HAPPY ASCENSION THURSDAY!
That’s right. Today marks forty days
after the resurrection of Jesus (counting Easter Sunday). It still appears on
the calendars of some liturgical churches.
It has long been a wonder to me that
this day is not given at least a nod even in non-liturgical circles. After all,
without the ascension of Jesus into heaven, all His finished work at Calvary
would not have been applied. The check written on our behalf would never have
been cashed.
Part of the difficulty may lie in
our inability to imagine a busy heaven. When we think of Jesus now, we tend to
revert back to Isaiah’s vision[1]
or jump ahead to the revelations given to the apostle John[2].
Often, we think of these scenes as business-as-usual in the present capitol of
the Kingdom.
Scripture gives indications that
things besides throne-room assemblies take place there. Psalm 24 is generally
seen as a prophetic description of the celebration on the other side of the
cloud behind which Jesus passed at the Mount of Olives[3].
Hebrews describes Jesus as actively engaged as
our high priest, making sure that the blood He shed will not fail to protect
the believing sinner from the holy wrath of paid-for sin[4].
Romans 8:33-34 describes Jesus
answering specific accusations of Satan against those for whom He has died.
First Timothy 2:5 speaks of Jesus in
an ongoing role as our mediator, maintaining the reconciled status between
mortals and the Father.
The ministry of Jesus as our
Advocate in First John 2:1-2 implies some kind of action.
Jesus’ reference to preparing a
place for His apostles and those who believe their witness[5]
begs me to imagine a meaningful bustling about.
To object that we don’t have enough
information to develop such imagery is to forget that much of the Christmas
narrative is based on what we imagine “could have happened”. And, we have done
the same with the ordeal of Calvary and with the privately brilliant explosion
of the resurrection event.
Somehow, someway the heaven-dwelling Jesus is so actively engaged with His Father and His Spirit, that we may assume communication which includes the well-being and the eventual arrival of each redeemed soul. In the process, there is the sending of angels hither and thither on errands personally tailored for those believers[6]. Mention should also be made that one of the very first evidences of the heaven-centered activity occurred ten days after Jesus’ arrived[7]. Nor should we forget the special vision given to Stephen – the vision of Jesus standing to receive him as his accusers gathered stones to dispatch him.
As days of persecution are oozing
from far-off lands to our own shores, we would do well to talk with each other about
Jesus present activities on our behalf and their relationship to the finished
work of Calvary. Our Father and our Elder brother are not spectators. They are
busy, and, perhaps our brethren who have gone ahead will have stories to tell
us when we arrive.
So…yes…
HAPPY
ASCENSION THURSDAY !
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