Sermon on Lord’s Day 18⤒🔗

46. Q. What do you confess when you say, He ascended into heaven?
A. That Christ, before the eyes of His disciples, was taken up from the earth into heaven,[1] and that He is there for our benefit[2] until He comes again to judge the living and the dead.[3] [1] Mark 16:19; Luke 24:50, 51; Acts 1:9-11. [2] Rom. 8:34; Heb. 4:14; 7:23-25; 9:24. [3] Matt. 24:30; Acts 1:11. 47. Q. Is Christ, then, not with us until the end of the world, as He has promised us?[1] A. Christ is true man and true God. With respect to His human nature He is no longer on earth,[2] but with respect to His divinity, majesty, grace, and Spirit He is never absent from us.[3]
[1] Matt. 28:20. [2] Matt. 26:11; John 16:28; 17:11; Acts 3:19-21; Heb. 8:4. [3] Matt. 28:18-20; John 14:16-19; 16:13.

48. Q. But are the two natures in Christ not separated from each other if His human nature is not present wherever His divinity is?
A. Not at all, for His divinity has no limits and is present everywhere.[1] So it must follow that His divinity is indeed beyond the human nature which He has taken on and nevertheless is within this human nature and remains personally united with it.[2]
[1] Jer. 23:23, 24; Acts 7:48, 49. [2] John 1:14; 3:13; Col. 2:9.

49. Q. How does Christ's ascension into heaven benefit us?
A. First, He is our Advocate in heaven before His Father.[1] Second, we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that He, our Head, will also take us, His members, up to Himself.[2] Third, He sends us His Spirit as a counter-pledge,[3] by whose power we seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, and not the things that are on earth.[4]
[1] Rom. 8:34; I John 2:1. [2] John 14:2; 17:24; Eph. 2:4-6. [3] John 14:16; Acts 2:33; II Cor. 1:21, 22; 5:5. [4] Col. 3:1-4.

Scripture Reading: Luke 24:36-53; John 16:4-15

Singing: (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Psalm 68:7,8
Psalm 71:3 - Athanasian Creed
Hymn 33:4,6
Psalm 47:1,2,3
Hymn 31:1,3,5

Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ!

We know where Jesus is today; with the church of all ages we confess that Jesus "ascended into heaven." Heaven: that’s a long way away from us. We’re here on earth, caught up in the grind of this life. Our dear Savior is in another world, one without tears and pain and pressures, enjoying the glory of heaven with the Father, the angels, and the saints who have been relieved of the toils of this earth.

Truth be told, we find something unpleasant in that thought. Jesus enjoying the bliss of heaven, while we need to endure the trials of this earth…. We wish Jesus were with us, talking with us, walking with us, touching our children, healing our sick, raising our dead, answering our questions, sharing our troubles…. To have Him near strikes us as far richer than His being so distant from us in heaven....

Yet we read from Jn 16, brothers and sisters, that it is better for us that Jesus be gone from us, better that He is in heaven today (vs 7). It’s this thought that I want to work out for us this afternoon. Yet, before I can do that in earnest, I should draw out for you the difficulty the church has had over the centuries with the confession of Christ’s ascension. I use this theme:

Christ’s absence from us today is better for us

1. The controversy surrounding where Jesus is
2. The comfort flowing from where Jesus is

The controversy surrounding where Jesus is←⤒🔗

That the Savior is today in heaven is the uniform message of the whole Bible. Months before He ascended, Jesus already told His disciples where He was going to go. Jn 14:

In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 14:2

And Jn 16:

...now I am going to Him who sent Me... vs 5

So it was that Luke could pinpoint Jesus’ destination at His ascension. Says Luke:

while [Jesus] blessed them, He parted from them, and was carried up into heaven Luke 24:51

Stephen saw the result. When he was being stoned, Stephen "gazed into heaven and saw...Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55). Paul on the road to Damascus heard Jesus’ voice coming from heaven (Acts 9:4). So he could later write to the Romans that the Christ who died is now "at the right hand of God" (8:34). It’s all repeated in the Revelation which John saw on Patmos; in God’s presence in heaven He saw the Lamb, Jesus Christ (5:6; cf 12:5). In a word, Scriptures inform us that the Savior is today in heaven, yes, He’s been there ever since He ascended from earth before the eyes of His disciples. It’s texts like these that has prompted the church to confess in Question & Answer 46 of our Lord’s Day that "Christ, before the eyes of His disciples, was taken up from the earth into heaven, and that He is there … until He comes again to judge the living and the dead."

