Acts 1:1-11 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Summer Series: Joy for Our Journeys 8 Sunday, August 25, 2019 “The Journey from Earth to Heaven”
Are you familiar with the idea of riding off into the sunset? That phrase could encompass a few different connotations or concepts that largely have to do with moving on from a completed task. The phrase comes from the closing scene of many old western movies, perhaps some that were filmed right nearby at Old Tucson Studios. In those closing scenes, the hero cowboy, after his work is done and the problems are solved, is seen fading away into the distance against the backdrop of the setting sun. It became such a familiar and perhaps overused scene that the phrase is now regularly used to describe someone’s retirement or farewell. It has become a common expression that someone rides off into the sunset. We might be tempted to view the journey of Jesus Christ from earth to heaven as sort of a riding off into the sunset. It does have some similarities to this common scene. There is an aspect of completion and farewell. But at the same time, there are many differences between our Savior’s departure and the closing scene of a cowboy movie. Our Lord’s Ascension is an important journey that teaches many important lessons. It is the journey that captures our attention this morning, the eighth journey of our summer worship series. The basic facts of the Ascension are not difficult to understand. Forty days after he rose from the dead, Jesus took his disciples out to a hill just outside the walls of Jerusalem. As he was teaching them and blessing them, Jesus was taken up into the sky. How high the disciples watched him go we aren’t told. What we are told is that a cloud came and hid him from their sight, and they did not see him again. That is how Jesus made his journey from earth to heaven. Luke, the same man whom God led to write the Gospel of Luke, records this event to comfort and to strengthen us. And he gives a little more context to explain why Jesus ascended into heaven. These very first verses of the book of Acts remind us that this book really continues the account of the Gospel. There we learn all about the life of Jesus, how he was born as a baby and was at the same time God over the universe, how he taught many things about the kingdom of God, and how he offered his life as a sacrifice for sins. Luke summarizes these events in a few short verses and says, “After he had suffered, he presented himself alive to the apostles with many convincing proofs. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and told them things about the kingdom of God.” What Luke discusses in these verses really encapsulates all of the journeys we have spoken of in regard to our Savior. He journeyed from heaven to earth to live in the place of sinful people. He journeyed to the cross to pay the price for the sins of the whole world. He journeyed from death to life because the sacrifice was complete and those sins were paid for in full. And then he kept proving and convincing his followers that he was truly alive. A journey from death to life is not a part of our regular experience. It is not something that people expect to see. Even though Jesus had promised it to his disciples, they did not fully understand. If you were with us last week, you heard how when two of Jesus’ disciples saw his tomb opened with just grave cloths lying where his body had been, they were confused and uncertain. But Jesus didn’t want them to remain confused and uncertain. He wanted them to be sure and confident. He appeared to them. He taught them. He allowed them to touch him. He sat with them and ate with them. He gave proof, over and over, convincing them that even though he had died he was certainly alive. And he continued to teach them about what all of this meant, what he had accomplished, how he had brought the kingdom of God to people. And then he went up, he ascended, into heaven. He had come from heaven to earth to accomplish this purpose, to live and to suffer and to die and to rise again, and his mission was complete. He had paid the price for the sins of the world. He had completed the sacrifice and had overcome the enemy. Even death itself was defeated. And so, in a manner of speaking, Jesus’ journey from earth to heaven was a riding off into the sunset moment. It was an indication of completion, of joy, of a happy conclusion to the task he had come to undertake. It was the end of this work he had been doing.
But this journey was also so much more. Even though there was an aspect of completion to his departure, Jesus was not leaving his people alone; he was not leaving his disciples alone. He would still be with them according to his promise. He would still be working to accomplish his good purposes, and he was leaving valuable gifts behind for his people. Jesus promised his disciples before he ascended that they would receive the Holy Spirit. They would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. They would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. And they would be gifts to the world by serving as the Savior’s witnesses. The world that Jesus left behind needed these gifts. People, all people in this world, are born in sin and live in sin. They need to hear the message, the good news. They need to be changed from enemies of God into his friends and his children through faith in Jesus. And those who have come to faith need strengthening for all of the challenges and opportunities and temptations that they face. God’s kingdom is still growing and spreading. Jesus is still working in this world to bring people to salvation, only now he works in a different way, largely through the disciples that remain. And that means that when you and I assess our own situations, we are left with only this conclusion: all that we have done and all that we can do will never be enough. Our lives are clearly full of wrong and sin and evil. The things that we do never measure up to Jesus in terms of love and giving and sacrifice and faithfulness. They are frequently the exact opposite of all of those things. And so Jesus continues to come to us, not visibly and in the same physical way he once did with his disciples, but he comes in the waters of Baptism, and in the bread and wine along with his body and blood in Holy Communion, and in the sweet promises of his Word and the assurances it contains. He sends his Holy Spirit to work through these means in order to strengthen and comfort us, and even to make us his witnesses in this world. He gives us the assurance that having returned to heaven, he fills our world with his presence, his love, and his power. He rules over all things for the benefit of his children. And he leaves us with one more promise. We heard the promise in the account of his journey. When Jesus had gone up, and after he had been hidden by a cloud, the disciples just kept staring into the sky. Maybe they thought they might still catch a glimpse of Jesus. Maybe they expected some additional message from up there. Maybe they just didn’t know what to think or how to react. At that that point, two angels appeared with the disciples to share the message. Jesus went up into heaven, and he will come back. It was a promise those disciples had heard before, but one they did not fully appreciate. On the Last Day of this world, Jesus will return, coming down from the sky in power and glory. He will be the judge over all people. And he will bring all those who believed in him as their Savior to live with him in heaven forever. Jesus went up into heaven in order that at the appropriate time, whether on the Last Day collectively or individually at the end of our earthly lives, he will bring us to be there with him. That’s a big promise. That is the ultimate promise. That is the end result for us of all the work that our Savior has done and everything that he accomplished. Not because of who we are or what we have done, but because of who he is and what he has done, we will get to spend eternity with our Lord. And until he comes back, he has left us with work to do. He has left us with responsibilities to let our lights shine, to honor him, to tell others the same good news that we have come to know and to love. He has left us with an urgency to do that before he returns and an interest in doing that because of what his return means for us. Jesus’ journey from earth to heaven is much more than his ride off into the sunset. It ushers in a different stage in God’s plan, a different time for his Church. He rides off into the distance with the promise, to use our movie language, that this story is not finished. It is “to be continued.” He will continue to accomplish his purposes, and when the time comes, he will come back visibly once again. May God strengthen us with these promises.
The Text: Acts 1:1-11 (EHV) I wrote my first book, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began doing and teaching 2 until the day he was taken up, after he had given instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After he had suffered, he presented himself alive to the apostles with many convincing proofs. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and told them things about the kingdom of God. 4
Once, when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for what the Father promised, which you heard from me. 5 For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6
So when they were together with him, they asked, “Lord, is this the time when you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7
He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9
After he said these things, he was taken up while they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 They were looking intently into the sky as he went away. Suddenly, two men in white clothes stood beside them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking up into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”