Verse 50 through verse 53, Luke
chapter 24, our subject today, the ascension of our Lord into
heaven. And you know, if you think about
it, I don't hear a lot of preaching on the ascension of our Lord
today and down through the ages. It seems like it's kind of been
a neglected doctrine, but it is a vital one and it is part
of our Lord's saving process. So in Luke chapter 24, and verse
50 to the end and he led them out as far as to Bethany and
he lifted up his hands and blessed them and it came to pass while
he blessed them he was parted from them carried up into heaven
and they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and
were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen. Luke, or rather Mark chapter
16 verse 19 So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he
was received up into heaven, and he sat on the right hand
of God. And they went forth, and priests
everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the
word with signs, wonders, and miracles." So today, we're looking
at the ascension of our Lord back to heaven. If one studies
in John 17 that great prayer of our Lord as he closed out
the upper room discourses, they will find that he brushed very
close to this subject, that he would be restored to the glory
that he had with the Father before the world began because he had
finished the work that the Father had given him to do. But now
we look at it more extensively in our message of the morning.
We find that as the Lord neared closer to the time of his death,
he began to prepare his disciples for his coming death and burial
at the hand of the Jew and of the Roman. And there were two
things that he seemed to emphasize to them over and over. Number one, that he would be
betrayed by a friend, that he would be rejected by Israel,
that he would be condemned, killed, crucified at Jerusalem, and indeed
he was. And the second thing is that
he would live again after three days, that he would return to
the right hand of the father and In his absence bodily, he
would send unto them another comforter, a paraclete, that
he might have comfort. and guide them. And in both of
these doctrines, the disciples were very slow to believe. They could not really understand. They were slow to understand
what our Lord was actually saying, that He would actually die and
be killed in Jerusalem. And they heard Him speak of His
death. And in Mark, for example, chapter
9, verse 32, They understood not that saying and were afraid
to ask him. Were afraid to bring it up, afraid
to ask him about it. Again, in John chapter 16, at
the close of the upper room, discourses unto them the Lord
told them that he would go away but that he would send them another
comforter which would abide with them forever and yet they could
not at that time grasp the full meaning or the significance of
those words of our Lord. And you see that in John 16,
verse 16 through verse 21, their reaction. Thus to accommodate
their lack of understanding, the Lord graciously and wonderfully
managed his departure to their understanding and to their profit
and to their use and belief. In that, number one, he did not
ascend immediately and directly to heaven forever after he arose
out of the grave from the dead. But he appeared unto them on
different occasion before the ascension and confirmed that
he indeed was alive again from the dead. And he did that to
confirm them. Secondly, He granted them the
privilege of being an eyewitness of his actual ascension to the
right hand of God in heaven. And we notice that both Mark
and Luke close out their gospel with a very brief account of
the ascension. as well as the fuller account
that we have in Acts chapter 1, verse 8 through 11. And ere
he ascended, the Lord blessed them, he comforted them, He spoke
well unto them. He promised unto them the Holy
Spirit, Acts 1 and verse 8. Then he was taken up out or in
their sight, and a cloud received him out of their sight and into
heaven, Acts 1, verse 10 and 11. Not only that, but two angels
of God appeared and tell them that this same Jesus which was
taken up from you shall so come in like manner as you have seen
him go into heaven. And the message there is twice
repeated. He is gone into heaven. He is not whisked away into another
place or another country upon the face of the earth. He's not
just simply moved from one location unto another. He is not transferred
to some other place to continue a life upon the earth. I think
you might remember in Second Kings the case there of Elijah
and Elisha when Elisha was taken up, or Elijah, was taken up in
a whirlwind into heaven out of the sight of Elisha. Remember
what the people said. They wanted to send out a search
party. Quote, lest peradventure the
spirit of the Lord has taken him and has cast him upon some
mountain or into some valley. unquote, as if he had been simply
yanked up and let down in another place upon the earth. We also
remember Enoch, that great example, in the book of Genesis chapter
5, who walked with God and was not because the Lord took him
away into heaven. We have mention of that also
