Young Men, Consider the Ascended Jesus

“[Jesus] left them and was taken up into heaven”

(Luke 24:51, NIV)

The ascension of our Lord directs attention to the fact that He is not only risen, but enthroned. It is that event in which the risen Christ finally and visibly withdrew from His disciples and passed into the heavens – a fitting climax to His life of perfect obedience on earth. His glorious ascension was the necessary and appropriate complement to His resurrection, and the manner in which it took place was consistent with His miraculous life and achievements.

He did not vanish out of sight as He did at Emmaus (Luke 24:31) leaving a question as to whether there might be yet further appearances. He walked away from them, and then He was carried up into heaven, there to sit at the right hand of God. It took place as they were looking on, in broad daylight (Acts 1:9). There was no possibility of mistake. He was really and finally gone.

He ascended bodily, and carried His glorified human body into heaven. He left the disciples, with His hands outstretched in blessing. As soon as His nail-pierced feet left the earth, He commenced His ministry as their Advocate and Intercessor. They exchanged His physical presence for His spiritual omnipresence.

The ascension was an important part of the Lord’s ministry on our behalf. It imparted the assurance that His death was effective and that all God’s claims against sinful men had been met. It evidenced the fact that the problem created by man’s sin had been finally solved. It enabled His disciples to give a satisfying account of the disappearance of Christ’ body from the tomb.

Further, it was the necessary prelude to the coming of the Holy Spirit as promised by the Lord. As the Scriptures says, “the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:39). Now the way was open for the Pentecostal effusion. By the ascension, the local Christ became the universal Christ whose personal presence was mediated by the Holy Spirit.

To Christ, it was the reward of His obedience unto death. “Therefore God exalted Him…” (Philippians 2:9). The ascension reversed man’s verdict on the Son of God. Had the Saviour not ascended, we would be without a representative in heaven, and without the Comforter to lead and guide us on earth. His presence in heaven makes heaven a blessed reality to us. Amen.

[Edited, modified and modernized from Consider Him (1976) by J. Oswald Sanders]

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus the Righteous Advocator, is Our Habitual-Sin Breaker (1 John 2:1-2)

“My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins – and not only our sins but the sins of all the world” (1 John 1:1-2, NLT).

Apostle John here begins with his familiar greeting, “My dear children.” Now that you’re not a child anymore, I know, you probably don’t like to be referred to as a child. If your name is Richard (as mine is), you may prefer to be called Rich or Chard, rather than Richie, if that was your childhood name (mine is Pan). Most of us want to be called names that show we are no longer children. But John doesn’t mean to put us down but because he was quite old when he wrote this letter and because of his special affection for us since we are part of God’s family, he called us his children. We’re part of John’s family and we – all true Christians – are God’s family as well. Brothers and sisters in Christ.

I want to highlight this: “I am writing this to you so that you will not sin” because it creates some confusion for some people and some have interpreted this to mean that it is possible in this life not to sin. Wrong. But let’s put this thought in perspective. Remember, in chapter 1, John said that the person who claimed to be without sin was really not telling the truth; sin marks our lives from beginning to end. We must not conclude that we might as well sin as much as we want because God is always there to forgive us. This is an error. John reminds us that such a lax or casual attitude toward sinning is not what God wants for us. When I look at this verse in the original language (Greek), I found that what John is actually saying is that we should stop – habitually sinning or the habit of sinning again and again. In other words, we should stop making sin a habit.

But Apostle John knew that as human beings we often fail. Even though we should aim to stop making sin a habit, we know that when we do sin we have a way to deal with it. Jesus Christ is like a bridge that will bring us back to God. John here is talking in legal terms. Here Jesus is referred to as our “advocate” (Some versions translate as “intercessor”). In other words, Jesus, in this sense, becomes like a lawyer, “pleads our case before the Father.” Even when we sin, Jesus does not lose interest in us. He does not condemn us and walk away; instead, He keeps on serving as our “intercessor” or “defense” before God (see Hebrews 7:25).

John also explains in a little more detail what he is saying. Back in the Old Testament times, the Jewish people had to offer special sacrifices to be forgiven and restored to God. But with Jesus’ death (and resurrection) he became “the sacrifice that atones for our sins”. Through the laying down of His life, we can be brought back into a relationship with God. And it’s a gift – God’s grace – no strings attached. Only true Christians will understand this, and they will not play around with God’s grace. All we have to do is to repent, confess and accept it (see also John 3:16). So, Jesus brings us into a full, joyful, and exciting life in which we know we are loved by God. No other religions are as sure as the salvation and forgiveness of sin in Christ alone.

Jesus is also the great “habit breaker” when it comes to the habit of sinning again and again. Some of us may find that there are certain sins that we keep committing again and again. But with the encouragement and help of God, we can work to break these bad habits. Assurance seals in the blood of Jesus. Amen.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.