The Ascension of Jesus – Feted or Forgotten

Jesus ascended to Heaven forty days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3), came up to God seated on His throne, snapped off a salute and reported, “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!”

This history-changing event is on the Catholic religious calendar, and is commemorated annually. However, it is never celebrated and is completely ignored by most protestant churches. This is amazing when you consider that, on this day, Jesus was officially crowned, for the first time, “King of kings.” Furthermore, after dying for the sins of mankind on the cross, it was at the Ascension that He also restored us to the role for which we were created – His vice-regents, to rule over the earth! 

As we saw last week, Daniel 7:13, 14, 18, written about 500 B.C., is a prophetic summary of these events. But David, about 500 years earlier, had already written a more detailed prophesy of what God would say and what would happen upon Jesus’ return to Heaven at the Ascension: 

“The LORD (Jehovah – God the Father) said to my Lord (Jesus Christ), ‘Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’ The LORD (Jehovah) shall send the rod of Your (Jesus’) strength out of Zion (the church). Rule in the midst of Your enemies! Your people (the church) shall be volunteers In the day of Your power;…” (Psalm 110:1-3). 

Beautiful! At the Ascension, God seats Jesus at His right hand in the throne room. He’s now the reigning King over all the Earth, and God assures Him that His enemies that crucified Him will be defeated (put “under Jesus’ feet”)!. 

Amazingly, in this prophecy, Jesus doesn’t have to leave His throne in Heaven or lift a finger to defeat them! He will extend His reign over the earth, RIGHT NOW, through his vice-regents who live here on the earth (the church), who are “eagerly volunteering,” RIGHT NOW, to join in the battle “in the midst of Your enemies” (here on the earth), RIGHT NOW!

On the Day of Pentecost, some 1000 years after David prophesied this, and  ten days after 120 of Jesus’ disciples had watched Jesus ascend to Heaven on the clouds, this master plan was begun! Those 120 disciples were all gathered in Jerusalem, as Jesus had instructed them (Acts 1:4).  They were to “wait for the Promise of the Father which 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 1:5).

“Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’  And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power (to rule) 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’“ (Acts 1:6-8).

The Ascension occurred immediately after Jesus spoke those words, as described in Psalm 110, which is quoted directly, or referred to again and again. You might say it was even “feted” (celebrated) in the New Testament. Refer to Hebrews 1:3; 8:1;10:12; 12:2, Matthew 22:44, Mark 12:36; 14:62; Luke 20:42, 43; 22:69, Acts 7:55, Colossians 3:1. Romans 8:34, Ephesians 1:20-23, 1 Peter 3:22, etc. 

Peter, in his sermon to the crowd at Pentecost, viewed the Holy Spirit’s falling on the disciples that day as a sure sign that Jesus was now enthroned at God’s right hand in Heaven. He, in preparation for ruling through us, had sent the Holy Spirit to be the atomic engine that ignites, activates, and energizes us—His volunteers, the church! We are now prepared to rule “in the day of His power,” naturally, spontaneously and unconsciously (NSU). The church will equip us, just as it did the three thousand who were eventually saved in Jerusalem after Pentecost.

Now, we have covered the background, seen the “big picture,” and we are ready to look at specifics. Next week we will see how the church will equip us to attack and rule in the political arena, as anyone who rules over the earth must!