in the book of Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 5. So such a translation
almost defies the belief that one might be standing at one
minute upon the earth and caught up and snatched up and taken
out and taken into heaven and that alive off of the face of
the earth. But seeing the Lord go up, exactly
as he had said, no doubt confirmed the faith of the disciples and
apostles in the ascension of the Lord. Now concerning that
ascension, what are the implications that our Lord has gone into heaven
after his death, burial, and resurrection. What are the related
doctrine that are attached unto this? Has Christ gone into heaven,
having finished his work, there to sit down and to do nothing
forever? Or has the Lord gone into heaven,
having finished his sacradotal work upon the earth, and turned
the matter of the salvation of the elect over to the Holy Spirit
like Elijah did unto Elisha. How do we know? that the Lord
Jesus Christ has actually entered, has reached heaven? How do we
know that he has arrived, that he is with the Father? And I
would submit to you in answering that question that, as Peter
suggested, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was and is an
indisputable confirmation that he not only has gone into heaven,
but that he has carrying on his mediatorial ministry even in
heaven. Consider Acts chapter 2 and verse
33 when Peter tells his hearers, those gathered at Pentecost,
that what had just happened had been accomplished by the risen
and the exalted Christ. That pouring out of the Spirit,
that great phenomenon, was a result of Jesus Christ having been exalted
and receiving from the Father the promise, Peter said, He has
shed forth this which you now see and hear. That is, the Holy
Spirit has come in fulfillment of the promise of our Lord. First
of all, let us remember the times that the Lord did promise to
send the Holy Spirit upon his people, upon his church. John
14, 16 through 18, he said, I will pray the Father. He will give
you another comforter that he may abide with you forever, even
the spirit of truth to dwell in you. I will not leave you
comfortless, or the margin has orphans. I will not leave you
orphaned. I will come again in the form
and the work of the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 14 and verse
26, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, When the Father will send in
my name, he shall teach you all things. He shall lead you, he
shall guide you into all truth. John 15 and verse 26, when the
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father. In John 16 and
verse 7, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient. Some render that profitable.
It is profitable. It is to your advantage that
I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. He had said back in verse 5,
I am going my way to him that sent me and none of you are asking
me where are you going. This seems to be a rebuke unto
them. He is constantly telling them. that he would leave the world,
that he would leave the world first by dying and secondly by
being exalted to the right hand of the father. And yet they had
not sought from him a fuller understanding of it. Sure it
is true that Peter had asked him In John chapter 13 and 36,
Lord, where are you going? Whither do you go? Where are
you going? And Thomas' response was, in
John 14 and 5, we know not where you are going. How can we know
the way? The Jews in John 7 and verse
35, where will he go? that we cannot find him. So there was not in their mind
yet a clarity about the ascension of our Lord returning again unto
heaven. The Lord must depart the world,
not only by death, but by entering again into that glory that he
had with the Father before the world began. And the fullness
of the Spirit came upon the day of Pentecost. It was expedient
on several accounts that the Lord enter into heaven and there
dwell at the right hand of God upon his throne. We'll consider
soon such as to intercede, to present himself before the Father,
to act the part of our great high priest, to be the advocate
or the lawyer for his people, and so forth. All of those are
carried on by the Lord at the right hand of God. And overall,
to be the administrator of the covenant, that you might administrate
that covenant under the salvation of the elect and the perfection
of the will of God. But there is also a close connection
between the glorification of the Lord and the effusion of
the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, as well as between the atonement
and the resurrection and regeneration and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Those have a close connection. Consider the passage in John
chapter 7, 37 through 39. Mysterious words, they might
appear, and they did unto some that heard. The words of Jesus. spoken in the end of the Feast
of Tabernacle as that feast was drawing to an end. Our Lord said
and said loudly and in the hearing of many these words. He that
believes on me out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living
water and verse 39. is an expository footnote by
John and how often John does that in his gospel. This spake
