We continue our study of essential Christian doctrine using the Heidelberg Catechism as a guide to the Apostles' Creed summary, which is drawn from scripture, as we'll see from our readings in Luke 24 and Ephesians 2. But we'll be focusing this evening on the ascension of Jesus into heaven. He ascended into heaven. So we'll start reading at Luke 24 verse 36, which records events almost immediately following the resurrection of Jesus. As they were talking about these things, the things that had been happening in Jerusalem, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet that it is I myself. Touch me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And when he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they were still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, do you have anything here to eat? So they gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it before them. Then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God." And then also from Ephesians 2, Verses one through 10, here we have the Apostle Paul's theological reflection on the historic reality of the ascension of Jesus Christ and what it means for us that we too have been raised with Christ. Now, spiritually, but in time, materially, physically as well. So Ephesians 2, one through 10. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work, and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God Being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up with him. and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Amen. I also ask you to join with me in answering the several questions from Lord's Day 18. We'll find them on the screen and on page 218 in the Forms and Prayers book. Before we read the questions and answers, I want us to notice that there's a theological concern expressed here in connection with the ascension of Jesus and the relationship between the two natures of his one person, his divine nature and his human nature, and how Christ can be really with us though he is physically absent from us. And in context of the 16th century, there would have been thoughts of what that meant for the celebration of the Lord's Supper. Is Jesus really with us? in the celebration of the supper. And the reformers said, yes, he's really with us, but not carnally with us, not physically, fleshly with us in the host of the Lord's Supper. So that's why there's a bit more attention focused on the ascension here because of that theological controversy, but also because of the importance of understanding rightly the relationship of the two natures in the one person of Jesus. We'll try to wrestle with some of that tonight. So question 46 asks what do you mean by saying he ascended to heaven that Christ while his disciples watched was taken up from the earth into heaven and remains there on our behalf until he comes again to judge the living and the dead. But isn't Christ with us until the end of the world as he promised us? Christ is true man and true God. In his human nature, Christ is not now on earth. But in his divinity, majesty, grace, and spirit, he is never absent from us. If his humanity is not present, wherever his divinity is, then aren't the two natures of Christ separated from each other? Certainly not, since divinity is not limited and is present everywhere. It is certain that Christ's divinity is surely beyond the bounds of the humanity that has been taken on. But at the same time, his divinity is in and remains personally united to his humanity. How does Christ's ascension to heaven benefit us? First, he is our advocate in heaven in the presence of his father. Second, we have our own flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that Christ our head will also take us, his members, up to himself. Third, he sends his spirit to us on earth as a corresponding pledge. By the spirit's power, we seek not earthly things, but the things above where Christ is sitting at God's right hand. It is impossible to overstate the importance of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. We know that to be a vital historic event in the life of Jesus for our good. When Christ rose again, he defeated death and gained new life for everyone who would believe in him. So we can't overstate the importance of the resurrection. But it would be a mistake to think that the resurrection is the end of the story of Christ's saving work. We must believe that Christ continued to work savingly for us beyond the resurrection because that's what the Bible teaches us. And so because of the importance that we, as Christians, naturally attach to the resurrection, and the fact that we may pay less attention to the ascension of Jesus into heaven, it may surprise us that the Catechism only asked one question about the resurrection, but asked four questions about his ascension into heaven. as I mentioned a moment ago, part of the reason has to do with the 16th century debate, which we'll just touch on briefly in a moment. But the debate itself, in connection with the ascension of Jesus, rather, shows the importance of Jesus' ascension. And our forefathers recognized that, and we ought to recognize the importance of Jesus' ascension into heaven as well. So we're thankful for this good guide that teaches us differently about the ascension of Jesus than we might have been taught if we didn't have this 16th century guide. We might have paid less attention to the ascension. Thankful for this historic help here. So, two simple questions this evening. First of all, what is the