Christ remained on earth for forty days following His resurrection,
during which time He gave His disciples their final instructions and
was seen by several hundred people. At the end of that time, “He led
His disciples 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, and carried up into heaven // and a cloud received Him out
of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as He
went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel. Which also
said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same
Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Luke 24:50-51, Acts 1:9-11).
Having ascended unto heaven, Christ continues to
make intercession for us. Had He stayed on earth, He would have either
had to judge the world then and there, or allow Satan’s dupes to
continue trying to kill Him. However, because He now sits at the right
hand of God, we have the comfort of knowing that He is our advocate,
and that He will return, as the angels said He would — not in weakness
but in power, not to be judged but to judge. [1John 2:1, Romans 8:34,
Acts 10:42, 1Peter 4:5, 2Timothy 4:1, 1Thessalonians 4:15,17, Matthew
24:30,31 and 25:31-34, Acts 1:9-11.]
In his fury to destroy Christ, Satan is continually
trying to destroy us, and, to that end, accuses us before God day and
night as he seeks to have us delivered into his power (1Peter 5:8, Luke
22:31, Revelation 12:10). Furthermore, left to ourselves (without
Christ’s help) we would not have a chance against him. However, because
Christ is our advocate, we have the comfort of knowing that we have a
lawyer who not only was willing to die for us, but also lives to make
intercession for us. [1John 2:1, Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25, Isaiah
53:12, 1Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 9:15,24, Hebrews 10:10-15.]
Moreover, because our salvation depends on what
Christ did, not what we do, faith in Christ consists of relying on Him
to get us into heaven. Therefore, those who lead people to believe that
Mary or the “Saints” can get them into heaven are not only undermining
faith, but are also preaching a false gospel and leading people to rely
on false saviors (1Timothy 2:5, Galatians 1:6-9).
Christ’s ascension unto heaven is also closely
related to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost,
for if Christ had not ascended unto heaven, the Spirit would not have
been sent (John 16:7). Of course, because the Holy Spirit is
omnipresent He has always been present in the world, and through the
nation of Israel kept faith in the true God from disappearing from the
earth entirely. However, even though He caused most of the Bible to be
written and brought many to faith in Christ before the day of
Pentecost, it was not until Pentecost that He began His work of calling
the nations to faith in Christ (2Peter 1:21, Galatians 3:6).
Furthermore, as our Comforter He not only has brought us to faith in
Christ, but also nurtures and keeps us through His Word, enables us to
resist temptation, and works through us to convict the world of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgement. [John 16:7, Hebrews 10:14:15, John
14:16:26, John 15:26, John 16:7-14, Romans 10:4,17, John 5:39,
Galatians 5:17, John 20:31, Luke 11:50-51, John 5:39, 1John 5:13.]
I might also add, that because Christ’s work of
atonement is not limited by time, Abraham, and all others who were
saved before the day of Pentecost, were saved the same way we are
saved. Namely through faith in God’s promise of forgiveness in Christ
(Galatians 3:6-22, Romans 4:1-8).
Since Christ’s ascension went hand in hand with the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, any doctrines that deal
with work of the Holy Ghost [i.e. inspiration, repentance, conversion,
faith, church and ministry etc.] help us to more fully understand the
spiritual significance of Christ’s ascension. At the same time, because
the Holy Sprit brought the Bible into existence, everything that it
says in some way relates to His work of bringing Christ to the nations
(2Peter 1:21).
For example, Since Christ said that the Holy Ghost
would “reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment,” we can see that the truth about creation and the fall goes
hand in hand with convicting the world of sin (John 16:8). In other
words, it is only as we come to know the truth about creation and the
fall, that we understand our relationship to God, the fact that He did
not create us with a sinful nature, and why we are accountable to Him.
Likewise, the truth of Christ’s incarnation, death,
and resurrection go hand in hand with the Holy Spirit’s work of
reproving our own righteousness, while convincing the world that true
righteousness can only be ours through faith in Christ (Romans 3:28).
Finally, the truth of Christ’s ascension, return,
and judgement go hand in hand with the Holy Spirit’s work of reproving
the world in regard to the final judgement, while making it clear that
only those who look to Christ for forgiveness will escape God’s wrath
(Romans 8:1).
In bringing the Bible into
existence, the Holy Spirit not only produced a book that contains
history, law, poetry, prophecy, and proverbs, but one that is profound.
Within its pages the Holy Spirit not only tells us how faith in the
true God was kept alive until the work of atonement was complete, but
also reveals God (as Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier) in way that
makes the entire body of doctrine part of God’s revelation of Himself.
At the same time, the Bible was not written in the language of
philosophers and intellectuals, but in the simple straightforward
language of shepherds, fishermen, carpenters, and tent-makers.
The scholars of this world have sought for centuries
to discover the one key truth around which all knowledge fits together.
Yet that truth, God’s great master plan of creation, is found only in
Scripture. For, it is only as we acquire a Biblical worldview that we
can see how that the truth of creation is basic to all hard science,
while the truth about the fall is basic to what we know about human
nature and society in general. In other words, all that we can learn by
observation, both about this world and of the universe as a whole, is
knowledge of God's creation. While, all that we can learn about man’s
phobias, fallacies, divisions, lust, and greed reveals the consequences
of the fall. In that way, all truth falls into place around the
Biblical record, and when understood correctly agrees with and supports
what the Bible says.
On one hand, the fact that Christ ascended unto
heaven is a warning, for it means that He will return to judge the
living and the dead, and that prospect should strike terror into the
heart of the unrepentant. On the other hand, it is a source of comfort
to believers, not only because all the treasures of heaven are ours,
but also because His ascension, like the resurrection, is a divine
testimony to the fact that He was who He claimed to be. In other words,
if He had not truly been the Son of God He would have died condemned as
a sinner, God would have never raised Him from the dead, and He would
have never ascended unto heaven. In fact, that is just one more reason
why the Moslems (and others) who refuse to accept Him as Savior and
Lord, will be without excuse on the day of judgement. [Mark 14:61-64,
John 19:7, Matthew 25:31-34, 1 Corinthians 6:9,10, Romans 8:1.]