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. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”—Acts 1:9–11

Outline

Introduction

1. The ascension of Christ is the exaltation of Jesus as Lord and Christ.
2. The ascension of Christ is the return of Jesus to his Heavenly Father.
3. The ascension of Christ is a precursor to the gift of the Holy Spirit.
4. The ascension of Christ establishes Christ as our great high priest.
5. The promise of the Ascension is the return of the King. 

Conclusion

Introduction

Our text records the moment when the first Advent ends. It’s not Christ’s sufferings and death that ended his first coming, because God raised him from the dead and he remained on the earth, appearing to hundreds of people. It is his ascension that ends the first coming. One writer from The Gospel Coalition says of the doctrine of the Ascension, “It may be the most important doctrine you never think about.” So my aim is that together we ponder Christ's ascension, in order that God might draw us to joyfully worship Christ by faith this last Sunday of Advent.

Context 

Imagine being among the disciples. The crucified Jesus had risen from the dead. He had met with them—and about 500 others over the course of 40 days. They had seen him eating fish and heard him teaching. He was alive. Understandably, that gave rise to thoughts that Jesus as the Christ would ride back into Jerusalem and set up his eternal throne and rule the world with justice and righteousness.

But Jesus basically said to them, “My messianic kingdom is going to be different than you think.” And he said, “Wait here for the promised Holy Spirit. And when the Spirit comes, you will be my witnesses all over the world” (Acts 1:8). Then verse 9 records,

When he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

Perhaps the disciples are thinking, “What? That’s it? Jesus, you are leaving? Now? What about your kingdom and reign?” He left. The Apostles’ Creed dating back to A.D. 325 summarizes the teaching of the Bible regarding the ascension with these simple yet profound words: 

He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

My outline today is simply five observations about the ascension of Christ that, by the grace of God, will work for the advancement and joy of your faith. Let’s take them one at a time.

1) The ascension of Christ is the exaltation of Jesus as Lord & Christ.

Turn to Daniel 7. Long after David, the great king of Israel, the man after God’s own heart, died, the Old Testament prophets looked forward to the day when God would send an even greater king. This Messiah (or Christ) would rule not merely Israel, but all the world with righteousness, peace and justice. Daniel the prophet tells of the extent and duration of the promised Messiah’s reign in Daniel 7:13–14.

I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Turn back to Acts, chapter 2. In the first sermon after Pentecost, drawing from such prophecies and the psalms, the apostle Peter, filled with the Spirit, bore witness to Jesus Christ in a sermon resulting in more than 3,000 people converted to faith in Christ. Peter proclaims to the crowd ...

This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God.—Acts 2:32–33

Peter then quotes King David’s own psalm to prove that David foresaw that when the true Messiah King would come, he would be invited by God to sit at his right hand: 

For David … himself says, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’”—Acts 2:34–35

In verse 36, Peter draws his clear and pointed conclusion from Christ’s ascension and Scripture:

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.—Acts 2:36

What does the image of Christ sitting at the right hand of God mean? Let me explain. Start with this picture: God the Father sits on the throne as sovereign King over the universe (cf. Isaiah 6). God has the right and power to rule over everyone and everything. He is securely seated on his throne. No one can, or will, remove him from that throne. He reigns from eternity past, and for all eternity. He is God. He sits as Sovereign on his throne and does as he pleases, and no one can frustrate his plans.

Keep that word picture in mind and then add the descriptive imagery of the enthronement of Christ. Paul writes of this in Ephesians 1.

[God] raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.—Ephesians 1:20–21

And so Jesus declares this truth when he says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18).

What are the implications of this?

First, under God the Father, Jesus the Son of God is the sovereign, God-appointed ruler of the universe. He is the Christ, the Messiah. While it is true that some beings on earth and some spiritual beings in the heavenly places rebel and resist his rightful reign, the day is coming when ...

At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.—Philippians 2:10–11

Not only that, but think about this also. The New Testament teaches that we who believe have been joined to Christ and are spiritually united with him. So, when Jesus Christ sat down at God’s right hand, because of our union with him we sat down in him at the right hand of God.

