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| > Sermon Archive > Sermons by Author > Dr. Wes Bredenhof > Our ascended High Priest continually blesses his church | Previous Next Print |
| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) Hymn 41 Hymn 39 Psalm 67 Hymn 1 Hymn 40 Scripture reading: Leviticus 9 Catechism lesson and text: Lord's Day 18 and Luke 24:50-53 |
Beloved congregation of Christ,
When our son was about 3 or 4 months old, he was easily amused. We were living in a small basement suite in Hamilton and he had his crib in a very tiny room with a sliding door. One day, he was lying in his crib and I came past the room rather suddenly and he just started giggling uncontrollably. This caught my attention because I’d never heard a baby giggle like that before. After he calmed down, I backed up a few steps and tried it again. Same thing. Then I tried it with some added expression; I threw in a “Boo!” Well, that just about made him bust a gut. Not only was it endlessly amusing to him, Rose and I also found it incredibly delightful.
Why did our son find peek-a-boo so amusing? It has to do with something called object permanence. Up until a certain age, if babies can’t see something, it doesn’t exist. Our son found it so amusing because to his little mind, I was a magician. I could make myself disappear, I was the incredible existing/non-existing Dad. I’m sure some of you have had similar experiences with your kids. At a certain age, kids develop object permanence and then peek-a-boo isn’t amusing anymore. But before then, if they can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.
Sometimes we’re that way when it comes to our Saviour. Jesus has ascended up into heaven. He is no longer on earth where we can see him and touch him. Does that mean he’s vanished from existence? No, Scripture tells us he has a human body and soul in heaven at God’s right hand. He has a beating heart, blood that flows through veins and arteries, lungs that inflate and deflate with every breath, eyes that blink, a brain with neurons that fire. But we can’t see all this with our own eyes and so we sometimes have a difficult time with its reality. We tend to think of Christ being at God’s right hand as an abstract theological truth, rather than a physical reality. Sometimes we have a problem with object permanence.
Here is where we have to learn to trust the Word of our Father. He assures us that his Son Jesus has not simply vanished into non-existence with his ascension. With our text, God comforts us with the truth that Christ has ascended into heaven and this is for our benefit. With this passage from Luke, we discover how our ascended High Priest continually blesses his church. We’ll see that he does this by:
- Reminding us of his atonement
- Reassuring us of his presence
- Revitalizing us to his praise
Our passage gets right to the point. Christ went out with his closest disciples to Bethany on the Mount of Olives, only about 3 kilometres from the city of Jerusalem. There he lifted up his hands to bless them. Here we are at the end of Christ’s time on earth and this is the first time we read of him giving this sort of blessing. Yes, he placed his hands on the little children and blessed them, but that was a different sort of blessing. Here he is standing and lifting up his hands to bless.
This is the blessing of a priest, the sort of blessing we read about in Leviticus 9. In verse 22, we read how Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them. The High Priest could do this because the sacrifices had been made. Atonement had been offered for the sins of the people. There was reconciliation with God. This priestly blessing or benediction wasn’t optional. Rather, it was the necessary conclusion to the atoning work of the priest in the tabernacle and later the temple.
Now as Jesus stands on the Mount of Olives he adopts the same posture as Aaron the High Priest. He doesn’t shake each of their hands and say good-bye to them as individuals, instead he lifts up his hands and blesses his people as a whole. He can do this because the sacrifice of his flesh and blood has been made. The hands he lifts up were the very hands that were pierced for the forgiveness of our sins – the marks would still have been visible. Atonement has been offered, once and for all, for the sins of all who believe. Through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, there is reconciliation and peace with God. With his arms outstretched, Christ is portrayed here as our great High Priest.
There’s another indication we’re meant to see him as our great High Priest. It’s with the cloud that took him away. We don’t read about that in Luke 24, but it is in Luke’s other account of the ascension in Acts 1. It says there that a cloud took Christ out of their sight. In Leviticus 16, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter into the Most Holy Place with the blood of the sin offerings. As he did this, he would go up through the cloud of incense at the entrance to the Most Holy Place. So here too, Christ is entering into the Holy of Holies, the Most Holy Place as the one who has made atonement. So this cloud points us to his role as our great High Priest.
It’s also captured in the structure of Luke’s Gospel. You may remember how the gospel begins with a priest. Zechariah was going to perform his service in the temple, but before he could, an angel of the Lord stopped him in his tracks and gave him some amazing news. Zechariah was unable to complete his service, he was unable to bless the people. Now at the end of Luke’s Gospel, we find a priest who completed his service, who made his sacrifice and who was able to bless the people more richly than any other priest ever could.
This blessing of Jesus Christ wasn’t only given for the apostles who directly received it, but also for us. He went up into heaven with his arms outstretched. This is meant to picture a continual blessing being poured out on God’s people in every age and place. This blessing tells us and all believers that the sacrifice Christ made is trustworthy and dependable. By giving his blessing Jesus confirmed that the curse of sin was gone.
