be opened so that we would know hope and glory and riches, which we can’t see otherwise. 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’s named, not only in this age but also in the age to come?
Now, there’s a lot going on in that text. But here at least is what I want us to notice, is that Paul is praying that our eyes would be opened so that we would see that the Spirit who powerfully raised Jesus from the dead and who carried Jesus to the right hand of the Father and seated him on the throne so that he is ruling over the demons, that that Spirit is also at work in you. Now, we don’t see it. At least most of the time. That’s why Paul is praying for these opened heart eyes. Because this invisible spiritual work is difficult to discern. But he wants us to know it.
And here at least is what’s going on. Is that as we live this life, And we look around and we see all the troubles, and all the difficulties, and all the temptations, and all the afflictions, and we feel sorrow without and within, and we see all of the struggles and the darkness and all of it. And it feels like we’re weak and powerless. It feels like Jesus’ ascension means that He’s abandoned us. Paul wants us to know that the Holy, the same Spirit who put Jesus on the throne over the demons is also working in your own heart and in mine as well.
And then to underline the wonder of the promise, he says this. And He (this is Ephesians 1:22) and He, that is God the Father, put all things under His, that is Jesus, put all things under His feet. And gave Him to be Head. So that the one who was ruling and reigning in the universe, all things in the universe, is your Savior Jesus Christ. And He is ruling for a specific purpose. Listen to what it says. He gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church which is his body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
There it is. So that the One Who is seated on the throne is the One Who was crucified for your sins. The One Who is in charge of everything is the One Who loves you so much that He died for you. The One Who has a little footstool that contains like a prison all the demons, is the One Who’s praying for you. Now, I don’t even think we can begin to understand the wonder of this or even to kind of count the benefits of it. But I’ll tell you one benefit: You shouldn’t be afraid.”
“What are you going to be afraid of?”
“The demons who were under the feet of Jesus. Death that was overcome by His resurrection. Sin that’s covered by His blood. The tyranny of wicked kings. He is the King of Kings. He’s sitting on the throne and he’s sitting there for you. And when we’re tempted, and here I think is where this can be especially helpful for us because it’s easy for us to see all the things that are wrong in the world.
When we’re tempted to see all of the things that are wrong or broken or crooked in the world, it is good for us to remember that Jesus is in fact still on the throne and still ruling and reigning and that things are how He wants them to be for the benefit of His body. Now you might say, well, look, Pastor, I’d prefer them to be different. Well, you’re not on the throne. And that’s a good thing. But the One who is there on the throne, Is the Lamb of God, slain in your place to save you.
And the same Spirit that lifted him to that throne, Is at work in you. So we marvel in the Ascension of Jesus. It does not mean that He’s left us. It means, in fact, that He’s nearer to us now than he ever was to the disciples. And that He’s working all things in and out for the sake of us His beloved. This then is our confidence, not only that Jesus was crucified for us and raised for us, but that He is ascended also for us. May God grant us a spirit that we would rejoice in this, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
In the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.