The Profound Significance of Christ's Ascension

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When Jesus said to His disciples in John 16, “It is to your advantage that I go away,” they must have found that hard to believe. It’s advantageous that Jesus should go away? How can that be? What sense does that make? How can we believe that? Wouldn’t it have been much better if Jesus had stayed with us? Well, the New Testament teaching about the ascension helps answer that question. In His going away, He ascended into Glory, and in His ascended Glory, He gave gifts to men. And that was to our advantage. [00:02:54]

And Paul is writing to these Ephesians to try to – in quoting a Governor of California – pump them up. He is trying to encourage them to see how wonderfully, how gloriously, being a Christian is gain. Now, if we could put ourselves back imaginatively into the situation of those Ephesians, we might be able to understand a little bit why they might have been tempted to think that they had lost a great deal in becoming Christians. [00:05:52]

And part of what Paul is doing here, a significant part of what Paul is doing here in Ephesians, is saying ‘no, you have gained much more than you have lost.’ And that helps account for the really extravagant language that Paul uses in the letter to the Ephesians about who we are as Christians – the richness of our inheritance in Christ. The fact that we possess the fullness of Him who fills all in all; the fact that Christ is supreme over powers and dominions and authorities; the fact that Christ is building a new city with a new temple and we are privileged to be living stones in that temple. [00:10:54]

And that is the point that Paul is developing here as he thinks about what it means that we have an ascended Christ, a Christ who, not only died on the cross for our sins, not only was raised from the dead for our justification, but has been ascended and glorified in heaven, now reigning at the right hand of God, now ensuring that every promise He made to His people will be fulfilled. No promise will fail, because no power can oppose Him in the accomplishing of His purpose. [00:14:08]

Don’t be sad that you can’t go to the temple of Artemis any more. Don’t be sad that you can’t brag that you are a participant in the biggest temple in the ancient world. Know that you are now part of the spiritual temple that is bigger than any temple any human being could make, and is growing all the time with living stones, as a living place for God. Not the dwelling place of some dumb image that cannot speak or move or hear. But you are being formed into a spiritual temple as a dwelling place for the Living God, the Creator God, the Savior God. [00:16:08]

And what that reminded the Ephesians, and it should remind us, is that whether it is obvious to us that the church of Jesus Christ is flourishing, or whether it appears to us that the church of Jesus Christ is shrinking and in great danger, Christ is accomplishing His purpose. And in the history of the church, there are good days and bad days. And sometimes in the history of the church the good days are the bad days, where the church is powerful, where the church is influential, where the church becomes wealthy, well too often the church becomes corrupt and faithless. [00:18:34]

And enables Paul to write that Jesus is head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Where do you look if you want to see the fullness of Christ? Now? Where is the fullness of Christ displayed now? Paul says, in the church. But what does he mean by that? Well, he means some beautiful building built in the sixteenth century. No? This is a tough crowd. What is the church where the fullness of Christ dwells? It’s the people of God, the faithful people of God, gathered around God’s Word, gathered in God’s way. [00:21:56]

And there ought to be a character of love in the Christian community that shines in a dark world. That’s why it is important to think about the glorified Christ, more than we think about how things are going to rack and ruin. Because, if we only think about how things are going to rack and ruin we will be inclined to become an angry people. Now there’s plenty to be angry about, but we shouldn’t be an angry people. We should be a loving people who holds up, in the day of salvation, the cross of Christ and says to sinners, no matter what your sin, no matter how bad your sin, there is forgiveness at the cross in Christ. [00:24:25]

Paul says, look up to the immeasurable greatness of the power of Christ who is accomplishing His purpose, building His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t do careful cultural analysis and try to understand what is going on. As a historian, I look back and I think, you know, we shouldn’t be surprised that we are where we are as Americans today, when for decades there has been a steady anti-Christian drumbeat in many of the universities, in much of the media, and in much of the entertainment of our land, deriding Christianity, ignoring Christianity, mocking Christianity, denying Christianity, denying Christian values, dismissing it as bourgeois prejudices. [00:27:06]

And we may face trying days, but be assured Christian, that Christ has promised that He is using all of His glorious power for the sake of His church, to accomplish His purpose in it. Isn’t that wonderful? Isn’t that hopeful? And part of the glorious accomplishment of His power is that He has established a glorious peace for us, his people. Peace between man and God. Again, it’s remarkable how Paul expresses that making of peace. [00:28:43]

And He’s given us the gift of the Holy Spirit to lead us into truth. And then, He’s given us the gift of preachers. As a preacher, I feel pretty good about that. I don’t know if you are all that excited, but you see this is an expression of Christ cares for His church, how Christ is the head of the church, how Christ in the church is filling all in all, because He does not leave the church without the truth. And preachers bring the truth if they are faithful to their calling. And what is their calling? Not to offer their opinions, but to bring the Word of God. [00:36:56]

And the fruit of that is faith, grace, love, and growing maturity. Paul talks about that in Ephesians 4 and 5. It’s really worth reading with care. One of the blessings of the Spirit is that we don’t have to remain children, not knowing what we are doing, not knowing what we should believe, cast about by every wind of doctrine. But, one of the gifts of Christ is that we can be growing into the stature of the fullness of Christ. [00:38:09]

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