In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Forty days after Jesus rose from the dead, the Bible tells us that He ascended into heaven and took His seat at the right hand of God. This is definitely one of those events from the life of Christ that doesn’t get as much attention as it probably should. Either people don’t really think about it that much at all, at least not as much as they do about our Lord’s death and resurrection, or they think about it in a way that’s completely different than what the Bible actually says about it. For example, I think lots of people just assume that when Jesus ascended into heaven, it was more or less the same kind of thing as when our loved ones go to heaven after they die. Just like grandma or grandpa are in heaven now, that’s where Jesus is at too.

But that’s not actually what the ascension means. And that one misunderstanding can lead to other misunderstandings too. It can deprive of the real benefits of this event, which as we say in the Creed, Jesus did for us and for our salvation. So, in today’s sermon, I’m going to do two things. In the first half, I’m just going to walk through what the Bible says the ascension really means, and in the second half, I’m going to explain what it means for us, as in, what are the benefits of this event for our faith.

Again, when the Bible tells us that Jesus ascended into heaven, we should not think about that in the same way that we think about our loved ones who die and go to heaven. On the one hand, when that happens to our loved ones, it’s only their souls that go to heaven and not their bodies. We bury their bodies in the ground to wait for the resurrection of the dead. But Jesus ascended not just in His soul, but in His body too. As Saint Mark tells us in our Gospel lesson today, “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” And as Saint Luke reminds us in the book of Acts, the disciples literally saw it happen with their own eyes: “And when He had said these things, as they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight." Do we normally get to see people’s souls visibly go to heaven after they die? Never. And yet, Jesus let His disciples see this.

Furthermore, the Bible teaches us that when the soul of a believer goes to be with Christ in heaven after they die, they’re not able to leave there. As we read in the account of the rich man and Lazarus, “A great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.” And yet, when it comes to the Jesus’ ascension, nowhere does God’s Word tell us that He was confined by it in any way at all. In fact, precisely the opposite is true. As Saint Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 4, “He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.” And as Paul also says in Ephesians 2, [God the Father] raised [Jesus] from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority… and He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.” 

This is an amazing thing! The ascension of Jesus doesn’t mean that He’s trapped somewhere, it means that He can go anywhere. It means that He already is everywhere. And not just as God, which He always was, but now even as a man. Who is it that ascended far above the heavens and fills all things? It’s Jesus.

The interpretive key that unlocks the correct understanding of what happened at the ascension is this term from the Bible, “the right hand of God.” Again, Mark tells us that when Jesus ascended, He took His seat and God’s right hand. But in the Scriptures, the right hand of God is not a place. It’s a power. Just like we use our right hand to accomplish most of the things that we do, God’s right hand is a reference to His omnipotence and His omnipresence. As we read in Psalm 118, “Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous: ‘the right hand of the Lord does valiantly, the right hand of the Lord exalts.” And as it says in Psalm 139, “If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” When the people of Israel were delivered from bondage to slavery in Egypt, and God led them through the waters of the Red Sea on dry ground, Moses tells us that God did it by His right hand. He means that He did it by His own strength and power and not that of anyone else’s. So, when the Bible says that Jesus ascended to the right hand of God, like we say in the Creed, it doesn’t mean that He went to some location far away from us. It means that He took up the fullness of His almighty power. Christ left His state of humiliation, where He didn’t always use His divine abilities completely, but limited Himself in certain ways, and now, He limits Himself no longer. He enters into the full state of His exultation, and communicates all of His divine attributes to His human nature. Not just as God, but also as a Man, Christ fills all things. Not just as God, but as a Man, He rules and reigns over everything in heaven and on earth. Jesus visibly went up into the clouds, not to show how He was going away, but to show how He lords over everything. He’s above it all.

And that’s where all the benefits come from for you and for me. Because Christ has ascended into heaven and taken His seat at the right hand of God, meaning, because He has taken up the fullness of His divine power even as a Man, that means so many comforting things for all of mankind.

