SUBJECT: SENT TO SERVE

PURPOSE: To enable us to realize the importance of proper motivations needed to obediently and joyfully serve.

"LOOKING UPWARD AND ONWARD!"

[READ ACTS 1:9-11]

VERSE #9:

"After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight."

One moment Jesus was with them! The next moment He was gone! Can you imagine if you and I were watching and talking with someone and suddenly he would just ascend right before our very eyes?

One moment Jesus was standing there speaking to them face to face. The next moment He began to ascend into the heavens. He was with them. Suddenly He was going up and up and up! I would have loved to have been there to see that one! Can you imagine how dumbfounded that they must have been to see it? Up and up and up He went! Finally, He disappeared into a huge puffy white cloud! Suddenly, He was gone! Suddenly, they were standing there, - probably feeling very confused and very much alone, as well as absolutely amazed!

They beheld Jesus departure! They were actually firsthand witnesses to the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. They were there right up to His final earthly ascension. They hadn’t actually seen Jesus rise from the dead. They did see Him alive and well after He had already done so, though.

Jesus’ ascension occurred openly in the daytime. It happened where they could openly and easily witness it firsthand. They had been engaged in conversation with Him when it happened. They had been looking directly at Him. Had Jesus vanished secretly, or had He disappeared in the night, the apostles would have been amazed and confounded. Perhaps they would have even wondered if they had been deceived. But when they saw Him leave in this way, they could not doubt that He had ascended into heaven. They could not doubt that God approved His work and would carry it forward. They event was exceedingly important.

1. It was a confirmation of the truth of the Christian religion.
2. It enabled the apostles to state distinctly where the Lord Jesus was, and at once they directed their affections and their thoughts away from the earth, and opened their eyes on the glory of the scheme of religion they were to establish.

The reasons as to why it was proper that the Lord Jesus should ascend to heaven rather than remain on earth were:

1. He had finished the work with which God the Father had given Him to do on earth. It was only proper that He should be received back to the glory which He had with the Father before the world was [John 17:4-5; Philippians 2:6, 9, 10].
2. It was proper that Jesus should ascend in order that the Holy Spirit might come down and perform His part of the work of redemption. Jesus, by His personal ministry, as a man, could only be at one place at a time. The Holy Spirit could be in all places. As such, He could apply the work to all men.
3. A part of the work of Christ was yet to be performed in heaven. That was the work of intercession! The high priest of the Jews not only made atonement but also presented the blood of sacrifice before the mercy seat, as the priest of the people [Leviticus 16:11-14]. This was done to typify the entrance of the great High Priest of our profession in the heavens [Hebrew 9:7, 8, 11, 12].

The Lord Jesus also ascended that He might assume and exercise the office of King in the immediate seat of power. All worlds were made subject to Him for the welfare of the Church. As such, it was necessary that He should be solemnly invested with that power in the presence of God as the reward of His earthly toils.

So this Scripture actually deals with the significance of His glorious ascension and what was involved in it

VERSE #10:

"They were looking up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them."

They were totally caught up in the experience of what had just happened. You and I would do the same! As if that wasn’t enough, suddenly these two guys in pure white just suddenly appeared in their midst! No question, - God was at work here!

Angels are commonly seen as clothed in white. These two angels, representing holiness and purity, as such, just suddenly appeared! In fact, these guys were so intent on watching the sky that they didn't even see them come! They were just suddenly there!

VERSE #11:

""Men of Galilee, they said, who do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, Who had been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven."

Now, we certainly can't criticize these guys for gazing up to heaven. You and I would have done the same! Nor do I think that the angels were, either, in reality. It's just that it was time for them to move out! Basically, I think that the angels were just reinforcing the disciples' 'marching orders.' Jesus Himself had warned them as to what would happen. He had given them their assignment: 'The Great Commission, as given in Matthew, chapter 28. Jesus had also promised not to leave them comfortless, promising to send the Holy Spirit! The same charge, as well as the promise, is available to each of us, today! Hallelujah!

There will be evident fitness and propriety in His Second Coming:

1. Because His appropriate work in heaven as Mediator will have been accomplished; His people will have been saved. The great enemy of God and man will have been subdued. Death will have been conquered. The Gospel will have shown its power by subduing all forms of wickedness, in removing the effects of sin; in establishing the law, and in vindicating the honor of God. At this time, all will have been done that is necessary to establish the authority of God throughout the universe.
2. It is proper that Jesus should come to vindicate His people and raise them up in glory.
3. It is proper that Jesus should show His hatred of sin.
4. The treat transactions of redemption have been public, open, and often grand and glorious. Apostasy, sin, misery and death have all been public. Now it is appropriate that our final redemption be open and public as well!
5. In these verses, we are given a description of the most grand and wonderful events that this world has ever know, - the ascension and return of the Lord Jesus Christ! These verses console [comfort] the Christian and are a source of ceaseless, never-ending alarm to the unsaved sinner!

SOME TRUTHS FOR THOUGHT AND REFLECTION:

AS WE PRAY TODAY:

Please note:

You are welcome to share this important message in your local churches, home fellowship Bible studies, etc., but I suggest that you personalize it. You do not have permission to publicize it or to make money from it in any form. May God richly bless you as you minister for Him with rich spiritual rewards of seeing many souls saved and sanctified for all eternity! Please let me know whatever helpful results you may get from this!

With Warm Sincerity in Jesus’ Love,

Rev. Don Schink, Pastor-Evangelist

Sonlight Ministries

Tijeras, NM