Read: Acts 1:1-11
As they were looking on, he was lifted up. (v. 9)
The account of Jesus’s ascension feels like a brief interlude between far more important biblical events. Wedged between the Gospels and Acts, the ascension is over all too quickly.
In truth, Jesus’s ascension to heaven is the fulfillment of the promises that precede it and the foundation of everything that follows. Humanity’s problems stem from the separation of heaven and earth. All humanity’s hopes point to the restoration of creation and our reconciliation with God. When Jesus took on flesh, he brought heaven to earth, and when Jesus ascended in the flesh, he brought earth to heaven. From heaven, he unleashes his power on earth.
The Heidelberg Catechism gives us three benefits of the ascension of Jesus Christ: “First, he is our advocate in heaven in the presence of his Father. Second, we have our own flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that Christ our head will also take us, his members, up to himself. Third, he sends his Spirit to us on earth as a corresponding pledge” (Answer 49).
At the cross, Jesus broke the power of sin, death, and hell, reestablishing humanity’s partnership with God on earth. At his ascension, Jesus assumed his throne and brought human representation to heaven. The ascension should give us peace, because the one who rules heaven and earth shares our humanity and represents us. And we have confidence, because the power that governs the universe is personally available to us.
As you pray, trust that you have representation in heaven, and heaven’s power on earth.
Ben Van Arragon is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. After twenty years of congregational ministry, he now serves his denomination as a pastor wellbeing consultant in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