Yet, brothers and sisters, there are other texts in the Bible that say something different. I think, for example, of Mt 28. In that passage Jesus instructed His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations, and then He encouraged His disciples with this promise:

...lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age vs 20

On another occasion, Jesus appeared to Paul by night in a vision and said to Paul this:

Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; for I am with you... Acts 18:10

Similarly, in his vision on Patmos, John could be told that none else than Jesus Christ walks amongst the churches (2:1). Christ in heaven?? This cluster of texts leaves us with the conclusion that Christ is always on earth, is never absent from His people, is always with us.

These two clusters of texts leave us with a problem. How’s it possible that Jesus could leave earth, go to heaven, be in heaven, and yet be here too? How are we to understand His being absent and present at the same time?? And what sort of comfort is there for us today from the mixed messages we’re receiving on the point? This is the point of Q 47 of our Lord’s Day: "Is Christ, then, not with us until the end of the world, as He has promised us?"

At the time of the Great Reformation in the sixteenth century, this question of where Christ is has been a point of discussion. In fact, it was on this point that Luther and Calvin –those two principle leaders in that Great Reformation– parted ways. More, it was because this item was such a hot point of discussion 450 years ago that LD 18 devotes no less than four Questions & Answers to the matter of Christ’s ascension – and in the process takes us to heights of theology we can scarcely understand.

What was it, then, that Luther said on the matter? This man of God drew attention to an iron rod. That iron rod, said Luther, has particular characteristics; it’s stiff, dark gray in color, at room temperature. If you now lay that iron rod in a fire, that iron rod remains iron but meanwhile picks up some characteristics of the fire. For the rod becomes hot, red. The rod remains what it was, and yet it’s changed.

When Luther spoke about the ascension of Jesus Christ, it’s this comparison he called to mind. Jesus, Luther said, was true man, like you and I, with all the characteristics of a true, real person. But, Luther knew, Jesus was also divine, with as result –Luther said– that Jesus’ human nature had taken on characteristics of the divine nature – just like the iron rod in the fire took on characteristics of the fire. So it was that Luther could conclude that Jesus’ human nature was actually everywhere at the same time. Since God is everywhere, and this aspect of the divine nature had infiltrated Jesus’ human nature, Luther felt justified with this conclusion; Jesus’ human nature was everywhere present. This was particularly so after Christ’s triumph on Calvary, with His ascension into heaven. That is why Luther could insist that anyone who ate the bread of the Lord’s Supper ate more than actual bread; in the bread –said he– was Christ’s real, true human body. No, not visible, that’s true. But because Jesus’ human nature had taken on divine characteristics was that body everywhere, and therefore Jesus’ real body was truly present in the bread of the Lord’s Supper.

Here, then, Luther had an answer as to how Jesus could be in heaven while at the same time present with us on earth. Said Luther: Christ ascended into heaven, true, and that’s where He is even today. But the Christ who is in heaven as God and man is also with us on earth as God and man, present with us wherever we be, present with us as a man because His human nature has taken on that divine characteristic of being everywhere present. So Jesus is bodily with us today, even though we don’t see Him anymore.

Others of the reformers, John Calvin in particular, took strong position against this stand from Martin Luther. Various discussions were held between those who defended Luther’s position and those who defended the Reformed point of view. But try as the two sides might, they could not overcome their differences concerning the Lord’s Supper celebration and the questions about Christ’s ascension that lay behind this discussion. Luther and his team remained insistent that Jesus’ body and blood were literally present in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper. The Calvinists, on the other hand, were convinced that Luther was unScriptural in his teaching surrounding the Lord’s Supper. The two sides could not find each other on this point, and so they went their separate ways, with Calvin becoming the father of today’s Reformed churches, and Luther the father of today’s Lutheran churches.

For our part, brothers and sisters, we may well wonder whether this different understanding surrounding Christ’s ascension was really sufficient reason for these two groups to stay apart, to develop into two separate churches. These two leaders of the Reformation agreed on all points of doctrine, except this one. And to our mind, this one point seems so minor, and certainly irrelevant to the central doctrine of Scripture: Christ crucified for sinners. Certainly not worth hindering the unity of the churches…. But both Luther and Calvin were convinced that their particular understanding of God’s Word on the matter of Christ’s ascension (and so how He was present at the Lord’s Supper) was according to the will of the Lord. And because they were convinced that their respective views were Scriptural, neither felt free to compromise, to back down. Both understood the holiness of God, a holiness that requires people to accept as true all that God has revealed in His Word, accept it in the way that God has revealed it. So the two groups stayed apart. And yes, here’s a lesson for us to learn in maintaining all God has revealed.

