Sermon Idea: The ascension of Christ Jesus into heaven assures that the kingdom is coming and commissions us as witnesses until He comes.
Introduction: What Old Testament passage does the New Testament quote the most? Does it come to your mind? Might it be Exodus 34, about God’s glory and goodness? Might it be the comforting words of Psalm 23? Or perhaps it is Isaiah 53, and its great promise of the suffering servant who is crushed for our sins. All of these would be good guesses, but there is one text that is quoted, alluded to, and echoed more than all of these. That passage is Psalm 110.
1The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” 2 The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! 3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. 4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” 5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. 6 He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. 7 He will drink from the brook by the way therefore he will lift up his head. (Ps 110:1–7)
It is one of the most central themes of the New Testament, the truth that fuels the church’s life and mission, the reality that anchors the hope of the entirety of the Christian life: Jesus Christ has ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Luke believes that the Ascension is so vital that he records it twice: first in the conclusion of the Gospel of Luke, and then here in Acts 1.
The meditation on Psalm 110 and Christ’s fulfillment of it was not some theoretical concept for the early church. It was not irrelevant theology. It was the very reason to live every day in hope. It was the assurance of their access to God. It was the truth that fueled their obedience and zeal for the Great Commission.
Jesus Christ lives, Jesus Christ reigns, and that makes all the difference for today.
It is because Jesus has ascended into heaven that we can enter into God’s presence with confidence. The Bible tells us that mercy and grace await us in our time of need. The author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus has passed through the heavens as a great high priest, and so we should draw near to God.
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:16)
The ascension of Jesus Christ is not some theoretical concept for us either. Jesus Christ lives, Jesus Christ reigns, and that makes all the difference for today.
What difference does it make for the apostles in Acts 1:6-11? Their longing and desire is for the kingdom of God. Jesus has risen; for forty days, He has taught about the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3), and He has promised the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5). Surely this is the time that God will restore Israel, the kingdom will be unified, their enemies will be defeated, and all of God’s promises will be fulfilled. It’s now, isn’t it?
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? (Ac 1:6)
What they desire is right, but there is confusion about the time of the kingdom. There is still more for them to learn about the nature of God’s kingdom, the manner in which it comes, and their particular role in it.
When Jesus responds, he directs them away from the timing to the work of God and the work that God will do through them. The Father appoints the time of the kingdom. The Holy Spirit accomplished the coming of the kingdom. The Son’s ascension and promised return assure the hope of the kingdom.
Jesus’s answer is not only relevant to the apostles, but to us. When will the kingdom of God come, how will it come, and what are we to do as the church until the kingdom of God is fully realized?
The ascension of Christ Jesus into heaven assures that the kingdom is coming and commissions us as witnesses until He comes.
I.) The Father appoints the time of the kingdom (Acts 1:6-7)
The kingdom of God is good, and the apostles are right to long for it, but the timing is left to the providence of God. The secret things belong to the Lord and can be left to the Lord, because he is a God who is sovereign. According to Jesus, the times and seasons are determined by God’s authority.
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. (Ac 1:7)
There are a lot of things about life that are left to God’s secret will. We are not meant to know when Jesus will return. We are not meant to know when we will die. These are things that are not known to us, but that ignorance should not lead to anxiety. Why? The Christian can rest in the sovereign providence of God.
The Baptist Catechism provides a helpful definition of God’s providence, as it connects God’s providence to His character.
Q: What are God’s works of providence?
A: God’s works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.
Beloved, we need to believe that the works of God’s providence are holy and wise. We can leave the secret things to God’s will because of who he is and what he is like. In other words, we do not have to doubt that the kingdom will come in full. We can trust that there is a reason that Jesus tarries.
We are not meant to give our attention to the secret will of God. We are to give our attention to the revealed will of God, and God has revealed his will for us in Holy Scripture.
This principle can be applied widely. The disciples were right to long for the kingdom; they wanted it now, but Jesus encourages them to trust the time appointed by the Father, who is good and wise.
We are blessed to have among us so many young adults, college students, or brothers and sisters in those early transitional years. There is a lot about your life that belongs to the secret will of God. Who will you marry and when? How many children will you have? What city will you live in?
These things are not for you to know in advance. What you are to do is not obsess over the secret will of God for your life, but on the revealed will of God in His Word. Spend every day bringing all of your life under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Seek the Lord, repent of sin, grow in holiness and righteousness, and become as faithful a church member as possible.
When Jesus appeals to the authority of God, which fixes the days and seasons, there is a loving, pastoral aim. If he is rebuking them, it’s gentle. The correction brings comfort. God is in control, and he is a good God, so don’t worry about the times or seasons.
Believe that God is holy, wise, and powerful. Seek not the secret things. Trust God to be God, and seek with diligence the revealed things, what God commands of us in His Word.
Jesus’s answer doesn’t stop with the time appointed by the Father. He does provide an answer to their question. The coming of the kingdom will be accompanied by the sending of the Holy Spirit, who empowers the apostles to become witnesses of the kingdom of God. Look with me at verse 8.
II.) The Holy Spirit accomplishes through witnesses the coming of the kingdom (Acts 1:8-9)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Ac 1:8)
The way Jesus answered the disciples’ question was first with a “no.” The kingdom will not be fully realized now, but in verse 8, and this is important: he says that it is coming through the work of the Spirit and the birth of the church. The kingdom of God is now, and not yet. It is present and it is future.
