[1]NASHVILLE (BP) – Jesus’ ascension has been celebrated in various ways by different Christian denominations. Some remember the ascension with special prayers and Scripture readings. Many in the high church tradition observe Ascension Day annually 40 days after Easter by extinguishing a candle that symbolizes Jesus’ bodily presence on earth.
Less conventionally, believers in previous eras have eaten birds on Ascension Day to mark the occasion Jesus “flew” to heaven. Some Christians climb a mountain on Ascension Day and think about Jesus’ journey back to heaven from the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:6-12).
Yet contemporary Baptist celebrations of the ascension are few and far between. A cadre of Baptist theologians would like to change that this Easter. Including Jesus’ ascension in Easter preaching would bless congregations with an oft-neglected part of the Gospel, they say.
“The ascension of Jesus Christ is not a theological afterthought. It is the necessary completion of the resurrection and the foundation for the Church’s present life and mission,” said Stan Norman, president of Williams Baptist University in Walnut Ridge, Ark. “If the resurrection declares that Christ is alive, the ascension declares that He reigns. For the individual believer, this means our faith is not only anchored in a past event but in a present, ruling Savior who intercedes, governs and empowers His people.”
The Ascension long has been preached and confessed as part of the Gospel. According to Acts 1:9, Jesus “was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”
Peter preached about the ascension on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:33-36). Paul mentioned it repeatedly in his letters. The Apostles’ Creed states that Jesus “ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty” – more words than it devotes to the cross or resurrection.
During the Reformation, Protestants presented instruction on the ascension through catechisms, series of questions and answers that summarize Christian doctrine. The Heidelberg Catechism and both the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms cover the ascension.
The Baptist Faith and Message [2] likewise states, “He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man” (Article 2).
[3]If the ascension is important, why don’t Baptists and other evangelicals celebrate it more?
Patrick Schreiner, a New Testament professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, said they sometimes think wrongly that Easter is the end of the story.
“People are confused about why Jesus needed to ascend,” said Schriener, author of “The Ascension of Christ: Recovering a Neglected Doctrine.” For those pondering “the scientific reality, the supernatural aspect is hard to conceive of. Jesus floated up into the sky. Where did He go after that when He was out of the atmosphere? Did He need a space suit?”
As pastors address the resurrection this Easter season, they should consider teaching about the ascension as well, he said, because “the resurrection and the ascension are tied together in the Scriptures.”
Without the ascension, the Holy Spirit would not have come to indwell each follower of Christ, Schreiner said. Jesus’ return to heaven marked the completion of His mission. At that point, He poured out the Holy Spirit on the church to empower the next phase of God’s plan: Gospel witness to the ends of the earth.
The ascension also inaugurated Jesus’ reign over the universe from His heavenly throne.
“In one sense, Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, has always reigned and rules over everything. He is the second person of the Trinity,” Schriener said. But Jesus “is not coronated as king as man until he ascends to the right hand of the Father.”
The ascension marked the first time a human was enthroned in heaven, said Daniel Stevens, associate professor of New Testament interpretation at Boyce College.
“Because He is there enthroned as the God-man, we know that one day He is going to bring all the creation back under mankind’s rule as well as one of God’s coregents,” he said. God created the universe to be ruled by humans in perfect fellowship with God. Adam and Eve rejected that task by rebelling against God.
“Part of what was broken in the fall, the right relationship between mankind and the creation, is beginning to be restored” with the ascension of Christ, Stevens said. Humanity’s relationship with the creation will be restored fully at Christ’s second coming. At that time, believers will be given glorified human bodies like Jesus’ body, and they will reign with Him.
As the ascended Jesus reigns from Heaven, He also intercedes for believers, asking the Father to accept and forgive them based on Jesus’ death on the cross (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25).
Pastors who want to discuss the ascension in their Easter preaching, Stevens said, may want to consider preaching on passages like Peter’s sermon in Acts 2, Hebrews 4:14; 7:23-35; and 8:1. The resurrection account in Luke 24 also includes a report of the ascension.
The ascension isn’t just a theological concept. It is intensely practical.
“For pastors, a robust recovery of the ascension strengthens our pastoral ministry with confidence, urgency and clarity,” Norman said. “Christ rules, Christ intercedes, Christ sends. And because He has ascended, He gives the Church life, He empowers through the Spirit our Gospel mission and He leads us with His exalted presence and assurance in our Gospel mission until He comes again.”
Other ways to reemphasize the ascension include introducing traditional catechisms as part of a church’s discipleship program and observing more dates on the Christian calendar, including Ascension Day.
“I think the ascension has been largely forgotten by evangelicals and Baptists in particular,” said Michael Haykin, professor of church history at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Baptists’ “forgetfulness of the ascension could be rectified by following the liturgical calendar that would force us to remember the ascension.”
Churches that celebrate the ascension along with the resurrection, Schriener said, likely will notice a difference in the day-to-day lives of their members.
“It gives us hope,” he said. “Jesus Christ is already ruling and reigning in the heavens. We don’t have to be anxious about the future.”
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