I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of
heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only
Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy
Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried.
He descended into hell. The third day he rose
again from the grave. He ascended into heaven
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father
Almighty. From thence he shall come to judge
the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy
Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion
of saints. the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection
of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
I have been bringing you a series of messages
on the Great Christian Pledge, better known as
the Apostles' Creed. This is my sixth in this
series of messages. He ascended into heaven and
sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
The entrance of the Lord Jesus Christ into this
life was a miracle. Indeed, no human mind can
fully understand, Jesus Christ as God in the
flesh into this life. As much God as though he
were not man. As much man as though he were not
God. His departure was likewise miraculous. There's
no earthly way of explaining how he transcended
gravity. at the time of his ascension. You know,
Christianity is supernaturalism. There's little
danger of overemphasizing the supernatural element
in our faith. Whenever God works, he always works
in a supernatural way. There's nothing ordinary.
There's nothing commonplace about God or about
the things he does. It's a mistake to try to
cast the gospel message in the molds of materialism.
Belief in the supernatural gives an upward reach
to the soul that satisfies the worshipful instinct
with which the human spirit is endowed. The 500
persons who accompanied the master to the Mount
of Ascension were all stricken with the event.
I should like to have been there that day. Luke
describes precisely what happened, and this is
what he said. He was parted from them and carried
up into heaven. A feeling of loneliness crept
over the little band. that descended the slopes
of the Mount of Olith. Life could never be the
same again with him gone. He was their inspiration.
He was everything to them. He was gone. They
were lonely but triumphant, heart -sick but comforted.
The appearances of the Son of God in a human
body At an end, he was gone. But his presence
was more real at that moment than ever before.
His parting words echoed in their hearts. It
is expedient for you that I go away. When the
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you
from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which
proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify
of me. The substance of Christ's ascension body
remains a mystery. It was different and of a
higher order than anything known to natural man.
The body which he wore after his triumph over
the tomb, became the pattern for the Christian
in the afterlife. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of them
that slept. Now the term first fruits means that
he was the pattern or the example for believers.
Their bodies will be like his body. If you want
to know what your body is going to be, after
the resurrection, then learn what his body was
like at the time he ascended into heaven. There
was flesh. There was bone. There was not blood.
When a loved one is taken to the city of the
dead, those left behind usually instinctively
ask through blinding tears, Will we see mom again?
Are we going to see our dad again? All the believer
often finds himself meditating upon such questions.
What will we be like in the other world? What
kind of bodies will we wear? How will the redeemed
personally be clothed? For answers to these and
many, many other questions, we only need to climb
the hill of Olivet. Take our place with the loyal
500 and view the ascension of Jesus Christ. Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be. But we know that when
he shall appear, we shall be like him. And that's
good enough for me. I am satisfied. John continued
to the next verse by saying, And every man that
hath this hope in him, purifies himself even
as he is pure. This expresses the heart yearning
of every child of God, although he may often
fall below his ideals. Oh, sure. It was St. Augustine
who commented upon this passage as follows. Thou
purifies to thyself, not of thyself, but of him
who comes that he may dwell. in thee, continually
beholding Christ's uppermost in affection, generates
lightness, even as the face of the moon, being
always turned toward the sun, reflects its light
and glory. You know, early Christian artists
meant well, but their efforts did violence to
the ascension. Somehow they failed to depict
upon the canvas the spiritual significance of
the glorious event of the ascension of Jesus
Christ. Their efforts to convey the tender emotions
of the onlookers were most pathetic. The contrasts
were too great for paint, brush, and the human
imagination to capture. At one moment, the Lord
was present with the 500. The next moment, he
was not with them. Explain it. I cannot. No man
can. The scene completely changed in an instant.
He blessed them. And then he was parted from
them. And they worshipped him. and sitteth on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Oh,
to me these words are thrilling. They're majestic.
And I pray that the Holy Spirit shall make them
very real to your heart and make our great high
priest very real to all of us. These words...
tend to direct one's thoughts towards the fourth
and the fifth chapters of the book of Hebrews,
where Christ is presented as the Christian's
high priest, interceding at the throne of God.
Humans are admitted into the holy of holies of
God's presence only through this exalted office.
The record says that our high priest was taken
from among men, not from among angels, because
they are incapable of entering into a fellowship
ceiling with us. Jesus knows human nature. He
wore a garb of flesh. He lived among men and
is... At this moment, our great high priest,
something happened. Watch. All the Old Testament
saints had a priest, an earthly priest. And that
earthly priest that the Old Testament saints
knew, that earthly priest that Abraham knew,
that earthly priest that Moses knew. was only
a type and a shadow of the one who is this hour,
our great high priest in the person of Jesus
Christ, the Son of the living God. I told you
in our last message that everything in the Old
Testament was just a type and a shadow of that
which was to come in the future. Take, for instance,
the law. There was no justification in the law
whatsoever. The law was added because of transgressions.
The law revealed sin. But there was no justification
in law. The apostle says that the law was given
for this purpose. To reveal sin. Till the seed
should come. That is, till Christ should come.
When the seed, Christ, came. a fuller discovery
of divine grace was made. In Christ, we are pardoned
and justified. The same is true regarding the
earthly priest. He was only a type and the shadow
of the one who in the person of the very son
of the living God is our great high priest today.
That's why at the crucifixion of Jesus, when
he yielded up, the ghost behold the veil of the
temple was rent in twain from the top to the
bottom and the earth did quake and the rocks
wrench in that moment there was no longer the
type in the shadow but that which was a shadow
became a reality in the person of jesus christ
In that moment, he became our great high priest.
I have a priest. I have a glorious priest. I
have one to whom I can go and make my confession.
I have one who will forgive my every sin. Better
than I understand myself. Sure. That's what the
scripture means. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens.
Jesus, the son of God. Let us hold fast our profession.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points. tempted like as we are
yet without sin. Oh, beloved, he knows our problems,
our feelings, our limitations, our anxieties,
our heartache. Therefore, we come to him making
our confession. We come to him to help in time
of need. Amen.