08/01/2024- Why do you Keep Looking to the Sky?
Acts 1: 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.”
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The most significant aspect of the ascension is not physical. Christ did not just ascend – He transcended. He was lifted above the material. He went beyond human limitations to enter physically into the kingdom of God. He has always been in the kingdom of God in His divine nature. But what He accomplished in the ascension is to bring our human nature into the kingdom of God, and place it on the very throne of God. We can go there ONLY because He went there. He made a way. He opened the door.
The work of Christ not only removed our sin. He has provided for us much more than forgiveness. He has made it possible for us to be transformed, like He was transformed; for us to transcend the limits of this material world and enter into a life that is in eternal communion with the Father.
Christ obtained the highest position in the universe. The Father granted Him all authority and the name that is above ALL names. Christ uses this position to intercede for us and to represent us before the Father.
But He has done more than that…He has opened a door in heaven to us that we may also enter. Only Christ could open this door.
When the Lord was risen to heaven, the disciples kept looking even after the Lord was hidden from their eyes in a cloud. Angels appeared that told them: why are you looking to the sky? The ascension of Christ goes far beyond the physical and visible. The spiritual implications of the ascension of Christ are far greater than the human eye can discern. The ascension means Christ is now being glorified, He has received from the Father all the honor, the power and the glory. It means that Christ now reigns with all authority. Then we receive this promise: the same Jesus they saw go up to heaven will return to earth in the same way! I cannot imagine what our lives would be without this promise. What would our lives be, what would the world be without the love and the authority of Christ reigning over all? But we were not left without a promise. Angels were sent to let us know that He will return – to reign, to undo every work of the devil, to repay to every person according to what they have done. This is our hope. This promise is our greatest blessing. When Christ returns…everything promise will be fulfilled, every tear will be consoled, every sin will be judged.