First, it means that we have victory over our enemies. Listen to what Psalm 68 says about Jesus’ ascension, “You ascended on high leading a host of captives in your train.” The imagery here from the Psalmist is that of a Roman triumph. After the Romans conquered an enemy of theirs, they would have a great big parade to celebrate it. The victorious general would ride into the city first, standing in a chariot, and behind him, usually stripped naked and humiliated would be the leader of the enemy army that he had defeated. Christ defeated our enemies of sin, death, and the devil, through His death and resurrection. He stripped them naked, so to speak, and humiliated them, by taking away their power to condemn us. And in His ascension, Jesus reminds us of it. As Saint Paul says in Colossians 2, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

Remember where it says that Jesus ascended from. It is was on the mount of Olives. That’s the place where the garden of Gethsemane is. Christ returned to the same location where some of the fiercest fighting for our salvation was done, the place where He literally sweat drops of blood just thinking about what He was going to endure, in order to proclaim His victory. And just like the angels came and ministered to Him after that battle was over, this time the angels stood by watching in wonder at the glory Jesus had brought to us men.

The ascension of Jesus also means, of course, that there is a place in heaven for all believers. Because Christ ascend into heaven, indeed, far above all the heavens, we can have confidence that through faith in Him, we will go to heaven someday too. In fact, the Bible tells us that our eternal life in Jesus is so secure for those who trust in Him that it’s as if we are already there. Here’s another passage from Saint Paul about the ascension, this time from Ephesians chapter 2, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

You and I, and every baptized child of God who trusts in Jesus for salvation, has been united to Him through faith. As the Bible says, He is the Head, and we are His body. So, if our Head has been glorified, we get the glory too. If our Head is in heaven, meaning eternally in the presence of God, we know that someday we’ll be there too. Didn’t that hymn that we sang at the beginning of the service, just hit the nail right on the head: “On Christ’s ascension I now build, the hope of my ascension; this hope alone has always stilled all doubt and apprehension; for where the Head is there as well I know His members are to dwell when Christ will come and call them.” Humanities place is with God. Jesus made that clear when He ascend into heaven as a Man. And He will return in the same way that His disciples saw Him go, to bring every man, woman, and child who believes in Him there enterally. As Christ said right before His ascension, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” 

And finally, the ascension of Jesus also means that we have access to Christ’s saving presence here and now in the means of grace, especially in Holy Communion. sometimes the ascension of Jesus has been used to try and denying the bodily presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar. If you know, this is the official position of Reformed churches, who follow in the theological tradition of John Calvin. They argue that when we take Communion, we can’t possibly be eating and drinking the real Body and Blood of Christ, because His Body is up in heaven. What they say is that through faith, our hearts ascend to heaven, where we feast upon Christ there spiritually. But Christianity is not about us going up to heaven to get Jesus. It is about Jesus coming down from heaven to get us. And the ascension doesn’t mean that Jesus can’t be with us bodily. It means the exact opposite! It assures us that every time we take the Lord’s Supper, we get the full Body and Blood of Jesus, even though He only has one Body. Unlike our bodies, His body can be in more than one place at the same time, because He no longer puts any limits on that body at all. Remember, Jesus “fills all things.”

When Christ our Lord said, “Take eat, this is my body,” He meant it. And when Jesus said “Behold I am with you always, to the end of the age,” He meant that too. Who is the One that promises to always be with us? It’s Jesus. And who is Jesus? Is Jesus just God? No, Jesus is also a Man. And the God man Jesus is with us whenever we men and women need Him. Chiefly, He is with us in His Body and Blood on the altar.

I heard a great story the other day from our district President, Pastor Saunders, at our circuit meeting. He told the story about one of his adult members who was handicapped. She was about fifty years old, but had the mind of 10-year-old instead. Apparently, she liked country music, and there’s some song about “where heaven is.” And when President Saunders asked her one time on a Communion visit, where is heaven, she pointed to the bread and wine on the table and said, “Right there, pastor.” That’s the faith of child. The kind of faith we need to take the Sacrament rightly. Heaven is where Jesus is. And Jesus is present where He’s promised to be. He’s present in His Body and Blood.

No, the ascension of our Lord doesn’t mean that Jesus is far away from us at all. It means that He is very close; closer than He could ever be. He draws so near to us poor sinners, that we are united with Him in the means of grace. Christ shares with us every heavenly blessing that He obtained through His life, death, and resurrection. Our sins are forgiven. We won’t go to hell. Our bodies will come back to life. And Jesus will never leave us or forsake us.

“He has raised our human nature

On the clouds to God’s right hand;

There we sit in heavenly places,

There with Him in glory stand.

Jesus reigns, adored by angels;

Man with God is on the throne.

By our mighty Lord’s ascension

We by faith behold our own.”

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.