ascension? And then, according to the last question, what are the benefits of the ascension of Jesus? So, what is the ascension of Christ? Jesus ascension into heaven is that historical event following his resurrection at which he was physically and visibly raised from the earth as he made his return to his father in heaven. So we want to be very clear on this that we are affirming as contrary as it may feel to you know, a scientific mindset or whatever it might be, we are affirming as Christians that Jesus literally, physically rose from the earth bodily and ascended somewhere into what the Bible calls heaven. So here's what we mean by that in a little bit more detail. After Christ rose from the dead, three days after he had died. He lived 40 more days on earth. Acts 1 verse 3 tells us that. So he's resurrected. He's showing himself during those 40 days to many people, demonstrating the reality of the resurrection. We saw a bit of that in Luke chapter 24 where his own disciples, the ones who knew him best, saw him and they themselves were concerned that he was a ghost, that he was just a spirit, that he hadn't really been given a body. So he's showing himself, he's encouraging his friends, He's teaching them more perfectly, the knowledge that he had been teaching them, but they weren't able to take it all in at the time. So he's ministering to his disciples in preparation for his departure. His earthly teaching ended on that high note, we might say, of the Great Commission. He knows he's about to ascend into heaven. So he meets with his disciples and says, you now are my witnesses. You've come to believe that I've truly risen from the dead and am who I have claimed to be, that is the Christ. Now, you're my witnesses. I'm going away, you're going to witness to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Matthew 28. So Christ is returning to heaven. His disciples were to remain as witnesses of his life and ministry. But he assures them that they wouldn't be alone. In some way, he would be with them. So he's teaching them, he's revealing himself to them. He commissioned them as his witnesses. And then the Bible says in both Luke and Acts that he blessed them, and as he was blessing them, he was parted from them. He ascended or was carried up into heaven before their very eyes. Acts 119 puts this. In a powerful way in our minds because the angels come to the disciples and say why are you still looking up into the sky? Right. They really were Watching Jesus ascend into the heavens and at some point he was taken from their sight. That's exactly what happened and we believe that The heaven into which Christ ascended is really where he is today. Christ is somewhere, he's in heaven. As the Apostles Creed says, he now sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. As the Catechism says, he remains there on our behalf. In heaven, Christ is interceding for us. He's advocating for us, Romans 8 verse 34. He's preparing a place for us, as he tells his disciples in John's gospel. And he will return to earth as judge to take his people back to live with him forever. So Christ is still on mission. He's still in a real place, ministering on behalf of his people as advocate, as preparer of paradise and as judge of the living and the dead. And yet, true to his promise in the Great Commission, he's still with us today, right? Jesus didn't break that promise almost immediately after speaking it, as some might have us believe. Now this is where the catechism lesson does get a little bit tricky because the author of the catechism, or perhaps the authors of the catechism, are objecting to a Lutheran doctrine primarily that was becoming quite contentious in the region of Germany in which the Heidelberg Catechism was written. Certain Lutherans were teaching that Christ's physical body must be present in the sacrament because of its union with his divine nature, right? So the Lutherans understood, rightly as our Reformed forefathers did, that Christ is one person with two natures, a human nature and a divine nature. Lutherans argued that, well, because of the unity of these natures, that Christ's physical body must be present in the Lord's Supper. The Reformers taught this. Authors of our catechism following Calvin, and really going back to the church fathers as well, That while Jesus' divine nature is ubiquitous, is everywhere present, His divine nature is not limited to time or space, eternal and omnipresent. That's His divine nature. It does not change the properties of His humanity. In other words, Jesus, we believe, as the church has always believed, is really, truly human, has a real human nature, like ours, the Bible says, in every way except sin. And so his divine nature doesn't modify his human nature, making it everywhere present, particularly, though strangely, you might say, in the host of the bread and the wine in the Lord's Supper, right? That would be a modification of the human nature of Jesus Christ, in fact, making it quite unlike our nature, right? We're limited to being in our physical bodies in one place at one time. which is exactly how Jesus had been ministering for 33 years, right? There were times in which Jesus' friends wished that he had been in a certain place at a certain time, right? Jesus' dearest friends, Mary and Martha, said, Lord, if only you had been here, our brother wouldn't have died. Of course, Jesus didn't have to be there. He healed many people not being there. But he was not there, right? He was somewhere else. He was not present