he of the spirit, that is, when the Lord spoke of thirsting and
drinking, and believing, and of a river of water flowing out
of their innermost being, John explains to us that he was speaking
of the Spirit of God. This, he said, concerning the
Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and the graces which the Spirit of
God instilled and impart, and to such as believe on him and
would later believe upon him. And then John makes a statement
that is both amazing and perplexing as we look at it at face value. And in his explanatory fashion,
John connects the giving of the spirit with the glorification
of the God-man, same in John 7, and verse 39. And listen carefully to these
words, John 7 and 39. The Spirit was not yet given,
because Jesus was not yet glorified. Now, you note in the King James
Version, the translators have added the word given as a supplement. The Holy Spirit was not yet,
for Jesus was not yet glorified. But it would be an error on our
part to conclude that John is saying that the Holy Spirit was
not yet or then in existence. For He is the eternal Spirit
of God. He is everlasting as is the Father
and the Son. For the Spirit is He that breathed
upon creation. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 2. He is the one that inspired the
writing of the Old Testament prophet and servants and men
of God. He is the one who conceived the
humanity of the Lord Jesus in the womb of the Virgin, Luke
1 and verse 35. So John is simply establishing
the connection between the effusion of the Spirit and the glorification
of the Lord Jesus. just as the sun existed before
the incarnation, but was not yet fully manifested on the earth
until his incarnation. So the spirit existed eternally,
but was not yet so fully manifested until Jesus was glorified and
the time had come. And what might Jesus or John
have in mind as being the glorification of the God-man? How was Jesus
glorified? What does it consist of that
our Lord was glorified? It occurred in connection with
the ascension, in his removal from the earth and into heaven. And how could it better be summed
up than the words of the great Puritan writer John Owen. Number one, the glorification
of his humanity occurred at that time, and that the humanity of
the Lord was not jettisoned in his ascension into heaven. He was not separated from it,
did not throw it off to enter again into heaven, but he has
taken it in perpetual subsistence with himself as the God-man and
was glorified. Secondly, there is his mediatorial
exaltation by which, as Peter said, he was made Lord and Christ. in the second chapter of Acts
and verse 36. He is given a name above every
name, Philippians 2, 9 through 11. He is highly exalted is the
word of scripture. John Eady called this a supreme
exaltation, unquote. And the word exalted in Philippians
chapter 2 and verse 9 means to raise up, to elevate, to advance
above others, to give a very high position to. And that's
what our Lord received. And Paul thinks it good, and
so he doubles it. Not just exalted, but highly
exalted. And this exaltation is just not
height or distance or mile. It's not measured in that manner,
but it is honor. It is glory. It is power. It is authority. It's sovereignty. It's lordship. It's might. It's dominion that was invested
in our Lord as he exercises his mediatorial sovereignty over
the purpose of God. Now concerning the words in John
7 and verse 39, making the connection between the coming of the Spirit
of God in His fullness and the glorification of the Lord Jesus. One of the best commentaries
on that is the passage, I think, in Acts chapter 2 and verse 33,
that at the Feast of Tabernacle, the Spirit had not yet been diffused
in His fullness, because the Lord had not yet been glorified. While at Pentecost, the Holy
Spirit came as a result of our Lord having died, risen, ascended,
and being exalted to the right hand of God. And then, and in
that condition and position, he poured out the Spirit on the
day of Pentecost, highly exalted. And Peter's points there are
this. Yes, he was put to death, but
he saw no corruption during his time in the grave and was raised
again without it. And where is this one now? at the right hand of God, highly
exalted. And consider, when our surety,
the Lord, was let out of prison, that is, when he came out of
the grave, it was proof that he had, number one, paid our
debt, and number two, that God had accepted that as due and
full payment. And when the Spirit came in the
manner of Pentecost, In Acts chapter 2, it was confirmation
that our Lord had been received into heaven and exalted as a
mighty sovereign. Now before we go to other aspects
of the ascension of our Lord, let's consider a puzzling text
maybe to you, certainly to me, found in John chapter 20. Here's a quick summation of the
events immediately following the resurrection of our Lord. John 20, in verse 1, Mary Magdalene
A faithful disciple of our Lord came early to the grave. And when she arrived, she found
the stone rolled away and the grave empty. No body, no Lord
there. Verse 2, she goes to tell Peter
and John immediately. She goes to those who are pillars
