Glory, Dominion, and a Kingdom

The Ascension of Jesus and the Opening of Acts

Jesus' favorite place to go in heaven would be Christmastown!

Welcome back to our verse-by-verse exposition through the book of Acts, a series that is so dearly needed for a right understanding and practice in the church today. Last time we covered Acts chapter 1, verse 1, and discovered the nature and purpose of the book, so if you missed that, go back and watch it now because it lays the foundation for our study.

We're going to make a lot of progress today, meaning that hopefully we'll get all the way through verse 2, which has a lot to say about the promises of the Holy Spirit which Jesus gave to his apostles, so if you have your Bible, read along with me, beginning in verse 1.

The first account I compose, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen.

Now, notice initially that Luke reaffirms the ascension of Jesus that he previously recorded in the last verses of his gospel. The ascension is probably one of the more neglected truths seldom preached from pulpits.

Today.

I mean, we hear a lot about the life, death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus, and rightly so, but when was the last time you heard a sermon on the ascension of Jesus? Well, it's crucial for believing that Jesus is who he said he is.

He claimed to come from God, from heaven, and proof of this is given not only by his resurrection, but by his going back to God. Jesus says to Nicodemus in John 3 .13, No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

No one has ascended into heaven, he says. What does that do to all these testimonies from people going up into heaven and coming back and reporting what they saw?

I just saw John Wayne in heaven. He was in heaven. Michael Jackson. Whitney Houston in heaven. Was caught up to heaven.

Christmastown!

No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And so John will present the origin of Jesus, that is, where he came from, as a matter of significant dispute among the Jews who say in John 6 .42, for example,.

Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, I have come down from heaven? And when Jesus refers to himself there in John 3 as the son of man who has come from heaven and who ascends back into heaven, he is referencing Daniel's vision in Daniel 7 of a son of man who ascends into heaven and who is given dominion, glory, and a kingdom.

Therefore, the ascension of Jesus that Luke reaffirms here at the outset is an exclamation mark pointing us to realize that this Jesus really did come from heaven, that his claims to deity were true, that he really is the son of God, even the son of man.

That means also that the ascension signifies that Jesus is risen and ruling, that he has sat down at the right hand of God and according to Daniel's vision, he has received dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve.

Him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. Which is why in our first lesson we decided a good title for the book is not the Acts of the Apostles nor the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles, but it is principally about the Acts of the Risen, Ascended, and Ruling Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember what we learned in the first lesson, it is always all about Jesus. Acts is a Jesus-centered book and one of the principal works of the Holy Spirit is to point us to Jesus, to magnify Jesus, to exalt Jesus.

The Spirit Testifies to Christ

So, if you ever enter a church service and all the attention is on the Holy Spirit, that should be a red flag for you. John 15, 26, When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.

John 16, 14, He, the Spirit, will glorify me, for he will take of mine and will disclose it to you. You should beware ministries that emphasize the work of the Holy Spirit to the neglect of the person of the Son and ministers who say things like this.

God starts changing your mind from being Jesus-centered to Holy Spirit-centered.

The Holy Spirit is present where the truth of Jesus is being proclaimed. You know that the Holy Spirit is present when Christ is being testified about and glorified. Now we have to move on or we won't make it through verse 2 in this video.

Actually, you know what?

Listen.

This Ascended One is the Jesus that you serve. The Ascended Son of Man and Lord who reigns over all creation. He is given a kingdom and glory and dominion and this should give you all the confidence to boldly live for Him and proclaim Him to the nations and to proclaim Him as the Ascended One who is Lord over the lives even of unbelievers.

So that when we go out and preach, we aren't asking people to make Jesus Lord of their lives. We are telling them that God has already made this Jesus both Lord and Christ. That God has highly exalted Him.

He is Ascended which again is not a question mark leaving us wondering about Him and able only to merely suggest that Jesus is Lord. But it is an exclamation mark upon the work that He came to this earth to do and that He accomplished so that we know for certain that the Jesus we preach is no impotent Savior sitting in heaven just twirling His thumbs or wringing His hands just desperately wishing that people would respond positively to Him but is ultimately powerless to do anything about it.

Rather, the Ascension guarantees that this risen, ascended, and ruling Lord Jesus Christ will accomplish all His sovereign will and bring to salvation all those for whom He died and not one of them will be lost and, as Daniel 7 prophesies, all the peoples, nations, and men of every language will serve Him because just as Luke says that His first account was about all that Jesus began to do and teach until He was taken up to heaven, so His second account is about all that Jesus continued to do and teach after He was taken up to heaven.

So let His Ascension be a powerful source of your triumphant joy and confidence as you proclaim His gospel. Well, we didn't make it all the way through verse 2 but next time we definitely will. Again, if you missed the segment on verse 1, check out this video right here and if you want to see more about deliverance ministers like Alexander Pagani who was featured in this lesson, check out this video right here.

If you appreciate this content, then do me a favor and smash that like button and I'll see you next time.