His Ascension

We open the Word of God to the Gospel of Mark. Tonight we finish a series we have been doing on Sunday evenings on milestones with the Master, on the key events in the life of Christ while he was here on earth. We come now to the closing event, his ascension, Mark chapter 16, verses 19 and 20.

So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

Then we go to the end of the Gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 24, beginning at verse 45. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.

And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you. But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. 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.

Dr. Luke continues the story in volume 2 of his works, Acts chapter 1, verse 4. And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard from me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power, but ye shall receive power after the Holy Spirit is come upon you.

And ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

For some reason we ignore the doctrine of the ascension. We Christians are great to deal with the incarnation, our Lord's birth. We certainly believe in his death and his resurrection.

And yet the logical climax to his life and ministry is the ascension. And it's important for us in our own lives and our own ministries to know what the ascension really means. I want to share with you tonight three basic meanings to our Lord's ascension.

First of all, what did it mean to Christ himself? That's wrapped up in one little word, exaltation. Secondly, what does it mean to the believer today? And that's wrapped up in one little word, edification. And thirdly, what does it mean to the world at large? And that's wrapped up in one little word, condemnation.

And so if you want to remember what the ascension really means, just remember those three words. Exaltation, edification, condemnation. The first meaning, what does the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ mean to the Lord Jesus himself? Well, it means exaltation.

You see, our Lord anticipated going back to heaven. That's where he came from. When our Lord was born on earth, he was not born in the same fashion as you and I, because he existed before he was born.

He existed before he was conceived. He existed before his earthly mother was conceived. He existed from all eternity.

Our Lord said, I came down from heaven. In Luke chapter 9, the Lord Jesus comes down from the Mount of Transfiguration and he meets a father whose only son is demon-possessed. And this father had brought his son to the nine disciples who were still left below, who had not gone up in the mountain.

Verse 40 of Luke 9, And I besought thy disciples to cast him out, and they could not. And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Can you imagine what it costs the Lord Jesus to be here on this earth, to listen to the conversation? It'd be as though an Einstein had to sit in a kindergarten all day long and listen to the idle, meaningless chatter of little children. It would be like a great musician having to go someplace where a group of tone-deaf people were playing instruments that were out of tune.

How long shall I bear with you? Now certainly our Lord loved the people he ministered to. He did not do like Jonah, preach the word of God in hatred. Our Lord preached in love.

But you can imagine what it meant for the Son of God to spend those 32, 33 years here on this earth and to endure not only suffering from sinners, but to endure the heartache and the disappointment that came from his own people. You and I expect unsafe people to act the way they act. But when a Christian does something that hurts, it hurts even more because it takes a diamond to cut a diamond.

Our Lord anticipated going back to heaven. And yet while he was here on earth, it certainly must have cost him something. In verse 51 of Luke chapter 9, it came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.

And from this point on in the gospel of Luke, it's on to Jerusalem, on to Jerusalem, and of course beyond Jerusalem back to heaven. Now the Lord Jesus told his enemies he was going back to heaven. In John chapter 6, in verse 62, he makes a rather drastic statement when he says this, What if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? Over in chapter 7, verse 32, the Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.

They're going to arrest the Lord Jesus. Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you. And then I go unto him that sent me.

Ye shall seek me and shall not find me. And where I am there ye cannot come. Now later on, he said to his own disciples, that where I am there ye may be also.

The difference is faith. Here were people who rejected him and resisted him. He said, I'm going where you cannot come.

Isn't that a tragedy that people could go to heaven and they won't? So he told his enemies he was going back to be with the Father, and he told his friends he was going back to be with the Father. John chapter 13 and verse 31. Therefore when he was gone out, meaning Judas, Judas leaves the upper room, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.

If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. Can you imagine that? He knew that Judas was going out to sell him for 30 pieces of silver, and yet what's he talking about? Glory. That's tremendous.

I wonder how many of God's people, when they are wheeled into an operating room, are talking about glory. The conversation probably isn't glory. It may be gory, but it's not glory.

You see, when you and I are facing a crisis or facing some demand or facing a sacrifice, facing our calvary, we don't talk about glory. We talk about suffering. Jesus talked about glory.

Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You shall seek me, and as I said unto the Jews, where I go you cannot come, so now I say to you. In other words, right away you're not going to be able to be with me.

