2 Kings 2:5-15; Acts 1:1-11; St Luke 24:44-53
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
He who is crucified for the sins of the whole world, is risen victorious from the dead. He who is risen from the dead, never to die again, death no longer having dominion over Him, is ascended to the right hand of the Father who puts all things under His feet as He rules over heaven and earth as true God and true Man who will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Today we celebrate the coronation of the King of kings; the rightful enthronement of the only begotten Son of the Father, who came from the Father full of grace and truth, has finished His course in the obedience of faith, laying down His life and taking it up again, now receiving once more, as the Incarnate Son, the power and glory and wisdom and might and honor and blessing that were His from before the foundation of the earth.
But why? Why celebrate the Ascension? Why be the only Lutheran church in the whole of Indianapolis to have a service this Thursday night? Elisha knew the day of his master’s departure and refused to acknowledge its reality. The disciples were confused concerning the full scope of Jesus’ resurrection and imminent ascension. We are a bit more like the Eleven. Perhaps we don’t fully grasp the impressive joy of the ascension of our Lord.
There are ten things that the Ascension of Jesus teaches us; ten wonderful, comforting truths. First, it reiterates that your Lord and Savior is not dead, but quite alive. The victory is won and now the King is crowned. He is seated at the right hand of His Father and your Father, His God and your God, as the hosts of heaven sing out, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing! (Rev 5:12).
Second, as you shall hear on Sunday, the Ascension of our Lord assures you of the coming of the promises Holy Spirit, the Comforter. I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you (Jn 16:7); and, as Jesus spoke to the Eleven in Acts, You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Apart from the Ascension of our Lord, there is no Pentecost.
Thirdly, the ascension assures us that Jesus went to prepare a place for us. He has gone ahead of you, in life and in death, in resurrection from the dead and in the ascension. He is your Forerunner and Head. You shall follow Him. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.
The fourth wonderful truth is as you confess each day in the Apostles’ Creed, “He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” The right hand of the Father isn’s so much a place as it is a power, an authority. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. He rules and fills all things with His divine power and majesty. He is Lord over all. This is exceptionally comforting when faced with trials and sufferings of various kinds. The Epistle to the Hebrews teaches, Since then we have a great high priest who passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with out weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:14-16).
What this means, dear ones, is that seated at the right hand of the Almighty Father, everlasting God, is your Brother in the flesh, One Mediator and Great High Priest! Jesus Christ took up your fallen flesh in His Incarnation, but He never set it aside. He is now and always shall be the God-Man, who knows your weaknesses and has compassion on His brothers and sisters in need. He works all things together for good for the sake of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.
This is evident especially in the fifth truth of the ascension: Christ Jesus sends men to preach the Gospel and administer His Sacraments. That is how He reigns. The Word and Sacraments are the right hand of the Father, as it were. Repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in [My] name to all nations. You are witnesses of these things. He sends men to preach to you. When pastors preach, teach, and forgive in His stead and by His command, it is Jesus preaching, teaching, and forgiving you. He sends men to wash you in His death-defying life, in the fellowship of His Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus baptizes you. He sends men to feed you on His crucified, risen, ascended and glorified Body and Blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Jesus communes you. He sends men to loose you of your sins and set you free from guilt and shame. Jesus absolves you.
Sixthly, the ascension teaches you that Jesus is interceding and pleading for you even now. His prayer for you, Father forgive them, did not cease at the Cross. He is your Advocate and Paraclete before the Father, even as He sends His Holy Spirit to be your Advocate and Paraclete before the world. You will hear more of this on Sunday.
Seventh, the ascension paradoxically teaches that though Jesus has withdrawn His visible presence, He has not removed His actual presence. He is here with us. He is not absent. A cloud took Him out of their sight, and He was, indeed, carried up into heaven, but not in such a way as to be far from us. The Ascension of our Lord can be thought of not so much as Him going away from earth into heaven, but bringing heaven down to earth. Does He not promise, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age? (Mt 28:20). He is precisely with you in His Word and Sacraments as He fills all in all.
Building on this, eighth, you have the assurance, by the ascension, that Jesus will come again as He went away. This means visibly and bodily. The Son of Man shall come again with the angels and the powers of heaven. St Paul writes to the Thessalonians, For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command and the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first - and this is the ninth comforting truth - Then we who are alive, who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord (1 Thess 4:14-17).
Finally, the tenth truth the ascension teaches is that you have already received the gift of your ascension into heaven. It is a reality beyond what your eyes can see and your senses can experience, but is known by the ears of faith and believed in the heart. You heard it in the collect this evening, “Almighty God, as Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, ascended into the heavens, so may we also ascend in heart and mind and continually dwell there with Him.”
As St Paul writes to the Colossians, If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, were Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth (Col 3:1-2). The Apostle is not despising earthly things. Rather he is exhorting Christians to live and walk by the Spirit and think and desire those things that are in step with the Spirit, namely, that which is the will of the Lord according to the Ten Commandments and within your vocations.
The Ascension of our Lord who fills all in all, fills you with His Spirit to mortify the old Adam and arise to live before Him in righteousness and purity. The ascension aides in your sanctification even as it assures you of your justification. For it is written, 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 in 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. He goes on, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph 3:4-6, 10).
Christ Jesus has taken up and exalted your human nature. He was the whole world in One man upon the Cross, so is He the whole world in One Man before the Throne of His Father. Come, receive in penitent faith the crucified, risen, and ascended Body and Blood of your Brother and Savior, Jesus Christ, who by His ascension brings heaven down to earth in the Holy Mysteries, and by the same brings you up to Him in faith to dwell in peace forever.
He has raised our human nature On the clouds to God's right hand;
There we sit in heav'nly 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. (LSB 494:5).
