Glory to God! I trust you’re well and denying yourself, taking up your cross and following the Lord Jesus Christ!
Today is Ascension Day. We celebrate this day 40 days after the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is itself part of the paschal celebrations.
We know the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven 40 days after His resurrection from the dead because of Acts 1:1-3, which states, ‘The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
UNTIL THE DAY IN WHICH HE WAS TAKEN UP, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, BEING SEEN OF THEM FORTY DAYS, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.’
The Lord Jesus Christ was with the disciples for forty days after His resurrection and then He was taken up through His glorious ascension into heaven.
Acts 1:9-11 says, ‘And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
And while they looked stedfastly 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, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.’
Ascension Day not only reminds us of this momentous occasion which occurred in the past, but it also reminds us of another momentous occasion which will occur in the future, the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God’s holy angels comforted the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ by telling them that the same Lord Jesus Christ they saw ascend into heaven will one day return in the same way.
What a glorious promise! We also know that when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, we shall see Him as He is and we shall also be changed to be like Him. Our vile bodies will be transformed to look like His glorious body. Our natural bodies will be changed to be like His spiritual body. Our earthly bodies will be converted to look like His heavenly body so that we might receive our inheritance of the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 15:50-57 says, ‘Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’
We cannot inherit the kingdom of God in his condition. We must first be changed. Our mortal bodies must first be made immortal. This will happen at the first resurrection when the Lord Jesus Christ returns. When this happens, we’ll experience not only the resurrection but we’ll also experience His ascension by being caught up to meet with Him in the air.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 says, ‘But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.’
The Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t just want us to believe in Him but He wants us to follow His example, to walk in His footsteps. He wants us to experience His death, burial and resurrection, but also His ascension. Glory to God!
I wish you all a glorious Ascension Day full of hope and anticipation of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.