The Ascension of Jesus Christ

Introduction

The Ascension of Jesus Christ back to heaven is a component of the gospel which does not receive much attention. However, as we will see, without this, the plan of God cannot continue. Unless Jesus Christ returns to heaven, from where He came, His lordship, the sending of the Holy Spirit to the church, and His coming again cannot be accomplished. And, without these things, the completion of the perfect plan of God for the world cannot be accomplished. Although only the New Testament writer Luke gives us the details of this incredible and glorious event, the New Testament affirms it at every turn.

In this essay, we will see the following. Firstly, in the biblical record, God has come to earth and returned to heaven many times. He had done so at particular times relative to His purpose for the destruction of cities, the protection and blessing of His people, and the demonstration of His own power. Secondly, each time He appeared and ascended back to heaven, He was in the form of a Man. There is no indication that He took on the form of a woman, or angel. Thirdly, His angels also ascended back to heaven after accomplishing God’s will on earth. This is particularly true regarding the angelic announcement of the Messiah’s birth to the shepherds in Bethlehem. Lastly, the Ascension of Jesus Christ was unique since He had accomplished redemption by His resurrection from the dead. The Scripture told of the need to return to heaven afterwards in order to rule until the enemies of God would be destroyed.

Old Testament Ascensions

There are significant events of ascensions in the Old Testament. None are as significant as the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection, however. Yet, these ascensions either refer to that great Ascension, or give evidence of the Lord’s interaction with man on earth and returning back again before that Ascension. Either way, the ascensions back to heaven in the Old Testament are significant in their own right.

Jacob’s Dream 

One of the most significant ascensions in the Old Testament was actually in a dream that was likely more of a vision of actual happenings. The patriarch, Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel after he wrestled with YHWH, is traveling in order to find a wife from his relatives to the north. One night, as he lay down to sleep, he has a dream which is described as “angels of God ascending and descending” up and down a stairway reaching into heaven. YHWH appeared in the dream communicating to Jacob that He will fulfill His promise to Abraham through him. The land on which Jacob was laying down is the inheritance of Himself, and all the descendants of Abraham. This promise, corresponding to the activity of the angels, indicates that the place which is promised to Abraham is none other than the very place God will reside as well. Therefore, Jacob calls the place “Bethel,” which is translated “a house of God,” and “the gate of heaven.” To Jacob, this place is the very place wherein YHWH Himself enters into the world in order to carry out His purpose, as well as the angels also.

The significance of this location is seen in the name, Bethel. The house of God will, in the future, be established in this region, a region which includes the city of Jerusalem, the city of the Great King. It is here that the Lord of all the earth enters the world, along with His ascending and descending angels, in order to do His work.

The Lord referred to this event early in His ministry and made the connection to Himself. In John 1:51, Jesus Christ said of Himself to his disciple Nathanael, whom He had just met and to whom He had demonstrated His own omniscience, that he should not marvel at Jesus’s omniscience because in the future of His ministry, he will witness “the angels ascending and descending” upon Him. This is a clear reference back to Jacob and his dream in Bethel. However, instead of the region of Bethel being the entry point for the angels, and YHWH standing upon the stairway, Jesus is the entry point of the angels and He is YHWH. This is a magnificent statement that would indicate that Jesus, Himself, is the “gateway to heaven,” and “the house of God.” This relates to the fact that Jesus said, in the very next chapter, that His body is the sanctuary of God.

It is significant that in both examples, Jacob’s dream and Jesus’s reference, the angel’s ascension is listed first. That is to say, that the first act of the angels in their service to God is that they ascend first and descend afterwards. This would indicate an earthly presence prior to their return to heaven. Of course, they would have to descend first in order to ascend. However, that is not the point as the references indicate.

Miscellaneous Ascensions

It is a bit surprising to identify other ascensions back to heaven from earth in the Old Testament. These ascensions are typically veiled in exactly how the angel, or how God Himself, returned to heaven. But, the indication is clear. By the power and will of God, a return to heaven was immediate and supernatural.

Genesis 5:22-24

The man named Enoch in the book of Genesis is the first recorded ascension in the Bible. Although it is a bit veiled exactly how God “took him,” the language indicates that he was indeed taken to heaven as he was a man who “walked with God.” Hebrews 11:5 tells us as much. There, the writer understood the sense of Genesis 5:24. Enoch, by the power of God, was “taken up,” that is to say, transferred from earth to heaven immediately.

Genesis 17:22 

In Genesis 17:1, Moses records that YHWH appeared to Abram, one of at least three times that YHWH appeared to this patriarch. He appeared to Abraham in Genesis 12:7 in some form, and later in bodily form just prior to destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. In this case, however, it is the only statement about how YHWH left Abraham. The Hebrew text states, “Then God went up from Abraham.” This terminology indicates an actual, and physical, rising up into the clouds before the very eyes of Abraham. It is very similar to the way in which the Lord ascended in front of the disciples after His resurrection.

Genesis 35:12

In the same way that God appeared to Abraham, and then ascended back to heaven, so also God appeared to Jacob, again, and ascended back to heaven. This appearance was in the same location as the previous meeting, which Jacob named Bethel, “House of God.” YHWH appeared to Jacob here again, some time after taking Rebekah as his wife. This meeting also concluded with God going up from Jacob.