It was a wordless blessing. Luke doesn’t tell us that he said anything. That’s because he himself had become the blessing. As he stood there and as he ascended into heaven, they could see the wounds in his hands. He was saying, “I have been dead, and in dying I was made a curse for you. Now I have fully removed the curse and my Father has acquitted me and you. Now I can be bold to bless you and pronounce all your sins forgiven. I can boldly announce that you are right with my Father!” Hear what he says to you right now as you see him revealed in this text. See your great High Priest ascending into heaven and lavishing you with his blessing. This blessing is not just a “I wish you all the best as I go on my way,” no, it’s a declaration of welfare, peace and power.
When we reflect on this continual blessing of Christ, we should also think of the blessing we receive at the end of every worship service. There too, we don’t just receive best wishes and a fond farewell from God. Think about this every time you hear the blessing, think about it as you receive the blessing in a short while at the end of our service: the blessing is possible because the sacrifice has been made. The blessing is not just a farewell. It’s not a wish but a powerful statement of what God has done and promises to do. So, for instance, shortly we will hear the words of 2 Cor. 13:14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” That sounds like a prayer or a wish, but it is a blessing from God. God is promising to give you his presence in the grace of Jesus Christ. God is promising to give you the presence of his love. God is promising to be with you in the presence of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. And again he can make these beautiful promises because of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. It all comes back to him, even at the end of our worship service. Everything points to him.
So, as Christ continually blesses his church he reminds us of his atonement. Just a second ago, we saw how 2 Cor. 13:14 is the promise of God’s presence. The blessing Christ gives at his ascension, that continual blessing, is also a reassurance of his presence.
Yes, Jesus ascended into heaven, “carried up into heaven” as the passage says. Yet, as we confess in Lord’s Day 18, he is still with us and the fact that he ascended into heaven with a continual blessing is a reminder of that. When a priest in the Old Testament would send away the people with a blessing, it was a declaration that even though they were going on their way, God would continue to be present with them. And in Luke’s gospel, there are a number of instances where blessings are given and where the blessings are connected with the saving presence of God.
When Christ ascended, he didn’t disappear into non-existence. He didn’t abandon his people. No, in the parallel passage of Matthew 28:18-20, he promised his church he would be with her to the end of the age. How would he do this? We can’t separate the blessing he gives here from the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. When Christ ascends, he becomes present in a different way. As we confess in Lord’s Day 18 of our Catechism, Christ is still present in his majesty, divinity and Spirit.
But sometimes this is so hard for us to believe. We get busy in the day to day hustle of life. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like Jesus is near. It’s just me and my busy schedule, running from one thing to the next. Or we experience depression. For some people it doesn’t feel like Jesus is near when they’re depressed. There’s just a deep, dark pit, an overwhelming sadness and God is not in the picture. He’s distant and removed. He exists for other people, but not for you. We might not even dare to say it to anyone, but this is what we feel. But loved ones, the Word tells you the Lord Jesus is near, despite what you may be feeling you. The Word promises you, promises you that he will never leave you or forsake you. Brothers and sisters, don’t trust your feelings or emotions to tell you the truth. When we do that, we’re turning in on ourselves and actually turning away from God as he has been pleased to reveal himself. He reveals himself in his Word, not in huge spectacles of sound and light, not in a storm of emotions, but simply in his Word. He promises you that because of Christ and what he has done for you, he is there beside you, with you, for you.
The Word of God also teaches us that Christ is present in the Lord’s Supper. It’s often amazing how little credence we give to that truth. There are many churches in our community which don’t share our view of baptism and we easily recognize that. They only baptize believers, whereas we baptize believers and their children. Many of these other churches also don’t share our view of Christ’s presence in the Lord’s Supper. Most would say the Lord’s Supper is simply a remembrance of Christ. We agree that it is that, but so much more. We believe Christ is present in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. In John 6, Jesus said we must eat his flesh and blood if we wish to have eternal life. In 1 Corinthians 10, the cup and the bread are said to be a participation in the body and blood of Christ. We believe Christ is present spiritually in the Lord’s Supper. It’s not the Roman Catholic idea that the bread and the wine become the body and blood of Christ, but yet he is present spiritually and we partake of him accordingly.
Next time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, remind yourself that Christ is truly present in this sacrament. We’re not simply remembering his suffering and death, but we’re also being fed spiritually by him. He is not absent, distant, or removed. If an experience of Christ’s presence and nearness is what you’re looking for, then the legitimate place to look for it is in the Lord’s Supper. There he promises to bless us with his presence, just as he blesses us in his Word when it is read and proclaimed.
