The ascension of Christ

So we're just going to read three brief passages of Scripture Acts chapter 1 and verse 9 And when he had spoken these things While they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight While they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up Behold two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said ye men of Galilee Why stand ye gazing up into heaven this same Jesus? Which is taken up from you into heaven So so come in like manner as you have seen him go into Heaven now, we'll just turn over to Luke chapter 24 the gospel of Luke Chapter 24 And We'll read verse 51 Now verse 50 Luke chapter 24 and verse 50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany And he lifted up his hands and blessed them And it came to pass while he blessed them He was parted from them and carried up into heaven and They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God one more passage in the gospel of Mark Matthew Mark Mark's gospel chapter 16 And Verse 19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them He was received up into heaven And sat on the right hand of God And they went forth and preached everywhere the Lord Who is in heaven? working with them and Confirming the word with signs following That's all that I'm going to read You have heard the expression things old and things new Well things old are the three passages of Scripture that I have read they have often been linked together This is something old not something creative or something new. It's something old But things new I might add a little touch to them That maybe hasn't been said before at least maybe not too often So we have read here in Acts chapter 1 and verse 9 Taken up Just think on that for a moment That must have been a tremendous moment When the Lord was taken up Then we have read in Luke chapter 24 that he was carried up I Would ask you the question if he was carried up then someone must have carried him up. He was carried up And then we have read in Mark chapter 16 that he was received up So someone must have received him when he was received up.

I'm gonna put a little heading on each of those three expressions When you come to the expression taken up I'm going to suggest the power of the ascension He was taken up Then when you come to the expression carried up, I'm just going to emphasize the preeminence of his person The emphasis is upon him And then when you come to the expression received up the pleasure of the father So just three little expressions power of the ascension the preeminence of his person and the pleasure of the father and so taken up Interesting to study the words in the New Testament. I'm not going to get too far on this But I have made it a practice to go through the New Testament And I think I have covered every book likely except the book of Acts And gone verse by verse and looked at the words that are used in the New Testament They are very vital Every word is inspired by the Spirit of God And so you need the dictionary that I referred to yesterday you need Bynes dictionary To look up the meaning of words and then to find out where the words are used in other places Now, mr. Maxwell has been quoted already at the conference So I'll quote him again as a young man sitting at Bible readings that they used to have way back in in the Mimico in Toronto Mr. Maxwell made the statement that every young man should have a Wigrums Well, I wonder what's a Wigrums So I did a little bit of research and found out what a Wigrums is kind of a concordance with Strong's numbers very useful to have And so this word taken up is the word epherio, and if my brother who's back home is is a Greek man from Greece He would say to me you pronounce the word wrong. I Pronounced it wrong.

Well, maybe I didn't pronounce it right but it's the meaning of the word that's significant the word simply means to lift or to raise And So when you find a word like that you you look for some other place in the Bible where the word is used And so for that particular word you turn to Acts chapter 27 And to the 40th verse of the chapter and you'll have men on a sailing vessel and they are raising the main sail They're raising the sail up And there's a power that is required from the muscle power of men to raise that sail I Saw that one day And a place where you maybe have never stood I stood on the deck of a sailing vessel It's the oldest commissioned vessel in the United States Navy Now, you know the name of it. Of course, you know your US history The name of that vessel is a USS Constitution and It was commissioned by George, Washington on October the 10th 1794 and For all those years that sailing vessel has remained a commissioned vessel. That means active service in the United States Navy It's a sailing vessel.

I stood on the deck. I think if memory Is correct that there were four or three large masts on that vessel They must have tried to find the highest trees in the United States because they were tall And then there were yard arms though I'm not a person who is involved in sailing ships, but I think the yard arms are the ones that go across the mast I think I got the right turn and So on the first yard arm, which is the longest one there were ten men standing and on the next one up There were eight men standing and on the next one up there were six and on the next one There were two men at the highest one on each of those three masts on that vessel They're all dressed in their white uniforms that was impressive What were they doing waiting for a command and The command that they were waiting for was to raise the sail But to raise them up and so the thought here in taken up is a thought of raising the sails in a vessel but it involves the thought of power and so when you come to the first chapter of the book of Acts The word power or the thought of power is emphasized a number of times for Example when you come to verse 5 and verse 8 of this chapter You have the Spirit of God being given and you'll notice in verse 8 that it says ye shall receive power After that the Holy Ghost is given unto you And the emphasis is power They were going to be given power to witness They were going to be given power in verse 2 of Acts chapter 1 to keep his commandments Power to worship the power would be given after the Spirit of God would come but the emphasis here in the verse that I have read is the power That took the Lord Jesus Christ up There are two great events in this chapter One we have looked at at the Bible reading this morning that's the resurrection of Christ you have that in verse 3 or the The outcome of the resurrection that he showed himself alive by many infallible proofs You know how many days he did that Well that first tells us He moved on this earth for 40 days after his resurrection It is likely that the most of those appearances Were during the first part of those 40 days And then on the 40th day He went back to heaven now, here's a problem for a while. I said I wasn't going to be too difficult He was in heaven for 10 days Before the Spirit of God came Because the Spirit of God came on the 50th day Pentecost means 50 after resurrection he went back on the 40th day So he was in heaven for 10 days Before the Spirit of God was sent now if you ask me at the end of this meeting what the Lord Jesus did in heaven for 10 days after He went back.

