We are participants in the loving fellowship of the Father and Son.
Jesus’ birth, death, resurrection and ascension stand at the very centre of the Christian faith. They are not merely historical events but realities into which we have been drawn. We are baptized into Christ’s death and raised with him in his resurrection.
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Romans 6:4 NIV
The question naturally follows — how do we participate with Christ’s ascension? Jesus was drawn up into the heavens in the cloud. Are we now just to wait until he returns? Jesus’ ascension is not disappearance but exaltation. Jesus was taken up in the cloud, the biblical sign of God’s presence as it was with Israel in the wilderness.
The risen Christ Jesus enters Father God’s glory, intercedes for us, and remains present with his people. Now we experience his presence in a deeper way through the Spirit. Christ ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe (Ephesians 4:10). There is now no place in the entire cosmos where Christ’s presence cannot be known or felt. When Jesus ascended, he did not leave behind a world deserted by Christ, but a world filled with Christ. And this is because Jesus sent his Spirit.
Jesus prepared and comforted his disciples with the promise of the Holy Spirit. He told them he would send another Counselor, and the Counselor “will testify on my behalf” (John 14:16, 15:26). And Jesus said something else remarkable.
The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them. John 14:21b NIV
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