Word of Salvation – Vol. 21 No. 26 - April 1975

 

I Am With You Always

 

Sermon by Rev Keith V. Warren on Lord's Day 18

(Ascension)

Scripture Reading: John 14:15-27

Psalter Hymnal: 193:1,2,3; 169:4,7,9; 132:3,4; 469:3; 365

 

Congregation of our Lord,

Father comes home one day from work, and over his cup of tea he says to mother and the children: Do you know, this afternoon I suddenly realised that today is a special day.

Is it?  Wedding anniversary?  Payday!  Been 5 years with the firm?  How many of the family you think would make the right guess?  Ascension Day!

Yes, so it is!  Forgot all about it.  Good on you to think of it.  Pass the sugar, will you?

ASCENSION DAY!  How often DID we forget all about it.  Especially as there is no public holiday to remind us.

Of all Christian feast-days this one seems to be at the bottom of the list.  It certainly does not suffer from an overdose of attention.  Very often we just plainly forget!

Do you know what is also very remarkable?

That even the BIBLE doesn't say much about the Ascension of our Lord.  Matthew does not write about it, neither does John.  And Mark and Luke are both finished with it in only a few sentences.  Remarkable!

Christmas, Easter, Pentecost: there are whole chapters about it in the Word of God!  But Ascension: only a few verses.

But that is not because the Gospel writers think it to be of little importance.  Rather, it is all so LOGICAL.  Would THAT not be the reason they devote so few words to it?  They take Ascension as it were for granted.  This HAD to happen!

Jesus came down from heaven to do a wonderful work on earth.  And when that work was finished: He went back home!  That was the logical thing to do; there was no other way.  HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN.

Many people no longer believe that today.  Church people we mean, those who call themselves Christians.  They have done away with the virgin birth and the miracles of our Lord and the open grave, so why not take from the Church the ascending Christ!

Really an impossibility, they say.  We should not be wiser than the scientists.  Don't the astronomers of today – you know, people who study the stars and all that – don’t they teach us that there really is no up and down in the universe!

Christ couldn't have gone up!  Going up, or going down, it all depends on the place where you are, and that place shifts all the time with the rotation of the planets and the stars.  And besides, how could a human body leave this earth, under its own steam?

But please, my Christian brother and sister, astronomy and geology and ANY OTHER science: these are not concerned with the Biblical doctrine of the ascension!  These sciences talk about altogether different things.

But the Bible deals specifically with God's saving acts in history.
The Bible tells us of Christ taken up from earth into heaven.

Have you ever read that in Psalm 24, Psalm 47, Psalm 68?  Prophecies come true!

             See, the Conqueror mounts in triumph;
             see the King in royal state,
             Riding on the clouds, His chariot,
             to His heavenly palace-gate.

Do WE all accept the fact of Christ's ascension?

Even if our answer is positive, there's yet the most important question.  HOW do I accept that fact?

Yes, HOW?  That is what counts.  HOW do I believe in the Ascension?
Only as an interesting FACT, without anything more?

Like believing that Columbus discovered America; like 1 and 1 makes 2?

But the Ascension of our Lord is MUCH MORE than a thing that just happened.  It also means: involvement: I am involved.  You are involved.  Ascension has to do with us PERSONALLY.

We must never forget that when we speak about this fact – Christ going up – that we are at the same time speaking about OURSELVES!

For when our Lord left this earth, congregation, that was not just an ordinary going-away.  No, He departed from this world as a LEADER, as the Head of a whole human family!

Many of us have probably heard that example given by Dr. Kuyper: Think, he said, of the Lord Jesus as the head of a large family of immigrants.  Think of Him as the first one who leaves us to that new and better country.  HE goes ahead!  HE goes there for the interest of the other members of the family: THEY will follow later.

So you see that when we speak of Christ and His glorious ascension we are speaking of OURSELVES at the very same moment.  The Church cannot possibly think of Christ's departure without an immediate regard to her own life.

It is HE who went before, and it is WE who are still waiting to follow Him.  HE is in heaven; WE are still on earth.  HE is in glory; WE are still in the midst of trouble.

Just as a family of prospective migrants sometimes has to wait in the old country, eagerly longing though to be united with father who has gone ahead.  So the Christian believer is ever looking forward, keen, expectant, with an uplifted head.

