117 The Ascension of Jesus

Ephesians 1:18-23

April 27, 2025

We spent the last several weeks building up to Easter, and last Sunday

We had a wonderful time celebrating the resurrection of our Lord.

We looked at His arrest, and His trial, and His crucifixion,

And His burial, and His resurrection.

And it just occurred to me not to stop there,

But to examine two more very important events in the life of Christ.

· THIS MORNING we will look at “The Ascension of Jesus”

· TONIGHT, “The Second Coming of Jesus”

I WOULD START OFF BY REMINDING YOU THAT

These events were on Jesus’ mind even

While He was being arrested, tried, crucified, and even resurrected.

Do you remember the trial of Jesus?

· I’m referring specifically to that second one that occurred in the middle of the night in the house of Caiaphas.

Do you remember how they were finally able to condemn Him?

Matthew 26:63-64 “But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

· They threw all sorts of false accusations against Him and He said nothing.

· But when the chief priest illegally ordered Jesus to testify against Himself

· And to answer whether or not He was “the Christ, the Son of God”,

Jesus said this:

“You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

At that moment Jesus quoted two Old Testament passages

To reveal His identity.

Psalms 110:1 “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

· Incidentally, it was the same verse Jesus used to silence the debaters when He

was teaching in the temple in Matthew 22:44.

But when they wanted to know who Jesus claimed to be,

He said, “I am the One who will soon be seated

At the righthand of God ruling over His enemies.”

But He didn’t stop there.

He also quoted Daniel 7:13-14

Daniel 7:13-14 “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.”

That passage reminded that He would also return with the clouds of heaven and would rule this world.

So even when Jesus was being tried,

He was bearing testimony to His ascension and second coming.

We understand why His focus would be there.

The writer of Hebrews taught us:

Hebrews 12:2 “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Even as Jesus endured the cross

His focus was beyond the suffering,

Which He despised or thought little of.

His focus was on “the glory set before Him”,

That He would set “down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus found strength in His suffering by looking beyond it

To the glory of His ascension and second coming.

That was at that second trial at the house of Caiaphas.

But then we came to that third trial

· That was done publicly to cover the bases at the council chamber.

Luke 22:67-69 “If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I ask a question, you will not answer. “But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”

There He doubled down and reminded them again that as God’s Son,

He will soon be seated at God’s right hand.

Or how about when He stood before Pilate?

John 18:36 “Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”

You can see that the ascension was important to Jesus.

But it wasn’t just at His trial where we see a focus on His ascension.

Do you remember the words He spoke as He hung on the cross?

Luke 23:42-43 “And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

Even while dying Jesus welcomed that thief into the joy of His suffering

And admitted Him into the kingdom which Jesus would soon be enjoying.

Or how about at His resurrection?

· Peter and John had run to the tomb, but didn’t see Jesus and then went home.

· Mary Magdalene however stayed there weeping.

And then Jesus revealed Himself to her:

John 20:16-17 “Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’”

Even there Jesus was reminding Mary of what He had taught them the night before.

· He was going away.

· Clinging to His earthly presence was the wrong mentality.

Do you remember what He taught them Thursday night?

John 14:1-3 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

John 14:12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.”

John 14:28 “You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.”

John 16:7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”

John 16:28 “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”

And even in His high priestly prayer:

John 17:11-13 “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.”

That has been His focus the whole time hasn’t it?

Jesus continually looked past the suffering to the fact that

He would very soon be sitting on heaven’s throne.

No man, regardless of their scheming,

Would be able to thwart God’s eternal decree

That Christ would sit on the throne.

As we have often referenced:

Psalms 2:6-9 “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’”

Jesus had certainly come to suffer and die

And give His life as a ransom for many,

But He was also aware that the story did not end there.

He would very soon be exalted to the throne of heaven

Where He would sit at the Father’s right hand.

That is the event we want to examine this morning.

Now, before we get into the point I want to leave with you,

I do want to give you (similar as the way we did when discussing His burial)

Some of the theological realities of His ascension.

· We covered these before, I think, when we studied Luke’s gospel, let me give you them quickly again.

· We can’t spend long on them, so if they grab your curiosity you’re going to have to go home and dig them out on your own.

· But let me just quickly give you the theological significance found in the fact that Jesus ascended to the Father.

1) CERTIFICATION OF MINISTRY

The ascension, just like the burial of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus,

Also served as a tremendous proof that His ministry was from God.