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
He who is crucified for the sins of the whole world, is risen victorious from the dead. He who is risen from the dead, never to die again, death no longer having dominion over Him, is ascended to the right hand of the Father who puts all things under His feet as He rules over heaven and earth as true God and true Man who will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Today we celebrate the coronation of the King of kings; the rightful enthronement of the only begotten Son of the Father, who came from the Father full of grace and truth, has finished His course in the obedience of faith, laying down His life and taking it up again, now receiving once more, as the Incarnate Son, the power and glory and wisdom and might and honor and blessing that were His from before the foundation of the earth.
But why? Why celebrate the Ascension? Why be the only Lutheran church in the whole of Indianapolis to have a service this Thursday night? Elisha knew the day of his master’s departure and refused to acknowledge its reality. The disciples were confused concerning the full scope of Jesus’ resurrection and imminent ascension. We are a bit more like the Eleven. Perhaps we don’t fully grasp the impressive joy of the ascension of our Lord.
There are ten things that the Ascension of Jesus teaches us; ten wonderful, comforting truths. First, it reiterates that your Lord and Savior is not dead, but quite alive. The victory is won and now the King is crowned. He is seated at the right hand of His Father and your Father, His God and your God, as the hosts of heaven sing out, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing! (Rev 5:12).
Second, as you shall hear on Sunday, the Ascension of our Lord assures you of the coming of the promises Holy Spirit, the Comforter. I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you (Jn 16:7); and, as Jesus spoke to the Eleven in Acts, You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Apart from the Ascension of our Lord, there is no Pentecost.
Thirdly, the ascension assures us that Jesus went to prepare a place for us. He has gone ahead of you, in life and in death, in resurrection from the dead and in the ascension. He is your Forerunner and Head. You shall follow Him. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.
The fourth wonderful truth is as you confess each day in the Apostles’ Creed, “He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” The right hand of the Father isn’s so much a place as it is a power, an authority. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. He rules and fills all things with His divine power and majesty. He is Lord over all. This is exceptionally comforting when faced with trials and sufferings of various kinds. The Epistle to the Hebrews teaches, Since then we have a great high priest who passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with out weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:14-16).
What this means, dear ones, is that seated at the right hand of the Almighty Father, everlasting God, is your Brother in the flesh, One Mediator and Great High Priest! Jesus Christ took up your fallen flesh in His Incarnation, but He never set it aside. He is now and always shall be the God-Man, who knows your weaknesses and has compassion on His brothers and sisters in need. He works all things together for good for the sake of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.
This is evident especially in the fifth truth of the ascension: Christ Jesus sends men to preach the Gospel and administer His Sacraments. That is how He reigns. The Word and Sacraments are the right hand of the Father, as it were. Repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in [My] name to all nations. You are witnesses of these things. He sends men to preach to you. When pastors preach, teach, and forgive in His stead and by His command, it is Jesus preaching, teaching, and forgiving you. He sends men to wash you in His death-defying life, in the fellowship of His Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus baptizes you. He sends men to feed you on His crucified, risen, ascended and glorified Body and Blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Jesus communes you. He sends men to loose you of your sins and set you free from guilt and shame. Jesus absolves you.
Sixthly, the ascension teaches you that Jesus is interceding and pleading for you even now. His prayer for you, Father forgive them, did not cease at the Cross. He is your Advocate and Paraclete before the Father, even as He sends His Holy Spirit to be your Advocate and Paraclete before the world. You will hear more of this on Sunday.
Seventh, the ascension paradoxically teaches that though Jesus has withdrawn His visible presence, He has not removed His actual presence. He is here with us. He is not absent. A cloud took Him out of their sight, and He was, indeed, carried up into heaven, but not in such a way as to be far from us. The Ascension of our Lord can be thought of not so much as Him going away from earth into heaven, but bringing heaven down to earth. Does He not promise, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age? (Mt 28:20). He is precisely with you in His Word and Sacraments as He fills all in all.
Building on this, eighth, you have the assurance, by the ascension, that Jesus will come again as He went away. This means visibly and bodily. The Son of Man shall come again with the angels and the powers of heaven. St Paul writes to the Thessalonians, For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command and the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first - and this is the ninth comforting truth - Then we who are alive, who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord (1 Thess 4:14-17).
Finally, the tenth truth the ascension teaches is that you have already received the gift of your ascension into heaven. It is a reality beyond what your eyes can see and your senses can experience, but is known by the ears of faith and believed in the heart. You heard it in the collect this evening, “Almighty God, as Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, ascended into the heavens, so may we also ascend in heart and mind and continually dwell there with Him.”
As St Paul writes to the Colossians, If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, were Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth (Col 3:1-2). The Apostle is not despising earthly things. Rather he is exhorting Christians to live and walk by the Spirit and think and desire those things that are in step with the Spirit, namely, that which is the will of the Lord according to the Ten Commandments and within your vocations.
The Ascension of our Lord who fills all in all, fills you with His Spirit to mortify the old Adam and arise to live before Him in righteousness and purity. The ascension aides in your sanctification even as it assures you of your justification. For it is written, 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 in 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. He goes on, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph 3:4-6, 10).
Christ Jesus has taken up and exalted your human nature. He was the whole world in One man upon the Cross, so is He the whole world in One Man before the Throne of His Father. Come, receive in penitent faith the crucified, risen, and ascended Body and Blood of your Brother and Savior, Jesus Christ, who by His ascension brings heaven down to earth in the Holy Mysteries, and by the same brings you up to Him in faith to dwell in peace forever.
He has raised our human nature On the clouds to God's right hand;
There we sit in heav'nly 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. (LSB 494:5).
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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