Celebrating Jesus’ ascension is probably not a date that is circled on your calendar alongside Easter, Christmas, or even a Memorial Day cookout. It certainly is not on my calendar. Perhaps one of the most under-applied pieces of doctrine in our churches today is the topic of Christ’s ascension to His heavenly throne, to the right hand of God the Father.
After all, that’s up in Heaven, so why does that matter for me, on a Wednesday, stuck in Quarantine?
Thankfully, it matters plenty. There are at least five vital foundations we receive for our lives today that are illustrated in the ascension of Jesus Christ to His throne in the heavens.
Jesus’s ascension means that His work was completed in full.
Jesus’s ascension means that His work of mediation began.
Jesus’s ascension means that His current reign is absolute.
Jesus’s ascension means that resurrection and judgement are coming.
Jesus’s ascension means that our lives are heaven directed and heaven-kept.
The Ascension shows that Jesus’s Payment was full and complete.
As we see Jesus ascend to the Father’s side, we can rejoice as His people that His work of paying for our sin is complete and perfect, as seen in Hebrews 10:
When Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Heb. 10:12-14
Jesus’ payment for your sin is complete. He can sit down on His throne because He has no more payment to render, no more sacrifices to complete! This means that we, too, can stand in bold confidence that Jesus Christ has made us wholly and eternally acceptable to God.
Jesus Ascended to mediate on our behalf before the throne.
Furthermore, as we see Jesus ascend to the Father’s side, we see him mediating on our behalf. (1 John 2:1). Even more, we know that even in our daily struggle against sin, Jesus is our ready and willing intercessor between us and God.
…He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
(Heb. 7:25)
When we sin, and we feel condemnation, we remember that Jesus stands ready to forgive, ready to intercede, and happily does so! This is all because he now is at the Father’s side, still fully God and still fully man, the perfect mediator and intercessor.
Jesus’s ascension: His current and absolute sovereign reign
Jesus’ ascension reminds us that His reign is current and absolute. Even amidst the confusion of our day, Jesus Christ has an unshakeable throne, higher than any other. There is nothing outside of His hand or outside of His control. There are no rogue molecules or atoms in the universe that somehow feel into the hands of random chance or the Devil’s control. Not only did He disarm the principalities on the cross or triumph over them in the resurrection, he also ascended above them to the kingly throne where he right now reigns over them.
“…through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”
1 Peter 3:22
Even more, we know that Jesus the king will return as Jesus the almighty judge. “In this body he also ascended into heaven, where he sits at the right hand of His Father, interceding. He will return to judge men and angels at the end of the age.” (LBCF 8.4)
All evil, all corrupt rulers, all sin, all the injustice we currently mourn and grieve, will one day be rectified and judged by the one who has ascended to the highest throne. The next time we are tempted to worry over corruption and injustice, we must remember that it never, ever, slips out of the sight of the soon coming judgement (or restoration) of all things. As Christians, we can do nothing but rejoice in this reality, as we have no reason to fear His judgement, because we know that we have been made pure and forgiven!
Our Lives are Hidden in the Ascended Christ
Finally, and maybe most importantly, we know that Jesus’s ascension reminds us that our lives are heaven-directed and heaven-kept.
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Col. 3:1–4
You’ve died. Your life is no longer Earth-bound. As a matter of fact, your life is now hidden in Christ! There is no better news for us to hear! Our lives are hidden with Christ in God. So long as Jesus lives, so do we! We couldn’t be more secure, more well-kept, more intimately safe or close to God.
Even more, we direct our lives to heaven—living out the Word we have received from heaven itself. We do so with the complete confidence that there is absolutely nothing that can ever remove us from God’s hand. There is nothing that can endanger our lives. Why? Because of one amazing truth:
Our lives are hidden in Jesus Christ, the ascended mediator and king, seated on His throne at the right hand of God the Father.
Author: David Appelt
David Appelt is husband to Rachel and serves at Maranatha Community Church in Pickerington, OH. He graduated from Capital University with an emphasis on Music Ministry. He plans on pursuing church planting and academic ministry in the future.