And [God] raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus—Ephesians 2:6

How can this be? At the fall of Adam, the whole human race fell into sin and as a result the dominion God had given human beings over all creation fell also and was ruined by sin. By seating the resurrected Jesus, the second Adam, the God-Man, at his right hand, God redeemed the dominion he originally granted human beings at the beginning (cf. Genesis 1:28).

Be amazed with the apostle Paul. Because of our union with Christ as believers, we are spiritually treated as in him. His ascension is the guarantee of our ascension. His being seated at the right hand of God is the guarantee—because we are in him—that we, too, are and will be seated at the right hand of God in glory in Christ. 

Revelation 5:9 describes the people of God purchased by the blood of Christ from every tribe and tongue, and the next verse states this of those people: “They shall reign on earth” (Revelation 5:10).

It should blow your mind that because of our union with Christ we are not only forgiven and reconciled to God, but God also bestows on us the graces that belong to his one and only firstborn Son because we are in Christ.

Why are we who believe treated with such undeserved privilege? Paul says that God has done this “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7).

2) The ascension of Christ is the return of Jesus to his Heavenly Father.

Several times Jesus spoke of his ascension in terms of returning to God. For instance, Jesus said to his disciples on the night he was betrayed, “But now I am going to him who sent me” (John 16:5; cf. 14:28). 

And likewise, after Christ’s death, and resurrection on Easter Sunday morning, Jesus revealed himself to Mary and again spoke of his ascension in terms of going to God the Father.

Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”—John 20:17

What are the implications of this? Remember, in the beginning when Adam and Eve sinned, God banished them from living in the glory of his presence in the garden of Eden. In Exodus 33:30, God explains to Moses that because of sin, no human being can see God’s face and live (cf. Exodus 33:20–21). His glory and holiness and righteousness toward sinners would trigger our utter obliteration.

And yet here, at the Ascension, Jesus Christ the sinless God-Man ascends to the presence of God in his resurrected human body. When Jesus—who after his first advent is not only fully God but also fully man—ascends to God the Father, it is the first time since before the fall of Adam and Eve that a human being has been directly in God’s presence.

When Christ ascended to be with God the Father, because we who believe are in him, he secured our destiny to be with God the Father as well. 1 Peter 3:18 says, “Christ died for sins once for all the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”

3) The ascension of Christ is a precursor to the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Back in Acts 1, we saw that after Christ’s resurrection and before his ascension, Jesus ordered the disciples not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father—namely, to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them (Acts 1:4–5). In the plan of God, the ascension was a precursor to Christ sending the promised Holy Spirit upon his disciples. Jesus told his disciples previously that the Holy Spirit would not come unless and until he departed. 

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.—John 16:6

And that is exactly what happens in Acts. In our text, Jesus ascends to the Father’s right hand. Then, in Acts 2, the promise of the Holy Spirit is poured out on the church with the presence and power of God for faith, bold witness, and counsel. 

What is the significance of this? Brothers and sisters, because Jesus ascended, we who believe have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. By his death, which at the Last Supper Jesus called “the blood of the new covenant,” Christ secured for us the promises of the gospel, the New Covenant. One of those promises is the gift of the Holy Spirit. One of the prophets through whom God foretold this promise was the prophet Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 36, God describes the gift of the Holy Spirit in this way: 

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you ... And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.—Ezekiel 36:26–27 (cf. Jeremiah 31:31–40)

Praise God for the gift of the Spirit, by which we have believed and been given spiritual life, such that the Spirit himself is at work within us to trust and follow after Christ. 

4) The ascension of Christ establishes Christ as our great high priest.

Turn to Acts 7. As you may know, Acts 7 records the account of the stoning of Stephen. Several religious sects banded together to slander Stephen, give false witness, and bring him before the High Priest and the religious court, charging him with blasphemy. Stephen had then preached an indicting sermon calling out the historic and ongoing unbelief of his own Jewish kinsmen. At that, the crowd changed into a murderous mob: 

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”—Acts 7:54–56

What did Stephen see? He saw the ascended Christ. But he wasn’t sitting; he was standing. When the one at the right hand of God stands, he stands to act, to intercede, and to advocate for his people before God. Steven, while being stoned, was granted this vision of Christ standing at God’s right hand, interceding for his soul. Securing God’s justice for him in the face of injustice. And defending him against the false charges of condemnation and securing him for glory.

