Glorified, Risen and Ascended (Pt 2)




The Ascension tends to be thought of as an end. It was the end of Jesus' earthly ministry. It comes at the end of the Gospels. Now, it is true that the Ascension marked the end of Christ's earthly ministry, but what we tend to forget a little bit is that it also marked the beginning of His heavenly ministry. The Ascension is not only an end, but also a beginning.

The Ascension marks the beginning of something new; it marks the beginning of the presence of the God-Man in heaven. Sometimes we are in danger of forgetting that. Sometimes we act as if Christ's incarnation was only temporary, ending when He ascended into heaven. Yet the whole point of the biblical accounts of the ascension is to stress the fact that Christ ascended bodily into heaven. Christ left the earth as God Incarnate and He entered heaven in the same way. It is the Incarnate Son of God who has sat down at the Father's right hand on high. We have a man in heaven: the God-Man.

The Ascension is not only found at the end of the Gospels, but also at the beginning of Acts. In fact Luke, the writer of Acts, specifically includes the Ascension twice in his writings: once at the end of Luke and then again at the beginning of Acts. Now, this could seem to be redundant repetition, but it's not. Luke repeats the Ascension at the beginning of Acts because the Ascension is the beginning of all that happens in Acts. It is not only an end, but also a beginning. And, theologically, its great importance lies in the fact that it is a beginning. The Ascension is the beginning of the heavenly ministry of the Incarnate Christ.

(More to come...)