I. INTRODUCTION
A. Text: Acts 1:4-11; Rev. 5:1-10 (Mk. 16:19; Lk. 24:50,51)
B. The ascension of Christ is the necessary link between His resurrection and the coming of the Comforter (Acts 1:8).
C. The historical fact of the ascension is ultimately tied to the historical fact of the resurrection, that is: if the resurrection is a fact, then the ascension is necessarily a fact.
D. Our study will proceed as follows:
1. God receives the first perfect Man into heaven.
2. Jesus enters heaven as man's wounded God.
3. Through Jesus man has a new union with God.
II. DISCUSSION
A. God receives the first perfect Man into heaven.
1. No one like the Man-Jesus had ever entered heaven before. Not Elijah, nor Enoch. No one will ever enter heaven on their own merit, except Jesus. He did not need mercy nor a mediator. Jesus came to heaven and stood before His Father totally justified by His own character and conduct on earth. No one else had ever or will ever do that. Paul told Timothy that God has given us a spirit "of power and of love and of a sound mind," (2 Tim. 1:7). Jesus did not have to be given this spirit, as He was the true embodiment of it. He was received into heaven based on His own absolute perfection.
2. Ps. 24:7, 8, 10 It is not hard to imagine the heavenly chorus singing words such as these as the Lord ascends. Jesus had waged spiritual warfare on the earth versus the ultimate adversary, Satan, and won!
3. While Christ stood for Himself before God in His own perfect Manhood, He stood before God on our behalf in the perfection of His Saviorhood. It is as our Savior that Jesus attains a name that should cause every man on this earth to bow his knee, (Phil. 2:5-11). From Mt. 1:21 we learn that His very name means Savior, "for He will save His people from their sins." At His birth His name stated His Divine purpose, at the ascension His name proclaimed His Divine victory.
B. Jesus enters heaven as man's wounded God. As we have already seen, Jesus is God's Man and man's God. As man's God, He supplies the only avenue to an understanding of the revelation of God. This means that for evermore man must approach God the Father through the Son. He ascended to heaven bearing on His body the marks of His wounding, the evidences of His death. In his Apocalyptic vision, John saw Christ as "in the midst of the throne. . . a Lamb as though it had been slain," Rev. 5:6. Because the Lamb is in the midst of the throne, He occupies the proper place of Deity, yet He retains the evidence of His suffering. Such messianic prophesies as Isa. 50:6; 53:4,5 lead us to the conclusion that man's redemption has come through the pain of God. In Jesus, God not only reveals His love, holiness and justice, but also His sorrow and pain.
1. Jesus not only ascended to heaven, but to His heavenly throne of power, judgment, and all authority.
2. Jesus sits as the Judge in the last court of appeal. His word is now universal law and His verdict is the irrevocable sentence. "Jesus is Lord," (1 Cor. 12:3). As His people, we can be comforted as we behold the marks that tell us that He suffered and died for our sins. Furthermore, we can gain strength from His strength. Through Him justice can act in mercy by pardoning, purifying, and perfecting those who are obedient to His will. On the other hand, mercy operates in justice by justification, sanctification, and glorification of those who submit to Him as their King.
C. Through Jesus, man has a new union with God. From Peter's sermon on Pentecost we understand that Jesus has indeed ascended to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit. It is through this outpouring of the Holy Spirit that the Word of Salvation has been delivered to us, (Acts 2:33, 2:1-4).
1. In Acts 1:4 Jesus expressly commanded the Apostles to wait in Jerusalem for this promise to be delivered. This was in regards to His teachings of Jn. 14:16,17; 14:26; 15:26. The new dispensation of power predicted by the prophets and made available by Christ's sacrifice would come to man through this promise of the Holy Spirit, (Isa. 32:15; 44:3-5; Joel 2:28-32).
2. The work of the Holy Spirit is in addition to the work that Christ did here on earth, but could not be available without Christ's initially laying the foundation.
III. CONCLUSION
A. It is through the Man-Jesus that God has come to a new relationship with penitent man. It is through the God-Jesus that fallen man can come into a new relationship with Father-God. In spite of our sins, God has provided us a way back through His Son and His Spirit.
B. The Father has made the Spirit available to His Son, because His Son represents the fallen race. The Son in turn has sent the Spirit to act as our Helper during this earth-life.
C. Those in the upper room did not receive the Holy Spirit in answer to their own prayers, but in answer to Christ's ascension to the right hand of God. Now the Spirit can indwell in us all through the revealed Word of Jesus Christ. Through this Word are administered, once for all time, all the values of the finished work of Jesus.
[END OF THIRTEENTH SERMON]