The Legacy of the Departing Savior. Sermon on Ascension Day 1861
By Johann Christoph Blumhardt
And behold, I will send upon you the promise of my Father. But you shall remain in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high. And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, as he blessed them, he departed from them and ascended into heaven. And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they were always in the temple, praising and glorifying God. (Luke 24:49-53)
Dear friends, today is a great day, and if you want to think about it carefully, the greatest we can imagine. Today means: out of the depths into the heights, out of the dominion of darkness into the realm of the living God, to whom we belong! If we take only this, then today has something immensely loving and uplifting for us when we are told that one of us, our Lord Jesus Christ, has taken on our flesh and blood in the same way and has become like us in everything, that this One, who also wants to be our brother and nothing other than this for us, is ascending. It is as if He is pulling everyone else up with Him, and so everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus feels an upward pull today, as it were. But today we want to talk about what happened a little more in detail and want to organize our thoughts, which are linked to the text, according to four points:
- He is going to heaven.
- II He goes blessing.
- He goes, promising strength.
- He goes and stays.
May He, the Exalted One, give us some strength from His height so that we may be lifted upwards with our thoughts to Him, where He is! Amen.
I.
He is going to heaven, I said. We must and can believe this, for just as surely as the living God fills everything and is everywhere, so surely does the Lord Jesus fill all creation. That is why it is said of Him: „He sustains all things with His powerful word.“ And so His word was quickly fulfilled: „All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.“ He said this while He was still on earth, now it is being fulfilled. By ascending into heaven, He has entered into His power over heaven and earth, into His authority throughout all creation, and in such a way that from now on nothing is foreign or distant to Him, but everything is watched over by His eyes and His exuberant divine power works everywhere; this has been fulfilled. And so we already have a great consolation here: everywhere, under heaven and in heaven is the Lord Jesus, our brother.
Think of one great thing: it is your brother who fills everything from now on, it is your brother to whom everything is subject; and where there are still hostile forces, it is your brother who will eliminate everything. He is and will be Master until everything is under His feet. So we know from the Scriptures that things do not yet look quite good for us either, we know that the satanic world is still spread everywhere, we know of the evil spirits under heaven that fill the air. But be it as it may, the Lord Jesus is there, He has it in His hands after all, even the evil Satanic powers are held by Him, and so we may go through types of air as much as we want, everywhere the Lord Jesus comes to us if we want Him.
Throughout creation nothing can frighten us, the Lord Jesus has the upper hand over everything and I can only call upon Him, then even the gates of hell cannot separate me from Him. And even if the hosts of the abyss fill the air, as has been prophesied, the Lord Jesus is there and nothing can happen in which He does not have His mighty hand and can protect, save and deliver those who call upon Him. There you see how important it is that the Lord Jesus took heaven.
Of course, there is much more: He has also seated Himself at the right hand of God; the gates of blessing have been opened; there is now the possibility that we too will receive our heavenly position, which is even greater than any human being imagines: for to think that we should be as He is, that is too high for us. But the petty way in which we think that we will sit together in heaven as we do here in a parlor, in a meeting, is not right, it will be a million times more glorious, and we will be a million times greater and also receive something of that which fills the whole world. What wonderful things there will be that we have never dreamed of! But this much is certain, that we shall see His glory. Well, let’s leave that for today and stick to that: Believe it, heaven is open; it is no longer closed, man may now think himself into heaven, into the glory of God, into the heart of his dear Father, into freedom, into liberation from all dark forces, he may hope for everything, for everything the fulfillment is brought near to him, and even if we are not yet allowed to hold an ascension for the time being, we can nevertheless now also anticipate an ascension in the spirit. As the Lord Jesus ascends, so it will be for us, because that is how He wants it. That is why He came, that is why He suffered, that is why He rose from the dead, that is why He ascends, not to show Himself and say: „Look how glorious I am!“ No, He ascends to show how it will be for those who are watching.
II.
We now come to the second point: He goes blessing them. He leaves something there, because it says: while He blessed them, He departed from them. You have to imagine this a little. We have seen Him spread out His hands, and then a cloud lifts Him up into the sky. He ascends and lifts His blessing hands over the spectators, and they are blessed. Something has remained with His departure. Think even further into it. His blessing hands get a wider and wider circle to bless. The higher you ascend from the earth, the larger the circle of vision becomes and so the blessing from His hands comes over all peoples. Believe this: something has happened to every person, to all the peoples of the earth, as far as they were capable of being blessed. What? how much? we might ask; that is beyond our reckoning, but without this blessing the disciples would not have found open hearts when they began to open their mouths to proclaim Jesus, which they did with great joy de. From that time onwards, a certain blessing has rested on the whole earth, even if it is very obscured, of course because people are after it. Nevertheless, the blessing is felt by thousands of souls, and He is certainly still coming down in blessing today, over all circles where He is remembered.
