Brown's Daily Word 5-17-10

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day. I trust that you had a very blessed weekend. The Lord blessed us with a beautiful weekend. We gathered Saturday Evening for a great time of fellowship and witness at Wesley. The food was delicious and the fellowship was sweet. Jeff Vansyckle spoke from his heart about his walk with Christ, and how the prevenient grace of Jesus follows us all the days of our lives. The Lord bless us yesterday in His House with His presence and love.
I preached on the Ascension of Lord and Savior. In our affirmation of our faith, in the words of the Apostles' creed, "He ascended into Heaven". The gospel writer Luke is renowned as a careful historian. When he recorded the birth of Jesus he rooted the event in its historical setting within the Roman Empire. He continued that same preciseness at the end of our Lord’s earthly ministry by recalling the place of the Ascension at Bethany. He dates the event as occurring 40 days after the resurrection on Easter Day. He emphasizes the presence of eyewitnesses, reminding us that the Ascension took place "before their very eyes" (Acts 1:9). Yes, the Ascension was a real event of history.
Some people are puzzled as to why Jesus waited around on Earth 40 days after his resurrection, but that time period is no accident. Jesus had endured the Devil’s temptation for 40 days in the wilderness at the beginning of his public ministry, but now the tables were turned. In the post-ascension period Jesus triumphantly paraded his victory over the Devil and all his works. During this time, the conqueror of death displayed his supremacy before his faithful followers so that they might share in the joy of his victory. There was also another reason. Those 40 days of his appearing after the resurrection were of immense value to the believers for they established the reality of his lordship. A single sighting of the risen Christ may have been open to question, but his continuous encounters with the disciples would remove the doubts of the most skeptical among them and assure them of his power and authority.
The Ascension must always remain a mystery in the sense that it’s beyond the scope of human experience. It takes us into the realm of the supernatural. Jesus' ascension happened very simply and quickly. The Master and his followers were gathered on the slopes of Olivet. As Jesus had delivered his farewell message to the disciples he lifted up his nail-scarred hands in blessing. Then his body commenced to rise supernaturally, and a cloud bore him out of their sight. What a fitting end to his earthly ministry!
The resurrection of Jesus signaled the end of a chapter in his earthly life. Things could never be the same again and it was essential that there should be a clear-cut event to bring the chapter to a close. It’s true that Jesus made a series of appearances to his followers, but they could not go on forever, as the disciples were to step out in ministry. It would have been odd if His appearances should gradually grow fewer and finally peter out - that would only cause confusion and even loss of faith. Thus, there had to be a day when the Jesus of Earth would become the Christ of heaven. The Ascension was the only fitting conclusion to the life of Jesus on Earth. God isn’t the author of confusion.
Luke’s account of the Ascension places us in the disciples' shoes. There they stood with eyes uplifted, "gazing into heaven as he went" and suddenly the ascending Savior disappeared from their sight. Mark's account takes up the story. Mark wrote from the viewpoint of our Lord’s destination. Through the inspiration given to him we are allowed to share the secrets of heaven itself. Only the Holy Spirit could have revealed the scene to Mark: "Jesus was received into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God" (Mark 16:19). Psalm 24 is a foretelling of the grandeur of the spectacle associated with the homecoming of the Son of God. The scene defies adequate description. As the conqueror neared the celestial city the heavenly heralds cried out in preparation for his arrival. "Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in." The proclamation prompts the enquiry, "Who is the Lord of glory?" The reply declares Christ’s right to the title, "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle" (7-10). Yes, Jesus had triumphed over Satan, the world, death and hell. His resurrection and Ascension proved he is the victor. "He is the Lord of glory." The apostle Peter confirmed this, "Jesus Christ … has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand - with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him" (1 Peter 3:22). This proves that Jesus had finished the work of redemption that the Father had given him to do.
Charles Wesley wrote in one of his hymns, "He ever lives above, for me to intercede; his all-redeeming love, his precious blood to plead; his blood atones for all our race, and sprinkles now the throne of grace." Hallelujah! What a Savior! Yet we have a responsibility to live holy lives, but if we sin we have a means of cleansing and forgiveness. The Ascension of Jesus makes it possible for him to be close to each and every one of us if only we allow him in every part of our lives.
The Ascension testifies to the fact of our Lord’s return, "He will come." The disciples were not told that they themselves would see the coming again of Christ. The time is left open and it’s futile and unprofitable to speculate as to when it will happen. We have to ask ourselves the question, "Are we redeeming the time until Jesus returns? Are we fulfilling the ministries he had given to the church?" We have been placed where we are for a purpose. The angelic beings asked the disciples "Why do you stand here looking into the sky?" It was the Earth, not the sky, with which they should be occupied - to be witnesses not stargazers! Our calling is not upwards in nostalgia, but outwards in compassion to a lost world that needs Jesus.
In Jesus our Lord
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdK4lzg8gsU