I would have to say I don't know I don't want to read something into what we're not told but we are told this the That he was in heaven for 10 days and then he sent the Spirit of God but he was taken up so the resurrection one emphasis of power in this chapter, but the ascension I Can't give you a scientific Expression here I Would be inclined to think that for a moment The Lord himself set aside the laws of gravity and He had led his own out as far as to Bethany Around onto the slopes of the Mount of Olives It noted that the boat of olives was a very special place to the Lord Jesus Christ And on the slopes of that mountain he is surrounded by a few of his disciples And he's speaking to them They're not aware of this, but he's giving them his last words They will remember these words the last words that we hear of Individuals that we love before they go into eternity. We remember those words And so what he is saying to them and we're not told specifically what he said, but they would remember those words He's giving them his last instructions And his hands are upheld in blessing now brethren in the Bible reading this morning. I listened to what the brethren were saying.

I believe there are nail marks in the hands of Christ That's what they saw They would be reminded in those last few moments of the cross and of the sufferings of the Savior and Those hands are lifted up now. He's giving them his last blessing Now you have to do something difficult here. I don't mean literally but you have to take your 2015 shoes off not literally But stand in the shoes of a little group of men back 2,000 years ago And if you can't do that you won't even have any appreciation or any sense in your soul of what they saw We're so accustomed of rocket ships being taken shot up into the air and all the power that's involved But these men saw something far more tremendous than that They watched as the Lord left earth I Don't think he went up quickly Your thought I don't think you look quickly I think it would indicate here the suggestion is that he went up slowly.

They saw him They watched him their eyes were riveted on him Can you grasp that? They watched him as he was taken up They couldn't take their eyes off the heavens It tells me that When the angel said ye men of Galilee Why stand ye gazing up into heaven so well look at the meaning of words the word gazing That has the idea of glued That their eyes were literally glued were fastened Under the last spot in the heavens where they saw him And They were so taken up with that scene it had so captivated them that they couldn't take their eyes Off the last place where they saw him When he disappeared out of their sight And then the angel said and if I don't don't make the suggestion I Believe it was a mighty power of God That took him up When the moment came and in the purposes of God there was nothing could keep him on this earth He was going to go back to heaven and the power of God took him up And so then the angels had a message They said this same Jesus Shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go up into heaven And that's not the rapture Remember his feet left the Mount of Olives And when they said that he would return in the same manner his feet are going to come back to the Mount of Olives I Just had a few meetings on the book of Zechariah. No, just just just a few meetings on a few things in Zechariah. I Said to the Christians you should go home and read all the book of Zechariah 14 chapters One sister came to me the next day and said I read them all and I don't understand any of it Well, neither do I I understand a little bit but not very much in Zechariah But I think I appreciate this In the fourth and the 14th chapter of Zechariah We are told that the Lord is going to come back and his feet are going to stand on the Mount of Olives Let me just take you for a moment to Revelation chapter 19 John's on the isle of Patmos and he's looking up Good thing to look up and as John is looking up he sees the heavens open And then he sees another tremendous sight He sees a white horse coming out of heaven, I Don't know if you've gone through your Bible reading in the book of Revelation But I would like to take the word symbolic out of our thinking sometimes.

I Would take the book of Revelation literally Unless often two little words are used any sometimes the word like or the word as may suggest a symbol But I would take it literally And so I take that horse is a little horse now, I know You're gonna try to ask me at the end of this meeting there were horses in heaven and I'm not gonna answer that question but there was a horse that came out of heaven and I take the horse to be literal because of the rider It says about the rider on that horse that he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written king of kings and Lord of Lords a literal actual man It's on that horse. I couldn't hardly visualize a literal rider upon a symbolic horse There's another reason why I would take that horse as literal and because it's in contrast To the previous time that he rode into Jerusalem on a lowly animal When he left the same place the Mount of Olives And made his way through the Kidron Valley and up to the Eastern Gate and entered Jerusalem to the acclaim of the people And then to be crucified That horse is coming back and it's bearing a rider But that's not all must have been a tremendous thing for John on the Isle of Patmos because there were Myriads of horses following the rider on the white horse. I think I'm coming back with him Now he comes out of heaven on that horse I'm returning to earth with him He's going to come back to the Mount of Olives He's going to dismount that horse, I know that because Zachariah tells us That his feet are going to stand on the Mount of Olives And the Mount of Olives is going to cleave asunder when his feet touch that mountain And then he'll mount the horse Then he'll retrace the steps to the pathway that he took that other time when he went into Jerusalem on a lowly animal but this time He's going to come and deliver the city that will be surrounded by the enemies of the Jews at that time He'll speak a word.