Now when we recognize this blessing of Christ’s atonement and presence, what should the response be? Well, what was the response of the apostles? Look with me at what it says in verses 52 and 53 of our passage. You might think they’d be sad at the departure of their Master and friend. Instead, we find something surprising: we find they worshipped him. He was no longer physically with them but still they worshipped. This implies Jesus’ divinity, for Jews would never worship any one other than God himself and these men were all Jewish.
Not only did they worship him, reverently adoring him with hearts and voices, but they were also obedient to him. Their faith and worship led to the fruit of obedience. He had told them to stay in Jerusalem, so they returned there and did so with great joy. What would have given them this great joy? Can we share in this great joy of theirs?
Consider four reasons for that great joy. First of all, Christ would be with them forever in his Holy Spirit. He had not abandoned them by going to heaven, but went there for them, for their benefit – and for ours!
Second, the apostles had been given a great and glorious task – preaching repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Christ’s name to all nations. They were about to receive what they needed, or rather who they needed to carry out this work. They were about to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and from there they’d be Christ’s front line ambassadors to bring the gospel to the world. Who wouldn’t be joyful at being able to be a part of that? And as Christ’s church, we share that task and we’ve also been gifted with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We have every reason for great joy as well – what an awesome joyful privilege to be able to share the good news with those who are lost in darkness and dead in sin.
Third, the apostles had received the promise of his glorious return. He assured them he would come back. In fact, in the parallel account in Acts the angels told them he would return in the same way they saw him depart. His physical absence wasn’t permanent. They could be joyful, knowing his return was imminent. And so it is for us as well. We can also live our lives with joy, knowing Christ will return. Believing in him, we have nothing to fear from his return, rather we look forward to it. It gives us joy to contemplate the day when the trumpet of the archangel will sound and our Lord will appear again.
Finally, when Jesus ascended into heaven this was another step in his glorification, his exaltation. It was a joyful moment for him. His followers, united to him in faith, would share in his joy. When he, the head of the body rejoices, the rest of the body rejoices with him. We too, as we read these words so many years later, we can also find our joy in Christ’s joy at this moment. He was lifted up and exalted and that should delight us as it delighted him.
The worship and joy of the apostles showed itself in the fact that they were constantly in the temple, praising God. That’s what we read in verse 53. This tells us the temple continued to have a place in the life of the early church, despite all that had happened, including the tearing of the temple veil on Good Friday. They were still worshipping at the temple, praising and blessing God in the place where they’d grown to expect his special presence to dwell. But notice that something has changed. They were there doing this continually. In other words, they were no longer bound to the schedule of the priests in temple, to the Old Testament regulations. They were constantly and habitually praising God and so a contrast was emerging between the followers of Christ and those who clung to the Old Testament ceremonial laws.
We don’t read anything about the apostles or the early church continuing to offer sacrifices for sin. There are no sacrifices of animals, no blood being spilled by the Christians. Yet there was one sacrifice they continued to make in the temple and it is the sacrifice that remains for all Christians, including us. Hebrews 13:15, “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” Loved ones, the church continually blessed by the ascended High Priest must be a church which continually offers the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. We offer that sacrifice with our lips and with our lives. Recognizing Christ’s blessing – his completed atonement and his abiding presence – we’re to bless his holy name with everything in us, every day of our lives.
Loved ones, though we cannot see him with our eyes, through his Word we know all of this is real. Now we see with the eyes of faith, some day we will see both with faith and with physical sight. Our ascended Lord Jesus sits at God’s right hand. This isn’t an abstract theological truth, but a real physical reality. How I wish that every one of us could be impressed or more impressed with that truth! Think about it: Jesus has a human body right now – a glorified body, but a human body nonetheless. As part of that he literally and really has eyes like yours. With his eyelids, he blinks. He has a cornea, a retina, an iris, and a pupil. He has vitreous fluid and an optic nerve that sends all the images to his brain. With those physical eyes, somehow he beholds God’s presence perfectly. Because of what he has done for you, because of his perfect suffering and obedience, some day your eyes, your physical eyes, will behold exactly the same sight. Job said it in Job 19:27, “I myself will see him with my own eyes – I and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” The time is coming. At the resurrection on the last day, seeing and believing will be eternally united in holy wedlock. AMEN.
PRAYER
O God in heaven,
Thank you that our Lord Jesus ascended into heaven for our benefit. We thank you that he did so with outstretched arms, blessing the apostles and us forever. We praise you for his completed atonement, for the forgiveness of sins we have through him and every other benefit of redemption. Lord Jesus, we thank you for saving us and for giving us the promise of your presence. Help us to trust your Word and what it tells us. Give us more grace with your Holy Spirit, so we depend on you, look to you only, and live for your praise and glory. Please continue to abide with us and conform us to your image. O God, how we long to see you and your Son face to face. We ask you to hasten the last day, please make it come quickly and redeem us from this broken and sinful world and all its woes and cares.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Dr. Wes Bredenhof, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
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