The decks are cleared. Satan has been defeated and disqualified in the Court of Divine Justice. He had deceived Adam into surrendering
his authority to rule over the earth at the Tree in the Garden of Eden! This legal “god of this world,” now fell for the greatest sting operation of all time himself at the Cross. He was tricked into crucifying a perfectly innocent Man, Jesus Christ, and was therefore disqualified to rule! Satan is NOT “alive and well on planet earth,” but he is a defeated, stripped-of-all-authority LOSER, whose only weapons now are lying and deception!
So, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, no matter Satan’s lies, “IT IS FINISHED!” Jesus has died for the sins of the whole world, case closed! We are now ready to do that for which we were created—TO RULE OVER THE EARTH AS GOD’S IMAGE-BEARERS (Genesis 1:26-28)!
Our Ship of the Kingdom diagram is a comprehensive picture of God’s plan to achieve that eternal purpose for mankind. The first step toward that objective is represented by the first vertical line connecting “God the Father” with “Jesus Christ” at the top of the ship’s mast.
After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the author of the book of Acts, Dr. Luke, a physician and close associate of Paul, wrote the following:
“The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, BEING SEEN BY THEM DURING FORTY DAYS, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them NOT TO DEPART FROM JERUSALEM, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT NOT MANY DAYS FROM NOW” (Acts 1:1-5).
After assuring His followers that this “promise of the Father,” the Holy Spirit baptism, would empower them to spread His message over the whole world, He was then caught up on a cloud and ascended out of sight!
This is “The Ascension of Jesus Christ,” an extremely important event in the Christian calendar and largely ignored today in evangelical circles. In Acts 1 we are told that after His resurrection on the Sunday after Passover, Jesus spent 40 days interacting with His followers “speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.” and in His final time with them He said;
“‘You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’ Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight” (Acts 1:8, 9).
We know Jesus went to Heaven at the Ascension on a cloud, but what happened when He got there? The scene in Heaven when He arrived at the other end of the Ascension is not often discussed, and it is crucial in our understanding of our very reason for living. The scene in Heaven when Jesus arrived there had been prophetically revealed several hundred years earlier by Daniel the prophet:
“I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, Its wheels a burning fire…
“I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. THEN TO HIM WAS GIVEN DOMINION AND GLORY AND A KINGDOM, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:9, 13, 14).
Jesus arrived in Heaven riding the same cloud upon which He had just left the earth! This scene in Daniel is the other end of the Ascension. On Jesus’ arrival, after being ushered into the presence of the Father, He snaps off a salute and tells Him, “Mission accomplished!, Father. I have died for the sins of the whole world, just as You sent me to do!”
In verse 14 above, for the first time since the Fall in the Garden, God’s eternal purpose has been fulfilled on the earth: A MAN, JESUS CHRIST, HAS BEEN CROWNED TO RULE OVER THE EARTH, AS KING OF ALL KINGS AND LORD OF ALL LORDS!
However, throughout the Bible we are told not only this first step of Jesus’ crowning, but also the mind-blowing next one, as pictured in the Ship of the Kingdom diagram. Next week!
