The first treatise I composed, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach,
until the day in which He was received up, after that He had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles whom He had chosen:
to whom He also showed Himself alive after His passion by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God.
And, being assembled together with them, He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said He, ye heard from Me:
for John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence.
They therefore, when they were come together, asked Him, saying, Lord, dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?
And He said unto them, It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father hath set within His own authority.
But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
And when He had said these things, as they were looking, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.
And He came, and He taketh it out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne.
And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
And they sing a new song, saying,
Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof:
for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with Thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,
and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon the earth.
And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;
saying with a great voice,
Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honour, and glory, and blessing.
And every created thing which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard I saying,
Unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever.
And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshipped.
Our heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee that we may again come before Thee in the name of Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we do thank Thee for Thy Word.
We ask Thee, Lord, that Thou wilt now bless Thy Word to our hearts by Thy Holy Spirit. We pray that through Thy Word we may really see what Thou hast said to us, that we may be lifted into heaven with Thy beloved Son. We commit this time into Thy hands, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
When the Son of God came into this world to be a man, He lived through His life a life of humiliation. Even though He was King—He was born King—yet He was born in a manger.
He grew up in Nazareth, a hilly country that was despised by people. And when He came out to preach the gospel, even though at the very beginning many followed Him, yet many said, “His words are too hard,” and many of His disciples left Him.
You should know that He was rejected by the world. But, brothers and sisters, we find that our Lord lived through His life in humility.
Because when He came into this world, He voluntarily emptied Himself and took upon Himself the form of a bondservant. Therefore, being found in the fashion of a man, He became obedient. He was obedient to God even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
When our Lord Jesus was on earth, He lived His days of humiliation. But thank God that by His humility, because of His emptying Himself, He was able to fulfil all that God desired. He was able to accomplish the work of redemption.
Because His work was done, as we mentioned last night, on the third day God raised Him from the dead. For forty days He appeared to His disciples and spoke to them of the kingdom of God.
But after forty days, He led His disciples to the Mount of Olives, and there we find that He was taken up into heaven. The disciples watched Him ascending, and finally a cloud received Him.
So, brothers and sisters, we know that our Lord Jesus not only died for us. He was not only buried for us. He was also raised from the dead. We have a living Christ.
But He was not only raised from the dead. He ascended up on high, and He is now seated at the right hand of Almighty God. This morning, we would like to share together on this ascension of our Lord Jesus.
The disciples saw Him going up, and then a cloud received Him. They were still looking up, even though they could not see Him. Then suddenly two men appeared and said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking up? This Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven.”
So the disciples went back to Jerusalem, and they waited for the promise of the Father. Now here is a question: they saw our Lord Jesus going up, and then a cloud took Him. In other words, they could not see Him anymore. How did they know that our Lord Jesus had entered into heaven?
You remember one day Philip, the evangelist, was taken away by the Spirit. He had been speaking to the man in the wilderness, and after that man believed in the Lord Jesus and was baptized, suddenly the Spirit took Philip away. Later, they found that he was in another city.
So we would like to ask this question: true, our Lord Jesus was taken up, but then He was covered by a cloud. How do we know that He did arrive at the right hand of God?
Thank God, we have proof. Why? Because on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down upon the one hundred and twenty believers assembled together. That is the evidence that our Lord Jesus had arrived in heaven.
If you read the book of Psalms, let us turn to Psalm 2.
Yet I have set My King
upon My holy hill of Zion.
And again, Psalm 110:1:
The Lord saith unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand,
until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.
Here you find David, who was a prophet. He prophesied that one day Christ would be anointed as King upon Zion. The Zion here is not the Zion on earth; it is Zion in heaven. He prophesied that one day this Man would be anointed King in Zion above.
Again, in Psalm 110, he prophesied that the Lord would say to Him, “Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make all Thine enemies Thy footstool.”
So we know that our Lord Jesus ascended up to the throne, and then God anointed Him. In Old Testament times, kings were anointed. Now here is our Lord Jesus: after He accomplished the work of redemption, He ascended up to heaven, and God anointed Him as King of kings and Lord of lords.
