Taken Up

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 5th of May, 2024, four days before Ascension Day.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

I’m still working with the Apostle Luke’s Book of the Acts of the Apostles this morning, but I’m going to back up just a little to the opening of this book.  As I’ve mentioned, this is the second book that Luke authored, the first being his Gospel account, and both addressed to Theophilus.  Luke ended that first book with the ascension of Jesus into heaven, and he recounts this event in the opening to the second book.

Now after Jesus rose from the grave, in the flesh, He walked among us for another 40 days, as witnessed by around 500 people.  It was on that 40th day of Easter, counting Easter Sunday itself, that our Lord was taken up in a cloud and carried back home to heaven.  This coming Thursday, May the 9th, marks that 40th day and has become known as Ascension Day.  Since next Sunday is Mother’s Day, we’re going to celebrate Ascension Day this morning.  So please listen and follow along as I read the first 14 verses of the 1st chapter of Luke’s Book of the Acts of the Apostles, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 In my first book I told you, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began to do and teach 2 until the day He was taken up to heaven after giving His chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit. 3 During the forty days after He suffered and died, He appeared to the apostles from time to time, and He proved to them in many ways that He was actually alive. And He talked to them about the Kingdom of God.

4 Once when He was eating with them, He commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift He promised, as I told you before. 5 John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

6 So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking Him, “Lord, has the time come for You to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”

7 He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be My witnesses, telling people about Me everywhere — in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9 After saying this, He was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see Him. 10 As they strained to see Him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday He will return from heaven in the same way you saw Him go!”

12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile. 13 When they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying.

Here are the names of those who were present: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the zealot), and Judas (son of James). 14 They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.

--Acts 1:1-14 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for raising Jesus from the dead and that He was seen and heard, in the flesh again, for 40 days and by over 500 witnesses who never refuted what they had seen.  By this, You showed us that we too will be raised from the dead into new, incorruptible bodies, if we only follow Your Son Jesus.  Sadly though, Father, too many people do not believe.  They have never exercised the faith You gave them.  They neither believe that Jesus is Your Son nor accept Him as their Lord.  Satan is working overtime in this, keeping people away from You, away from Jesus.  Please help us reach out to the non-believers of the world, sharing the Good News as Luke and the other apostles did.  Help us spread the message of salvation through Jesus and show Your love to all we encounter.  And please forgive us when we hesitate to serve You and our Lord, even though we know we should.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand Your message today.  Thank You for the faith, the strength, and the courage You give us.  Help us take up the Gospel and take it out to the world.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Theologian Richard J. Mouw, in his book Uncommon Decency, writes:

“Theologians tell a story to illustrate how Christ's triumph presently benefits our lives:  Imagine a city under siege.  The enemy that surrounds the city will not let anyone or anything leave.  Supplies are running low, and the citizens are fearful.  But in the dark of the night, a spy sneaks through the enemy lines.  He has rushed to the city to tell the people that in another place the main enemy force has been defeated; the leaders have already surrendered.  The people do not need to be afraid.  It is only a matter of time until the besieging troops receive the news and lay down their weapons.  Similarly, we may seem now to be surrounded by the forces of evil -- disease, injustice, oppression, death.  But the enemy has actually been defeated at Calvary.  Things are not the way they seem to be.  It is only a matter of time until it becomes clear to all that the battle is really over.”

There’s an old hymn – we don’t have it in our present hymnal – whose first verse tells us, “The strife is o'er, the battle done; the victory of life is won; the song of triumph has begun.  Alleluia!”  Family, the battle is over.  Jesus won.  He defeated death, and He defeated Satan.  Unfortunately for us, not all the enemy has heard the news, and Satan has not quite yet surrendered, so we’re still having to fight some skirmishes in this world.  But it’s only a matter of time until there will be no more strife, no more war with this life, no more pain or suffering.

Let us always remember that the victory of life is won and we get to share in the spoils of that victory with our Lord.  So take up the song of triumph and lift Christ’s banner high!  Alleluia!

Luke first reminds us that, when Jesus appeared before His disciples after His resurrection, He instructed them not to leave Jerusalem until they had been baptized by the Holy Spirit, which would happen in a few days.  Today we know that event as the Pentecost, which occurred on the 50th day of Easter, or 10 days after the Ascension.  So a lot took place within the first 50 days after Jesus was raised from the dead.  And it all helped establish a foundation for the church.

Of course the disciples, being human and impatient by nature, kept asking Jesus if it was now time for Israel to be freed from foreign powers and their own kingdom restored.  Even after all He’d said and done, they still had it in their heads that the Messiah came to do battle with human enemies rather than with Satan and sin.

So He reminded them that it was entirely up to God when all would be set right.  But He also encouraged them by promising that the Holy Spirit would soon come upon them.  After that, they would go throughout the world, giving witness of everything they had seen Him do and heard Him say, telling people all about Him.

And then Jesus was taken up into a cloud, rising into heaven.  The remaining disciples witnessed this amazing occurrence, and then gathered together with Jesus’s mother Mary and His brothers and several other women, and they all united in prayer.

