The Weekly Perspective
by Burke Shade, Associate Pastor
What, is Ascension Day? Well, after Crucifixion and Resurrection Days, it’s the most important day to remember all year.
How is that? Ascension Day is the day Jesus left the visible earthly realm in the presence of his disciples and sat down to rule the universe at the right hand of the Father. See Acts 1. It’s an important day for Christians to remember. With no Ascension, there is no man in heaven. There is no man ruling in heaven. Our future with God is in peril.
If Jesus didn’t ascend into heaven, then Pentecost didn’t happen, and there is no Holy Spirit on earth, filling us, guiding us, leading us, strengthening us, helping us, interceding for us with the Father, etc.
Without the Ascension, Jesus is not at the right hand of the Father, meaning Psalm 110 didn’t happen: “Yahweh says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’” The Apostle Paul must have gotten it wrong in 1 Corinthians 15:25, “for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.”
Without the Ascension, the resurrected Lord Jesus never ascends into heaven in Revelation 5 and takes the book from the hand of the Father. It means that Satan still rules the world and he didn’t get thrown out of heaven in Revelation 12.
Without the Ascension, there is no Jesus in heaven hearing and acting upon our prayers and the psalms we sing.
Without the Ascension, Jesus is not exercising all the authority and power given to him over heaven and earth to bring about the Great Commission.
That’s why Satan wants us to forget Ascension Day. He wants us to forget who rules the world. To that I say, “Just Don’t Do It!”