Rembrandt, who was fascinated
by the great themes of the Bible, painted a picture of how he saw the ascension
of Jesus. At the foot of the painting, there is a great dark area, where you
can just see the upturned faces of the disciples in the gloom. And high above,
in contrast, the glory of Jesus, you follow their gaze and you see Jesus high
above, lifted up. Not surrounded by clouds, but with his feet on a rock,
looking upward in joy. Rembrandt captures something of the glory of Jesus …..
Recently the American artist
Wayne Forte painted a copy of Rembrandt’s painting. In Wayne Forte’s modern
painting, Jesus stands on firm ground, looking upwards, and in the foreground,
not in shadow or shade but in the light reflected from the glory of Jesus,
there stands one man, a disciple, who gazes, arms outstretched. Wayne Forte
captures something of the awe and wonder in the disciple looking upward.
And has written across the
foot of the painting, the text: we will recognise Him because we will be like
Him.
Two artists: one shows us the glory of Jesus, the other the awe of the disciples….. and between these, you might say, the whole of Christian worship might be encompassed.
Yet, the book of Acts actually
keeps our feet firmly on the ground.
Rather than a great panorama of sky, cloud and glory, the book of Acts
speaks of Jesus ascension much more as a mystery, even as something hidden.
Jesus we are told in verse 9 was hidden from their sight. As the disciples gazed into
the heavens, two men appeared, who breaking into the awe and wonder of the
moment asked the disciples - Why do you stand here looking into the sky ?
In contrast to the great paintings of a Tintoretto, or a Rembrandt, or of a
Forte, the book of Acts, then, speaks bluntly, directly, simply of hiddenness,
mystery, in the departure of Jesus from this earth.
Likewise, the Apostles Creeed, one of the great and earliest statements of the Church, also says quite simply – He ascended into heaven. Four, short, direct words.
So it seems that both the book
of Acts, and the early faith of the Church was very direct, matter of fact
about this great event,
When Jesus left the earth, and
returned to the presence of God.
But though simply described,
there are great, great depths of meaning for us in the ascension of Jesus….
We only have time for three
this morning, from the ascension, firstly, we learn
something about faith, secondly, something about hope, and lastly something
about God’s great plan of salvation.
Faith
Something has happened here at
the ascension of Jesus. Simply this – the beginning of faith. Here in the ascension is where
faith, our faith, begins.
We discover, looking at Acts
chapter 1, that t is God’s purpose for us to have faith.
We can go into a scientific
laboratory, and a scientist will show us right before our eyes what happens
when two chemicals are mixed, or he or she can measure for us radioactive
particles in an element, show us a DNA sequence. This is scientific life.
Christian life is different,
however, for here we believe and trust in things we do not see – this is what faith
is says the book of Hebrews.
To believe in the evidence of
things we cannot see.
But, we learn from the book of
Acts, this, is not some kind of second best.
Looking at the ascension, we
can see that this is the way God, our Father in heaven has intended it. For
Jesus was taken up, and hidden from our sight, which means that we live trusting
Him, living by faith,
not by sight. The will of our Father in heaven is that now we have to live by
faith, by trust, by hope by love in Him, relying for everything on the Risen
Jesus. Jesus said to Thomas in the upper room, You
have seen me, and you have believed – but blessed are they that have not seen
but yet believe.
That’s us. We have not seen
Jesus as the disciples saw Him, but yet we believe.
And Jesus calls us, those who
are blessed.
This is the way the Father
wishes our life to be, lived in faith in Jesus Christ, though we cannot see
Him.
For the Christian, this changes
the balance and the focus of life.
Jesus has ascended on high,
and so now, as Colossians 3 puts it – You
have been raised to life with Christ, so set your hearts on the things that are
in heaven, where Christ is… Colossians 3.1,2,3.
Our minds, our gaze,like the disciples, is towards
heaven, our focus there , beyond this earth,
because, that’s where Jesus is.
If I take a walk in the
Pentlands, and climb onto one of the summits there, looking away to the south
west, you can see there the Broughton heights, away down towards Tweedsmuir, Hartfell
and the other hills and country there, great heights far away. Loveliest with
the setting sun in the west behind them, the pale blue evening sky silhouetting
them as they catch the last rays of the sun.
So we look away from life
here, to where Jesus is, the ascended Lord. The focus has shifted from earth to
heaven.
And all the treasures we have
there: as Jesus said:
where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also.
Hope
Which brings
us to hope. Jesus
ascending into heaven, this same Jesus, born
in
Jesus is the One who has gone
on before us, in the same way and to the same place, we will follow Him there. God brought
us to life with Christ, He raised us up to rule with Him in the heavenly world Ephesians
2.5,6.
Jesus of Nazareth, risen
from the dead,
has gone up into the presence of God,
this means that Jesus, as a human being
has entered heaven before we have,
he has taken human life, our human life, this
body of ours
into God's presence
Jesus has not left us, or laid aside human
life,
no - quite the opposite
He has brought together in One, human life, and the life of God,
The New Testament declares this great wonder,
that now the roots of new human life are in
Jesus who is now God's presence,
that in Him, there a new form of human life
has begun, and to know Jesus is to share in that new life..............the
roots of new life, the foundations of
human life are now in Jesus who is in God's presence,
He has taken our human life
into God's presence
has entered
into heaven, for us, as a human being,
And one day, when he returns,
we shall see Him face to face.
Lastly, in verse
8 of Acts 1. are recorded these words of
Jesus…..to the disciples…
‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will
be my witnesses’
Lets
think of the disciples first: what this meant for them. As you read through the
book of Acts, you cannot fail to be astonished in the way that the disciples
were so bold, so ready, to able to speak about Jesus with real power, real
effect, hearts were really moved, the city of Jerusalem really in a stir. How come ? How was
it that these men, who were hiding in a upper room only days or weeks before,
are now to be found on their feet in the Temple, in the cities round Judea, as
far as Antioch, and eventually Rome ?
They preached like this, because they were given power from above. And
this power came through the Holy Spirit who had come down upon them. And the
Holy Spirit only came because Jesus had ascended into heaven.
This is exactly what Jesus
says in John 16.7 – ‘it is better for you
that I go away, because if I do not go, the Helper, the Holy Spirit will not
come to you, but if I do go away, then I will send Him to you’.
Because, as we read in the
book of Acts, Jesus has ascended,
from
there in God’s presence He pours upon the Church the Holy Spirit,
with
all the gifts that the Spirit brings for us……..
The Spirit who builds us in faith,
who builds us in Jesus Christ, who moves, shapes and creates the Church, the Holy Spirit who is at work among us, the
wonderful gift poured so abundantly on us,
the gift, of Jesus Christ now ascended into God’s presence.
AMEN.