Luke isn't the only Gospel writer to mention Jesus returning to heaven.  Mark also reports the event, in his usual brief manner.  This came after Jesus gave His followers - including us - the great commission to go into the world making disciples and spreading the Gospel.  In the 16th chapter of Mark’s Gospel account, verses 19 and 20, we read…

19 When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, He was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 20 And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.

--Mark 16:19-20 (NLT)

Jesus was taken up into heaven, and the disciples took up His command to them, going everywhere and preaching the word.  And the Lord Jesus worked through them, so that they could perform miraculous signs as proof of what they preached.

This is our example.  We may not think we can perform miracles, but we don’t know what might be a miracle to someone who comes to know Jesus because of our efforts or words.

In his Gospel account, Luke picks up when the two disciples who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus returned to Jerusalem to tell the others what had happened.  The risen Jesus appeared among the now gathered disciples, chastising them a little for their doubt and not believing He was alive again.  Hear what Luke reported in verses 44 through 53 of the 24th chapter of his Gospel account - his first book…

44 Then He said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about Me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. 46 And He said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. 47 It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of His name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ 48 You are witnesses of all these things.

49 “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as My Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

50 Then Jesus led them to Bethany, and lifting His hands to heaven, He blessed them. 51 While He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up to heaven. 52 So they worshiped Him and then returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy. 53 And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God.

--Luke 24:44-53 (NLT)

This is the passage I referred to at the very start, where Luke initially told Theophilus of the ascension of Jesus into heaven.  First Jesus gave His followers a message that they could carry into the world in His name: “There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.”

And family, this is the message we can share as well.  We may not be able to come up with words we feel will do the job, but we can start with this and let the Holy Spirit continue from there.  There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.  When we accept Jesus as Lord, believe that He is the Son of God, and commit to follow Him, God sends His Holy Spirit to live within us.  He will tell us what to say, but we can reassure folks that their sins will be forgiven if they turn from their sinful ways and seek Jesus.

So Jesus was taken up into heaven.  Why?  Could He not have stayed on earth and done even more incredible things, so that all the world might believe?  Did He go just to be with the Father?

His job here was done, His work on earth finished, so He went home.  But our work has just begun.  That phrase “taken up” can have a number of meanings, like “I’ve taken up a new hobby”.  Have we taken up our mission from Jesus like His first disciples did, like the early church did?

Our Lord’s ascension to heaven served a higher purpose than just getting Him home.  Listen to what the Apostle Paul explained in the 1st chapter of his letter to the Ephesians, verses 15 through 23…

15 Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, 16 I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, 17 asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. 18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope He has given to those He called — His holy people who are His rich and glorious inheritance.

19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe Him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. 21 Now He is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else — not only in this world but also in the world to come. 22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made Him head over all things for the benefit of the church. 23 And the church is His body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with Himself.

--Ephesians 1:15-23 (NLT)

Jesus had been dead and in the grave since Friday afternoon, and on Sunday morning God raised Him from the dead.  Human medical professionals may be able to revive someone after a few minutes of lifelessness, but certainly not after hours.

We can only imagine the power that must have been required to revive Jesus.  This is the power only God has.  Spiritual wisdom speaks of this power and provides us with hope, the hope that we need to get through each day, the hope of a much better tomorrow.  Because this is the same power that will raise us from the dead and carry us to heaven.  In the last of our responsive reading this morning, we all proclaimed, "The Lord is risen.  We shall be raised with Him."  Just like Jesus, we believers will also be raised from the dead, and will rise as He did into heaven.

May our hearts be eased of any burden, knowing that we too will be taken up to join our Lord.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus, the one true Son of God, who came in the flesh to redeem us, who was raised from the dead into flesh and returned to heaven, and who is coming again to judge us all.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for taking Your Son Jesus back to be with You in heaven.  By this we know that we too will be taken up to live with our Lord forever.  And thank You for choosing us and giving us the faith to believe.  Sometimes though, Father, we don’t take up the mission Christ Jesus gave us.  We hesitate to share our belief and our faith with others.  We are too timid, or too scared, to approach someone, especially a stranger, and try to tell them about Jesus.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Help us share the Gospel message.  Help us take up the work Jesus gave us.  And as we do so, please help us be more forgiving, more merciful in our dealings with others.  And Father, guide us around any pitfalls in this life and strengthen our spirits to do Your will.  And please help us do a better job of sharing Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You died, and many people thought that was the end of it.  But then God raised You from the dead in the flesh and You walked among us for 40 more days, being seen by many eye-witnesses.  And then You were taken up into heaven to be with our Father God again.  As we walk through this life, please help us be taken up in our mission to serve You.  Help us be more understanding, more merciful, more giving and forgiving of others, knowing that this is our Father’s will for us.  Help us reach out to the non-believing world with the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us what to do to help bring the lost to You.

Lord Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations and all the false teachings.  Help us fend off his attacks.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.