Christ's Ascension

1. 0:00Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 18.
2. 0:12What do you mean by saying, "He ascended to heaven"?
3. 0:16That Christ, while his disciples watched, was taken up from the earth into heaven and remains there on our behalf until he comes again to judge the living and the dead.
4. 0:27But isn't Christ with us until the end of the world as he promised us?
5. 0:32Christ is true man and true God.
6. 0:34In his human nature, Christ is not now on earth, but in his divinity, majesty, and majesty Christi, grace, and spirit, he is never absent from us.
7. 0:44If his humanity is not present wherever his divinity is, then aren't the two natures of Christ separated from each other?
8. 0:52Certainly not.
9. 0:53Since divinity is not limited and is present everywhere, it is evident that Christ's divinity is surely beyond the bounds of the humanity that has been taken on, but at the same time
10. 1:05his divinity is in and remains personally united to his humanity.
11. 1:11How does Christ's ascension to heaven benefit us?
12. 1:14First, he is our advocate in heaven in the presence of his Father. Second, we have the our own flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that Christ our head will also take us,
13. 1:24his members, up to himself. Third, he sends his Spirit to us on earth as a corresponding pledge. By the Spirit's power we seek not earthly things but the things above where Christ is sitting at God's right hand.
14. 1:39So if Christ's ascension is for his glory and for our salvation and for our good, well, in what way?
15. 1:47And that's what the catechism is really focusing on, answering that question, the so what?
16. 1:52What does this mean for us?
17. 1:54Jesus Christ, before he ascended into heaven, even before he died, John 14:15-16, he's talking to his disciples about how he will go away and
18. 2:04they're sad. And he says, "It is for your advantage that I go away." And so the catechism is really focusing on those advantages, that comfort and joy that we
19. 2:14have in belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ, our ascended Lord. The first First advantage is, though we might not recognize it in the catechism right away, is about his presence.
20. 2:26Jesus told his disciples right before he ascended into heaven, "Behold, I am with you even to the end of the age."
21. 2:35Then they watched him leave.
22. 2:36He went from here to there.
23. 2:37So the question is then, how does this work?
24. 2:39How does this fit? How is Jesus with us?
25. 2:43The answer is, well, Jesus is not only human, but he's also fully divine.
26. 2:49And so his divine nature, according to his majesty, grace, and spirit, is beyond his human nature and is everywhere present.
27. 2:59more particularly is the fact that Jesus is present with us by his Spirit. So again, going back to John 14:15-16 in the upper room before Christ goes to the Garden of Gethsemane,
28. 3:13where he is arrested, he's explaining to his disciples that if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you." So Christ's Ascension is to our
29. 3:27advantage because it means the descent of the Holy Spirit.
30. 3:32In the last question and answer of Lord’s Day 18, the catechism addresses three more benefits of Christ's ascension. How does Christ's ascension to heaven benefit us? First,
31. 3:47he is our advocate in heaven in the presence of his Father. Now it's not that the Father is against us. No, he's the one who sent his only begotten Son for our salvation, but it's on the basis of
32. 3:59the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we can have confidence in the security of our salvation.
33. 4:07There's this great question that Dane Ortlund asks in his book, Gentle and Lowly.
34. 4:14He says, "What if in your time of fear, in your time of doubt, in your time of frustration. What if in those moments you heard in the room next to you, the Lord
35. 4:25Jesus praying for you? Would that not completely transform your struggle with sin? Well, this is what Jesus is doing for us every day. He ever lives to pray for his people. Like you told Peter before,
36. 4:39Peter was tempted and he denied the Lord Jesus. He told Peter, "Satan is going to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail." The
37. 4:50second benefit that the catechism mentions here in this last question and answer is that we have our own flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that Christ
38. 4:59our head will also take us his members up to himself. In his bodily resurrection he is the guarantee that one day we will also be raised bodily from the grave. In
39. 5:12his bodily ascension he is the guarantee that we will be with him there one day He's the pioneer who, like someone from a distant country, goes to another land to get things settled,
40. 5:25get things prepared, to buy the farm, buy the property, and then bring the rest of the family over.
41. 5:31That's Jesus for us. Or to use another illustration that Sinclair Ferguson uses, Jesus is our lead climber.
42. 5:39one who finds all the handholds and leads us up that mountain. The third benefit of Christ's ascension, mentioned in Lord’s Day 18, is that he sends his spirit to us on earth as a corresponding pledge.
43. 5:59By the Spirit's power, we seek not earthly things, but the things above where Christ is, sitting at God's right hands. It's the Holy Spirit comforting us, giving us faith, assuring us,
44. 6:13strengthening us on our journey to Christ where he is. We can say, with Psalm 24 and with all of heaven, right? Lift up your heads, O you gates. Lift them up,
45. 6:26you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Christ's ascension into heaven, absolutely essential for his glory and our salvation.
46. 6:39you

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