Word of Salvation – Vol. 22 No. 33 – May 1976

 

Christ Triumphant

 

Sermon by Rev. C. W. Oppelaar on Acts 1:9-11

Sermon for Ascension Day, 1976

Scripture Readings: Psalm 24; Acts 1:1-11

Psalter Hymnal: 324:1,2,3; 42:1,2,3; 365:1,2,3; 366:1,2,3; 368:1,4; 310:1,2

 

Beloved congregation of our Lord,

The children of God today celebrate one of their most wonderful feasts.  Today we can exclaim: we have a King!  A KING WHO ASCENDED TO THE THRONE OF GOD.  And tonight we listen to the powerful and infallible Word of God, which tells us that Jesus is triumphant.  Following our text we shall see that the Ascension of our Lord and Saviour was

1.  A quiet ascension.

2.  A real ascension.

3.  A triumphant ascension.

4.  A temporary ascension.

1.  A QUIET ASCENSION.

Did that ever strike you, that quietness surrounding this tremendous happening?  From Rev.12 we know that when approaching the gate of heaven during this ascension a big battle was fought, between Michael and his angels and the dragon and his angels.  And when Jesus entered heaven all angels in heaven must have sung their most beautiful songs of praise.

But on earth, on the Mount of Olives, on that remarkable day everything was very peaceful and quiet.  Jesus stands with His apostles.  And there is a very lively discussion between the Master and His disciples going on.  The sun shines quietly.  The birds sing their songs.  Vaguely some sounds reach them from Jerusalem, which is about twenty minutes walking distance away.  When Jesus has given His last instructions He quietly lifts His hands to bless them, and before His disciples really understand what is happening, His feet are loosened from the ground and His body ascends into heaven.  Everything around remains as silent and quiet as it was before.  The earth does not tremble.  The rocks do not split.  The dead do not rise.  The sun is not darkened.  There are no sounds as of a tremendous wind.  On the heads of the disciples no tongues of fire appear.  Their mouth does not utter strange sounds, but they just stand there..... astounded, speechless.

The heavens do not open to release legions of angels descending on the earth Only two angels descend.

Of the Easter angels it is said that their appearance is like lightning.  Like two vivid flashes of lightning they appear near the grave, so that the guards become like dead men and the women become very frightened.  But on Ascension Day they come quietly, like snowflakes descending.  So silently that at first the disciples are not aware of them.  With a question the angels need to draw attention to themselves.  And then the disciples do not seem to fear them at all.

Yes, compared with Christmas, Good Friday, Easter and Pentecost, it is remarkably quiet on Ascension Day.

Certainly also when we compare it with Elijah's ascension.  Then there are fiery chariots and horses.  Then there is lightning and thunder.  And yet, what is that prophet when compared with the Highest Prophet and the Only Teacher?  Not even worthy to undo or to do up His shoe strings!!

And yet, what a poor show is Jesus' Ascension when compared with that of His Old Testament forerunner!  Why is this, congregation?  We might have expected that Jesus would have ascended from the Temple Square.  Where all of Jerusalem would be able to see Him.  But no, on His Resurrection Day Jesus did not go to Pilate and Caiaphas and on this day He does not ascend from the midst of the crowd.  The blessing of being allowed to see this is for His followers, the apostles.  The Lord does not make a show of it, which Jerusalem for a moment would look up to in amazement, and then continue with the business at hand, in unbelief.  Therefore He ascends where it is quiet, outside Jerusalem.  According to His Word the disciples later on may do greater things than He.  On Pentecost, in Jerusalem filled with the Holy Spirit they may witness to their Lord.

But there is still another reason why Jesus' ascension is in all quietness.  Is it really so special that the Son of God goes to heaven?  Is it so striking when a perfect Man – in this case, Jesus – after having finished His task, enters into His Father's house?  That really stands to reason!!  In the olden days they used to sing that the Mountain of the Lord could be climbed by the Man who was pure of heart and of clean hands.  Well that is Jesus!!  Was it not promised to Adam that after fulfilling obedience he would receive eternal life?

From God's point of view it is really much more abnormal that human life descends into the grave than that it ascends on high.  That the Son of God became Man, that He died and that an accursed dead person rose again from the dead, yes these matters were strange matters, concerning which the earth trembled and heaven was torn, so that legions of angels descended.

But what happens on Ascension Day is for heaven the most normal thing... and therefore the ascension of your Lord was a quiet ascension.  Now I also understand why they who die in the Lord, often pass away so quietly: "Tomorrow I will see you again", or "I go to Jesus".  In peace they left... these children of God.

It really is so "normal" that believers at the time of their departure from this earth go to their Saviour.  And when Jesus comes again, on the last Day, only the twinkling of an eye shall be needed, a fraction of a second, to change the then still living believers.  (May God grant that we shall be there.)  A fraction of a second to change them from the earthly into the heavenly, from mortal into immortal.  It will happen "just like that".  Thanks to the silent ascension of our Lord.  If only we believe in Him.  If only we lovingly celebrate His feast.