in the Jerusalem church and recounts for them. In verse 3 through
verse 10, they hasten to the grave, and they find nothing
but the grave clothes of our Lord, and they return home again. Then in verse 11 through 18,
Mary has an encounter with the Lord, whom she did not recognize. She took him to be the gardener,
perhaps tending the garden. Verse 16, Jesus calls her by
name. She recognizes him. And in Hebrew,
calls him rabboni, or master, or teacher. And Gil thought that
the word signified master, lord of the world. And some are of
the opinion that in her excitement at seeing him alive again, and
out of the grave she might have fallen. and grasped the Lord's
feet, and began to hold him, and to worship him, and to weep,
and to rejoice. Demonstrated her enthusiasm with
a show of grasping our Lord, or whatever. Because some versions
of the scripture, such as the New Geneva Study Bible, render
the first words of verse 17 this way. Do not cling to me or stop
clinging unto me. And the reason he gives is not
so easy for me to explain. It's proven by the fact that
most of the expositors also don't have a lot to say on this verse. They spend a little bit of time
on it. And he says, don't cling to me. For I ascend not yet to the Father. But you go and you tell my brethren
that I ascend to my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and
to your God. Because a short time later, he
did allow Thomas to touch him and feel him in the prints of
the nail. Some have concluded between the
two events, the Lord ascended to heaven as if to present his
sacrifice and blood there before the God of salvation and then
returned again. But this does not suit most Calvinistic
expositors as the footnote in the New Geneva Bible John 20,
17 has this to say, quote, there is no reason to suppose that
Jesus ascended to the Father between his encounter with Mary
and encounter with Thomas, unquote. The question is, can we get inside
of the mind of Mary at what she saw and what she did and whether
we are helped by the words of the Lord under her or not. Her fault was not that she would
worship or that she would honor or that she would glorify the
risen Lord and even that she touched him or that there was
anything inappropriate. and unseemly or untoward in touching
him. For shortly thereafter, in Matthew
chapter 28, 9, he allowed women, plural, to hold him by the feet
and to worship him. And John 20, 27, he allowed Thomas
to touch his hand and to touch his side in that room where he
appeared. Now the words of Jesus, I believe,
give us a strong hint as to the mind of Mary. For what it is
worth, Methinks that those expositors are on the right trail and are
nearest to the mark who think that perhaps Mary saw no further
than the resurrection. that Mary saw no further than
the fact that Jesus had risen from the dead. And Jesus knew
her mind, and he knew it perfectly. And he graciously corrects her
in the matter, as if she thought her Lord and Master would, now
that he was alive. remain and continue upon the
earth and perhaps just pick up where he had left off, as if
he would be as before and never go away again from them, as if
his resurrection was the fullness of his exaltation that he spoke
about. After all, he had said that he
would die and that he would rise again. Now that he had gotten
up out of the tomb, perhaps as Richard Sibbes wrote in his commentary,
quote, Mary was too much addicted to the bodily presence of the
Lord, unquote. She and also his, quote, brethren,
unquote, must come to the knowledge that Jesus, by dying, and living
again, had entered into the next phase of his mediatorial work
according to the purpose of God. For after his resurrection and
ascension, he is entered into Shall we call it the second phase
of his mediatorial or his priestly work in our behalf? Remember
the Old Testament high priest? Not only it made the sacrifice,
but he carried the blood in behind the veil to the Holy of Holies
and there sprinkled it in that particular place upon the mercy
seat. And as the priest went into the
tabernacle, he went out of the presence and the sight of the
people in the courtyard, but he was nevertheless engaged in
a work in their behalf before the presence of God as the high
priest of Israel. Thus the Lord sent the message
that he would ascend. And where he would ascend is
clearly stated. To my Father, to my God, and
to your God. Indeed, he was raised up into
glory in 1 Timothy 3, 16. But not to be idle. but to make intercession. Romans
8 and verse 34. This verse is a part of Paul's
declaration that there is no condemnation to them who are
in Jesus Christ. For the premise in Romans 8 verse
32 that God giving his son the greater gift he therefore will
give us all things that pertain unto that in verse 33 that God's
elect cannot be charged with sin as God hath justified them
then in verse 34 As John Murray wrote, Romans 8, the apostle
turns our thought to the security that belongs to God's elect by
reason of what Christ has done and continues to do, unquote. What he has done and what he
continues to do. It contains, verse 34, four aspects.
