Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Acts 1:9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
I BELIEVE HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN
In our last devotion were reminded of what Jesus did after He rose from the dead on Easter morning. Jesus continued to instruct His disciples and he also sent them out to proclaim the message of salvation to others. Seeing how important those forty days were, we might wonder why Jesus had to leave and go back to heaven. Even though Jesus had spent three years teaching His disciples before His death and another forty days after His resurrection, we see that they still didn't completely understand what Jesus had come to do. Right before Jesus ascended into heaven, we hear the disciples ask, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6). They were still looking for an earthly kingdom to be established by Jesus. So we might wonder if Jesus should have stayed and spent more time in instructing His disciples.
But already before His death Jesus had told His disciples that He would have to go away. The night before His death Jesus said to them, "It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you." Jesus had to go away so that He could send the Holy Spirit upon them. Jesus continues saying, "He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:7,13). Through the working of the Holy Spirit (who miraculously came upon them just days later) the disciples boldly proclaimed the name of Jesus, and the salvation that comes in His name, even in the face of persecution (see Acts 4). But as Jesus had said, this could not happen unless He first return to heaven.
Have you ever wondered why we celebrate Jesus' ascension every year? Have you ever wondered why the Holy Spirit recorded that event in the life of Christ in so many places throughout the pages of the Old and New Testaments? Because it proves that Christ's work was done! If Jesus had not completed the work of our redemption, He would not have been able to leave this earth. But as it was, Christ's life was completely without sin, and His death was a sacrifice which was acceptable before the Father and which paid our debt of sin, completely and for all time!
