Reference Text
And
he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed
them. And it came to pass, while he
blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to
Jerusalem with great joy: And were
continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
The Ascension of our Lord
Beloved of the Lord……It is interesting, if not fascinating, the great meaning God can give and attach to such simple words, like UP and DOWN. Forty days after Jesus rose from the dead, "He was parted from them, and carried UP into heaven." Yet
before Jesus ascended UP into heaven, He first descended DOWN into the
grave after being lifted UP high on the cross for all the world to see. Jesus said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."
Similarly when we think of heaven, we always think of it in the UP direction and hell is DOWN. When
Jesus was quickened in the tomb on Easter morning, He first descended
DOWN into hell to proclaim His victory, and because Jesus defeated the
devil by the cross, we too will ascend UP into heaven when we die, for "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." On
the other hand, all unbelievers who did not believe in Jesus but
spurned His sacrifice and grace, such will only descend DOWN into hell
if they do not repent and believe. Jesus said, "he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And
this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." May
we always remember dear believer, our works were evil too, just as bad
as any unbeliever, yet "by grace are ye saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast."
Thus
when we think of heaven and our salvation, we must truly know by faith
that Jesus is the Son of God, higher than the heavens, yet He CAME DOWN,
and condescended to men of low estate. We could not ascend because of our sins, but He in His mercy instead descended. Without Jesus to free and loose us from our sins which weigh us down, we would die in our sins without hope. But
thanks be to God our blessed Savior looked with mercy upon all mankind,
and though the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, "the
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." The price of His ransom, the price of His blood, is more than enough to wash away all sin, and lift us up to heaven. As Jesus ascended UP, so we by His grace ascend UP into heaven when we die. Christ has set us free. Romans 6:22 says, "But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."
Let us picture now Jesus leading His disciples to the top of Mount Olivet near Bethany. All
things now being fulfilled, Jesus led His disciples "out as far as to
Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them." The same two divine hands which had been nailed to the cross, now reached up into the air to divinely bless for all to see. It
would have been something to be a disciple at that time and see those
two outstretched hands held high, still bearing the wounds of
crucifixion. This picture alone which the Word gives us is a visible Means of Grace if we meditate upon it. While
we usually speak of the two Means of Grace, Baptism and Holy Communion,
the Gospel Word itself is a Means of Grace also, with a thousand
visible pictures comforting us with God's grace. When we think alone of those two hands which blessed the disciples we have great comfort. These hands were wounded for you dear believer, so you would be forgiven and lifted up into heaven. Likewise
in Holy Communion, God gives you the visible means of the bread and the
wine, but far better, in, with, and under the bread and wine is His
body and blood. We taste with our mouth the sweetness of His forgiveness. We remember Jesus did all this for me. Giving us His grace and every blessing, Jesus only wants us to believe. In John six Jesus said, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." "The bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." Death can no longer harm you dear believer, for the two hands of God redeemed you, and the soul of Christ was more than willing. No man is able to pluck you out of God's powerful hands. Hence "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. When
we die our soul will be lifted up into heaven, "For by grace are ye
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God, not
of works, lest any man should boast."
Our
strength to overcome the devil, world, and our flesh is not only found
in our blessed Baptism and Holy Communion, but also the Gospel Word
contained in the benediction of our Lord. While
we do not know which blessing Jesus spoke just before He ascended, or
which benediction, we do have this same blessing of Jesus today whenever
we hear the benediction the words of the benediction. "The Lord bless thee and keep thee, the Lord make His face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace." What more does God need to say? Yet He says more, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all." Similarly Jude says, "Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied."
When
we hear such benedictions at the end of a church service, or even if we
read such in a written sermon or hear such on a CD recording, it is
none other than God through the Word blessing our soul. God has fellowship with us in these words, and these words bring us fellowship with God. Whenever
we hear these benedictions at the end of our service, Jesus Himself is
coming to us, and He is with us, and we are with Him and the Father -
all by the power of the Gospel Word. Jesus says as much in John 14 when He says, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you."
To commune with God is to know by faith He has brought us into fellowship with Him by His Son, Jesus Christ our Savior. The
faith He thus gives us in our Baptism bring us into His own divine
Body, as the Bride and the Groom are ONE in marriage, and not two. Just as a Groom binds himself and joins himself to his bride by a solemn oath and covenant, so our Bride-Groom has
bound Himself and joined Himself intimately to us by the promise of His
Gospel Word, that all our sins are forgiven "for by grace ye are
saved". With His arms of grace He pulls us close to His bosom, like a husband who dearly loves His wife. He also promises and swears to us, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee", and we know His promise is true. And though we have often been unfaithful wives by way of our sin, Jesus is still faithful to us and He will never let us go. Just
as in a good marriage, a loving husband is always able to put away and
overlook the sins of his spouse, the love being far greater than any
sin, so God's love for you through the cross dear Bride always swallows
up whatever sins get in the way. Your sins became Jesus' own. And
so when the Law of God condemns us and when our conscience works 24/7
so that we are inwardly despair, we must join our conscience and Christ
in the following way: our sins and Christ became one on the cross. The Bible says, "He that made Him to be sin for us." This means Jesus on the cross was our sin. When
our conscience thus condemns us, Jesus from the cross speaks to us this
way, "Dearest Bride, My beloved, do not worry or fret or be troubled! Those sins you know and feel in your conscience, are now my sins and not yours. Those fears and doubts which plague you in your conscience are now mine and not yours. And since they are now mine, they are no longer yours."
It
is true our sins are like a great mountain reaching up into the sky,
but it is also true Christ is far bigger than any mountain. When
we thus remember Jesus ascended up into the heavens, and even now He
sits at the right hand of God ruling all things in heaven and earth, we
cannot limit the body of Christ to any certain location, for "lo I am
with you always, even unto the end of the world." Christ, even in His body, is bigger than the universe and the Bible literally says, "the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him." Since
Christ then is bigger than the universe with all her stars and planets,
since Christ and our sin became one on the cross, and since Christ has
more than paid for all sins not with gold or silver, but with His holy
precious blood, how small is our mountain of sin compared to Christ,
dear believer? Indeed Christ, the Heaven of Heavens, swallows it up! Knowing God's grace swallows up our sin John writes of Jesus, "Of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." That is why First John three says, "Hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things." God knows our faith is in Christ!
Let us therefore never think God is distant or far away from us. He is not! He is near! He is close! He
is as close as Holy Communion, our Holy Baptism, as close as the Word
which you hear with your ears or read with your eyes, "The word is nigh
thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved." Jesus also said, "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them."
Finally beloved of the Lord, after the blessing of Jesus upon His disciples, He ascended UP out of their sight. So our souls we shall ascend UP when we die, for "by grace are ye saved." When we ascend up, we will see Him who first loved us "face to face". "Eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." Therefore
dear believer, as those disciples returned to Jerusalem with joy to do
the Lord's work, so let us go home today with happy and joyful hearts
knowing we have received "grace for grace". Knowing this grace, don't
let your sins trouble you, for you live under God's grace every day and
the Son of grace is shining upon you AND IS GRACIOUS UNTO YOU. "Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and
admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord" Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment