If you would turn with me now in God's Word to the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel of Luke in the 24th chapter. We have Luke's Gospel account of the ascension of our Lord. We're going to begin our reading at verse 36, but we're going to focus this evening on verses 49 through the end of the book. So let us now read from God's Holy Word, Luke 24, verse 36. This is the very word of God. While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you. They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself. Touch me and see. A ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet, and while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, do you have anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. He said to them, this is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures. He told them, this is what is written, that Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. while he was blessing them he left them and was taken up into heaven then they worshipped him and returned to jerusalem with great joy and they stayed continually at the temple praising god thus far the reading of god's word may he bless it to us he ascended into heaven we confess that together every lord's day whether it's with the Apostles' Creed or with the Nicene Creed it's one of the important articles of the Christian faith that he ascended into heaven it's right in there with his incarnation his crucifixion at the hands of the Roman governor his resurrection his ascension and his reigning at the right hand of the Father All these things, important articles of the Christian faith But as I prepared this sermon, I wondered If we were all called to give an account Of the importance of each one of those doctrines Whether the ascension might be the most difficult to articulate Why it's an important article of the Christian faith We might know why it's important that Christ was incarnate We might know why it's important that he died. We might know why it's important that he rose from the dead. We might know why it's important that he reigns at the right hand of the Father. But maybe it would be more difficult for us to articulate why exactly is it important that he ascended into heaven. It was interesting for me in preparing this sermon because a lot of the commentators don't seem to know exactly what to do with it. It's almost like there's this huge mountain of theological information based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And a huge mountain of information based on the rule of Jesus Christ. And you have to get from one mountain to the other, so you build a little bridge. And that's the ascension of Jesus Christ. He just sort of unites those two large mountains of biblical truth. Maybe people are aided in thinking that way because there are so few gospel accounts of his ascension. Matthew gives no account. John gives no account. Now, they certainly refer to it and look forward to it, but they don't recount the historical circumstance of the ascension of Jesus Christ. There's an account in your Bible in Mark, but you'll notice the note in your Bible that says those later verses of Mark were not in the earliest copies we have. And most scholars would say for that reason it shows that someone added them later. That the original Gospel of Mark had no ascension account. And I think those scholars are right. That the shorter ending of Mark before that little note in your Bible is where the Gospel properly stops. But if it stops there, then Mark has no account of the ascension. That means in the Scriptures the only historical account we have is from Luke. Luke gives it in his Gospel and he starts again the Acts of the Apostles. with that event. Even in writing to Theophilus, he says, in my first letter, I told you everything that Jesus began to do and to teach until he was taken up into heaven. But as we consider the ascension of Jesus Christ tonight, I'd like to suggest that it's not some small bridge that unites two large theological principles. It is in itself a mountain of theological importance for the people of God. And I think it's in a mountain of theological importance primarily because it's a source of such joy and comfort for God's people to know that their Lord has ascended into heaven and is even now there at the right hand of the Father. And I'd like to consider tonight that joy and comfort that comes from this sure knowledge in three particular ways, in considering where Jesus goes, Considering how Jesus goes and considering why Jesus goes. Now I say where he goes. Of course, maybe some of you kids have learned memory verses that he says, I will be with you always to the very end of the earth. But we mean when he ascends into heaven that he's with us now by his spirit. That he will return in body, but he has gone from us in body now. And that's what I mean when I say, where does he go? But that seems to be the first point that we need to consider when we come to this passage. Where does he go? You might think this is going to be a short first point. It's pretty obvious where he goes. He goes to heaven. He ascends into heaven. It doesn't take a seminary education to read that and know that. But the reason I ask the question where he goes is because Luke seems concerned with the places. He takes the trouble to let us know where these things are occurring. We start our look at this passage in verse 49. He's talking about them staying in the city of Jerusalem. And we're told he leads them out to Bethany. And he goes up to heaven. They return to Jerusalem and they go into the temple. There's a lot of movement in this passage. There's a lot of locations. And Luke seems to be attaching importance to this. Now maybe it's just that Luke is a historian. So he wants to be careful in how he chronicles everything. He has collected the evidence and wants to tell us this is where these things happen to paint a vivid picture for us. But we also have to realize when we come to this passage that Luke is a master craftsman when he writes this gospel. This isn't poorly thought out. And he's written now 24 chapters and this is coming to a beautiful end. in this work. And I think the reason he wants to focus our attention on the places here is because it's not just important where Jesus goes. It's important where he goes from. If I can end that sentence in a preposition. Where he goes from. Bethany is important. Now, Bethany is important for a whole host of reasons. If you were to get out your concordance and look up Bethany, It appears all over in the other Gospels. All kinds of important events happen in Bethany. It's where Jesus is anointed with oil, preparing his burial. It's where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. There's all kinds of significant events. Luke doesn't mention any of them. The only time Luke ever brings up Bethany is when the Lord needs a colt and a donkey to ride in for the triumphal entry. It's the only time Bethany gets mentioned in Luke's entire gospel. And I think he's drawing that connection. Again, it's a fairly obvious one, isn't it? There was a triumphal entry into the city. Now there's a triumphal entry into the heavenly city. Our Lord is going once again in triumph, but not just in earth. He now enters in triumph into his heavenly kingdom. His kingdom is not of this world, he said. and so I think that's an important reason why Bethany is the location, not Jerusalem or Bethlehem or something else. It's Bethany. But Bethany, we're told not just Bethany, right? We're told the vicinity of Bethany. And we know from Luke's account that the Mount of Olives is where Bethany is. And that vicinity opens up a little bit more information in Luke because not only is that the place where the triumphal entry begins, coming down the Mount of Olives and into the city, but it's also the place where he lodged when he was teaching in the temple. Jesus would teach in the temple in Jerusalem during the day and then he would lodge outside the city in Bethany. It's not very far away from Jerusalem. And that's what he would do. He would teach in the temple and then he would withdraw to the Mount of Olives. And it was there one night when he had withdrawn from teaching in the temple where the guards came to seize him. And Luke tells us that they seized him and they led him away. We know what happened, don't we? He's led away to the cross to die. And so it's interesting that Luke writes in verse 50, when he led them out, Jesus had been led away. That was the last time they were in Bethany. And now he returns leading his disciples out. Jesus had been led out to the cross. Now he leads his disciples back to his triumphal entry. You see, there's a significance here. Not only of where they are now, but where Christ is going. And it's significant for where he's going and that he is going to his heavenly kingdom. But you see, there's also still a significance for his people. Luke wants to also consider not just where is Jesus going, but where is the church going? And it's interesting to note how in these places that Luke lays out, the church now retraces the steps of the Savior. He had made his lodging in Bethany and then gone into the temple to teach. Now what do we see his disciples doing when he leaves? They go from Bethany into the temple to worship for a while until they're clothed in power from on high, but what happens when the Holy Spirit comes? What happens when Pentecost comes? Then they become the teachers. You see, the Ascension doesn't just have a message for something Jesus did that has no effect on his people. He's going somewhere, but the church is going somewhere too, and they're following in his steps. That's why it's important to know where Jesus goes, because where he goes the church reacts and we go somewhere the church goes to the temple in jerusalem but the important question is not just where jesus goes but how jesus goes we know that he goes into heaven but we're told a wonderful truth that's contained in this scripture that he physically and visibly ascends into heaven why is that important what point is luke making here well it's interesting to note from the other gospels that jesus is able to move in and out of locked rooms that he appears with his disciples for a time and then disappears for a time. And boys and girls, maybe you've studied that in Sunday school and it's made you scratch your head a little bit. Does that mean when we're resurrected that we'll be able to move through doors or that we'll be able to appear and disappear? And I'm sorry, I don't know the answer. But I think one of the interesting things that we see in the ascension is Jesus doesn't simply disappear. He doesn't simply just cease to be one day and leave the disciples to wonder where has he gone? What has become of him? He certainly could have just gone to heaven. He had the power to do that. All power and authority rest in him. So whose benefit is it to see him rise? Who benefits by seeing this ascension of Jesus Christ? It's the church. It's the church now who knows where the Lord has gone. And it's interesting in this account that Luke is very clear that they saw him ascend into heaven. We don't have that detail that he includes in the book of Acts, that a cloud obscured him from their sight. Now, we recently had a space shuttle launch. I didn't get a chance to watch it, but I've watched other space shuttle launches, and the cameras they have nowadays can focus in on the space shuttle for a long time. They can focus in on it when it takes off and you can watch it travel up into the sky and you can even start to see the atmosphere fading and the sky turns from blue to that black. But there is a point at which you can't see it anymore where it fades from sight, even from the sight of our long-range cameras. And it's just no more. I wonder if sometimes we think of Jesus' ascension that way, that he just sort of goes higher and higher until he just kind of fades away. But you see, Luke is interested in eyewitness accounts. Luke is interested in facts. Luke is interested in what people have seen for sure. He's not speculating that the Lord went to heaven. The disciples saw it. They saw him received into heaven. They know that he went there. They are sure that he is there. It's not speculation. That's something they saw. It's the vision that Stephen sees when heaven is opened up, the Lord in his heavenly kingdom. It's that wonderful knowledge that the disciples had that flesh and blood had gone into heaven in glory. R.C. Sproul has a series on the entire Bible, and he titled it Dust to Glory. This is where dust goes to glory. Remember, Adam was told, dust you are, and the dust you shall return. Here that dust, that fleshly body is glorified. It's brought to heaven. It reigns now at the right hand of the Father, a human being. Like us, glorified to be sure, but a human being in heaven. Guaranteeing for us that there is a day coming when we too will be human beings in heaven. Not in some strange ghostly existence, but flesh and blood. Wonderful reminder to the disciples that Christ had passed into his heavenly kingdom. But there's another wonderful reminder. He doesn't just go visibly and physically into his heavenly kingdom. He goes with a blessing. He goes with a blessing for his people. that beautiful vision of heaven opened receiving its Lord must have been a glorious thing to behold. And I'm sure everybody who was there on the mount was looking intently, we're told that in Acts 1, looking intently into heaven. Who's the one person in this story not looking intently into heaven? It's the Lord. His hands are raised in blessing and his focus is earthward. His focus is to the people he is departing from. And the significance of that is that's the high priestly blessing, the raising of the hands to put the blessing on the people. And as he raises those nail-marked hands as a reminder of what he did on the cross, now accomplished for his people, he's taken up to be in heaven. Commentators are puzzled by that word, taken up, Because it's a verb that usually appears in connection with sacrifice. Offering a sacrifice. But now it's not offering a sacrifice. It's the sacrifice that's been offered being received. Being taken up. And as that sacrifice goes up, he blesses his people. What was that high priestly blessing? We hear it often here, don't we? The Lord bless you and keep you. But now it is the Lord blessing them. I bless you and keep you. I make my face shine upon you. I am gracious to you. I turn my face towards you and give you my peace. That blessing is coming from the Lord onto his people. Maybe not in those exact words, but that is the reminder that they have. And as he's taken from them, that's the vision they have of the Lord giving that lasting blessing to his people even now that's what he does in heaven he blesses his people he's at the right hand of the Father not just interceding for us but praying for us keeping us in his care that's how he goes not just visibly but also in a blessing reminding them that he promises to pour out his spirit upon them as he said wait in the city until you're clothed with power from on high that's where he's going that's how he goes but it's interesting to note here again the disciples go too don't they and there's a way in which they go we're told that they worship him as he goes into heaven they worship him Again, we see here the fact that Luke is a master craftsman because this word for worship is only used one other time in his gospel. And it's when Satan comes to tempt the Lord and says, I've been given all authority to give all the kingdoms of the world. All you have to do is bow down and worship me. And what does Jesus say in return? You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. And here now his disciples as he goes and as they go to return to Jerusalem. How do they go? They go worshiping his name, acknowledging that he is the God who alone is worthy of worship. And it's not just worship that they have. It's worship with great joy. This is a huge contrast from how John presents it in chapter 16 when the Lord tells him that he's going to go and then he says, I know that you're filled with sorrow. You see, now they've been made to understand what it means that he goes. So it no longer fills them with sorrow, it fills them with joy because they know they're going to be clothed with power from on high. They know he's not going away from them. But he will be with them always until the very end of the earth. We're told they worship and they return. And again, there's a connection there with the temptation of Christ Because when he's tempted, when he does not worship the devil, but reserves that worship that's due to the Father alone, we're told that he returns from the wilderness in power. He returns from the wilderness in power. The power of the Holy Spirit. And he goes into the synagogue to preach the gospel message. Now what are his people doing? They're returning, having worshipped the Lord and awaiting that power by which they will make the gospel known. It's a source of great joy. It's interesting, that's how the announcement of Jesus began, isn't it? From the angels. I bring you tidings of great joy that will be for all the people. Now that great joy has come. It's been experienced. The good news has been made known. Their minds have been opened to understand. And now they go with worship and with rejoicing, with great joy knowing what the Lord is doing. It's a wonderful promise, a wonderful experience for the church to see how they go from this place. And they go, we're told, to go into the temple to continually bless the Lord. The word we have in the NIV is praise, but there's a