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"To them He presented Himself alive after His suffering with many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God". Acts 1:3.

I never really got the ascension.
Sure, the cross was key to deal with our sin, and the resurrection verified the veracity of what Jesus had done, but the idea of Jesus  'beaming up' to the clouds just seemed weird - what was that all about?

Recently, as Ascension week came around, I started to have one of those 'lightbulb' moments, so let me peg out a few thoughts for you.

It really all started with an address by Chad Bird touching on the significance of the verse above. Luke is continuing to present the veracity of the faith to the person he had addressed his first collection to, and he picks up with the fact that Jesus was genuinely alive after dying on the cross, making this abundantly clear to His friends not just by being amongst them, but by "speaking" about the kingdom. I won't repeat Chad's valuable insight into this (you can find it here), but that last statement is telling us that the level of exchange between Jesus and His disciples was deep (take a look at one of the conversations we're allowed to listen into in this period in John's gospel, chapter 21:1-22).

This tells us that following His conquering sin and death, Jesus' immediate concern was to prepare His followers for what was coming next - sharing that key truth with everyone else - and doing this in a fashion that really helped them to take in everything that had happened in the time they had spent together.

(A quick aside - I think there's a real lesson here for all ministers currently finding themselves in strange circumstances due to the present crisis (that's pretty well all of them). What's coming is going to be even stranger in respect to how we operate and what's required, so take this moment to ensure there's time and space to press in to Christ to  supply some initial resources for what is ahead. The opening of Psalm 1 is particularly useful in that respect).

Back to Acts.
So, having spent time 'bedding in' the truth of what they had witnessed, Jesus then returns to His Father... by heading skyward.

What, is that, all about?

Well, here's a few thoughts to help, I hope:

1. He ascends to make a statement about heaven.
I suspect that miss-understanding that statement is where so many ' twee' or  at least what we deem 'manageable' ideas about heaven being about fluffy clouds with harp-laden angels comes from (just take a look at all those enlightenment ceilings filled with bared bottom cherubs!). Heaven of course appears somewhat different to that in scripture (usually as an awe-striking, overwhelming throne room), so what is really going on here is to say that Heaven of that kind is way, way above where we are. That's important because whilst God is our maker and keeper, He (Father, Son and Spirit) are also far greater than we'll ever fully comprehend. Christ is showing that in this celestial departure.

2. He ascends to complete the journey.
The Scriptures make it clear that when it comes to God rescuing us from the mess we've made, it took a complete and total coming down on His part to do this. Christ had put aside His majesty in heaven and been born as one of us so that He could bring redemption through being truly human. That humbling went on right through His life and ministry, but there are occasions when something of His true majesty and authority are allowed to peek through (Matthew 17). This giving up of Himself reaches a point where it is made available for the world following the resurrection, so in the ascension, we see the opening moment of His exaltation - His acceptance back to the heavenly realm as the King of the eternal Kingdom (take a look at Psalm 24).

3. He ascends as one of us.
This is the really startling truth of this event. Jesus doesn't return to the throne room of eternity as a 'spirit' or just as He had been prior to His incarnation. He had stepped out of the tomb clothed in His body, His humanity, to underline what His life here really meant - that the handiwork of God, marred by human folly, had been restored to its true intention and place in God's purposes, and that was categorically underscored in the inseparable marrying of the eternal Godhood of the Son to His incarnate humanity.

This is, for example, Paul's key argument in his letter to the Colossians. After telling the believers there that in Christ God has housed all wisdom and knowledge (2:3), He states that in Christ all the fulness of the Godhead is evidenced - in other words, in the physical being of Jesus (2:8 and 9).

God is so gracious that when it comes to mediating His love and the essence of His very nature to us, He does so in the guise of the fully human presence of His beloved Son!

So, as the disciples stood there, seeing Jesus depart, they were, once again, witnessing something that probably didn't make immediate sense to them (they probably didn't want Him to go), but as they began to unpack this, and witnessed what unfolded in the days that followed, it all began to make sense.

This is all really great news, as I've been reminded this week, so next time, I may get around to unpacking a little more as to why it's sooo good.

In the meantime, have a look at and consider what Paul is seeking to unpack about Jesus in the second chapter of Colossians, because it's really good news.