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He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them.
᛭ INI ᛭
Alleluia! Jesus Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
“In the fulness of time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, that we would receive sonship.” (Gal 4) We confess this every Divine Service, that IHS Christ is “God of God, Light of Light, Very of Very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by Whom all things were made.” This Christ “for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made made. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures.”
Christ, the eternal, everlasting, immortal Son of God, humbled Himself and became man for us, suffered for us, died for us. Then His Father raised Him from the dead. We’re now 40 days after that. Christ “ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.” Christ exalted our human nature to very throne of God! As Paul says, God the Father “seated Christ at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in [the age] to come. And He put all things under His feet.” (Eph 1) As Christ says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” (Mt 28)
Christ does all this for you, but what does it mean for you? Now, there is a benefit to ponder the mystery of all these things. It’s a wonderful, amazing thing that eternal God did all these things for us. But these aren’t just high and ascended ideas only. It has direct meaning for the Christian Church and you as a Christian. It’s all wrapped up in the two verses I quoted before from our Gospel reading:
He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them.
What does that mean for you? It means that
THE LORD ASCENDED TO RULE AND WORK NOT JUST IN ONE PLACE BUT EVERYWHERE, EVEN HERE!
(I. The Lord IHS rules and works everywhere.)
During His earthly ministry, to encounter Christ intimately you needed to be where He was. He was in a manger, in a boat, in a Synagogue, in the temple, on the cross. He healed the sick, cast out demons, and raised the dead wherever He went. He was at the Jordan, on the Sea, in the desert, and on mountains. You had to be there to see Him, to hear Him. He was born in Bethlehem. He was raised in Nazareth. His base of operation was Capernaum. He was crucified on Calvary. He was raised outside of Jerusalem. At specific times and at specific places Jesus worked your eternal salvation.
That’s all changed! THE LORD ASCENDED TO RULE AND WORK NOT JUST IN ONE PLACE BUT EVERYWHERE. Christ is above all things. He fills all things. He rules all things. As God and man Christ rules the entire universe. There is nothing outside of His rule and power and authority. Christ reigns with His Father. This means that kingdoms and nations rise and fall at Christ’s behest. Wars breakout and peace agreement are signed according to His hidden, almighty, good, and gracious will. All that the Father has and does He has given over His Son.
This also means that the sun shines and rises according to Christ’s goodness. The seasons change because Christ so wills it. The rain falls, the snow-drifts gather, seeds sprout, the plants grow, the harvest is reaped, and the leaves fall at His command.
He exercises His rule and authority everywhere. There’s nowhere you can go to escape Christ. There’s nowhere on earth where he doesn’t see, doesn’t know. “Whither can you flee from His presence? If you ascend to heaven, he is there. If you descend into hell, he is there.” (Ps 139) Jonah learned this the hard way. From the loftiest mountain top to the utter depths of the sea, Christ is there ruling and reigning.
He upholds you your entire life. In Him and His Father and the Holy Spirit, we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17) His Almighty providence rules all things the lead you to this exact moment as well as everything else that’ll happen you until you die and are with Him. This providence extends over all creatures big and small, all people of who have and do and ever shall live. “He is King of kings, Lord of lords.” (Rev 17) Christ “is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.” (Rom 9)
(Transition.)
Christ was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. He ASCENDED TO RULE AND WORK NOT JUST IN ONE PLACE BUT EVERYWHERE. But this isn’t yet good news. You can have some peace, knowing that the world has someone at the wheel. Yet, don’t look too close. Because He’s King of “purple mountain majesties,” and He’s King of Mt. Vesuvius at Pompeii, Mt. St. Helen’s. He’s God “across the fruited plain” as well as drought and desert. He rules “from sea to shining sea” as well as the hurricanes and tsunamis.
Christ rules the world according to His hidden and inscrutable will. As He says to Isaiah: “I am the One who forms light and creates darkness; I am the One who makes peace and creates calamity; I am Yahweh who does all these things.” (Is 45) He does all this for our salvation, as I preached last Sunday, but for true comfort we must turn away from His hidden will towards His revealed will. We must listen to the other verse I quoted before: And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them. THE LORD ASCENDED TO RULE AND WORK NOT JUST IN ONE PLACE BUT EVERYWHERE, EVEN HERE!
(II. The Lord IHS rules and works here!)
This is the greatest comfort of the Ascension. That the LORD doesn’t JUST WORK IN ONE PLACE. He doesn’t just work anywhere and everywhere. He can find you anywhere. The comfort is that you can locate Him somewhere. He works at specific times and in specific places. He works even here! That’s the promise first mentioned at the end of Mark, but we see this promise worked out in the entire book of Acts.
Acts records all that IHS continued to do and to teach. (Acts 1) He didn’t just send the Apostle’s out. They didn’t just go out and preach everywhere doing awesome stuff. Rather, the Lord sent them out as His instruments, and He used them to preach His Gospel, to teach His Word, to administer His Baptism, to deliver His forgiveness, to bless and distribute the Supper of His Body and Blood. He was using them to do all these things. That’s what it means when it says that “the LORD [was] working with them.” As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15: “I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
Therefore “to be baptized in God’s name is to be baptized not by men, but by God Himself. Therefore, although it’s performed by human hands, it’s still truly God’s own work. [And so] Baptism is a far higher work than any work performed by a man or a saint. For what work can we do that’s greater than God’s work?” (LC-IV 10) This means that even if there were a Baptism in every single Christian congregation across the globe at the exact same time, the Lord is there baptizing, using the hands and mouths of the minister. (Jn 4)
This is also the blessing and benefit of Communion. Christ has Ascended far above all rule and power and limits of this earthly creation, so that He can keep the promises He made in the Last Testament of His Supper. Since Christ has all power and authority in heaven and on earth, He’s able to keep His Word: “This [bread] is My body, given for you; this cup [of wine] is the New Testament in My blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Because He has raised our human nature, His flesh truly is life-giving: “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, for My flesh is true food and My blood is true drink.” (Jn 6) He can keep this promise at every single altar at the same time, for He is Lord Almighty.
This is what we’ll sing during Communion in just a bit:
4 We eat this bread and drink this cup,
Your precious Word believing
That Your true body and Your blood
Our lips are here receiving.
This word remains forever true,
All things are possible with You,
For You are Lord Almighty.5 Though reason cannot understand,
Yet faith this truth embraces;
Your body, Lord, is even now
At once in many places.
I leave to You how this can be;
Your Word alone suffices me;
I trust its truth unfailing. (LSB 622)
(Conclusion)
THE LORD ASCENDED TO RULE AND WORK NOT JUST IN ONE PLACE BUT EVERYWHERE, EVEN HERE!
No longer limited to Galilee or Judea—Christ rules everywhere. He’s working all things for your good. The good news is that when the world looks like no one’s got the wheel, Christ does. It means the events of the world will ultimately work out for the good of mankind in general, and you as a human being in particular, because the Guy on the throne of the Universe is “at the same time both God and man.”
But the comfort of the Ascension isn’t necessarily that, it’s that
THE LORD ASCENDED TO RULE AND WORK NOT JUST IN ONE PLACE BUT EVERYWHERE, EVEN HERE!
He’s at work here. Wherever His Word is read and pondered, wherever Baptism is administered, absolution pronounced, His Gospel preached, and His Word taught. But most intimately He’s here to give you His body and blood to eat and to drink, for the forgiveness of sins, to strengthen and preserve you in both body and soul unto life everlasting. After all,
He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them.
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