{"id":4376,"date":"2013-05-09T16:35:23","date_gmt":"2013-05-09T16:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christcommunitychurch.com\/blog\/?p=4376"},"modified":"2013-05-09T16:35:23","modified_gmt":"2013-05-09T16:35:23","slug":"the-ascension-of-our-lord-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/christcommunitychurch.com\/blog\/2013\/05\/09\/the-ascension-of-our-lord-101\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ascension of our Lord, 101"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today especially we celebrate the ascension of Jesus, a date marked out 40 days after his resurrection, when he departed from earth and returned bodily to heaven (Luke 24:50\u201353<\/a>,\u00a0Acts 1:9\u201311<\/a>). Three helps in learning\/relearning\/delighting in the this wondrous part of Christ’s redemptive work.<\/p>\n

1.) On first glance, Jesus rising up in the clouds may seem like something out of a Monty Python skit. It\u2019s perhaps a little difficult to understand, maybe even a little bizarre to grasp, and even more difficult to apply. And yet the ascension of Jesus carries with it a full range of implications for our lives, something we discover in today\u2019s episode of the\u00a0Authors on the Line<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>podcast.<\/p>\n

2.) Jim Packer<\/span> <\/strong>(dude was en fuego when he wrote Concise Theology)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. LUKE 24:51<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Jesus\u2019 ascension was his Father\u2019s act of withdrawing him from his disciples\u2019 gaze upward (a sign of exaltation) into a cloud (a sign of God\u2019s presence). This was not a form of space travel, but part two (the Resurrection being part one) of Jesus\u2019 return from the depths of death to the height of glory. Jesus foretold the Ascension (John 6:62; 14:2, 12; 16:5, 10, 17, 28; 17:5; 20:17), and Luke described it (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:6-11). Paul celebrated it and affirmed Christ\u2019s consequent lordship (Eph. 1:20; 4:8-10; Phil. 2:9-11; 1 Tim. 3:16), and the writer of Hebrews applied this truth for encouragement of the fainthearted (Heb. 1:3; 4:14; 9:24). The fact that Jesus Christ is enthroned as master of the universe should be of enormous encouragement to all believers.<\/p>\n

The Ascension was from one standpoint the restoration of the glory that the Son had before the Incarnation, from another the glorifying of human nature in a way that had never happened before, and from a third the start of a reign that had not previously been exercised in this form. The Ascension establishes three facts<\/a>:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. Christ\u2019s personal ascendancy. \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a02. Christ\u2019s spiritual omnipresence. \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a03. Christ\u2019s heavenly ministry. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 (Ascension article by Packer<\/a>)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3.) A prayer<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n


\nPrayer of Allegiance<\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
We let go of our hope in
\nour country,
\nour finances,
\nour work,
\nour abilities,
\nourselves.<\/div>\n
We put our hope in you.
\nYou are our
\nstrength,
\nhope,
\njoy,
\nfuture,
\nand King.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n