When He was anointed, you find in Psalm 133 that the oil came down from the head to the beard, and even came down to the skirts of Aaron’s garments. This is a picture.
When our Lord Jesus ascended up on high, He was anointed as King. God has made Him Lord and Christ. God has also anointed Him as the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Having been anointed, that anointing came down upon this earth, because we know that the oil represents the Holy Spirit. So, on the day of Pentecost, when the one hundred and twenty believers were assembled together, suddenly the Holy Spirit came down, and they were all baptized into one body.
This very fact that the Holy Spirit came down proves that Christ was glorified. You remember when our Lord Jesus was on earth, He said, “He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.”
This He spoke concerning the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because He was not yet glorified. His glorification resulted in the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came to bear witness that indeed Jesus was anointed King and Priest forever.
So this is the evidence of His ascension.
One day the apostle John was exiled to the island of Patmos. It was on the Lord’s Day that he found heaven opened and was given a scene in heaven.
We know that Revelation 4 gives us a view of the glory of God the Creator. In Revelation 5, we are given a view of the glory of Christ the Redeemer.
In heaven there was a throne, and there was One sitting on the throne. We know that this is God. In His hand there was a book, but that book was sealed with seven seals.
What is that book? That book is the title deed of the universe. God is the Creator of the universe, and in His hand He has that title deed.
Even though today we know that Satan has usurped this world, he is a usurper. He does not have the title. He is like a squatter who comes to your land and tries to live there, but has no authority to do so. He simply occupies it illegally.
That is what we find in this world today. Satan is called the god of this world because he has usurped God’s authority. Yet in God’s hand there is still that scroll.
Then a voice sounded throughout the universe: “Who is worthy to take that book and open the seals?” In other words, who is worthy to take the title deed and execute God’s will, to bring the world back to God?
Yet when the challenge came forth, in heaven, on earth, and underneath the earth, there was no response, because there was no one worthy. John wept. He saw that the world would be finished.
But he was comforted, because he saw the Lamb standing before the throne. We know that this is a scene of the ascension of our Lord Jesus. It is a view of the ascension of our Lord Jesus.
The Lamb had been slain, and yet He was standing, because He was dead and is now living. He lives forevermore. This Lamb stepped forward and took from the hand of the One sitting upon the throne that book.
He is worthy. He is the possessor, the legal possessor, of the universe. And He has the power to open the seals, to execute God’s will, and to bring this whole universe—all created things—back to God.
When this happened, heaven broke out in praises. Not only the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures, but all the angels—ten thousands upon ten thousands—began to praise the Lamb. Then the whole universe praised the Lamb.
Dear brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus, who is God, came to be a man. He humbled Himself. He accomplished the work of redemption. And now He is crowned with glory and honour.
As Scripture says, He was made a little lower than the angels, and yet He suffered death for every man. Because of that, He was crowned with glory and honour.
In Philippians 2:9-11, we find that God highly exalted Him and gave unto Him the name which is above every name:
Wherefore also God highly exalted Him,
and gave unto Him the name which is above every name;
that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
So, brothers and sisters, John was given a view of the ascension of our Lord Jesus. It is evidence that our Lord Jesus is now glorified. Thank God, He is not only living, but He is crowned with glory and honour.
What we would like to share together this morning is to understand the meaning of His ascension. What does ascension mean to Him, and what does ascension mean to us?
First, we would like to share what ascension means to our Lord Jesus.
Our Lord Jesus came out of glory. Before He came into this world to be a man, He lived in glory because He is God. He is equal with God, and that is not something to be grasped at. Throughout eternity, He shared that glory with God.
It is inherent glory. There is something called the glory of God, and the glory of God is beyond our understanding. God is God all by Himself. He is alone. He is full of glory.
Throughout eternity, the Father and the Son shared Their glory together. Then one day the Son emptied Himself.
