What Does the Ascension Accomplish? Reverend Anthony R. Locke
May 16th, 2010 Ascension Sunday at the First Presbyterian Church of Tucker
Apostle’s Creed Series 05 English Standard Version But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 1
Ephesians 4:7-10 7 8 9 10
I preached a sermon a month ago about what we mean when we confess in the Apostle’s Creed that Jesus descended into hell. Basically, it is a theological statement and not a geographic mapping of his location. Jesus stayed on the cross and God brought to Jesus the terrible suffering of eternal hell that we deserved while He hung between heaven and earth. Jesus never traveled to hell that He might suffer alongside demons or the enemies of God. Jesus descended from heaven as the most blessed one and He became the most cursed one while on the cross. Jesus hit rock bottom while paying our sin debt and we owe Him everything for this gift of redemption that opens the door for our salvation. The Bible refers to the descent and ascent of God in Genesis to Revelation. From common language about God coming down to see the tower of Babel to specific verses about ascension, the Bible is strung with the gold thread of the descent and ascent of Deity into the affairs of men. Specifically, the Bible tells about the advent of the Son of God. Jesus was in the glorious fullness of the form of God as the Second Person of the Trinity. He was the light of heaven. Jesus was center of everyone’s attention. As the Bible says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1) But Jesus decided that holding onto this most exalted place wasn’t worth grasping with white knuckles. So He cloaked His deity with human flesh and took the form of a man. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) Jesus descended to earth, but not to be an earthly king. Some people live glorious lives. There are beautiful people, powerful and wealthy people that make others jealous. Jesus didn’t come to claim that kind of a life for Himself. Jesus had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2) Verse 9 says that Jesus descended into the lower parts of the human experience. John Calvin in his commentary explains that the descent of Jesus into the lower parts of the earth is not about the dirt, the grave, Hades, or purgatory. Any of these interpretations are, and I quote, “exceedingly foolish.” 1 The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.