You may remember John 6 where

· Jesus began by feeding the 5,000

· That night He walked on water to the other side of the sea

· The crowd found Him and wanted more bread

It was there that Jesus gave the famous sermon that

He was the bread from heaven.

· But the people balked at the notion that He had claimed to come from heaven

· And that they should eat His flesh and drink His blood for eternal life.

John 6:60-62 “Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?”

There Jesus said that His ascension

Would be a sort of verification of His ministry.

You don’t believe Him when He says He came from heaven

Well perhaps you’ll believe Him when you see Him go back.

2) COMMENCEMENT OF PRIESTHOOD

We already noted how Jesus quoted Psalms 110:1 in regard to His ascension, but that is not the only significant verse in that Psalm.

Psalms 110:4 is also very important.

Psalms 110:4 “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

The 110th Psalm teaches us that Jesus is ascending to the Father

And He is ascending to fulfill His role as our great High Priest.

In reality that verse inspired the entire book of Hebrews

And comes with much more depth than we can address here.

But it suffices to say that

If Jesus is going to intercede as a priest on your behalf before the Father,

Then He will need to approach the Father.

His ascension marks the beginning of that ministry

Which SECURES YOUR SALVATION.

Hebrews 9:24 “For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;”

Hebrews 7:25 “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

3) CLARIFICATION OF HIS RETURN

Do you wonder what the return of Christ will be like?

There is an entire eschatological view today called preterism

That says Christ already returned, and that it was a spiritual return.

But we don’t buy that.

Because Jesus gave us a picture to know exactly what His return would be like.

Right after Jesus ascended into heaven we read:

Acts 1:11 “They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

· Jesus didn’t spiritually ascend and He won’t spiritually return.

· It was a physical ascension and it will be a physical return.

Revelation 1:7 “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.”

4) CREATION OF OUR EXPECTATION

Not only does the ascension give us a picture

Of what to expect at His Second Coming,

But it also clarifies what we can expect to happen in our future.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

There are those today who also deny that the rapture is real.

· They say that there will be no event in which believers are caught up in the air to meet Christ.

But Paul told the Thessalonians that this is exactly what will happen.

Just as Christ ascended so will the church.

5) COMPLETION OF THE PLAN OF GOD

Think about all that God has determined from the beginning.

Ephesians 4:10 “He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.”

· That is to say so that He might “fulfill all things”

· That He might bring all things to their fulfillment.

Currently Christ reigns in heaven,

· From which He has sent the Holy Spirit to equip His church.

· He is saving and sanctifying His bride, preparing her for the great wedding

feast.

· He is interceding for her and securing her to Himself

· And once His bride is home, He will return to destroy the wicked.

· His ascension is a necessary part of that plan.

So there’s 5 important realities about Christ’s ascension.

But I didn’t give you the most important one.

That is the one I want us to think on a little bit more this morning.

The most important theological reality of Christ’s ascension is this:

THE CONFIRMATION OF HIS REIGN

When Jesus ascended, He ascended to the throne.

That is what He told the Jews at His trial.

· He quoted Psalms 110:1 that He would be seated at the right hand of power.

He told His disciples when He met them in Galilee:

Matthew 28:18 “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

And you might remember that this was the message

Peter preached even at Pentecost.

When Peter stood to explain the appearance of the Holy Spirit,

Peter taught that His arrival meant that the King had taken His throne.

Acts 2:32-36 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. “For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” ’ “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Peter told the masses who had rejected the Lord

That He was now seated at the right hand of Power.

· He is now Lord and Christ.

· God has raised Him and God has exalted Him.

· And you made a grave mistake in crucifying Him.

HIS ASCENSION CONFIRMS HIS REIGN.

And that is WHAT WE WANT TO THINK ON

In the remainder of our time here together this morning.

Namely that after Jesus was raised from the dead,

He ascended to take His seat on Heaven’s Throne.

TONIGHT we’ll talk about how

He will one day descend to claim Earth’s Throne as well.

But let’s discuss the current reign of Heaven’s King.

1 Corinthians 15:25-27 “For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him.”

And I want you to know that this is an interesting quote by Paul.

Paul states that Christ must reign until all His enemies are destroyed.

And to support that He quotes Psalms 8:6

“He has put all things in subjection under his feet.”

But that is an interesting quote from Paul.

WHY?

Because Psalms 8:6 is clearly about humanity.

· It is the Psalm where David contemplates the grace of God to humanity.