A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another. Simon Peter says unto him in verse 36, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered, where I go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterward. I like that.

He also said to Peter, what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Aren't you glad for the hereafter? Aren't you glad for the afterward? So he tells his disciples, we're going to join together. One of these days we'll be up in heaven.

Chapter 14 makes it so beautiful. In my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also.

All the way through this upper room discourse, our Lord assures his disciples, I know where I'm going. I'm going back to the Father. Verse 12 ends in chapter 14, because I go unto my Father.

Verse 28, ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father, for my Father is greater than I. It was a homecoming. And so he told his disciples, his friends, he was going back to the Father.

In fact, he told the Father he was coming back. John chapter 17, his high priestly prayer, verse 11, and now I am no more in the world. Verse 13, and now come I to thee.

It's a marvelous thing. Where's he going? Verse 24, Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me. Verse 5, and now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

And so the ascension meant for our Lord Jesus Christ, exultation from suffering to glory, from rejection to coronation, from separation from the Father, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, to fellowship with the Father, with the glory he had before he came to this earth. The whole story is given, as you know, in Philippians chapter 2, verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Have this kind of an attitude.

What kind of an attitude? Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, emptied himself, took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. They didn't do that on earth, but they will now.

Of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, even hell will have to bow the knee to Christ, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. This is what Peter preached at Pentecost. This same Jesus has been made Lord in Christ, his exaltation, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

Now, I want to just make a little application of this, if I may. There's a great deal being said these days about the Lord Jesus in his earthly state of humiliation. We hear about the gentle carpenter of Nazareth.

And some of these songs and some of these pictures give the idea that our Lord Jesus today is weak. He's still able to endure all the agonies that people threw upon him. Somehow he's up in heaven, washed out.

I wish that people, if they're going to paint pictures or make movies of what they think the Lord Jesus is like, would make a man out of him. So many of the portrayals of our Lord Jesus, he looks like he just got off of a dope kick of some kind, glassy-eyed and rather effeminate. I want you to know that the Christ who's watching over you is King of kings and Lord of lords.

I want you to know that today he's on the throne of glory. He has all authority. And you can stand tall.

You don't have to flinch. You don't have to quake. You don't have to apologize.

You're not representing some half-baked kingdom someplace that may totter if the UN falls apart. You are representing the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and he is exalted. He has passed through the heavens.

He is far above all principality and power and every name that is named. And when you pray, you're praying to one who has authority and power. That's why we sing in one of our favorite hymns, Thou art coming to a king.

Large petitions with thee bring. Exaltation. He's gone back to heaven.

He finished his earthly work. Salvation is completed. Now he's gone back to heaven.

Somebody may raise a geographical question at this point and say, well, if heaven is up and he went up from down there, where is heaven? Well, the scriptures told us he went up. Beyond the cloud, they didn't see him. How he passed from this realm into the realm of glory, we aren't told.

You must remember that heaven is not just simply a change of location. It's also a change of state. And how our Lord went from this earthly state into that state, we are not told.

Don't worry about the geography of heaven. All you have to know, my friend, is that you're going there. That's the important thing.

Now, what does this mean to the church, to the believer? It means edification. The Apostle Paul had a number of pictures he enjoyed painting. Whenever he wanted to talk about the Christian life, he used these pictures.

One was anatomy. He loved to talk about the church as a body. Another one is athletics.

He loved to talk about Christians as runners and wrestlers. A third one was the army. He enjoyed talking about the military, the sword of the spirit, the armor.

And the fourth is architecture. Now, of course, the Greeks and the Romans were great ones for architecture. They all seemed to have an edifice complex, and each of them had to build, build, build.

And the Apostle Paul must have known something about architecture, even though he was a tentmaker. Paul often uses architecture to illustrate the Christian life. And he does whenever he uses that word edify, edificio, to build.

Our Lord Jesus Christ today is in the building business. One of the greatest sermons I ever heard anybody preach, I heard from the lips of one of the greatest preachers this generation ever produced, Dr. R.T. Ketchum. Dr. Ketchum was a great preacher, and he preached a sermon on why Christ was a carpenter.

Very interesting. His thesis was this. When the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth, he gave up everything except one thing.

The Father said, Son, I'm going to let you keep one thing just to keep in touch with heaven. I'm going to let you be a carpenter because you've always been a builder. He built the universe.

No question about that. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. And today he is building.