What, then, was wrong with Luther’s understanding about the two natures of Christ? I mention this afternoon two reasons why Luther’s perception was wrong. The first reason has to do with what Scripture teaches about the fact that the Savior had to be a true man. That teaching is summarized in LD 6, and so I don’t have to go into the Scriptural proofs here; we did that some months ago with that LD. LD 6 confesses Scripture to say that the Savior must be true man –why?– because "the justice of God requires that the same human nature which has sinned should pay for sin." In other words: according to God’s decree, the second Adam, the one who would pay for sin, should have the identical nature as the first Adam, the one who fell into sin.

Luther, though, when all is said and done, presented Christ as having a human nature that was not the same as Adam’s human nature. For Christ’s human nature had an extra dimension to it; it had taken on divine properties so that it was everywhere present. By so saying, then, Luther –unintentionally, to be sure– rattled the doctrine of salvation itself. For, as we confess in Article 19 of the Belgic Confession,

our salvation...depend[s] also on the reality of His body emphasis added

And:

For this reason we profess Him to be...true man: ...that He might die for us according to the infirmity of His flesh Article 19

I mention a second reason why Luther’s understanding was wrong. Not only did Luther rattle the doctrine of salvation itself as summarized in LD 6; Luther also did not reckon adequately with what the Scriptures themselves say about Christ’s ascension. Consider the passage we read from Luke 24. Luke tells us in so many words that Jesus "parted from them" (vs 51). Yet before Luke related this parting, he took pains to impress on his readers who Jesus was. Vss 36ff: Jesus demonstrated to the disciples that He was really and truly a true man. For He showed them His hands and His feet, and He said:

See...that it is I Myself; ...for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have vs 39

And when they gave Him "a piece of broiled fish", "He took it and ate before them" (vs 42f). True man. That was the Jesus who "parted" from them. This true man was with them, and then He left, went up into heaven. This true man was really there, and then He was really gone. He didn’t just appear to be gone, but meanwhile was still somehow bodily present; no, He was really gone. That’s what the text says: "He parted." That true man was with the disciples no longer. In the words of LD 18:

...Christ, before the eyes of His disciples, was taken up from earth into heaven Article 46

The Calvinists of the time of the Reformation understood Scripture to teach something different from what Luther was teaching, and so they didn’t feel free to join with the Lutherans. In fact, when it came to writing a Confession, a special point was made of elaborating on precisely this point – with as result that we have LD 18 in our Catechism, with its detailed discussion on the question of how Christ is both absent and present. So our fathers high-lighted the differences –why?– because they wanted the Church to confess the truth of God’s word and the children to be taught that whole truth. In a word: here is a concrete application of commands of Scripture as recorded, eg, in Deut 5, where the Lord tells His people not to "turn aside to the right hand or to the left" from anything the Lord God had commanded (vs 32). Every word God has spoken, every command, every doctrine, every detail, is important – regardless of whether or not we understand how it is important. In our day, when doctrinal precision is given second place to the theme of unity, this action of the fathers is an example we do well to keep in mind. Theirs was action consistent with God’s revelation.

As to the matter of the two natures of Christ, just what do the Scriptures teach about the two natures of Jesus Christ? In the course of the centuries, the church has struggled to put into words what it was that the Lord revealed on this point about the Savior. In the Athanasian Creed the church put it this way: Jesus Christ "is God and man" (Art 30). More, He is "perfect God and perfect man" (Art 32), "equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood" (Art 33). He is "one Christ", not as a result of the Godhead being converted into flesh, but rather "by taking the manhood into God" (Art 35). He is "one altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person" (36). The Belgic Confession puts it a bit more simply:

...the person of the Son of God is inseparably united and joined with the human nature.... Each nature retains its own distinct properties....

You hear it: that last sentence is a plug against the Lutherans. Further:

His human nature has not lost its properties [when it was united with the divine].... It [remains] finite and retains all the properties of a true body Article 19

I admit: after reading the Athanasian Creed and Art 19 of the Belgic Confession, it still isn’t very clear just how Jesus Christ was God and man at the same time. And it’s not at all that straight forward to me how the ascended Savior is both present and absent. But it doesn’t have to be all that clear to our limited and sinful minds. If the Lord God says that His eternal Son became true man even while He remained true God, if God says that Christ is present everywhere with His divinity even while He is absent with His humanity, then that’s the way it is, though I don’t understand its details. This is God, the Almighty, while we’re but people, finite. So we worship and believe.

