"To whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3)
Our Ascended King Lives and Reigns
Jesus paid the price for the
sins of the world once for all when He died at the cross as God's perfect
sacrifice. At the cross Jesus triumphantly cried out "It is
finished." God's work of redemption was complete. Jesus accomplished what
He ha come to earth to do. God then declared the acceptance of Jesus' sacrifice
by raisin Him from the dead. "Jesus was delivered up because of our
offenses, and was raise because of our justification" (Rom.4.25).
Jesus Instructs His Disciples
After His resurrection Jesus remained on earth for
forty days before He ascended in glory to the right hand of the Father. The
book of Acts tells us that Jesus remained on the earth for forty days for two
purposes. The first was to prove with indisputable evidence that He really was
alive. The second was to instruct His disciples about the nature of the kingdom
of God which He had established by His death and resurrection. Jesus was
speaking to His disciples about "things pertaining to the kingdom of
God."
The disciples needed this patient instruction.
They were filled with the false Jewish ideas of a Messiah who would establish
an earthly kingdom.
The mother of James and John begged Jesus that her
two sons be allowed to sit at the right and left hands of Jesus in the glory of
His kingdom. The disciples saw the divine power of Jesus and were eagerly
waiting for Him to drive out the Romans and establish the Jewish kingdom of
God.
They did not understand the true nature of Jesus'
kingdom. Even after Jesus' death and resurrection, the disciples still asked;
"Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts
1:6) Jesus needed to instruct His disciples about the Kingdom of God and prepare
His disciples for service in that kingdom.
Jesus had told Pilate: "My kingdom is not of this world." Jesus' kingdom is the spiritual rule of the Gospel in the hearts of men through the forgiveness of sins. Jesus established His kingdom when He suffered and died for the sins of the world. At that point Satan's kingdom was destroyed and people were freed from the tyranny of sin and death. Jesus' kingdom is an established fact. The ascension is assurance that Jesus reigns as the "head' of the body—the Church. Ascension Day is Jesus' coronation as "King of kings and Lord of lords." The Lamb that was slain now sits on the throne, rules, and receives the praise of angels and the creation.
Jesus Has Triumphed!
There are no new heresies. The same mistake
that the Jews made in rejecting Jesus as their King because He came to give
them the forgiveness of sins has been
repeated throughout history.
The Lutheran Confessions refer to the idea of Jesus returning to establish an
earthly kingdom (millennialism) as a "Jewish" error. Today there are
many who actually teach that Jesus was frustrated in His attempt to establish
an earthly kingdom by the unbelief of the Jews. They view Jesus' death as an
incomplete part of God's plan of salvation. The cross, they say, was a failure
to establish the "kingdom of God." so they look for Jesus to return
and establish an earthly kingdom. These people fail to celebrate the joy of
Ascension Day.
These false concepts about the kingdom of God lead to
all kinds of weird ideas. David Koresh in Waco, Texas believes that he as
Messiah is going to usher in the age of the true kingdom of God. He came out of
a background of Seventh Day Adventism with its emphasis on the second coming of
Jesus which supposedly happened in the mid-1800's. From a McLennan County Jail
one of Koresh's followers confidently asserted that "David is here for
saving souls and for ushering in the kingdom of God." David Koresh
believes that he will open the seventh seal of the book of Revelation and usher
in a new kingdom age.
The book of Acts teaches us
about the triumph of Jesus in connection with His ascension. Jesus lives and
reigns. Our task is not to establish an earthly kingdom of God with machine
guns and compounds in Texas. It is to be Jesus' witnesses to the ends of the earth.
As Jesus' "To whom He also presented Himself alive after His Gospel is proclaimed
people are made members of the suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen
by them kingdom of God by Spirit-created faith. We pray that Jesus' kingdom
would come to us through the preaching of the Word and the power of the Spirit.
Let us celebrate Ascension Day with a renewed and
thankful insight into the triumph of Jesus at the cross. God's power was
revealed 'when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in
the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and
dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that
which is to come. And He put all things under His feed, and gave him to be head
over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills
all in all" (Eph. 1:20-23).
Jesus lives and reigns as our ascended King.
- Pastor John Schierenbeck
Lutheran Spokesmen, May, 1993