Of this role of Christ, Paul writes in Romans 8 ... 

Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.—Romans 8:33–34

Paul concludes that since Christ died for us, ascended, and is now interceding for us before God, nothing in the universe can separate us from the love of Christ. Not “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword” (Romans 8:35).

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.—Romans 8:38–39

What is the significance of this?

Brothers and sisters, when any of us are in distress—facing spiritual, psychological, or physical threat or trauma—Jesus stands ready as our Great High Priest to intercede, defend, and help us in every threat to our souls. Even when we have sinned and our sin threatens to destroy us with condemnation, Jesus rises to advocate for us before the throne of God. First John 2:1 says ...  

If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Go to him in your troubles. No matter your distress or plight. COVID-19 or cancer. Alienation or division. Abuse or injustice. Bitterness or betrayal. Fainting or failing. In the terrors of our anxieties or the darkness of our despairs, the ascended Christ is standing, interceding for us. He is our advocate. So the writer of Hebrews reminds us ...

Since then we have a great high priest who has 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 our 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.—Hebrews 4:14–16

5) The promise of the Ascension is the return of the King.

I can’t help but think that the disciples had emotional whiplash. They had lived with Jesus for three years. He was their Lord and teacher—and friend. They loved him, they put their hope in him, and they would soon learn of his great love as he loved them to the end. They believed in him.

On Palm Sunday, everyone in the city of Jerusalem seemed to love him. Yet on Friday of that same week the crowds were screaming, “Crucify him.” And by noon he was dead. Oh the weight of their grief—all their hopes dashed. And by the time the sun rose on Sunday morning, he was alive. It was just as he said. The women had seen him—and soon they all saw him with much rejoicing. Now 40 days later, he says he is leaving again. 

Our text says in Acts 1:11 that as the disciples looked on, Jesus rose from the earth. The clouds of the glory of God enveloped him and took him beyond their sight. Just then, two men in white robes—angels—spoke these words of assurance to them in verse 11 of our text: 

Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

Jesus will return. Previously, Jesus had told the disciples that he must go away. And he promised them that he would return. 

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 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 will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.—John 14:1–3

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.—John 14:18

The Bible says that when Christ returns, everyone will see him come. The living and and even the dead. The sun, moon and stars will be darkened, like the darkening of a stage before the spotlight comes on for all to look at one thing. He will split the heavens like lightning from the eastern horizon to the west.

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect.—Matthew 24:30–31

For those who despise him and hate him and reject his love, this will be a time of mourning, utter terror, distress, and final judgment. 

But for those of us who treasure him and love him and long for his return, this will be a time of great joy. Christ’s kingdom will be fully consummated. This will be the time when Christ gathers his people once and for all eternity to live with God in the New Heavens and the New Earth. Justice will be done and Christ will triumph over all God’s enemies. Satan and all who oppose God’s reign will be defeated. And the last enemy, death, he will put to death. 

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.—Revelation 21:3–4

And so we shall forever be with the Lord, where in his “presence there is fullness of joy” and where at his “right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

We live in the time in between the inauguration of the King and the consummation of his kingdom when he gathers his people and has final triumph over all his enemies—sin, death, and the devil. And so, as those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we celebrate his first advent when he came to seek and to save sinners like us by his death, and we live in anticipation and hope of his second advent when, as promised, he will come again. 

Conclusion

Isaac Watts wrote a hymn based on Psalm 98, “Joy to the World.” It is one of the most beloved Christmas carols, yet it says nothing of the Christmas events, which makes it fitting when applied to either advent of Christ—his first or second coming. Watts’ lyrics focus on the joy brought to heaven and earth by the advent and reign of Jesus Christ the King.

Sing “Joy to the World.”