Ascension!  Call it a mile-post in the history of redemption.  The FIRST chapter has come to an end, the SECOND chapter starts.  Here is the end of Christ's work on earth, and the beginning of His work in heaven.

We possibly can't imagine the disciples to have been very happy when their Master left this earth.  It is only some 6 weeks ago that they received Him back from the dead in a miraculous way.  And now He is going again, for good, their Leader, their Advisor, their Guide.  Sure, they must have felt absolutely lost for a while.

That's how WE sometimes are, when we lose a leader.  In our church activities, our youth fellowships, our committees: aren't we sometimes at a loss when one of the top people leaves.  But in another way it often HELPS!  It helps the ones who are left on their own to better realise their own responsibilities and duties.

Ascension does just the same!

When Christ had gone up, when the Leader was gone, the disciples became DIFFERENT PEOPLE!

The CHURCH became visible,

Those people who were once frightened and afraid showed themselves as people filled with faith, hope, and love.  For after Christ went up, the Holy Spirit came down.

At last the disciples realise – Oh, it took a long time: the disciples were not very quick learners – but now they have seen that the Lord HAD to go away.

He had come from God to seek and save, to proclaim liberty, to reconcile, and His going home was the CLEAREST PROOF ever that His work was really finished!  How thrilling to think: wouldn't it be good to have Jesus still with us.  Just as in the time of the disciples.  Walking with us.  Living in the midst of us.  Talking and teaching.  Healing the sick, feeding the hungry, raising the dead.

How thrilling if all that actually would take place NOW!  What a more powerful impact the church would have on the world.  We could point to Him, people could see Him, hear Him.

Think of all the problems that would disappear!  For would not Jesus be there IN PERSON to solve all difficulties?  HE would teach us the way to go: in our homes, the church, the state.

No longer arguments...
            about this interpretation of the Bible or the other,
            about this church or that church,
            who is right and who is wrong,
All these problems would have gone!  A problemless world, a really peaceful church, a perfectly happy family life.  No problems!

Apart from one.  Apart from one problem.  The BIGGEST problem of all, it would still remain!  THE PROBLEM OF HOW TO BE RIGHT IN THE EYES OF GOD!

THAT would be still there.

Our sins, our guilt, it all would still be there, as big and black as ever.  If Christ had stayed here, I still wouldn't know where to go with my burden of sin.  NO ASCENSION would have the frightening consequence: Christ has NOT FINISHED paying for my sins!  For He hasn't gone home yet: His work is not yet finished!

And, thank God, the Ascension proves to me the opposite.

Christ HAS finished!  He DID His work!  He WENT home again.

The words of Psalm 24, sounding even into the far corners of the universe:
            Lift up your heads, O gates!
            And be lifted up, O ancient doors!
            That the King of glory may come in!
            Who is the King of glory?
            THE LORD, strong and mighty;
            the Lord of hosts: HE is the King of glory!'

Can we possibly know how that has been?  Heaven, glory, splendour, and... the Conqueror, the Victor,
            having crushed Satan's head,
            myriads of angels, glorifying, praising,
            and David and Moses and Elijah;
                        Enoch, Noah, Abraham, all the saints, falling down to worship.
What a home-coming!

How different from when Jesus left: His coming to earth.  Then there was darkness, utter unbelief, no room for Him, persecution, poverty, hate, the cross.

But NOW, when the Lord LEAVES the earth, there is at least a little flame burning in the hearts of a handful of people.  Only a little flame, but soon it will be blazing like a bushfire, racing through the shrubs, jumping from tree to tree.  Stirring up Jerusalem and the whole of Judea, then Antioch and Asia Minor, yes, even Rome.  Setting the whole world ablaze for Christ!

There, on the Mount of Olives, it is very quiet.  No choirs of angels, no sound of trumpets: Jesus was lifted up.

Taken away from the earth which hated Him, cursed Him, killed Him Taken away from the disciples who had hurt Him, misunderstood Him, forsaken Him, and yet: Luke 24 tells us "and He parted from them, while He BLESSED them."

The Lord was not angry or annoyed; He did not say: "Thanks for all the trouble you have given me, nice lot of friends you are.

