Today we celebrate Ascension Day, the day the resurrected
Christ ascended to heaven. We do not
believe in a three-tiered universe but the eyewitnesses that day saw Him ascend
into the clouds and then from their view.
Where heaven is located physically is not within the scope of our
knowledge. To see what the Ascension
looked like from heaven’s perspective, what came after Jesus disappeared from
human view, read Revelation 5 also.
Daniel sees what John saw in Revelation 5, but he saw
imperfectly. John saw a lamb looking
like it was slain coming before the throne and taking the scroll and removing
the seals of judgment. Daniel sees one
looking like a son of man who is given dominion, glory and a kingdom that
includes all peoples, nations and languages, a kingdom that will not pass
away. One like a son of man is certainly
a surprising thing to see in heaven, particularly one who is chosen to receive
an everlasting kingdom. A son of man is
not everlasting, we die. This one,
however, would conquer death and the grave as we know in Jesus. Was Daniel’s vision of Jesus prior to coming
in the flesh and John’s after the Ascension?
The one like a son of man came and laid down his life as the ultimate
Passover lamb who was slain for the sins of the world, the entire world, not
just the nation of Israel. Certainly
Daniel saw something truly remarkable that is fulfilled in Jesus.
Jesus says that all authority in heaven and earth has been
given to Him. Remember back to the
temptations that satan posed Jesus in the beginning of His ministry. He offered Jesus kingdoms of earth, here we
see that Jesus has authority over those kingdoms, whoever might occupy them
temporarily. He gave His disciples work
to do and the promise of His presence while they/we do the work we were
given. The work was to make disciples
who will obey His commandments. For a
long time we have been focused on converts and not disciples. We need to go back to Jesus’ own methods of
disciple-making, a time and presence intensive method. If we would see His kingdom breaking through
in our day, we need to recover Jesus’ way of living and making disciples.
The mystery of the incarnation is revealed in Jesus and in
becoming like a son of man He gave great dignity and honor to our kind. He redeemed us for eternity, He redeemed
sinful humanity by living a sinless life and taking on our sin and overcoming
death in the body. The body matters, it
can’t only matter in the incarnation, He must also take that body into heaven
in order that it be glorified. He can’t
only “seem” to be a man as the docetists claimed and claim, He must have also
died in the flesh and be resurrected in the flesh in order to complete the
transaction. Jesus had to be a real man,
fully man and fully God, in order to overcome sin on behalf of those who are
real men and women. What the incarnation
says about humanity is remarkable. We
are created in the image of God and in Jesus we see how precious that image is
to God that He took on this flesh in order to redeem it. Do we have the same value for His image in
us?
The God who reigns on high,
the great archangels sing,
and "Holy, holy, holy," cry,
"Almighty King!"
Who was and is the same,
and evermore shall be:
Jehovah, Father, great I AM,
we worship thee."
the great archangels sing,
and "Holy, holy, holy," cry,
"Almighty King!"
Who was and is the same,
and evermore shall be:
Jehovah, Father, great I AM,
we worship thee."
No comments:
Post a Comment