Forty days after His resurrection Jesus charged the Apostles, in the
last words He is known to have spoken on earth, to testify of Him
throughout the world, and assured them that they should receive power
through the descent of the Holy Spirit. This last-recorded utterance
called His Church to missionary enterprise: "Ye shall be witnesses unto
me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth."[140] It is when believers in Christ are
faithful in the performance of this duty that fulfilment of the promise
may be confidently looked for, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the
end of the world."[141]
We are told that, when Jesus had spoken these things, "He led them out
as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And
it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and
carried up into heaven."[142]
Ascension is the completion of Resurrection. "If he were on earth," says
the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, "he should not be a
priest."[143] No part of His work would have corresponded to that of the
high priest, who, when he had offered up sacrifice, passed into the holy
place with the blood of the victim, and laid it upon the altar. The act
thus foreshadowed in the type was accomplished when our great High
Priest passed into the heavens, and "entered not into the holy places
made with hands, which are the figure of the true; but into heaven
itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us."[144]
The Ascension took place in open day and in the sight of the Apostles.
"While they beheld, he was taken up."[145] That they might be witnesses
of the fact, it was necessary that they should see Him go up from earth.
Unlike the Ascension, the Resurrection of Christ took place unseen by
mortal eye. Eye-witnesses of His rising from the dead were not needed.
The fact that they had seen Jesus after He rose qualified them to be
witnesses of His Resurrection, but it was only because they had seen Him
taken up that they could bear personal testimony to His Ascension.
Thus our Lord "ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of
God the Father Almighty." This Article expresses the honour and dignity
of His Person and character. To sit on the right hand is an honour
reserved for the most favoured.[146] When the Scriptures speak of the
right hand of God, it is meant that, as the right hand among men is the
place of honour, power, and happiness, so to sit on the right hand of
God is to obtain the place of highest glory, power, and satisfaction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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