Tucked away on a Thursday within the fifty days of Easter, ten days before Pentecost Sunday, is Ascension Day. Holy Week at the end of Lent leading up to Easter Sunday receives a great deal of attention in the church. Many churches will even observe some form of Ash Wednesday and, possibly, Shrove Tuesday to kick off the Lenten. However, Ascension Day comes and goes in many of our churches without much of a second thought. Maybe we push its recognition to the following Sunday, but you just don’t hear that much about Ascension Day. Besides, who wants to meet on Thursday?
Is it really that big of a deal in Scripture? Luke draws attention to the historical event of the Ascension of Christ at the end of his Gospel and the beginning of Acts, but I suppose we have to know the history of the resurrected Christ before the church received the Spirit. The Ascension only takes up a few verses in Scripture, right? Not really. The historical record of Jesus’ ascension only takes a few short passages, but ascension is a major theme in Scripture that Jesus takes up and fulfills.
Last week, I wrote about “the elements of the world” (Col 2:8, 20; see also Gal 4:3) being the whole world arranged under angelic rule. These are the principalities and powers to which Paul refers in his letters to the Ephesians and Colossians. Angels were tutors or guides for man in his immaturity, leading man to maturity. When the time was right and man matured, God would exalt man over the angels. Man would ascend above the angels and take his rightful rule over the nations. (You can read more about this at https://kuyperian.com/angels/ .)
From the beginning, God’s plan for man was to ascend to rule the earth, replacing angelic rule. This rule is the glory to which man was destined but fell short of due to sin. Ascension was always the purpose and plan for man. Therefore, Jesus’ mission from the start was to ascend to sit at the right hand of the Father and rule the nations until all his enemies were made his footstool.
The story of the Ascension was prefigured in one of the regular offerings at the Temple called “the ascension” (see Lev 1; “burnt offering” is improperly translated; it should be “ascension”). As mentioned, every promise for God’s Son to rule the nations was a promise of ascension, and those promises are peppered throughout Scripture in direct statements as well as types and shadows. Jesus humbled himself and became obedient unto the death of the cross in order for the Father to exalt him (Phil 2:5-11). The immeasurable power that God has for his people was demonstrated in the resurrection of Christ and seating Christ at his right hand “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” (Eph 1:20-21). Jesus was exalted above the angels and crowned with glory and honor (Heb 1—2). Jesus’ ascension to glory fulfilled the destiny of man. Ascension was the point of it all.
Where the church has a paltry or non-existent understanding of the Ascension, we lose perspective. “Jesus is Lord” is mentally translated as “Jesus is Lord of my life, and I hope you make him your Lord too.” “Jesus is Lord” is relegated to an individual experience of salvation but says little to nothing about the world around me. The Ascension tells us that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus (Mt 28:18). He rules everything, and everything must conform to his will. The leaders of all nations must “kiss the Son” lest he be angry and destroy them with a rod of iron (Ps 2). Your individual and family life must consciously submit to Jesus’s lordship, but so must every facet of society. The claims of Jesus’ lordship must be pressed upon each individual heart as well as every legislative body. Why? Because Jesus has ascended.
