Weekly Devotional 10th of May, 2024
by Bruce Billington
Weekly Devotional 10th of May, 2024
There has not been anywhere near enough teaching on the Ascension. The Christian calendar typically follows a portion of the church calendar; Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter are celebrated. Yet Ascension Day is passed by without even a glance. This devotional celebrates this important event which occurs 39 days after Easter.
The Ascension gets very little attention, yet it has much to offer us if we take the time to explore it. It occurs thirty-nine days after Easter Sunday. Douglas Farrow said,
It is remarkable how little mention the ascension gets these days. Once it was seen as the climax of the mystery of Christ.… Today it is something of an embarrassment.
It refers to Jesus going up from earth into heaven. He takes up His seat at the right hand of the Father and will come back to judge the living and the dead.
By ascending, Christ is not absent in the fullest sense. Rather, His presence is merely known in a different way. Farrow writes,
“The ascended Lord is not everywhere … but he is everywhere accessible.”
As Jesus ascended, He received power. Through rising, He empowered His people and unified them under His sovereign voice. The ascension was the pinnacle of Christ’s earthly work. It not only confirms His work but also continues His work. He once laboured on the earth; now He labours in heaven. He serves in the heavenly sanctuary as the Levites served on the earth. We have gained a High Priest who works in the heavenly realm. His vocation is not finished, but it is based on His accomplished sacrifice.
The ascension is the triumph of the King. Certainly, Jesus had authority on the earth: He forgave sins and overpowered the demonic forces. But at His ascent, Jesus received power over the whole cosmos and was installed as the King of both heaven and earth. Jesus could say while He was on the earth, “You will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64 ESV). This is a future-tense statement, implying a distinction between His authority on earth and His authority in heaven.
At His ascension, Jesus appeared before the Ancient of Days and was given all dominion. He was set on the holy hill and declared to be God’s Son. He was given the right-hand throne and a new name to which every knee will bow. His true reign began at his ascent. Now He rules in a different sense over the powers of darkness because He has been installed to the place they desired. He also became the ruler of the world and church because He sits in the throne room of God as the one exalted far above every king this world has ever seen.
He rules as the God-Man, the Davidic king, the Son of Man and the Son of God. God has exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).
The ascension was also the proclamation of a new beginning. By virtue of Christ’s session, He has been made “head over all things” (Ephesians 1:22). When Christ was installed, his Kingly work was not finished – in some ways, it began. Though Christ had authority on the earth, only after His resurrection and ascension did He receive “dominion and glory and a kingdom so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him” (Daniel 7:14 CSB).
In time all His enemies will be under His feet. He governs the world, but His rule is most manifest in and through His church. It is His state, His assembly, His body politic. At His ascent, Jesus became the head of the church. Ephesians 1:20–22 affirms it was when God seated Christ at His right hand that He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church.
Hebrews 7:25 affirms Christ always lives to make intercession for believers. Romans 8:34 states Christ “is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” This intercession is usually understood in the form of petitions. He pleads on behalf of His people, and the Father always hears Him. The prayers of our Lord are continual and unceasing on our behalf.
On earth, His people are empowered to carry on His work because Christ’s presence is mediated to them by the Holy Spirit. We need to accept this calling and continually be a witness to the fact that the Kingdom of God has come upon this earth.
God bless you.
Bruce Billington