Jesus’ answer can be divided into three major points: how the kingdom will come, what the church does as the kingdom comes, and where the kingdom will advance.
The how question is answered in the sending and empowering of the Holy Spirit: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”
Within Jesus’ answers are numerous allusions to Old Testament promises. So, for example, this is an allusion to Isaiah 32:15-18.
15 until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. 16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. 17 And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.
We read that not to make a connection for the sake of making a connection. What I want us to see is that the sending and giving of the Spirit marks the beginning of God’s restoration of the kingdom of Israel. The promises will be realized through the Spirit and the church.
What will the Spirit do? Empower the apostles to be witnesses. The church needs to remember that the power of God in building the kingdom comes by the Holy Spirit. In Acts, the Spirit’s power is connected to the preached Word of God and miraculous acts.
33 And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. (Ac 4:33)
God does not build his kingdom with military might. It is not built with political pressure. The coming of the kingdom doesn’t come with a business plan or dependence on wealth.
The kingdom comes by the power of the Holy Spirit, empowering witnesses to testify to the gospel of the kingdom.
The promise that the apostles will be witnesses involved another important Old Testament allusion.
“You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior (Is 43:10–11)
As stated earlier, these connections confirm that the restoration of the kingdom of Israel will occur through the Holy Spirit and the church.
The key truth that the apostles bear witness to is the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Today, we live in a different period of redemptive history, and do not serve as witnesses in the same way. We have, however, received the great commission, which gives us the responsibility to bear witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the purpose we are to pursue together as a church. The kingdom comes through Word and Spirit.
I am grateful for every Christian civil servant, and for every effort to influence society with what is good, beautiful, and true. I praise the Lord for all of it. Please don’t hear me belittle those efforts at all.
What most excites me, though, and what I think should be the singular focus of the church, is the proclamation of the gospel, the making of disciples, and the planting of churches.
You see, the kingdom comes by the power of the Holy Spirit, but its presence on earth is quite humble. Our sinful hearts don’t like what is small and humble. We want the big and powerful. God confounds the wisdom of the world by saving and gathering unimpressive, sinful people who are baptized in water. The devils of Hell tremble not as his people take up arms, but the bread and the cup.
This is how the Lord often works, as described in His Word.
27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God (1 Co 1:27–29)
The third and final part of Jesus’ answer concerns the advancement of the kingdom. The kingdom of God will know no boundary. It will reserve no corner of the world that can escape the Lordship of Christ, in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
This again alludes to an important Old Testament passage, Isaiah 49:6.
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Is 49:6)
God is not only going to begin restoring the kingdom of Israel by the Holy Spirit and through the church, but the church will become a light to the nations as the gospel advances from Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
The heart of God is for the nations, and he will give to his Son a people redeemed from every tribe, tongue, and nation. All of this will be accomplished by the work of God by the Holy Spirit and through the church.
As we progress through Acts, you’ll see how God, by the Spirit, makes the apostles witnesses, starting in Jerusalem and advancing to Rome, ultimately reaching the ends of the earth.
The kingdom of God does not come by military strength. Its reach is not one location and one ethnic group. The kingdom of God comes by the power of the Holy Spirit, empowering witnesses to preach the gospel, starting in Jerusalem and extending to the ends of the earth.
III.) The ascension of the Son and the promise of his return assure the hope of the kingdom (Acts 1:10-11)
After Jesus gives his final marching orders to the apostles, he ascends into heaven.
9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. (Ac 1:9–11)\
One of the reasons we began by discussing the ascension was to allow me to focus on how the narrative connects the ascension to the mission of the disciples. As much as I love the allusions to Psalm 2 and Daniel 7, and how the cloud serves as an image for the glory of God, I also want to emphasize the connection between the ascension and the mission of the disciples.
The two men, possibly angels, give the disciples a gentle rebuke, “Why do you stand looking into heaven?” Christ’s ascension into heaven means that it is now time to work faithfully to do all that Christ had commanded. And they are to do so with the hope of Christ’s promised return.
We seek to fulfill the mission Christ has given us with the unshaking conviction that his reign in heaven assures the success of our labors.
It is the ascended Lord Jesus Christ who said before the cross, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Mt 16:18)
We do so with the full assurance of hope that he will return the same way he came into heaven.
We live between these two great events, and they both are meant to fuel us to action, not apathy. Yes, the day is fixed by the Father. Yes, the Son rules and reigns in heaven, and the Holy Spirit is at work, but God does all of this through people who pray, preach, and serve, so that disciples are made and churches are planted.
The thought that occurred to me in my study was that I’m not broken enough over the lostness in Massac County. The reality of an eternal Hell has not shaken me enough. Mission partnerships and unreached people don’t occupy my thoughts and prayers enough.
The risen Lord Jesus Christ assures that the gospel will advance, disciples will be made, and the church will be built. Those are promises meant to propel us to act.
So let’s look to heaven, but not stand and gaze. Let’s, with obedient hearts, be faithful to pray for the salvation of the lost, the making of disciples, the strengthening, and planting of churches. Let’s love our friends and family well, share the gospel with them, and pray for their conversion. Let us commit to the church and seek to bring every aspect of life under the Lordship of Christ.
Jesus Christ lives, Jesus Christ reigns, and that makes all the difference for today.
Nathaniel R. Martin 