The Ascension of the Son of Man

The Old Testament, as we saw, records the ascensions of God, men and angels. God condescends to certain people, and then, before their very eyes, is raised up in order to return to heaven. Angels were also seen rising up and returning to heaven. And, as in the case of Enoch, he himself was also taken up and taken to heaven. As we will see in this section, The Lord Himself also ascended as a kind of final ascension before His disciples.

The Lord told His disciples that He was going to return to heaven. In John 3:13, He said,

John 3:13 (LSB)

​13 “And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

In this statement, the Lord testifies to Himself that He is the only One who will ascend into heaven from where He came originally. The Lord’s origin from heaven is something unique to Himself alone. No one, says the Lord, has descended from heaven, and will have returned again. This statement is in order that the disciples, upon seeing Jesus ascend, would be able to rejoice and worship the only One who has descended from heaven. It will validate and testify to the claims of Jesus Christ about Himself.

As we saw in the Old Testament, an ascension is the elevation of a person from the normal interaction with people, as well as having the normal limitations of the forces of creation such as gravity, space, time, who, at some point, even though still under the influence of those forces, begins to lift off the earth and elevate into the sky, presumably “passing through the heavens”and entering into the heaven in which the Father is enthroned. This is exactly the experience of Jesus Christ, the Son of God:

For Christ did not enter holy places made with hands, mere copies of the true ones, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;  (Hebrews 9:24, LSB)

This ascension into the presence of God is a return to the same location into which the Son existed before. Jesus said,

“Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.  (John 17:5, LSB)

This glory of heaven was shared by the Father and Jesus Christ before the world began. It is back to this glory into which the Son returned. This return demonstrates a number of wonderful results to us. Firstly, it demonstrates that His sacrifice was, indeed, successful. His death did accomplish the due penalty of death on behalf of the elect. Secondly, it demonstrates that the Father was pleased with the Son. The Father said as much a few times during His earthly ministry, and demonstrated it by receiving back again into heaven. Finally, it demonstrated that Jesus was right all along-He is from heaven!

As I mentioned, the gospel writer Luke, is the only New Testament writer to describe the ascension of Jesus Christ back to heaven from earth. His record of the ascension of Jesus Christ is found in the two books he authored-Luke and Acts.

The first record of His ascension is a simple sentence indicating the elevation of the resurrected Lord being raised bodily off the ground and taken into heaven. It is hard to imagine the stunning sensation in the disciples as they observed this taking place before their very eyes. The Greek text uses the active verb in reference to His departure. The verb indicates that Jesus Himself initiated His departure from their presence. This gives wonderful evidence of the Lord’s absolute deity and power to not only raise Himself from the dead, but to also ascend back to heaven bodily afterwards.

Luke’s second record in the first chapter of Acts gives a little more information about this incredible event. Luke wrote in Acts 1:9-11 that the Lord was raised up and went into the clouds in the sky. Clouds can be as low as 1,000 feet in the air, or as high as 30,000 feet in the air. It is obvious that the height of the clouds simply did not matter since Jesus passed through the earth’s atmosphere in order to arrive into heaven anyway. But, to imagine Him ascending through the clouds, as Luke records in Acts, is a wonderful thing to consider.

At the disappearance of the Lord in the clouds, two angels appear next to the gazing disciples and exhort them to stop staring into the sky and get back to Jerusalem. Their statement to the disciples gives us wonderful information as to the ascension of Christ in relation to the future. They tell the disciples that Jesus Christ is going to return in the clouds again, just as He exited through the clouds before them. This vivid and unforgettable event, I am sure, was etched in their minds, especially as they considered the Second Coming of the Lord in the future.

The Lord Had To Ascend

Hours before His ascension, the Lord told the disciples what He would do once He returned to heaven. He said,  

“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.  (John 16:7, LSB)

He was going to the Father. His departure, which is different from the intermediary presence with the Father between His death and resurrection, is necessary so that His incarnate ministry can be concluded, and the Holy Spirit’s ministry can commence. Unless Jesus ascends, the Spirit of God would not be sent to begin His work of worldwide conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment. This ministry of conviction is necessary to the redemption of the elect and requires that the Son complete His work by ascending back to heaven. Further, unless the Lord ascends, He cannot send the Holy Spirit to the earth to superintend the writers of Scripture, thus completing the canon. 

Therefore, the Lord’s ascension is simply more than just a display of power, although it is certainly that. It is also necessary in the plan of the Father to complete His work in the world of the announcement of the gospel.

Conclusion

The Lord’s ascension was the final ascension to heaven from the earth in a long history of unique instances of ascensions. The Lord’s prior ascensions included appearing to Abraham and his descendants in particular moments in order to carry out His purpose. These ascensions were either in dreams, or in person and were necessary in order to further the faith of God’s people and displaying His own glory to them.

Once the Messiah came, the ascensions ended and were finalized in the glorious ascension of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. After being raised from the dead in bodily form, He was raised up from the earth and slowly was brought through the clouds of the sky and entered into the presence of the Father. Once there, sitting at the right hand of the Father, He then asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit in order to carry out His worldwide mission of conviction of sins and the completion of Scripture.

This ascension of the Lord is a lesser-known aspect of God’s plan of redemption. However, as you can see, it is a critical aspect and, if it had not happened, the redemption of the elect would have failed to be carried out.