When Jesus was born, he left his glorious position in Heaven to come and live amongst his fallen creation. He did a really good job for something over 30 years, but it must have been quite a bit of a let down in many ways. He kept his relationship with his Father and the Holy Spirit going, so he didn't lose their company, but Heaven isn't fallen and its magnificence must be pretty compelling. We can tell from some of the things that he said that Jesus was looking forward to going back there and being properly with the rest of the Trinity.
Of course, he had to go through his trials, execution and resurrection before reaching the point that he was longing for: they were his central purpose for becoming human and living in Israel. Indeed, he knew by the time that he rose from the dead that he had defeated the power of death and Hell, sin no longer had an irresistable hold on mankind, and the devil's days were numbered. That must have been immensely satisfying. Yet Jesus still yearned to be properly reunited with his Father and Holy Spirit. Once he had spent some time proving to various people that he was truly alive again and given some important instructions, he was free to ascend back to Heaven, which he did from the Mount of Olives (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 1, verses 9 - 12).
We regularly think about Jesus' ultimate sacrifice on the cross. We often couple that with his resurrection. Jesus died and rose again to ransom and redeem us, bring about our atonement with God, bear the punishment for our sins and remove our guilt as far as the East is from the West. This is all glorious and the basis of our assured hope of eternal life. So what does Jesus' ascension add to our faith?
Various people at different times had heard a voice from Heaven declaring who Jesus was, but here all 11 of his core apostles actually saw Jesus going up into the sky. This was a physical demonstration that he really was, literally, going back into Heaven, alive as a man: Heaven exists and Jesus has a rightful place there. He told various people that they would ultimately be with him there after death, so the fact that he was clearly seen to be going there himself gives us confidence that he knew what he was talking about. We have a sure hope that God is with us as we live our Christian here on Earth and that we shall then join him in Heaven. Such a confidence in a glorious eternal future provides us with a strong motivation to live as disciples of our Lord and to encourage others to find Jesus as their saviour as well.
Knowing that there is a real Heaven also reminds us that we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. That Kingdom is based on high principles of love, joy, peace, mercy, self-control, goodness, kindness, gentleness, walking closely with God, doing the things that Jesus did and even greater ones. The list could continue, but what we see is that these are Kingdom principles which we can live up to if we keep our eyes on things of God's Kingdom, not the earthly kingdom around us. "You have been raised with Christ, so keep you mind fixed on things above, where he sits at the right hand of God," says Paul. "Do this instead of thinking about earthly things, because you died and your life is now hidden in God with Christ. When he comes again, you will appear with him in glory, because he is now your life." (Paul's letter to the Collossians, chapter 1, verses 1 - 4)
Let us allow Jesus to be our life, our whole life, with nothing held back, and so look forward to sharing in his glorious return to Earth.
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