correspondence. That blessing that the Lord gave, the people now bless the Lord's name. They return blessing for blessing, and they do that in the temple. It's important to see that Jesus' ascension, you see, has a reaction amongst the church. It fills us with worship. It fills us with joy to know that we have an advocate before the Father who works for us. But it's not just important to know where Jesus goes and how Jesus goes. Finally, it's important to know why Jesus goes. I think we have it captured very well in the Heidelberg Catechism. Question and answer 49. What's the benefit of the ascension? There's three parts to it. He pleads our cause in heaven in the presence of his Father. We've talked about that. We have our own flesh in heaven as a guarantee. We've talked about that. But what does Jesus say is his purpose to send the Spirit to us on earth? He goes to show us that we will go where he goes. But that where we are now, he is with us. That his spirit will come and clothe them with power. That that's what he has gone to do. To do that great work in heaven that the Father has promised and to send the spirit. The spirit who rushes on them in power. And when Jesus returned from the desert, returned from that temptation, What did he have the power to do? If you turn back to Luke chapter 4, we're told how Jesus returns from temptation and the words that he speaks in the synagogue. Luke chapter 4, verse 16. He went to Nazareth where he'd been brought up. On the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom, and he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, unrolling it. he found the place where it is written the spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind to release the oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor then he rolled up the scroll gave it back to the attendant and sat down the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him and he began by saying to them today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing that's the significance of the power the spirit is on him to preach the good news Isaiah says the Lord says this has been fulfilled in your hearing and the people of God go to the temple to await that filling and they worship while they wait but we know that day of Pentecost comes doesn't it fills them with that power to go forth and speak the good news to the point which people listen to them and hear them and say can these really be these same men these Galilean fishermen who can preach the word with such authority and power it's because the Lord has ascended and poured it out liberally on his people so that that power might go forth it's a wonderful reminder to us that the church went back to the temple praising God and waiting for him they waited for that spirit to descend we enjoy the privilege of having lived in the time where the Spirit has been poured out. But we can, along with the early church, also experience that sense of worshiping and waiting, don't we? Because the ascension is not the end. The rule at the right hand of the Father is not the end. The end is His coming again in glory. And as people on this side of Pentecost, with the Spirit being poured out, We are also people who wait, but who work, making that gospel message known. Some as preachers, some as teachers, some in conversation with friends and neighbors to make that gospel message go out. And it's important for us to realize that we have been clothed with power from on high. That our Lord has not left us. No matter what the circumstances of the world look like, no matter how bleak things get, The wonderful truth is we have been clothed in power from on high. We will be kept until that day when he comes again. And as he went, so we will see him return in glory to judge the living and the dead. You see, the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ is important. It's important because it's an amazing source of comfort for his people. It's a cause for great rejoicing to know that we have a Savior who is in heaven even now, whose focus is upon us, whose blessing is upon us, whose prayers are upon us, whose thoughts are upon us. And it was sending His Spirit out in order that He might make all things new. That His work might finally be completed, that the elect might be called, and that He might return in glory on the clouds. that hid him. We are a church who waits. While we wait, let us worship with great joy, knowing what has been accomplished. He has ascended. And let us also work that his kingdom may be made known and that others across the world might get the benefit of seeing this ascended Lord interceding for them. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for this word that you've given to us. We thank you for the gospel of Luke. We thank you for the guidance of the Holy Spirit that makes it plain. But that also makes it glorious. Thank you for a word that began in your temple with Zechariah when John the Baptist's birth was announced. And he did not believe, Lord, and his mouth was closed. that from that beginning in the temple with a closed and unbelieving heart and mouth, they end in the temple, Lord, believing, filled with joy, praising your holy name. Thank you, Lord, that you've made us see it. We pray that if there be any here tonight who do not see and believe, Lord, that you might open their minds to understand the scripture, that you might pour out your spirit on them in power. And we might be reminded that we have a Lord who sits in heaven now. Who pleads our cause before you. Who is a guarantee that as his flesh is in heaven, so our flesh will see heaven. And who sends his spirit to comfort us, to aid us, to protect us, and to lead us until he returns in glory. May you speed that day, Lord. But meanwhile, may we be diligent workers in your kingdom. Announcing this good news of an ascended Lord. We pray all these things in his name. Amen.