Psalms 8:4-6 “What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,”

David marvels that God has treated humanity so graciously,

Even giving him dominion over the earth.

Now the writer of Hebrews jumps on that train as well.

The writer of Hebrews uses Psalms 8:6

· To remind us of the sting of the fall

· And how man, because of sin, is not currently in his rightful position.

Hebrews 2:6-8 “But one has testified somewhere, saying, “What is man, that You remember him? Or the son of man, that You are concerned about him? “You have made him for a little while lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And have appointed him over the works of Your hands; You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”

So the writer of Hebrews quotes that Psalm and says,

“but we don’t see it happening.”

· Man is not currently ruling over all things.

· Something is wrong.

· Something is out of order.

But he does not stop.

Hebrews 2:8-9 “You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”

The writer of Hebrews said we don’t see all things subjected to man,

But we do see “Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels”

And what do we see now?

“because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor”

The writer of Hebrews speaks of Jesus

As the man who came to fix the problem.

Jesus came and suffered as our sin demanded,

Now He has ascended to put things back in their rightful order.

That is why Paul quotes that verse about Jesus.

Jesus is the ultimate man, now reigning on heaven’s throne.

“He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.”

For a little while lower than the angels, but now exalted above them.

And I want you to understand THE DEGREE OF HIS AUTHORITY.

To do that, let’s return now to the passage we read to open the sermon.

BACK TO EPHESIANS 1:18-23

This is Paul’s prayer that

The church will understand all that is theirs in Christ.

Just look at the prayer in verses 18-19a

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”

· I want you to know the HOPE that is yours.

· I want you to know the RICHES of your inheritance.

· I want you to know the greatness of His POWER toward you.

I just wish you could catch a glimpse of how powerful Christ is.

And then Paul strives to explain Christ’s power.

(19b) “These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead…”

Now there’s your FIRST indication of power.

It is RESURRECTION POWER.

The power that is available to you through Christ is resurrection power.

· The same power that God used to raise Christ from the dead

· Is the power that is available to transform your life as well.

And certainly we could talk about the resurrection and even the resurrected life of a believer as a testimony to that power, but time just won’t permit.

It is the NEXT indication of power I want you to see.

(20b) “and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”

LET’S LOOK AT THAT FOR A MOMENT.

Paul not only talks about resurrection power, but REIGNING POWER.

He wants you to understand THE CURRENT POSITION of Christ.

HERE IS WHY.

Look down at verse 22-23

“And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

· Paul says Christ is the head of the church.

· Paul says we are Christ’s body.

· Paul says He “fills all in all”

· And Paul says we are His “fullness”

There is an unbreakable union between the church and Christ.

Just as a man and women get married and become one flesh,

So also are we joined with Christ.

He the head, we the body.

He the filler, we the fullness.

That is why Paul will say in Ephesians 2 that we were made alive with Christ, we were raised with Christ, and we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.

If I might say it just a simpler way.

We are Christ’s and Christ is ours.

We are united with Him.

We are one with Him.

Now we are understanding why Christ spoke so much about it,

Even in the upper room.

His ascension is a tremendous benefit to us.

This is good for us!

And because we are united with Christ

Paul wants you and I to understand just how much authority He has.

He wants you to know the advantage that is yours

Because you are the bride of Christ.

So when we talk about His reigning power

Let Paul show you just How far He ascended.

Look at it:

(21) “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”

I just want you to see Christ’s position.

Because His position benefits you.

One thing I have learned in all my years traveling to Africa

Is how different Africans think than Americans in many different areas.

One of those areas is politics.

· In America you won’t give much thought to the race or ethnicity of a candidate,

· You will be more likely to consider his political beliefs and his platform.

And that’s not to say no one in Africa cares about such things.

But they are far more prone to vote along tribal lines.

Bec

ause if a man from my tribe is elected president of the country

That’s going to be good for my tribe.

Well, I want you to think like our African brothers and sisters

For a moment and understand the point.

Here we have Christ, the head of your tribe, your husband.

And I want you to understand WHERE HE SITS.

(21) “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”

Let’s examine those words for a second.

“rule”

It is the Greek word (ar-KHAY)

Most of the time when that word shows up

It speaks of the beginning or of origins.

But it is used in a sense of authority because it speaks of

That which has precedent by reason of being there first.

We think of colonization or tradition in this way.

· Namely that the way we did things first seems to have a higher rank of authority

than something new.

· Just as a person who claimed the position first has a certain level of

preeminence.