2.  A REAL ASCENSION.

Despite all the objections of modern Science and modern theology (e.g. a theologian like Bultmann), we have to believe in a real, bodily ascension.

The Bible says that He was taken up: "while they saw it".  It happened before their eyes.  They could see Him go for a long time, until a cloud came between them and Him.  And just after that the angels announced that He has been taken up into heaven.

So He went from the one place to the other.  Just before, the Man Jesus stood on the earth and a little while later He was in the glories of heaven.  His body did not evaporate or something.  And it did not acquire Divine properties so that His human nature became omnipresent.  No, the real, touchable, physical Man Jesus ascended into heaven.  While they saw it!!  And if this was not real, then His coming again will not be real.  "For He shall come again, even as you have seen Him ascend into heaven.”

This, congregation, is not unimportant.  For in Jesus glorified human body something of this earth is carried into the glory of heaven.  In Jesus' ascension heaven and earth begin to be one and the glorification of the creation and God's visible world begins.

So the message of this day is not just the salvation of our soul, but the salvation of God's creation.  This day is God's glory-day.  It says that God did not abandon the work of His hands, but He conquered all Satan's violence and human sin and triumphantly He lifts His work into the Light.

Congregation, celebrate victory with Him!

Ascension means that we should not despise this world, this creation as such.  The earth belongs to the Lord, and now, in Jesus' real ascension, in His real, glorified human body the earth is glorified.  And therefore someone who believes in Jesus' ascension may never turn his back on this world.  We must pay full attention to all that moves and lives in this world, the world of the Lord.

For instance: Christian Politics and Christian Education are Super Ascension affairs.

We must despise what is sinful in the world, but the world itself is God's work and is glorified by the Lord.  May Holy activity come over us, so that the Name of the Lord be proclaimed everywhere!  The earth must become full of His glory!

3.  A TRIUMPHANT ASCENSION.

Oh, what a tremendous feast it must have been for our Saviour, to be able to return to His Father.  To come home again!  Without any machine, rocket or motor to go into the sky, triumphing over the work of His hands.  The world today admires its astronauts and cosmonauts.  But what is all this when compared with what happened centuries ago on the Mount of Olives!  The perfect Man Jesus, after a completed task, ascends to the throne of God in His own power.  Only a few weeks previously He was still lying in the bonds of the grave.  And now this!

Is it not understandable that Jesus says: "If you would love Me, you would rejoice when I go to the Father?"  Enter into the feast of your Lord!

When thinking about the cloud in our text you may see something more in it than just that it hides Jesus from the eyes of His disciples.  Clouds in the Bible are often the sign of God's presence.  "Around Him are clouds and darkness."  On Mount Sinai God descends in a cloud.  On the Mount of transfiguration the voice of God sounds from a cloud: "This is My beloved Son."  In the desert, too, for Israel there was the cloud, witnessing to the presence of God.  And with Jesus' Ascension a cloud comes under Him, i.e. God Himself carries His Child into heaven.

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Then there is joy in heaven over the only begotten Son Who returns.  Joy also in your heart?  With Him celebrate victory!

You see, when through the Spirit today and tomorrow you can celebrate, then also you may rejoice about what will happen with you.

For, also we, who believe in His Name, will go to meet Him in the air, at His return.  Without rockets etc.!..  We will rule with Him, kings of creation!  Oh, what joy that will be!  What a triumphant trip for our Lord, at that point in time in the future!  Not just some disciples, who in amazement stare at Him, but a jubilant crowd catching up with Him, in the air!

Yes, congregation, tremendous things will happen yet.

4.  A TEMPORARY ASCENSION.

That we may look forward to this coming again of the Lord, is clearly promised by the two angels.  So it is only for the time being that Jesus went into heaven.  He will come again!

We often talk about heaven.  We do so as if heaven is the last thing.  But heaven itself says: stay faithful to the earth.  There is the end of all God's ways.  The meek shall not inherit heaven, but the earth.  And heaven shall descend to the earth.

The ascension of Jesus is a temporary one.  Is it therefore wrong to long for heaven?  Of course not!  On the contrary!  As long as Jesus is there, our hearts long for heaven.  For perfect life and love is there where Jesus is.

But the final degree of complete perfection in life and happiness will only come with His coming back to the earth in the new life with Him here, when all the earth shall be full of His glory.

Do you long for that?  We may long for greater glory for our Lord yet.  Every tongue must confess that Christ is triumphant.  And every eye must see Him, even the eyes of those who pierced Him And would not you yourself love to see Him?  To really see Him!

We now believe in Him Whom we have not yet seen.  But then we shall see Him face to face!  What tremendous joy that will be!

Do you long for that moment?  And are your lamps ready for you to meet Him?  That glory-day does not merely have to be a terror-day for you.  Let us hope, pray and be awake!

Let us in faith be strengthened in Him Who is our Head, even our Saviour.

"This Jesus, Who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

AMEN.