The Ascension – Look Within
A Short Message by Dr Ben Hooman
“And when He had said these things, as they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9-11)
In the world of this day we want things to be up and not down. We compete to win, study hard to be first in class. The stock market must rise and not crash. We want to climb the ladder of success. The reality is that we want to live ascended lives. We want to break free from that which holds us down and rise above it all.
And that is right. Something within us knows that we are not earthbound but distant to rise. But the problem is that we have distorted what ascension and an ascended life means. We tend to forget or even deny that the ascension of Christ seats us next to God, and we rather attempt settle for self-ascension.
Such a distortion has invaded our doctrine and understanding of God. And in this distorted view God and holiness are up there somewhere whilst we are stuck down here. And we try to jump the highest, try the hardest, and get lived out in so many ways.
It involves comparison, and competition, and even judgement of some kind. We compare ourselves with others. We compete with each other believing that if we ascend others will descend. We are forever judging ourselves and others. We fill our lives with business hoping to ascend, and such a life of self-ascension keeps us searching for the next achievement, the next high.
Your attempts at self-ascension, fragment your world and yourself. It just distances you from God. It destroys relationships and intimacy. And ultimately you deny yourself the ascended life you are seeking, a life that is already yours in Christ.
Jesus’ ascension reshapes our disfigured understanding of an ascended life. his ascension is the corrective antidote to the fragmentation and separation of self-ascension. Jesus Christ is the only authentic and life-giving ascension. And through Him and in Him we now can too live ascended lives!
We need to grasp that Jesus’ ascension is not about His absence but His presence. To the unbeliever this is an empty world. To us as His own, it is not about His leaving but about ‘the fulness of His presence who fills all and all by the Holy Spirit. The world can not receive Him for they do not know Him.
It is not about a location but about a relationship! Surely the presence, and fullness, and relationship was on the minds of the two men sent by God when they said, “Why do you stand looking up to heaven?” It is as if they are saying to us to do not mis-figure or misunderstand this moment. Do not deny yourselves the gift that has been given to you!
The ascension of Christ completes His resurrection. The resurrection is victory over death. The ascension however lifts us up to heaven. Believers are seated with Him in heavenly places, at the right hand of the Father! We now partake in God’s glory and divinity.
The ascension is more about letting go than it is reaching and grasping. The question is not, ‘How do we ascend?’ That has already been accomplished. The question is, ‘What pulls us down?’ what do we need to let go of? Is it fear, anger, resentment? What is weighing you down?
The need to be right, or to be in control, to be on top of it, or self-righteousness, jealousy, pride, perfectionism, the need to proof yourself, to always be affirmed, addiction, and many others, are heavy burdens to carry. The gravity that pulls us down take many forms.
What is the gravity that denies you Jesus’ ascension? The gravity that keeps you down, is not around you, or in your circumstances. Gravity is within you. So, as you begin to look at your life and identify the places of gravity, do not despair. What ever holds you down also point the way to ascension.
The participation in Jesus’ ascension begins by not looking up but by looking within. Whatever stands between you and God, descend and ask God to remove it so you can grasp the ascension in the presence with Christ on high!
The Christian Campus 