Now, what is the glory of which the Son emptied Himself? Of course, He could not empty Himself of His glory as God, because that is His very being. He could not empty Himself of what He is. He is eternally God.
But what did He empty Himself of? Two things. One is that He emptied Himself of what we would call His metaphysical attributes. Let me explain it.
God is omnipotent: He is almighty. God is omniscient: He knows everything; you do not need to tell Him anything. God is omnipresent: He is everywhere at the same time. These are the metaphysical attributes of God.
Our Lord Jesus, before He came to be a man, was omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent because He is God the Son. But when He came to become a man, He emptied Himself of these attributes.
He was no longer everywhere. When He was in Jerusalem, He was not in Galilee; He had to travel to Galilee. He was no longer exercising omnipotence independently. He said, “I can do nothing of Myself.” If He did anything, it was because the Father did it.
Neither did He exercise omniscience independently. You remember that He said that there were things only the Father knew. He knew only as the Father revealed to Him. So when our Lord Jesus was on earth, He emptied Himself of these attributes of glory that belonged to Him.
Of course, He could not empty Himself of His moral attributes, His moral character, because that is what He is. He is love. He is righteous. He is holy. He is pure. These are the moral character of God.
Even while He was on earth, you find His love, His righteousness, His holiness, and His purity. He could not empty Himself of these things.
But He was able to empty Himself of all the glory and honour associated with Him as God. As God, He was surrounded by angels, and they worshipped Him and praised Him day and night unceasingly. That was His honour, His glory, and His majesty.
These were His rights as God, yet He emptied Himself of all these things. Brothers and sisters, when our Lord Jesus came into this world, He left the glory that He had with His Father from eternity.
Let us read John 17:5. Our Lord Jesus was preparing to go to the cross, and He prayed what we call the high-priestly prayer.
And now, Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
Here you find our Lord Jesus saying, “Now, glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” Before the world was, the Son shared glory with the Father.
We call it His original glory—a glory that belongs to God alone. It is a glory that God would never share with anybody else, because He alone is God. The Father and the Son have that glory together.
The Lord came out of that glory, and now the work is done. So He prayed, “Father, now I am going back to return to the glory that I had with Thee from eternity.”
To our Lord Jesus, His ascension means that He returned to the glory that He had with His Father throughout eternity. In other words, Jesus returned to heaven as the Son of God and returned to the glory that belongs to the Son of God.
When He returned to glory, He not only returned as the Son of God to the glory that had belonged to Him from eternity, but He also returned to another glory.
Let us read John 17:24:
Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world.
In verse 5, the glory is something that belongs to Him as the Son of God. But here the Lord Jesus speaks of the glory which the Father has given Him. What is this given glory?
The first glory is the original glory. Now we find that He also has a given glory. Because He came to be a man, and as a man He satisfied God’s heart and fulfilled all that God wanted man to do.
So when He went back to heaven, He received another glory: the glory of the Son of Man.
When God created man, He created man in His own image. He gave man dominion. He wanted man to subdue everything and bring everything back to God. That is the purpose of God’s creation of man.
But unfortunately, man rebelled against God and lost the dominion that God had given him. Instead of subduing all things, man was subdued by the enemy.
But here is a Man: Jesus Christ. He is a Man after God’s own heart. While He lived upon this earth, He lived a perfect life. He pleased God in everything. He is exactly the image of God, and He represents God completely.
He lived a holy life. Not only that, He learned obedience through the things which He suffered, and He accomplished the work that God had sent Him to do.
Through His death, by His blood, He reconciled all things back to God. He overcame the enemy. He threw out the usurper.
Here, brothers and sisters, is the glory of the Son of Man. This is what man ought to be. This is the glory that God gives to man. Now our Lord Jesus has returned to this given glory.
There He sits at the right hand of God, given all authority in heaven and on earth. To our Lord Jesus, ascension means that He received a given glory. There is today a Man in glory, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ.
