May 16, 2021
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51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God. – Luke 24:51-53
The closing lines to Luke’s gospel give a simplified version of the ascension. Jesus is simply blessing his disciples, and departs from them carried to heaven. The writer, Luke, would go on to write the Acts of the Apostle’s and share in more detail these events, but the purpose of the gospel leaves us with a bit of mystery.
In fact, there is mystery surrounding Christ from the time of the transfiguration to the ascension in Luke’s gospel. Perhaps it is because we haven’t quite understood yet, all that Jesus has done. The late Oswald Chambers, writer and Christian teachers, shares a great thought on this mystery in “My Utmost, for His Highest.” Allow me to share his writings.
We have no experiences in our lives that correspond to the events in our Lord’s life after the transfiguration. From that moment forward His life was altogether substitutionary. Up to the time of the transfiguration, He had exhibited the normal, perfect life of a man. But from the transfiguration forward— Gethsemane, the Cross, the resurrection— everything is unfamiliar to us. His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His resurrection He has the right to give eternal life to anyone, and by His ascension our Lord entered heaven, keeping the door open for humanity.
The transfiguration was completed on the Mount of Ascension. If Jesus had gone to heaven directly from the Mount of Transfiguration, He would have gone alone. He would have been nothing more to us than a glorious Figure. But He turned His back on the glory, and came down from the mountain to identify Himself with fallen humanity.
The ascension is the complete fulfillment of the transfiguration. Our Lord returned to His original glory, but not simply as the Son of God— He returned to His father as the Son of Man as well. There is now freedom of access for anyone straight to the very throne of God because of the ascension of the Son of Man. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ deliberately limited His omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. But now they are His in absolute, full power. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ now has all the power at the throne of God. From His ascension forward He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
The door is open wide, and we are invited to follow Christ in carrying our cross, yes, but also to ascend with him into heaven, and into the Glory of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Grace & Peace,
Sam