Christmas and Easter always get full attention and emphasis in church worship and Christian thinking; it is only fitting that believers celebrate the birth of Jesus as well as His resurrection.
On the other hand, His ascension can pass almost without notice.
The Gospels reveal that the ascension of Christ occurred 40 days following His resurrection. That made Thursday the day of His departure back to heaven. Since a weekday like Thursday is not a regular churchgoing day of the week, Christians historically have recognized the following Sunday as Ascension Sunday.
For many of us, that Sunday passes without much recognition, if any. In the coming weeks, we will focus on that very significant event that climaxed Christ’s earthly mission.
‘I go to prepare a place’
If we read the New Testament through an “ascension lens,” we might be surprised at the numerous references and allusions made to the ascension of Christ.
Jesus alluded to His ascension the night before His crucifixion when He declared to the disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). Shortly following those words, Jesus spoke about the one who believes in Him being able to do greater works, saying, “Greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (14:12).
On the day of His resurrection, Jesus referred to His ascension when instructing Mary Magdalene to stop joyously clinging to Him, saying, “I have not yet ascended to My Father” (20:17).
Paul reminded Timothy of the “mystery of godliness” with a series of summary statements about Christ: “God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory” (1 Tim. 3:16).
‘At the right hand of God’
Hebrews 4:14 encourages us to steadfastness of faith and refers to the ascension: “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.”
At the end of a difficult and much-debated passage about “spirits in prison,” Peter wrote a clear and ringing affirmation about the ascension and preeminence of Jesus by declaring that He “has gone into heaven, and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him” (1 Pet. 3:22).
This sampling of ascension references can serve to whet our spiritual appetites for further thinking about the doctrinal significance of the ascension of Christ.
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