He will deliver the city. He will enter the city And he's going to mount a throne Well, I know that because the Bible tells me that That's what Gabriel said to Mary remember the words Gabriel said the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David That was a throne in Jerusalem He'll mount that throne And he'll reign from the river to the ends of the earth As the king of all kings and the Lord of all Lords We're going to reign with him Bible tells us that That must have been a tremendous sight coming back to the Ascension We believe that mortal eyes beheld that journey to the skies What a moment for those men, but then we have read here carried up and I've suggested the eminence of his person Well who carried him up? Well, let me suggest angels carried him up there were angels at his birth present an Angel ministered unto him when he was in the wilderness When he told his three disciples to watch and pray and they fell asleep. They missed an opportunity They could have watched and prayed Don't be too hard on them.

We miss opportunities to don't we not only an angel in the Wilderness when he poured in the garden when he prayed an angel in the in the Wilderness minister to him in the garden. They they failed to watch and pray an angel strengthened him We've noted an angel Well, I guess it wasn't said this this morning, but there were two angels in the sepulcher There was an angel sitting upon the rock Or the stone that had been rolled over the sepulcher. I Would suggest angels You would have to think That the Lord Jesus was escorted up By myriads of angels was carried up You would think that he would have a royal welcome As he made his way from earth up into heaven Where God has exalted him Carried on that's my suggestion.

You can think that over But I want you to notice that he was received up the pleasure of the father Now this is a precious word this word received I won't try to pronounce this Greek word, but it means to take to oneself It's more than just received You can receive someone and there could be a little distance as you receive them. But this word means received to oneself Received up was a father that received them the father that gave them the embrace As the Savior entered heaven The father received them up There's a contrast between this reception and the reception that the prodigal son received Got the father's inheritance and I wonder at that what father would give a son a portion of an inheritance Knowing how the son is going to squander it down and he squandered arthritis living when he came back the father saw him coming back and the father gave him the best robe and the ring on his Finger and the shoe on his feet and killed the fatted calf and received them Any father would do that, wouldn't they? There's a son coming back. I Have a son I think I know what that would be like when the son my son's in Vietnam right now and when I see him when he returns Home, I'm going to embrace him.

I knew any father would do that. He's in Vietnam teaching school But it was different here here the father received a perfect son The father received a son who had perfectly completed the work that the father had given him to do and The father embraced him the father received him to himself What a moment that that must have been Just before I sit down all three of these statements Are going to be true of the believer. We're going to be taken up by the mighty power of the Savior when he comes For the Lord is going to descend from heaven with a shout Not with the archangel And I'm going to appeal to mr. Maxwell again Mr. Maxwell said archangel like voice It's the Lord himself Because this is too precious to him He's going to come himself and he's going to summon from this earth With that mighty show we were reminded this morning that the dead in Christ are going to rise first And we which are alive and remain and I kind of enjoyed the thought this morning that momentarily The church will be all together upon this earth then to be received up to meet him To be received up and to be escorted into heaven by the Lord himself Could happen today couldn't it do we really believe that Do we really believe in the depths of our soul That the moment could be today when he and I together entering those bright courts above He and I together sharing all Father's love I Kind of like to tell this I've told it a number of times.

I don't tell it again I had the privilege of speaking to the older believers in faith house in Belfast. I counted that to be a privilege And while I was being driven to that place, I was going over in my mind What am I going to speak to these older believers about? And I decided well, I'm going to give them a little word on the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ And so I gave my little word on the coming of the Lord And then when I was finished and I sat down One of those old brethren stood up and there are some times when you just would have longed of had a camera just have taken a picture a picture of that old brother's face and All the faces of the others there as they were singing to him. I had quoted to him As I was speaking to them, I didn't know was into him book and he gave to him out You could have heard you should have heard them singing We'll all gather home in the morning on the banks of the bright Jasper Sea To sing the praise of the Redeemer What a gathering that will be what a gathering what a gathering What a gathering? That will be