The carpenter is at work building. The Lord Jesus Christ is not in heaven doing nothing. He is in the business of edification.

Now, what is he building? He is building three things. Number one, he's building a church. Having gone back to heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit of God.

The Holy Spirit of God has given gifts to people, and these gifted people are at work in the church building the church. He's building local churches. And as he builds local churches, he is building the temple of God, the church.

He's building a church. That's why I'm glad to be a part of a local church and have a chance to help in some building. The Holy Spirit of God has come down, and you and I should be a part of building the church.

Now, some Christians are in the tearing down business. I realize it takes some skill to destroy a building. Here in Chicago, was it a year ago, they destroyed the wrong building, went to the right address with the wrong street? The fellow came back, his building was missing.

It does take some skill to destroy a building, but I would rather be in the construction business than the destruction business. Our Lord Jesus Christ today is building his church. That's the beautiful thing about the end of the gospel of Mark.

They went everywhere preaching, the Lord working with them. The Lord working with them. When he was here on earth, he was limited.

Now he's gone back to heaven and through his Holy Spirit, he is unlimited. All authority is given to me in heaven and on earth, and he's working with us. Is the Lord going to work with you during this week to build his church? Secondly, our Lord is building Christians.

He's edifying us. You say, well, he's not worried about me. Yes, he is.

I was watching a switchboard recently, and I was giving thanks to the Lord that I didn't have to answer heaven's switchboard. Can you imagine the millions of people who are praying, and God has to keep all those plugs in the right place and check all those circuits? I'd have the place so filed up, it'd blow every fuse in the building. Our Lord is listening to us pray.

Our Lord is watching us, and he's building his church by building believers. He wants to edify us. That's why he is the high priest.

As our high priest, he is able to intercede for us, and through his Holy Spirit, he teaches us and he builds us up. That's that great benediction in Hebrews chapter 13. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect.

That means equip you, put you in shape, edify you, build you up. What is our great high priest doing? What is the great shepherd of the sheep doing? He's edifying his people, building them up through the word and through prayer and through fellowship and through suffering and through difficulties. He's building us up.

There's a third thing that our Lord is building. He's not only building his church and building his people, but he's building us a home. I'm glad John 14 is in the Bible because I use it very often at funerals.

Our Lord did not first use it at a funeral. He used it to encourage his own people. The disciples had just discovered A, one of them was a traitor.

B, Peter, their great stalwart leader, was going to be a failure. And they were discouraged. And C, Jesus was going to leave them.

They were going to lose their master. And so Judas is a traitor and Peter is a failure, and our Lord is leaving us. What's the use? And our Lord looks at them and says, Let not your heart be troubled.

Don't be discouraged. Now that passage is not just for funerals. It's for next Tuesday when you get discouraged.

It's when you come home from the doctor and the doctor says, Look, I've got to change your medicine again. Doctor, I'm not a guinea pig, I'm a patient. I've got to change your medicine again.

Regardless of what circumstances come along that discourage you, you can always look up and say, You know what? He's building a home for me. Brothers and sisters, I don't care how many battles we lose, we're going to win the war. We may stumble and fall a hundred times.

He's going to pick us right up and we're going to keep on going. And one day he's going to usher us into heaven. If you want to have a mind boggling experience, read Revelation chapters 21 and 22 and try to conceive of what heaven is going to be like.

It's even better than Disney World. It's even better than the Chicago skyline. He's building a home.

Which means confidence, assurance, peace. Now the third word that we want to look into. The third meaning.

For Christ, the ascension meant exaltation. For the believer, it means edification. To the world, it means condemnation.

Turn to John chapter 16. John chapter 16, beginning at verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. The disciples couldn't understand why he had to leave them.

For if I go not away to comfort her, the Holy Spirit will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.

Now please don't read judgment to come. That comes from the book of Acts where Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. And don't read it, he will reprove the world of sin and righteousness and judgment to come.

And then stop, keep on going. Of sin, what particular sin? Because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father and ye see me no more.

Of judgment, because the Prince of this world is judged. What's he saying? He's saying this. The presence of the Holy Spirit in this world is judgment on the world.

The Holy Spirit shouldn't be here in this world. Jesus should be in this world. He came unto us all and his own received him not.

The Lord Jesus Christ should be in this world reigning. The world didn't want him. He went back to the Father.

