Risen, Ascended, Seated

Risen, Ascended, Seated

Collect:Lord, we beseech thee to keep thy household the Church in continual godliness; that through thy protection it may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve thee in good works, to the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Text: The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven. And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

                                         

No one has ever experienced greater humiliation than our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the eternal Son and the Father’s equal, but voluntarily he became man. He was condemned to death by the Jewish leaders and suffered under the civil authority, Pontius Pilate. He was nailed to a cross, and died a horrendous death under the judgment of God.  

But, as no one has been so humiliated, so no one has been so exalted. He rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand of God.

1. Risen

The Creed and the Gospels say unequivocally that Jesus died. The Creed and Gospels say with equal conviction that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day.

1.1. All four Gospels tell the same story. St. Mark can represent all. Some women came to the tomb early Sunday morning and encountered an angel who said, “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here.” (16:6).

St. Paul lists a number of witnesses:

“... (Christ) was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and (that) he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me (1 Cor. 15:3-8).

The Scriptures testify to a unique historical event. A few others were restored to life temporarily but died again. But Jesus died, was placed in a tomb, and then rose to immortal life - beyond the touch of death.

1.2. The truth of the resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith. The new World Trade Center in New York is the tallest building in the western hemisphere and the 6th tallest in the world. It rests on 400 metric tons of concrete which was poured onto the bedrock below. There are 40,000 metric tons of the structural steel resting on that foundation. Were the foundation to collapse the whole 1776 feet building would fall.

St. Paul says the Christian faith rests on the historical fact of the resurrection. If the resurrection did not occur, the whole Christian faith collapses. He wrote to the Corinthians, some of whom denied a literal resurrection from the dead:

...if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise...And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15: 12-19).

Simon Greenleaf was a lawyer, the founder of Harvard Law School. He determined to disprove the resurrection by approaching it as a lawyer preparing a case for court. But the more he studied the more uncomfortable he became. At last he concluded that his working hypothesis - that the resurrection did did not happen - was not supported by the evidence. His final conclusion was the resurrection of Christ was true beyond any reasonable doubt.*

Yes, many people do not believe Christ rose from the dead. But it is not because the evidence drives them not to believe. The evidence for the resurrection is strong, strong enough to support the faith of any Christian.

2. Ascended and Seated

As the Creed and Scriptures affirm the bodily resurrection of our Lord, so they affirm his ascension and his sitting at God’s right hand.

2.1. Ascension. St. Luke the recorded our Lord’s ascension. He describes it briefly in his Gospel:

And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.  And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,  and were continually in the temple blessing God (Luke 24:50-53).

In Acts he adds:

And when (Jesus) had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. (Acts 1:9)

How should we understand the ascension? Was our Lord as an astronaut who passed  through the atmosphere into outer space and eventually beyond space into heaven? No. Heaven is God - God living in self-existent glory. When Jesus ascended, he returned to the glory he has always shared with Father. There is no better way to picture Jesus’s leaving this earthly realm to return to the Father than his going up and beyond this realm of existence. C.S. Lewis described the ascension this way: “They saw first a short vertical movement, then a vague luminosity...and then nothing.” ** The point of the ascension is that our Lord left the earth and returned to the presence and glory of the Father.

2.2. Seating. The New Testament writers testify frequently to our Lord’s ascending and then sitting down. What is the significance of his sitting?

My Dad used to tell me, “Bill you can’t work sitting.” You don’t sit till your work is done. The writer of Hebrews said, “After making purification for sins, (Christ) sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (1:3). Christ had completed the work of purifying us from our sins by his death and resurrection. Then he ascended and sat down by the Father.

He “sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” If your mother ever taught you about seating guests at the table, she probably told you to seat the guest of honor at the right hand of the host. The right hand is the place of honor. Christ was elevated to the place of highest favor at the Father’s right hand.

The seat at the Father’s right hand is not only the place of honor but also of power and authority. God the Father “raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,  far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come” (Ephesians 1:20,21).

Christ having completed his work, sat down at the right hand of God in the place of honor and given the highest power and authority.

What is the significance Christ’s resurrection, ascension, and sitting down? Why are they important?

• In the resurrection God vindicated Jesus’s claim to be the Son of God. The resurrection declared that his payment for our sins was accepted so that we are forgiven and reconciled to God. Jesus’s resurrection is the guarantee that we too will be raised and made like him in his resurrection glory.

• The ascension tells us that our humanity, free of sin’s curse and raised to glory, can exist in the blessed presence of God. The ascension tells us that Christ has presented his sacrifice to the Father, that it was accepted by the Father, and that in heaven Christ constantly intercedes for us. The ascension calls us to lift up our hearts to heaven and seek communion with Christ who is there with the Father.

• The sitting of Christ at the Father’s right hand means that Christ is King. He is not waiting to be made King at his Second Coming, but he is King now. He rules over everything and will continue to rule till all his enemies, including death, are defeated. The sitting at the right hand of the Father assures us we are under the protection of Jesus who has all authority and power. His sitting as King guarantees that in the end the church must triumph over all the forces of evil.

Rejoice, the Lord is King:

Your Lord and King adore!

Rejoice, give thanks and sing,

And triumph evermore.

Jesus, the Savior, reigns,

The God of truth and love;

When He has purged our stains,

He took his seat above;

His kingdom cannot fail,

He rules o'er earth and heav'n;

The keys of death and hell

Are to our Jesus giv'n:

Lift up your heart,

Lift up your voice!

Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

* Michael Horton in We Believe p. 115.

** J.I. Packer in I Want to Be a Christian, p. 71.