I hope you spend a lot of time thinking about the death of Jesus. I hope you ponder the awesome sacrifice of Christ for us. Some of you have taken communion recently and some haven't since the pandemic began, but this Christian rite is designed to help us remember the body broken for us and the blood shed for us.
But how much time do you spend thinking about the ascension of Jesus the Christ? Probably not a lot. I'm sure you spend ample time thinking about the resurrection of Jesus, as you should. But Jesus did more than die and rise again. He ascended.
We spend a lot of time drawing hope from the spilled blood of Jesus while largely ignoring the pumping blood of Jesus.
Jesus is a man with a heart pumping blood right now. Jesus is still 100% God and 100% man. His body is perfected, but He still is very much "God with skin on" today. Remember, Jesus didn't disappear and vanish into Heaven; no, He ascended as a man up into Heaven and the angels declared to His disciples that He would come back the same way, and they didn't simply mean through the sky. (Acts 1:9-11)
So what?
1) Our Hope is Living.
"Praise be the the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade... kept in Heaven for you..." 1 Peter 1:3-4
Our hope is not chiefly living for ever in Heaven (it is that). Our hope is the person Jesus. Jesus lives. When we believe the Gospel we get Jesus and therefore get the entire God-head. Our hope is not dead and gone but is living and kept in Heaven for us.
2) His Ascension Proves Ours.
When we die our souls will go to the present Heaven while our bodies stay on the present earth. On that day when the Gospel is completely culminated we will be like Jesus is now. We will be fully human. 100% pure spirit with 100% pure body, just as Jesus is right now. One of the great truths of the Bible, that we rehearse in immersive baptism, is that we get Christ's death, burial and bodily resurrection.
3) He's "God with Skin On" Interceding for us Right Now.
Jesus, the man, is our Great High Priest. He represents us to God daily. He speaks on our behalf as our praying lawyer every day. He has this role as a perfect, eternal man.
"Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them." Hebrews 7:23-25
4) His Reign as Our Savior King is Now.
I admit that sometimes it doesn't feel as though Jesus is reigning as King, but he certainly is. Notice the tense in the passage below.
"...Jesus Christ, who has gone into Heaven and is at God's right hand... with angels, authorities and powers in submission to Him." 1 Peter 3:21b-22
I'm not encouraging you to think of the spilled blood of Jesus any less. I don't know a single person that spends too much time dwelling on that. What I encourage you to do is to think about how Jesus the ascended man lives today and how He is for you.
Let that be your living hope today.
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