He sent the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit in this world is judgment upon the world in three ways. The presence of the Holy Spirit speaks of the sin of the world.

Now please notice that the Holy Spirit does not convict people of sins. It doesn't say that. The Holy Spirit doesn't convict people of adultery and fornication and drunkenness.

We sometimes pray, Oh, may the Spirit of God convict my husband of what he's doing. No, no. Conscience is supposed to.

The Holy Spirit can use the word to convict. No question about that. I've seen the Holy Spirit take one verse of Scripture and stab people right in the heart.

But what he's saying here is this. The presence of the Holy Spirit in this world is evidence that the world has committed the greatest sin it can commit. Unbelief of sin because they believe not in me.

Now the world believes everybody else except Jesus. They believe every screwy thing on television. They believe every politician who comes along.

We have known for years that most every politician makes promises he can't keep, but we still believe them. Jesus said to the Jews, I have come in my Father's name. You wouldn't accept me.

Another is going to come in his own name. Him you're going to receive, the Antichrist. The presence of the Holy Spirit convicts of righteousness.

Now what kind of righteousness? The righteousness of Christ. He said, I'm going to my Father. And from now on the Holy Spirit is going to remind people of the righteousness of Christ.

And when people are as good as Jesus is, they'll make it to heaven. Well, but nobody can be that good. That's where salvation comes in.

Of judgment, not judgment to come. Judgment past. What judgment? The judgment of Satan on the cross.

Who's the prince of this world? Satan. Who runs this world system? Satan. He's already been judged.

Satan tried to keep Jesus from being raised from the dead. He tried to keep our Lord Jesus from ascending to heaven. But today the Lord Jesus is far above all principalities and powers, including Satan.

And therefore the presence of the Holy Spirit in the world convicts of the unbelief of the world and the unrighteousness of the world and the fact that the world has already been judged. Now watch this. The sentence has already been passed.

It just hasn't been executed yet. God has already said to this unbelieving world, you are condemned. Here's the verdict.

Guilty. When will the sentence be executed? I can't tell you. Only God knows.

That's why you and I are in the business of spreading good news. Here's a peculiar thing. We are ambassadors in enemy territory.

We don't belong here. Our citizenship is not here. It's up in heaven.

Our treasure is not here. It's up in heaven. Our glory is not down here.

It's up in heaven. The things that are most valuable to us are not down here. They're up in heaven.

What are we doing down here then? Helping other people get to heaven. The same Holy Spirit who came upon the church to bear witness of what the world had done to Jesus wants to bear witness through us that God forgives sinners. You know what's happened to us? We've gotten accustomed to that message.

That's what's happened. We're used to it. It's lost its thrill.

The battery has run down. It's old hat to us. And that's too bad because the Holy Spirit of God wants to make fresh and real to us that Jesus is alive and Jesus is ascended and Jesus is coming again.

And we're ambassadors of peace in a world at war with God. It's not only our missionary personnel who are out being ambassadors. Each of us is an ambassador.

Wherever you are, God wants to use you to say to people, look, God's not mad at you. God didn't declare war on you. You declared war on God.

God is reconciled to you. Are you reconciled to God? We are ambassadors of peace in a world at war with God and the world's living under condemnation. We Christians often pray, and rightly so, even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Why hasn't the Lord returned sooner? Why didn't Jesus come yesterday? Somewhere in some hospital in the city of Chicago, some dear saint is lying, suffering. Day after day is looking up in pain and saying, oh, even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Why didn't Jesus come? Peter tells us why.

The Lord is long-suffering to us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. You know why the Lord didn't come back yesterday? To give somebody here tonight a chance to be saved. God is long-suffering and patient.

I don't know how long his patience will continue. I wouldn't try his patience if I were you. Oh, if you've never been saved, come and give your heart to Christ.

Then look forward with us to that wonderful event when he shall come again and we shall go home forever to be with the Lord. Let's pray together. Gracious Father, we're thankful for the finished work of Christ, that he's gone back to heaven and now he is involved in his unfinished work.

Oh, Lord, how much there is for us to do. I pray in Jesus' name, work with us. As we go everywhere to share the word, oh, Lord, work with us for your glory.

Accomplish your will in our lives and in this church. And may we be able someday to say, Father, I have finished the work that you gave me to do. Oh, that's our heart's desire, Lord.

And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.