When God created the world, He created the world to give it to His Son as a gift, because He loved His Son so much. He created all things for His Son. The Bible says that God made His Son the Heir of all things.
Because of the rebellion of the angels, it seemed as if He could not inherit His inheritance. All things seemed to be occupied by the enemy.
Yet because of His finished work on the cross, He has defeated His enemies. He has redeemed us out of our sins. In His ascension, He received from His Father the possession of all things.
Psalm 2:8 says:
Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.
When our Lord Jesus ascended up to heaven, He received from the Father all nations as His inheritance, and for His possession the ends of the earth.
He is not only the legal Heir; He is also the moral Heir, because He is able to redeem all things back to God. Our Lord Jesus is now the Heir of all things.
Our Lord Jesus today is executing the will of God. Do not think that our Lord is in heaven doing nothing. The Bible tells us that He opens the seals.
In other words, He makes God’s will known to the world, showing the world that it belongs to God. Of course, there is opposition. That is the reason you find wars, rumours of wars, famines, and all these disasters.
It is because our Lord Jesus is opening the seals. He is taking back the world and bringing it to God.
God says, “Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.” We have not yet seen all things subjected to Christ, but we know it is coming. One day everything will be subjected to Christ.
When that day arrives, our Lord Jesus will subject everything to God His Father. So ascension means a great deal to our Lord Jesus. God has made Him Lord of all. He is now in a double glory, and one day He will come back.
Our brothers and sisters, we would like to know what His ascension means to us. We know what His crucifixion means to us, because by His blood we are washed clean.
Last night we mentioned how much His resurrection means to us. It means not only our justification; it means our sanctification; it means our glorification. It means everything to us.
But, dear brothers and sisters, we know even less what His ascension means to us. We know He has ascended, but is there any connection with us? Oh, brothers and sisters, there is much that His ascension means to us.
First, it is because of His ascension that the Holy Spirit is given. The Holy Spirit came down, and in Him we were baptized into one body.
The gift of the Holy Spirit is one of the two greatest gifts of God. Of course, the Son is the unspeakable gift of God, and the Holy Spirit is also that most precious gift of God.
The Holy Spirit is now on this earth. The Holy Spirit lives in each one of you, and the Holy Spirit is in the church of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, it is because the Holy Spirit dwells in us that we are able to live a Christian life. The law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and of death.
It is because of the indwelling Holy Spirit that we are able to live lives like our Lord Jesus. Paul said, “For to me to live is Christ,” because it is the Spirit of Christ within me.
So, dear brothers and sisters, our spiritual growth depends completely upon the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes upon Himself the responsibility to mature us as sons of God.
Therefore, we need to obey and listen to the anointing within us. On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down from heaven, the believers were baptized in the Spirit into one body.
Brothers and sisters, today we are members one of another. We are not merely individual believers. We are individuals, but by the Holy Spirit He has made us members one of another.
We are no longer independent; we are interrelated. We belong to the same family. We belong to the same body. We are members. Who does this work? It is the Holy Spirit.
So the exaltation of our Lord Jesus means the beginning of the church.
Formerly, when our Lord Jesus was on earth, He lived in that body which came through Mary. In that body He lived for thirty-three years. He did many things, and He taught many lessons.
But, brothers and sisters, do you know that He still has a body on earth? It is a spiritual body; it is a corporate body. Now He is the Head, and His body is upon this earth.
In this body, He continues to do and to teach. That is the glory of the church. What is the church? The church is the body of Christ. The Head, Christ, continues to do and to teach through His body.
This is what His ascension means to us: we now belong to one body.
The exaltation, or ascension, of our Lord Jesus tells us that now He is our great High Priest. When He was on earth, He was the Apostle of God, and He came to fulfil a mission.
Now He has ascended upon high, and God has made Him a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Our Lord Jesus is now our great High Priest. He intercedes for us. He is able to save us to the uttermost.
You know, brothers and sisters, even though we do not see Him with our naked eyes, we know He is there. We know He is praying for us. He cares for us. He never forgets us as we walk through this life journey. He is with us all the time.
