Why is Jesus’ Ascension so Important?

Beginning on May 21, Spring will officially be in the rearview mirror and summer will have finally arrived! I do not know about you, but for me, it seemed as though this past winter and spring season would not go away. Just when you thought to yourself that you could finally put your winter coat away in storage, you wake up the next morning to see the ground somehow covered with snow in April. But for as rough as it may have been weather wise, again at least for me, I am ready to forget about these last few dreaded months of misery and enjoy some summer weather.

Thankfully though, these past six months have not been all bad. I can reflect and look back to see numerous blessings and ways in which God was at work in and around my life. Some examples of this would be that my son Bennett played organized basketball for the first time, and he claims it has forever changed his life.

As a family, we celebrated both Christmas and Easter in our new house together. And the men’s Small Group that I participate in finished reading Tim Keller’s book Encounters with Jesus: Unexpected Answers to Life’s Biggest Questions.

Chapter nine of this book is called “The Right Hand of the Father.” In it, Keller looks at Acts 1:9-11 which details Jesus’ last act on earth, his ascension. He suggests that Jesus’ ascension is typically misunderstood by many including the original disciples. Because of this misunderstanding, Christians will forget about the importance of this event even though this act of Jesus sets up the hope we have as believers of things to come.

Keller continues to say that when the ascension is both understood and remembered, it becomes an irreplaceable and important resource for living our lives in this world from both a theological and a practical understanding.

I think that Keller does an exceptional job explaining all the theological aspects from which we, as believers, benefit by understanding the meaning of the word ascend. For example, he talks about how the ascension unlocks Christ's ability to no longer be bound by space and time as he once was while in human form. I could keep going, but I do not want to rob you of the joy of discovering for yourself by reading this book on your own, what all is covered just in this one chapter.

But I do want to briefly mention one point Keller makes from the practical side of understanding what the ascension of Jesus means and why it matters. Towards the end of the chapter Keller says this about its practical meaning for us today,

“But this means, in the end, that you can relax and be at peace. The man who died for you (Jesus), who still has the nail prints in his hands – the signs of his suffering for you – is in control of everything at the right hand of the Father. Can you relax? Are you anxious? Are you feeling you can’t keep everything going; you’ve got to keep all these balls up in the air? Then you don’t believe in the ascension or you’re not using it as a resource.”

If you are like me, as I read this statement, I found myself answering “yes” to Keller’s questions. What hit me next was his reasoning for why my answer was coming up yes instead of no. That I either do not know, understand, or believe in the ascension of Jesus Christ. Because if I did, my soul should be at peace, able to relax, and not always feeling so anxious about the things of this world.

But even if I did understand and believe that Jesus ascended, I am often forgetting its meaning and using it as a resource to help remind me of the promise of Christ return.

After finishing this chapter, I realized I needed to return to scripture, and return to the Gospels and book of Acts to be reminded of what I know to be true of Jesus. I write this blog as an encouragement for you to return in the same way. I encourage you to remind yourself of who Jesus is, what he has done for you, and what his coming back will one day mean for all those who believe in him.

I also highly recommend reading Keller’s book as a secondary source for remembering this truth. Sometimes it is good for us to be able to forget about things like lousy weather or hard seasons of life. But it is never good for us to forget who Jesus is and that one day he is coming back!

Remembering this doesn’t guarantee we won’t have bad days or moments of anxiousness, stress, worry, concern, or pain, but by remembering, we can run toward Jesus in the midst, knowing what is to come one day, no matter what we might face in this life today!