when Lazarus died and was buried. Jesus Christ took a true human body that, like ours, was truly present only in a single place. And so we need to preserve that truth. We need to insist that his divine nature doesn't overtake his human nature, making it unlike our nature, ubiquitous, everywhere present. Because Christ is bodily in heaven, It is right for us to say that he is no longer with us physically. And that seems to be so clearly the teaching of Jesus to his disciples. He says, I'm going away from you. You really are going to miss me. I will not be present. You'll be my witnesses. It will no longer be me witnessing. You'll have to do that work. So he's really, really, truly, physically absent. But the catechism is right in insisting that in his divinity and majesty and grace and spirit, he is never absent from us. So he was telling the truth in both ways. I'm going away from you and I'll always be with you. There's a mystery there, but he's able to say that because of his human nature going away, and because of his divine nature always present. And we're gonna take those terms now, as well as some other thoughts, to see why this is so precious to us. It's not as if the idea that Christ is not, when we say that Christ is not physically with us, we're not giving anything up. That's what Jesus believed. He actually said, it's better for me that I go away from you and for these reasons. So why is the ascension important? I want to focus to some extent on those four terms that the catechism sets before us when it says, in the answer to question 47, that in his divinity, majesty, grace, and spirit, he's never absent from us. So why is the ascension important? First of all, because Christ's ascension gives us confidence in his rule. That is to say, to take that word, in his majesty. He's a majestic ruler. And Christ's ascension into heaven is the victory parade of the great king. That's how Paul interprets it theologically. The Apostle Paul applies to Jesus the words of Psalm 68. Psalm 68 is that great battle hymn that begins with these words, God shall arise. and his enemies shall be scattered. The Apostle Paul takes those words and applies them to Jesus Christ. He does that in Ephesians chapter four. He says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and gave gifts to men. The Lord who descended into this world, he goes on to say in verse 10, also ascended far above all the heavens. So Paul is celebrating the ascension of Jesus Christ, the rising up of the great king prophesied in Psalm 68. And he poured out upon us the promised gifts of his Holy Spirit. So you see this beautiful exchange, Christ physically is lifted up from us. And just before he does that, he says to his disciples, you wait. I'm going to leave. I'm going to ascend. You wait for power, I'll pour out power upon you. And he does so, not far from that point, pours out upon them the Holy Spirit, giving them this gift prophesied in Psalm 68. So Jesus is the warrior whom God promised to defeat Satan and lead his people into heaven. We're just coming a little further back in the parade of ascending into heaven ourselves. On the day of judgment, he will do just what Psalm 68 promised he would do. He will defeat the wicked. He will send those who hate him fleeing before him, Psalm 68 verse two. So as believers, The ever-present majesty of Christ, evident in his ascension, should comfort us in our weakness. We're barraged by the attacks of the devil and by the evil of the world and by our own hearts, but the king has accomplished his victory. He has risen and reigning, and we see that in his ascension. Second, Christ's ascension assures us of his intercession. And we focus on that word grace. In his grace, he is never absent from us. We have a high priest who has passed, as the writer to the Hebrews says in chapter four, not simply through the curtain, into the holiest of places to pray for his own sins and for the sins of his people, we have a high priest who has passed through the curtain into heaven. He's passed through the heavens for us, Hebrews 4 verse 14. And that means that we have an advocate in heaven. Remember those well-known words from 1 John chapter 2, that if any of us do sin, we have an advocate in Jesus Christ. He intercedes for us. He makes a passionate case for our salvation. Calvin talked in language like this, that Christ in his intercession, he draws the eyes of the holy God away from our sin and to the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's how he intercedes. Always lives to make intercession, Hebrews 7.25 says. for those who come to God through him. His intercession never quits. He never gets tired of praying. His resolve never wanes. And the Father always hears the Son who is in the presence of God for us. Hebrews 9 verse 24. So, brothers and sisters who are trusting in Jesus, because of the ever-present grace of Christ, evident in his ascension, we can have courage in our souls, against our fears of being cast out, against the shame that our sins bring about, we have an advocate. He is on our side, he's on God's side. And so we are good with God by faith in Jesus Christ, the ascended one. Number three, Christ's ascension comforts us through his spirit's presence. So by his spirit, he is never absent from us. The Spirit is that other counselor whom Jesus promised to send to us. The Spirit is the earnest of our fellowship with God in the life to come. He's also our personal access to our interceding high priest. So Jesus told the disciples, remember