He didn't curse this earth, nor the ones who had nailed Him to the cross, nor the ones who had run away from Him, but... He BLESSED!  The last thing His disciples saw were His uplifted HANDS: 'Peace be unto you!'

His hands, with the marks of the nails still in them, guaranteeing that the peace Jesus gives is indeed the peace which passes all understanding.

And then these angels, telling that lost and lonely group of men: This Jesus will come back in the same way as you saw Him go INTO heaven!

That is what we believe!  But then again, not only as a Biblical truth, a future fact, but as something which has us personally involved!

Ascension tells us not of the END, only of an INTERVAL.

And what do WE do during interval?  Expecting the Lord, longing for Him, praying for His return, living towards it, preaching it?

Ascension tells us very pointedly: we're only pilgrims here below.  We are not here to stay.  We are strangers, we don't belong here really.

That is why Paul writes: 'If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ IS, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.'

And that is: in the power of the Spirit bringing Christ's kingdom here on earth.  That is putting a piece of heaven in our homes, our streets, our cities.  Yes, it is very much like we read it in Matthew 25: 'For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property...!  Is that not an Ascension parable?

Will that not be our attitude if we really and sincerely believe in Ascension as we ought to: "Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.”

He ascended into heaven!  That is the confession of the church.  She believes it; she knows it.  For has Jesus not even been SEEN in heaven?  Stephen, Paul, John.  There is no doubt about it.

And yet.... He is right with us!  LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, TO THE END OF TIME.  And that "always" means just what it says: any time, any circumstance!
 - When Peter was in prison, Jesus was there with an angel to lead him out.
 - When Stephen was at the point of death, Jesus was there with the Spirit to open Stephen's eyes for wide-open doors in heaven and a Saviour ready to crown him.
 - And when Paul was shipwrecked, Jesus was there to encourage that he could continue to serve his Lord and Master.
Lo, I am with you always.  Do WE say AMEN to that?  Do WE experience it as a most comforting truth?

What about all these times that we DONT feel Him near?  Times that we feel deserted, lonely, separated from Him?

A father who noticed his children prepare for their Sunday school lesson on the Ascension, decided to give them a hand, to help them understand.  And he asked: (they lived in a two-storey place) "How do you know mother is upstairs?"

"Well, because we SAW it.  We SAW her go upstairs, only a little while ago.”  "Yes", said father, "that may be so, but how do you know she got there?  How do you know she is there NOW?"

"Oh, WE KNOW", was the answer, "we just called to her from downstairs, and she answered us from upstairs."

There's ASCENSION for you!  And lo, I am with you always, for... I will send you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever!  The Holy Spirit, the heavenly dove, the flame of fire.

And so the disciples returned, they went back, from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, praying and waiting for this promised outpouring of the Spirit of God.

Yes, when they had their courage back, after the Lord had gone up, then they went straightaway to church, having their prayer meeting, electing an apostle.  The CHURCH stands in the centre – that is where you find the true Ascension-believers, for it is the place, where Christ's power is promised!

And then, a few days later, they begin to travel, they are on their way.  That is to say: the powers of Jesus, HIS blessings are on their way!  To fill the earth, from North to South, East to West, to fill with heavenly blessings and powers of salvation.  And you shall be my witnesses!  That too is celebrating Ascension!

And in the meantime, our Lord is ever so busy.  Just for a moment think again of that example we gave just then: mother upstairs, children downstairs.  What is mother doing upstairs?  Making the children's bedrooms in order, cleaning, dusting, making beds.  And when evening comes, cold and dark, then there is that room upstairs, waiting for the children, where they are safe and comfortable, and a warm bed to give them the rest they need.  And we hear the voice of our Lord: 'In My Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told that I go and prepare a place for you?"

Ascension!  What comfort and joy for the Christian!  Not that we find it easy to UNDERSTAND.  That Christ is in heaven, wherever that may be; with His body of flesh and blood, yes, glorified of course, but nevertheless: scars in His hands, His feet.  That He is there, exactly as the disciples saw Him, after Easter: with a smile, and a voice, and eyes, and feet.

Difficult to understand?  Yes, sure, but that does not take away the COMFORT of it all.

This comfort: the absolute certainty, that I, with MY body of flesh and blood, will one day be with the Lord, forever and ever.

Blessed are we when we believe that!

Lo, I am with you always.

Amen.