THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD (Acts 1:9-11)
Our message today is about the ascension of our Lord into Heaven. Without a doubt, it is significant to our faith that Jesus is alive and working for us today. Jesus did not just go off into heaven and leave us never to be heard from again. He has provided us with a perfect, complete, salvation. He is our great High Priest in the Holy Tabernacle in Heaven, He is our paraclete, our advocate, before the Father. And He has promised to return for us.
Jesus is alive. Jesus is working for us, and Jesus is coming back. These are some of the things that distinguish our faith from all other religions. These are the things that we base our hope on. You do not place your confidence in a mere man when you place your confidence in Jesus; you place your confidence in the God-man. Because He is a man, He can sympathize with you and is able to meet your needs. He is a royal priest. He is a righteous priest. He is a peace-promoting priest. He is also a personal priest—He is for you personally. He didn’t inherit the office; that is, He didn’t come in the line of Aaron. He is an eternal priest. If the work of Jesus Christ had ended with His death, burial and resurrection, then our salvation would be incomplete. It is because Jesus is alive today and has ascended into heaven that He is our eternal and perfect High Priest. It is because Jesus is living today and has ascended to heaven that our salvation was completed. It is because Jesus is living today and has ascended to heaven that our salvation is being completed today. It is because Jesus is living today and has ascended to heaven that our salvation will be completed in the future when the Lord gives us our glorified bodies.
We don’t often hear messages preached on the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Rightfully so, the evangelistic message of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord is talked about more frequently. But the ascension of our Lord represents the hope and promise of the believer. As a believer my Lord is alive, He is my advocate, and He is coming again for me.
This is the message we need to proclaim. It is because we have the hope, the confident expectation, the promise, of the return of our Lord that we should feel the urgent need to proclaim the gospel message to a lost world.
Click on the play button to hear a message on what the Ascension of Jesus Christ means to you as a follower of Christ.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.