The Ascension
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
"After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him." Acts 1:8, 9 (NLT)
Pastor’s Blog
I used to find the ascension of Jesus really weird . It was really hard to imagine Jesus floating up into the sky. What did that mean anyway?
First, most Jews would have been familiar with Daniel 7 where “one like a son of man met the ancient of days on a cloud”. Clouds were a symbol of the presence of God. At the very least, Luke is telling us that Jesus disappeared into the presence of God, God’s space, heaven, the other dimension of our world.
Second, this “ascension” is hugely important because it is the proclamation that Jesus is now not only King, Lord and God of this tribal religion called Judaism, but He is now, Lord, King, Ruler of the planet. Roman emperors had been granted status as gods and when they died, their souls were believed to to ascend into “heaven”. Now Jesus has “one upped” them all. He ascended with his full body in tact and in doing so claims rulership over all nations.
The Romans were able to tolerate a tribal God of an insignificant tribe in Palestine. What they could not tolerate was a god who rivaled the authority of Caesar. They were right in their fears. Christians from the beginning gave their allegiance to Jesus first and, yes, then to Caeasar but only because their God, Jesus, told them to (Matthew 22;21 . . . Christianity’s first separation of Church and State “clause”)
Your last paragraph was intriguing in context of today's world. In Roman times, they would tolerate a god that would not shake their core of power (Caesar). Any other god would be tolerable. Today I am challenged to shake my core of power (myself and self-centerdness) and I am still consciously hesistant to turn over control to God's will when it conflicts with mine. It is hard to wait - results and quick results are such an addiction. The aposotles had to wait for the Holy Spirit to receive true power.. and the same applies to me today. If I want true significance not just results- I too must stay in the flow and wait for God's spirit to lead. Thanks for your consistency in posting your Pastor's blog. It makes a difference!
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