So here Paul is saying that Christ is seated “far above all rule”

Or any established leader or tradition or way of doing things.

“and authority”

That word is (ex-oo-SEE-ah)

Matthew really likes to use that word.

Matthew 7:29 “for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.”

Matthew 8:9 “For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

Matthew 9:6 “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.”

This word speaks of judicial power to make decisions.

· It is like that centurion spoke of.

· I have authority to make someone do something.

· He recognizes that same authority in Jesus.

So here we see that Christ is the highest of all judicial authorities.

If you go up the chain of command high enough, it ends with Christ.

Everyone; all authority; eventually answers to Him.

“and power”

That is the word (DOO-na-mis)

· It’s where we get our word for “dynamite”

· It is just raw power.

· Often times the word is translated “miracles”.

But in an authority sense we understand it to speak of

The one who is the strongest.

In a base culture, the strongest guy wins the room.

· If he can physically dominate you, then he gets to be in charge.

· He has the most power and therefore he is in charge.

Well Paul says that Christ is far above all other powers.

There is no strong man stronger than Him.

There is no brute bully that can intimidate Christ and make Him yield.

CHRIST IS THE STRONGEST OF THE STRONG.

“and dominion”

That is the word (koo-ree-AH-tace)

· It speaks of governing authorities and governments.

· In Colossians Paul speaks of “thrones and dominions”

So we are talking about political power.

World governments and all of their power.

Military strength and weapons of war.

Those who rule because

They have the strongest armies and the most weapons.

And Paul says that Christ is far above all of them.

· There is no government that has the dominion that He has.

· There is no army that can compare with His army.

“and every name that is named”

It is simply Paul’s way of saying, everyone.

There is not a human or government or demonic force

Or strong man or judge or power lifter or ninja or navy seal

Or Philistine Giant or anyone who is equal to Christ.

HE IS ABOVE THEM ALL.

· Any way in which you choose to measure power, Christ has more.

· Any way in which you choose to establish authority, Christ is above it.

· Any way in which you choose to talk about control, Christ is at the top.

“not only in this age but also in the age to come.”

And it always will be this way.

· There is nothing coming that will ever unseat Christ.

· He is on the throne and He always will be.

God “put all things in subjection under His feet”

So church, for must a moment

As we talk about the reigning Christ who ascended to His throne

I want you to understand the power and authority that He has.

POWER OVER ALL ESTABLISHED ORDERS

· Every tradition or preexisting rule of government.

The Chinese like to boast that they have been a nation

For over 5,000 years…well good.

CHRIST HAS PRECEDENT.

POWER OVER ALL JUDICIAL DECISION

We see rogue and corrupt judges today

Who make rulings and decisions to seek to defy any and everyone.

CHRIST WILL HAVE THE FINAL SAY IN ALL JUDICIAL DECISIONS.

POWER OVER ALL STRONG FORCES

Rather demons or strong men or even raw natural power.

CHRIST IS STRONGER.

He calms seas, He holds the sun, He quiets storms.

There is no raw power like His raw power.

POWER OVER ALL GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES

· Do we suppose the United States is strong because of our military?

· Perhaps you fear Russia or China or some other military force.

NONE COMPARE TO CHRIST AND THE ARMIES OF HEAVEN.

1 angel came and destroyed 185,000 Assyrians outside the walls of Jerusalem,

And Jesus has myriads of myriads of angels at His disposal.

There is no governmental power like Christ’s power.

POWER OVER ALL IMPORTANT PEOPLE

Who has the right to give orders and be in control?

The pope in Rome claims that his word is infallible,

But he found out recently it’s not.

CHRIST’S WORD IS FAR HIGHER THAN HIS.

Church I simply want you to understand that Christ reigns.

He is sovereign over all.

He is the High King of Heaven.

When governments become corrupt or judges go rogue.

When strong men threaten or demons about.

Do not fear, Christ is over all.

HE IS YOURS AND YOU ARE HIS.

Nothing can happen outside of His sovereign control

And all things must happen according to His divine plan.

1 Peter 3:22 “[Jesus] is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.”

That is why we can read such verses with confidence.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

It is because Christ reigns.

And it’s not even close.

He reigns “far above” them all.

· They are not free to do as they please.

· They will not get away with all that they have done.

· For as we will see tonight, the One who currently reigns in heaven will soon return and reign on earth.

This morning just respond to the ascension of Jesus the way the apostles did.

Luke 24:51-53 “While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising God.”