The Lord’s Message:  Four Reasons for the Ascension of Christ

The Lord’s Message:  Four Reasons for the Ascension of Christ
Date:  June 1, 2025
Where:  Tilghman Methodist Church
Scripture Reference:  Acts 1:1-11

            Today is Ascension Sunday.  Crickets.  Just what I thought would happen.  As Christians, we love to celebrate Easter and Christmas.  We find those two events in the life of Jesus the most important.  To us, Christ’s ascension to the throne of God is mostly inconsequential. 

            What if I were to give you four reasons that the Ascension of Christ is important to the church and to our very lives as followers of Jesus, would you then think differently about celebrating Ascension Sunday? 

            Let us pray.

The first reason for the Ascension is for Jesus to return to His glory.  Do you remember how Jesus ascended?  If we look in the Bible to Acts 1:9, it says that Jesus was taken up and a cloud hid Him from their sight.  So, Jesus is taken up into a cloud.  Now, this cloud was not an ordinary cloud.  This cloud was the Shekinah cloud.   Shekinah means the divine presence of God.  Anther place in the Bible that mentions this is when God gives Moses the Ten Commandments.  In Exodus 19:16-19, it is the Shekinah cloud that descends on Mt. Sinai.  At Jesus’ transfiguration, in Luke 9:34-35, it is the Shekinah cloud that speaks to Jesus and the disciples. 

            In John 17:1-5, Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane that, after He has completed God’s plan of salvation, He would return to Heaven to receive God’s glory. One of the attributes of God is glory.  The glory of God was manifested in the Shekinah clouds.  In Revelation 21:22-27, the Bible tells us that heaven is full of God’s glory.  Jesus’ ascension into heaven shows Jesus is returning to His glory. 

            The second reason for Jesus to ascend into heaven is for His coronation.  When Jesus ascends into heaven, He is not going there to rest, but to be coronated.  If we look at Revelation 5.  Jesus goes into heaven as the Lamb that is slain and is coronated as the Lion of Judah, the Root of David, the King of Kings.  After His coronation, Jesus is seated at the right hand of God the Father.  This is confirmed in Hebrews 1:3. 

            The third reason for Jesus to ascend into heaven is ro become our High Priest.  Now, when Jesus was coronated and took His place at the right hand of the God the Father, it was not for Him to sit up there and look pretty.  It was not for Him to judge people.  It was for him to be our High Priest.  The right hand of God is the mercy seat.  Paul confirms this in Romans 8:34. Jesus in interceding on our behalf.  The most important job of the High Priest was to offer sacrifices for himself and the people for forgiveness of sin, Leviticus 16:5-6.   In Hebrews 7:26-28, we are told that this was an imperfect system until Jesus came.  Jesus is our High Priest.  We can have confidence that, when we pray to Jesus, He hears our prayers and intercedes on our behalf.  As the Bible tell us in Hebrews 4:14-16. 

            Now that Jesus has returned to glory, He has been coronated King of Kings and He is our High Priest interceding on our behalf, we come to the fourth and final reason for Jesus to ascend into heaven, Pentecost.  Do you remember what Jesus said before He ascended into Heaven?  Acts 1:8. We are called to witness for Jesus.  If Jesus did not ascend into heaven, there would be no need for Jesus to call us to witness.  The reason for this is because everyone would have an opportunity to see Jesus.  Next Sunday, we will look at how we can become witnesses, or better witnesses, for Him. 

            I have heard people say that they would have liked to be alive when Jesus walked the face of this earth.  I am not sure this is a good idea.  You may think that is a strange statement for a pastor to make.  Hear me out.  Think of the advantages that we have over those who lived when Jesus lived.  First, we have a God who now understands what it is like to be human.  What it is like to face people who say mean things and do mean acts to you.  What it is like to have a friend betray you and the rest of your friends desert you in your hour of need.  What it is like to experience death: your loved one’s death and your own death.  Second, we have a God who experienced all of this and still did not sin, but instead He loved us so much He become an atonement for our sin.  Third, we have a God who is in heaven interceding for us on a daily basis.  Fourth, we have a God who is coming back as it says in Acts 1:11.  This time, when Jesus returns it will not be as a baby born in the manger.  It will not be as the Lamb that was slain.  It will be as the King of Kings who will rapture all the believers in Him to be with Jesus in heaven. 

            That is the day that I yearn to see.  I hope that is the day that you all yearn to see, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18.  Today, we celebrate Ascension Sunday, looking forward to the return of Christ. Continue to read your Bible, apply the Bible to your life and be the Bible for others. Amen.