First Baptist Church Ottawa

Our Online Church School Lesson - April 28, 2024

The Importance of the Acsension - Luke 24:44-53

Today’s Scripture: Luke 24:44-53

Theme: The Importance of the Ascension

Opening Prayer: Dear God, thank you for allowing us to gather here today to learn more about Jesus. Please help our ears to listen, our minds to learn, and our hearts to love as we hear the stories of His work. Amen.

Today’s Lesson: Today, we are going to finish off our lessons about Jesus and the disciples after his resurrection. We have talked about the women discovering the empty tomb. We have learned about how Jesus visited the disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem, and later convinced Thomas that he was indeed risen. We have also talked about Jesus’ encounter with the pair of followers on the road to Emmaus, and how they were able to recognize him after he shared the word of God and then broke bread with them at supper. Today, we are going to finish this theme by examining the ascension of Jesus and why it is important to us.

Let’s read today’s scripture and then discuss it further:

Luke 24:44-53
24:44 Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you--that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled."

24:45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,

24:46 and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day,

24:47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

24:48 You are witnesses of these things.

24:49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

24:50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them.

24:51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.

24:52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy;

24:53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

After Jesus rose from the dead, he spent forty days on earth before returning to heaven. For forty days he continued to appear to his disciples, showing them he was alive and teaching them about the kingdom of God. It wasn’t until the fortieth day that Jesus finally ascended into heaven. On that day, Jesus took His disciples aside to make sure that they understood everything that had happened to Him. He explained why it was important for Him to be crucified and to be raised from the dead to fulfill what the Scriptures had said about Him. He also told them that he was going to return to His Father in heaven and that the Holy Spirit would come to be with them. At first, the disciples were sad that Jesus would be leaving them, but then the Bible tells us that Jesus opened their minds so they would understand. Then, an amazing thing happened. The Bible tells us that Jesus lifted his hands and blessed His disciples. While He was blessing them, He was lifted and was taken up into heaven.

I don't know how all of this looked, but in my imagination, I can see the disciples standing and watching as Jesus ascended higher and higher until He disappeared from view. Were the disciples sad? Not at all.The Bible tells us that when Jesus had gone up into heaven, the disciples worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. They stayed continually in the temple, praising God.

We know the importance of Jesus’s sacrifice for us because it allowed all believers to be forgiven for their sins and live an eternal life with God after death. We also know the importance of his resurrection; it shows that Jesus defeated death and gives us hope in life after death. Why is the Ascension important? Why is it important that Jesus ultimately returned to be with God in heaven? The Ascension reminds us of who Jesus was and how he has gone to prepare a place for us. We await his return, but know that he is with us still in the meantime. Jesus gave us special promises prior to his departure for heaven. He went up to be with God the Father, but he will return someday. We can await that, but can also spread his love to others around us in the meantime.

We may not talk about the ascension as much as we do about the cross or the resurrection. But it is still a vital part of our Christian faith. The cross is empty because Jesus died. The tomb is empty because Jesus rose. The earth is empty because Jesus ascended.

What does this mean? It means that Christ is in control of our world. Not any other rule or authority or power or dominion. Christ is more powerful than all of these, because he has ascended and sits at the right hand of the very throne of God. This is good news because we know that our ascended Lord is in control and has not abandoned us. He is seated at God’s right hand – far above all rule and authority – and intercedes for us. And He promises to come again soon to take full control of our world.

The Ascension is also about a very important promise. Jesus promises that we will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon us, so that we can be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. The power that Jesus is given in the Ascension is shared with us through the promised Holy Spirit. And that helps us to do what Jesus did while he was on earth. It helps us to continue his mission. 

If we don’t like what we see, in other words, we can do something about it; we are given the ability to make a difference. We are called to be his witnesses, to be sure. But we are also called to do what he did: to heal the sick and feed the hungry and fight oppression and evil, and to work for justice and peace, to seek reconciliation, and teach others to do these things, too. 

Jesus tells us that we will perform greater works than he did after he gives us the Holy Spirit. Now, that’s also a pretty difficult statement to get our minds around, too. But that’s what Jesus says. And, when you think about it, we have. The church has fed more people, and healed more people, and shared the good news of the gospel with more people, than Jesus did while on earth. And that is because we have received the promised Holy Spirit.

And finally, along with power and promise, the Ascension is about Presence. Through the Ascension, Jesus actually becomes more present to us than he ever could before. Before Jesus ascended into heaven, and because he was fully human, Jesus was confined to the rules of this world – he could only be in one place at one time. He was the Son of God, but he was fully human. And so, he couldn’t be everywhere at all times. He performed many miracles, but as we know, never the miracle of being in two places at once.

The ascension, in other words, takes Jesus away from us, but only so that he can be present with us in a new way – filling all things and being everywhere present, in a way that he could not do had he remained on earth. We can rejoice that wherever we find ourselves, Jesus is with us and will never leave us. That is his promise, to you and to me.

Closing Prayer: Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus, Your only Son, to die for our sin. We know that he has risen from the dead and has returned to heaven. Bless us today as we worship him with great joy! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Jesus's Death and Resurrection Jeopardy Template (jeopardylabs.com)