What, then, went into heaven at the ascension of the Lord Jesus? That was Jesus Himself, true God and true man. But, while His human nature –truly human as it is– is today in heaven only, His divine nature is not. Christ’s human nature –truly human as it is– can be in one place only at any given time, but not so His divine nature. That divine nature –truly divine as it is– is everywhere, and so with His divine nature Christ is still with us. In the words of our LD:

Christ is true man and true God. With respect to His human nature He is no longer on earth, but with respect to His divinity, majesty, grace, and Spirit He is never absent from us Article 47

The comfort flowing from where Jesus is←⤒🔗

That brings us to the other point we need to consider today: what comfort is there for us in the fact that Christ is absent from us as far as His human nature is concerned? Wouldn’t it be better for us if we could visit with Him, ask Him our questions, bring our sick to Him?

Our Chief Prophet and Teacher, brothers and sisters, told His disciples (and so told us too) that "it is to your advantage that I go away" (Jn 16:7). Jesus explained how it is better for us that He’s gone, is absent from us with His human nature. Said Jesus:

if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you vs 7

Yet Jesus’ point was not that the Holy Spirit is more important for us than Christ Himself. The point is rather that Jesus can do more for us from out of heaven, through the Spirit, than if He stayed with us on earth. What can He do for us from out of heaven? The Catechism mentions three benefits in A 49.

The first is that in heaven our ascended Savior functions as our Advocate, our lawyer before God. That is: in heaven He intercedes for us before His Father. Our sins form a barrier preventing us from speaking to God. But Jesus as our Advocate in heaven pleads with the Father on our behalf, reminds God that He gave His blood for our sins so that for Jesus’ sake we’re righteous (cf I Jn 2:1). We realize: here’s great encouragement for us! For who of us never finds prayer difficult because of our sins? But Christ’s presence with the Father means that we have access to God, freely and all the time (cf Art 26, Belgic Confession). So Christ’s ascension into heaven gives confidence to pray, to pray boldly. What encouragement this is, when we find prayer so difficult, that in heaven is one pleading with God on our behalf. And the one who pleads with God for us is as human as we are, of like nature with us, and so one who understands the temptations of this life and the way we grapple with the challenges of life.

The second benefit mentioned in our Lord’s Day relates to the fact that Christ is preparing a place for us in heaven so that we might one day be where He is. Already a true man is in heaven, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. That He is there, preparing a place for us, encourages us to in the trials of this life to look forward to the glory that will be ours one day.

But it’s the third, congregation, that needs particular attention this afternoon, the notion that the ascended Christ has sent us His Holy Spirit.

The thing is this. While Jesus was on earth, He was restricted –true man that He was– to being in one place at a time only. When He was in Bethany, He could not be in Capernaum. More, through out all the time He lived on earth, He never visited the children of God who lived in, say, Ephesus or Rome. If anyone wanted to hear Jesus of Nazareth, if anyone wanted encouragement from Him, he first had to find out where Jesus was, and then go to Him.

But now Christ has ascended into heaven; He’s left us. Yet we are not the poorer because of it; we’re rather richer as a result of His ascension. For exactly because He is in heaven with His human nature can His divine nature be everywhere. Specifically, through His Holy Spirit the Son of God is present everywhere with His divinity, majesty and grace. It is not so that we today need to go to, say, Sydney in order to find Jesus, talk to Him, receive encouragement from Him. Rather, He is "with us always", wherever we are on the face of this earth – no matter the situation, no matter how distant we are from other people, no matter whether we see or notice Him around us.

And what does the-Christ-who-is-with-us-through-His-Spirit do? Since the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, this Spirit keeps prompting us to look to the Christ who labors for us in heaven. You see, it’s so very human to fix our attention to this earth – be it to its pleasures and riches or its troubles and worries. To fix our attention on the pleasures and riches of this life has us stay busy in our minds and activities and conversations with such earthly things as our car, our house, our job, our children, our holiday. So too, to fix our attention on the troubles of this life has us stay busy in our thoughts and talks and actions with the evil that happened to me long ago, or the sin so-and-so person committed, etc, etc. Either way, our focus remains earthbound. But Christ our Savior is in heaven, and so it is necessary that our focus be heavenward. The Spirit Christ sent to earth works precisely that focus in the people of God; by His power, we confess in our Lord’s Day, "we seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, and not the things that are on earth."

The church confesses that the Lord Jesus Christ has ascended into heaven. Bodily He is there, laboring diligently in heaven for our benefit. That is why our focus needs to be in heaven too, with Christ our Savior, and may not be distracted by any diversions of earth. And our focus can be on heaven because the ascended Christ is with us through His Holy Spirit, equipping us, encouraging us to focus our sights on heaven alone. Amen.