He was lifted up
Acts 1:1-11
Acts 1:9 gives the most descriptive account of Jesus’ ascension: “He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight.” In the old Testament, the Lord led the Israelites with a “cloud by day” and a “pillar of fire by night”.(Exodus 13:21-22). The Lord descended upon His tabernacle in a cloud, and He filled His temple in Jerusalem with a cloud. At Jesus’ transfiguration, “a bright cloud” overshadowed the disciples. The cloud indicates the presence of the Lord God. At Jesus’ ascension, He is taken from the disciples’ sight, entering the Lord God’s presence. God the Father takes and receives Jesus to His right hand, because Jesus has received all power and authority over all things. Luther wrote that when Christ ascended, Christ led our enemies captive, enemies such as misfortune, death, and hell. Christ has bound them in captivity on high.
Christ ascends into heaven that He might fill all things (Eph 1:23). The ascension into heaven is the end of Christ’s time of living visibly with His disciples on earth. His ascension into heaven does not make Christ distant from people, but rather near to us. We may not see Christ in bodily form, but He is visible to us in the Sacraments, where He hides Himself behind the bread and the wine, but gives what His words promise, His very body and blood. In the Lord’s Supper because Christ “sits at the right hand of the Father” and has all the authority in heaven and on earth, He can draw near to you and deliver to you what He has promised, His very body and blood into your mouth for the forgiveness of your sins. This Ascension day recall what Jesus accomplished for you.
Pastor Darryl
Photo by Haseeb Jamil on Unsplash