We do not know what the future holds. We do not know what will happen to us. But He knows, and He prays for us.
You remember Peter. Peter depended upon himself and said, “I love You. I am willing to die with You.” But the Lord said, “You will deny Me. Satan hath desired to sift you as wheat.”
There was flesh in Peter—self-righteousness and self-confidence. Satan was able to deceive him. But the Lord said, “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, when once thou hast turned again, establish thy brethren.”
Dear brothers and sisters, do you not know that our Lord Jesus is praying for you? He knows what will happen in your life. He knows that you are not able to meet all these situations, but He is praying for you.
He will strengthen you. He will restore you, that your faith will not be lost. On the contrary, sometimes after you have gone through all these trials, you will come out as pure gold.
How can you do that? It is because He is your High Priest. He is sustaining you. He is supporting you. He is alongside you, and He will save you to the uttermost.
So we thank God that His ascension means that now we have a great High Priest. By Him, we can come to the throne of grace and receive grace and help.
Third, His ascension means our ascension. His death means our death. His resurrection means our resurrection. His ascension means our ascension.
Let us read Ephesians 2:6:
And raised us up with Him, and made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.
We are not only raised up together with Him; in Him, we are taken up together with Him. Where are we today? Physically speaking, we are sitting here on earth, in Toronto, perhaps on Finch Street. But where are we spiritually? We are seated with Christ in the heavenlies.
That is where we are. Physically speaking, we are sitting here, but spiritually speaking, we are seated in the heavenlies with Christ.
Do you not know that because Christ has ascended, you are a heavenly people? We do not belong to this earth. Even though our body is still here, our heart is already there.
Therefore, we shall seek the things that are above, not the things that are on the earth. We need to live as a heavenly people.
The Bible tells us in Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”
Where can you receive all the spiritual blessings? You say, “Why is it that I do not receive those spiritual blessings?” Because you are in the wrong place. If you are in the heavenlies, then all these spiritual blessings are yours.
But if you come out, then the spiritual blessings do not belong to you. Oh, thank God, because He has ascended, therefore we have ascended. We are now hidden with Christ in God.
Nothing can touch us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, because it is in Christ Jesus. That is where we are today. Oh, thank God, we are heavenly people.
Because we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, therefore we have a heavenly position. In that position, we fight the spiritual warfare.
We are not fighting against flesh and blood. Of course, Satan is very subtle. He does not come out as the pictures portray him, with horns and a fork in his hand.
When he comes to tempt you or attack you, he may use people who are very close and dear to you. He may use different circumstances. He hides behind these things.
If you do not understand this, you will be fighting flesh and blood, and you will fight with fleshly weapons. Satan will be standing there just laughing. He knows you are defeated because you have lost your position.
You know, in battle, position is most important. In Chinese, we have a saying that if you stand on high, then you can win very easily. Position is very important.
Satan tries to get us off that position—our heavenly position, our position in Christ. When he can remove us from that position, before the battle begins, we are already defeated.
But, brothers and sisters, we are hidden with Christ in God. We are in the heavenlies, and we fight from above, not from below.
We are not fighting against people. We are not fighting against our brothers and sisters. We fight against the enemy who is behind these things. Our weapons are the weapons of God, including prayer.
Because we have that heavenly position, we can bind what needs to be bound and loose what should be loosed.
Brothers and sisters, the victory of Christ is our victory. Because on Calvary’s cross, He has won the battle. He has robbed the enemy of all his power. He has led captivity captive and made a public show of them.
The victory of Christ is ours. Therefore, from this high position, we fight from victory to victory. This is what His ascension means to us.
In that position, we are able to subdue all things through the authority and power of Christ. We can subdue all things and bring them to the feet of our Lord Jesus.
That is what His ascension means to us. So, dear brothers and sisters, we do worship Him, because He died for us, He was buried for us, He was raised for us, and He even ascended for us.
He is our Saviour. He is our Lord. He is our Captain. Praise God. He shall be praised.