of the saving work of Christ. Here they are. A. He died for
us. B. He is risen again. C. He is ascended to the right hand
of God. And D. He also maketh intercession. He died, he's risen, he ascended,
and he is an intercessor. Now, this confirms the fact that
our soul's interests are better served with Christ glorified
and in heaven than still in the body of flesh on the earth. Consider Hebrews 7 and verse
25, having an unchangeable, or literally, and intransmissible
priesthood. He got it from no other. It will
pass to no other. On that ground, he is able to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever lived to make intercession for them in their behalf. And
to repeat something said earlier, that being that the actual present
or intercession of our high priest in heaven at the right hand of
God is, as Owen put it, in the second act of his sacerdotal
office, a fundamental article of our faith and a principal
foundation of the church of our Lord. Actually, the saints have
two intercessors, as we learn from Paul in Romans. We have
the Spirit of God who makes intercession for us with prayers and yearning
that we cannot utter or know what to utter. And we have an
intercessor at the right hand of God, even the Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. So that means that our salvation
cannot miscarry. It cannot miscarry at any point. or at any place. It cannot miscarry. As sinners, we're saved by the
dead, the resurrection. As believers, we are preserved
by his life and his sacrifice and his intercession, in that
he ever lives to make intercession for us. The high priest interceded
for the people. He had the tribes upon his breastplate. as he went in before the Lord
to make intercession in their behalf. Now the sure and certain
eternal salvation is laid in. Number one, the eternal purpose
of God. Number two, the death, burial,
resurrection, and intercession of our Lord. But what if we sin,
someone may say. What if we are taken in a fall
or we sin in spite of our desire not to sin and our trying to
live holy and sanctified unto the Lord. Our praying for victory
over sin that we'd be led not into temptation. What if in spite
of all of that, we still sin and we do? Well, thank God, 1
John chapter 2, verse 1 and 2, if any sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. Who is that? It is Jesus Christ,
and he's called the righteous. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, the one who is
the propitiation for our sin, who has made a sacrifice. And the intercessory life of
Christ is a comfort to the saint in time of temptation and in
sin and in our weakness. We have an advocate, one with
the Father, one in the heaven, one who pleads our case against
any accusation and deflects any charge from being lodged against
us to our guilt. He represents us before the bar
of Almighty God. We have an advocate with the
Father. Now the only intercessor we have
in heaven is the Lord. His only ground or reason of
intercession is his death and his burial and the fact that
he has put away our sin. No, he does not plead our personal
worthiness. He does not plead that before
the Father, not at all. He pleads the merit of his atonement
and of his person. And that is our great high priest. He pleads before our Lord. So the Lord has entered into
heaven. not to be idle, but to be our
constant mediator and intercessor, and has given us another intercessor
to dwell in us in this earthly journey, the Spirit of God. Two intercessors do we have,
one in heaven and one within us. the Lord Jesus and the Spirit
of Grace. Thank God for that doctrine then
of the intercession. And it's typified in the Old
Testament by the high priest going in.