Series: The Stained Glass Series
October 2, 2011
Dear friends in Christ.
On Christ's ascension I now build The hope of my ascension. This hope alone has always stilled All doubt and apprehension; For where the head is, there as well I know his members are to dwell When Christ shall come and call them. (CW:173 St. 1)
These beautiful words, which we have sung as part of numerous Ascension services were first published in 1636 by a man named Josua Wegelin. They were part of a devotional booklet that Pastor Wegelin had written for his congregation in Augsburg Germany after he had been forced to leave his pastorate and move to Pressburg because of the Thirty Year’s War. Though the people were facing destruction and untold hardships caused by the war all around them, these beautiful words would have been a great comfort to them. These beautiful words would have reminded them that no matter what they were facing their hope of salvation had been built on Christ, their Lord and Savior, who had not only risen from death, but had also ascended to his Father’s throne in heaven. Because Jesus had done this, they would have been reminded and assured that their sins had been forgiven, that they were right with God, that no matter what they faced, the Lord was with them, and that one day the Lord Jesus would return just as he said, and just as the angels had reminded the disciples in our lesson today.
“In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”(Acts 1:1–11, NIV84)
As Luke writes these words, he is reminding us of the amazingly miraculous events that took place on the Mt. of Olives that day. He reminds of what Jesus told his disciples before he was taken from them. Then, Luke tells us that while Jesus was blessing is disciples he suddenly began to rise up into the sky. Though they had been assured that Jesus had truly risen from the dead by his many appearances during the past 40 days, now as Jesus was ascending back into heaven, He was assuring them that His work here on earth was finished. He was visually demonstrating to them that he was returning to his Father’s throne in heaven, and as he went, they simply watched. They watched as he rose higher and higher off the ground. They watched until a cloud came and hid him from view, and then they still continued craning their necks and looking up into the sky even long after Jesus had been hidden from their sight. They may well have stood there for the rest of the day simply staring up into the heavens had those two angels not appeared to them, assuring them that this same Jesus whom they had seen go into heaven, would one day return from heaven in the same manner in which he had departed. With great assurance and with great joy they returned to Jerusalem and stayed in the temple worshiping the Lord. They stayed in the temple worshiping the Lord and praising his name because they had built their faith and their trust in Jesus their risen and ascended Savior.
Well, that same joy that filled the disciples is the joy that continues to fill us as we built our faith, our trust, and the hope of our own ascension on the Ascension of Jesus our Savior. For as we have gathered in the Lord’s temple today, we, like the disciples have been filled with the knowledge that when Jesus ascended into heaven, he returned as the conquering hero who had completed his work of Salvation. We have been filled with the knowledge that He returned to be given the place of highest honor that God the Father had prepared for him because he had conquered death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. We have been filled with the knowledge that we have built the hope of our own ascension on the Ascension of Jesus our Savior who has not only returned to his Father’s throne in heaven, but will one day return just as his disciples saw him go.
It is this knowledge, this joy, and this assurance that Josua Wegelin captured in the second stanza of his beautiful hymn when he wrote: “Since Christ returned to claim his throne, Great gifts for me obtaining, My heart shall rest in him alone, No other rest remaining, For where my treasure went before, There all my thoughts shall ever soar To still their deepest yearning.” (CW:173 St. 2)
Yes, because we have built the hope of our own ascension on the facts of Jesus’ ascension, our hearts rest in Christ alone. Our thoughts soar to our Savior in heaven and the place his is preparing for us, even as we look forward to the day when he will return to take us to be with him forever. For now that we have come to faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior, we look forward to the day when that trumpet will sound and we will see him returning in the clouds. We look forward to that day, because we know that when Jesus returns, he will take us to live with him forever in his heavenly kingdom. Though here on earth we will always be filled with sins just as the earth is filled with air, Jesus ascension assures us that all our sins have been covered over. His ascension assures us that now through faith in Jesus Christ, whenever our God looks at us, he sees us as his children completely free of sins. Completely free of sins in the same way that water is free of any calories whatsoever. But even more than that, Jesus ascension also assures us that this same Jesus whom we have seen taken from us will return one day, just as we have seen him go!
This is the hope that we have built on the Ascension of our Savior. This is why we have taken time on this Sunday in October to remind ourselves of exactly what Jesus ascension means to us. This is why we can take such comfort in the salvation that is ours through faith in Christ Jesus. For as we celebrate Jesus’ Ascension we have been assured that his work of salvation was truly completed for us. We have been assured that he did indeed return to his Father’s right hand where he now lives and reigns over us. But most of all, we have been assured that Jesus our Savior will return one day, just as he promised. So, then, as we close our sermon with this assurance, let us also close with Pastor Wegelin’s prayer for himself, for his congregation and for each and every one of us from the final stanza of his beautiful hymn: “Oh, grant, dear Lord, this grace to me, Recalling your ascension, That I may serve you faithfully, Adorning your redemption; And then, when all my days will cease, Let me depart in joy and peace In answer to my pleading. (CW:173: St. 3)
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
