So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
Today Jesus is enthroned in heaven. He is revealed to be the great king of the house of David whose kingdom shall truly have no end (see Luke 1:33). Jesus does not leave as though to retire from a work completed. Rather, he ascends to begin his reign.
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
The Apostles were still expecting the Messiah to inaugurate an earthly kingdom and to throw off the yoke of their Roman oppressors. Jesus did not exactly contradict them, saying:
He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons
The Apostles knew Jesus was victorious over the plans of his enemies, even over death itself. He seemed positioned by that victory to step in and claim an earthly kingship if that was his plan. But instead, by his Ascension he began to reign in heaven, which was something even greater, fulfilling the Messianic promises in a way that exceeded all expectations. What did this mean for the earthly kingdom still in the grip of Rome, still, for that matter, the grip of sin?
The heavenly enthronement of Jesus did not immediately change the political reality of the world. But it did not leave the world unchanged. The Church was henceforth identified with the heavenly kingdom ruled by Christ. It was filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit so as to exercise on earth authority over the true opposition to human flourishing, to reign over the principalities and powers and world rulers of this present darkness.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (see Ephesians 6:12).
The angel about whom we read in the beginning of Acts helps us to summarize the attitude we should have following the Ascension.
Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?
The temptation for the Apostles and for us seems to be gazing off wistfully at the horizon, ignoring the world, waiting for Jesus to come and do everything with no involvement on our part. But this misses a key point of the Ascension.
and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (see Ephesians 2:6).
The Ascension of Jesus does not mean that he is less accessible, that his power is less present, or that his reign is less real. Rather, united with Jesus we ourselves become a royal priesthood (see First Peter 2:9). We as the body are so united to the head that we also share in his reign. This mean the now is not a season of waiting so much as it is reigning with him.
And he put all things beneath his feet
and gave him as head over all things to the church,
which is his body,
the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.
Just as the Davidic king was anointed with oil so too are we anointed for this kingship in which we are all called to participate. This anointing is the Holy Spirit. As Jesus is enthroned today we are called to look toward Pentecost and to see it as a share in his own kingly anointing.
While meeting with them,
he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem,
but to wait for “the promise of the Father
about which you have heard me speak;
for John baptized with water,
but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Many of us are still staring up at the sky, not realizing that we are called to make the very kingdom over which Jesus now reigns from heaven manifest on the earth. The King shares with us the fruits of his victory over sin and death so that we, each in our own way, can make Jesus himself present to the world.
And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets,
others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers,
to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry,
for building up the body of Christ,
It is not just the reign of Jesus that begins on the Ascension, it is our own as well. Let us stop looking up at the sky and start looking forward toward the the kingly anointing and royal mission in which Pentecost promises us a share.
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