in John chapter 16, it's to your advantage that I go away. If I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I depart physically, I will send him to you. And so that's why Jesus, in the flesh was absent from Mary and Martha at the moment of the death of their dear brother. They both lamented that he had not been there. You know, Lord, if you'd only been here. But now the Spirit reminds us that God is not far from any of us in our time of need. That was true for Mary and Martha as well. God was not far from Mary and Martha. They just couldn't see it because Jesus was physically gone from them. But now Jesus has ascended and given us his Spirit. He's never far from us. The ever-present Spirit of God unites our affections with Christ and gives us the mind of Christ as well. Not only that we'd be comforted by His presence, but that we would live like Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. There's a fourth word that the writers mention, and that is His divinity. In His divinity, He is never absent from us. And so that means that Christ's ascension prompts us to worship Him. He is divine, he's worthy of our worship. And the apostles sensed that, the early disciples sensed that in response to the ascension, the first disciples worshiped him. Later they returned to the temple, the Bible says in Luke 24, they continued to worship him and study him to know him better so that they could worship him better. Prior to his ascension, the disciples gathered around Christ's physical body and worshiped him. Remember, they occasionally caught a passing glimpse of his glory, like in the Transfiguration, and the glory which Christ had set aside so that he could minister as one of us. Sometimes he took that glory back, as in the Transfiguration, and the disciples were blown away. They worshiped and they fell down before him. After the ascension, the disciples then and now gather as his physical body, the church, as a worshiping community. And so together we worship and serve the Lord who was dead, who is alive again, and is preparing to restore all things. So the ever-present divinity of Jesus, evidenced through his ascension, is a constant call to worship. We serve a divine savior. And then one further application which is particularly referenced by the catechism in the answer to question 49, and that is that Christ's ascension strengthens our hope in heaven. So whereas where the first four applications had to do with the non-physicality of Jesus, that he is present with us now in his divinity, and in his majesty, and his grace, and his spirit, there's also application to be drawn from the physicality of Jesus that is now in heaven. Christ's ascension strengthens our hope of being in heaven. Christ walked this earth as one of us, having taken on a human nature, a real human body and soul. And he has taken that real humanity into heaven. There's a place in heaven. for real humanity. And we know that because real humanity is in heaven right now. The disciples saw a real man go up into heaven in the same flesh and blood as us. And so we can say, as believers, as the apostle Paul does in Ephesians chapter two, that we are already in heaven. He has raised us up with Him and seated Him, seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That's true spiritually now. But it's true spiritually now because our real humanity is in heaven. Christ's presence there is a pledge that we too will join Him in body and soul. And so friends, let's celebrate the resurrection. Let's give the resurrection its rightful high place in not only Christian theology, but in our own hearts of joyful acceptance of God's care for us. The resurrection of Jesus answers our cry for new life, right? For believers, the resurrection of Jesus is the death of death. But remember that we weren't simply created to live. The resurrection answers our need for new life. We're dead apart from the resurrection. So we are raised with Christ, we gain this new life, but we weren't made simply to live. We were made to live in God's good presence. And that's why we sing with the psalmist in Psalm 73, to live apart from thee is death, right? Just living is not enough for us. Christ's ascension positions believers in God's presence. It enables us to sing with that same psalm, in sweet communion, Lord with thee I constantly abide. My hand thou holdest in thine own to keep me near thy side. Christ our mediator is both with us and with God. And one day those two realities for us will be one. Let's come to God with thankful hearts and prayer for raising Jesus, not just from the dead, but also where we desire to be, that is into the presence of God in heaven. Lord, we thank you so much for all of the works of Jesus. Thank you for your humiliation, oh Savior, and your exaltation, and your resurrection, and also in your ascension. We thank you for paving the way for our better understanding of these issues through the gift of fathers and mothers in the faith. Theologians who have wrestled over these issues and given us greater light, given us their shoulders to stand on so we can see further. And help us also to continue to press on ourselves into greater understanding of the mystery of God in the flesh in Jesus. But more than understanding, we pray that also with understanding, we would be comforted by the benefits and meditate on the beauty of these truths. So take these truths with us in our hearts in the days to come, that we might live also as ascended brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.