But what does blessing mean? To bless means to wish salvation. That says it all. It is as if He had spoken over and over again: Salvation shall come, salvation shall come upon all the peoples of the earth, deliverance, redemption, refreshment, upon all troubled minds. It is a merciful look of love that He casts everywhere with silent thoughts, which are based on a reality, because it is still to come. Dear friends, think of Him hovering over us today with blessing hands, perhaps even with compassionate tearful eyes, wishing salvation, offering salvation to all, assuring salvation to all who want it. Think of Him like this today, surely you are thinking of a reality. „My dear child, salvation to you!“ can be the echo of His voice in all your hearts, for He has not taken back these blessing hands, nor does He have the same endeavor to help mankind out of its depths; nor does He want all to be helped, nor does He long for the lost to be found, nor does He meet with love and kindness all who look up to Him in supplication. After 1800 years it is still the same. His blessing has remained, and whoever wants to be blessed, is blessed. So He goes blessing, announcing it to all with this blessing: „What I want must still come to pass, all the power of darkness must still be overthrown, a renewal of all things must still come, a restoration of those who are far from God and belong to Him, all creatures must still be helped, every tear dried, every heart refreshed and rejoiced, everything placed in the hands of My Father.“ So He says, and with these hopes we want to think of Him parting, so that nothing can mislead us, even if everything still seems to be under the pressure of darkness, even if His victory still looks so doubtful. Think of the blessing that the Lord pronounces and implies; it has not been taken back, it remains and is a consecration for all the peoples of the earth, that they will ultimately come to victory if they want to. Therefore rejoice and be glad, the blessing Savior remains blessing, and accomplishes what He pronounces in blessing.
III.
He goes, promising strength. This says even more. The temporary blessing does not yet contain much that is essential. He only speaks the thoughts of His heart, but the blessing must be realized, there must be points of contact from which the blessing comes. This happens in that, when He is in heaven, He lets something fall down so that His disciples may realize where He has gone; He promises a power from the fullness of the Godhead so that they may realize: yes, He has gone to the right place. So He pours down something from the innermost heavens, which He calls here a power from on high, and in the beginning He calls it the promise of His Father, and what it is, we are told by the expression „Holy Spirit“. This is the power from on high, the fulfillment of which is now to happen. Dear ones, this could never have happened if the Lord Jesus had not ascended. But think about it: with the gift that has now been sent, something comes from the heart, from the essence of God, a divine power from God comes upon poor, weak, sinful people who have served Satan up to now. You must think: this is something completely new that was not there before, already a beginning of the heavenly glory that He occupies and to which we too are to be raised. This came upon the disciples ten days later, and promising this power, He ascends. The disciples believed this, so they came together; they told each other what they had seen and heard, and even though 120 people are not a large number, they all came together with the thought: the Savior is bringing us something from heaven, He, the Savior, wants to send a piece of heavenly bread. So they thought, and it came, as we well know. This great grace, this gift has come, and the disciples have thus become divine and have indeed been transformed in their spirit into a heavenly being.
So, promising this power, He goes up. And this promise still applies to us: He did not promise it in such a way that it should only come for the moment. His promise during His ascension continues, and even if for the time being it has withdrawn what He has already given, do not forget: He goes promising power. Just as His blessing is still valid today, so too is His promise. He continues to promise, and He cannot be unfaithful to His word. So if you think it is no longer so today, if instead of strength you feel only weakness, if instead of a stirring of the Spirit you find more the stirrings of a human, earthly being about you, if you see and think about and lament your own and others‘ frailty, remember your Savior, who promises strength from on high when He ascends. It is still true today, something is coming. This promise of His continues, and as long as it is still unfulfilled, we have it as a promise: this power from on high, if only it is implored, will still come in full.
Oh, dear friends, how rich is the Lord Jesus, even at His departure! He gives a promise that must be kept as long as the world stands. „It is promised, only ask; it shall come, only seek, it cannot fail; only knock, the door will yet be opened!“ Thus He calls down, ascending, and thus He also calls into our circle today. Who wants to doubt, who wants to contradict? Yes, He promises power from on high, so there is hope that it will come. Only watch, only believe, only ask, only cry and plead, only knock, for even in parting He promises it; He cannot keep us more meager than His first disciples, He cannot hang the loaf higher for the generations to come, He must make one generation like another, and so this promise continues to apply. It is coming, and at least in part, much is already evident to those who earnestly seek and desire it. What He promises must come, indeed His children will still become strong on earth, and when the great battles come, it will be seen how His disciples become strong, how the devil must give way as a result of His children being clothed with new strength. Let no loveless, allabandoning, all-despairing thought steal it from you!
IV.
Let us briefly touch on the fourth point: Jesus goes and remains. This is not directly in our text, but I have placed it in the words: „But they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were everywhere in the temple, praising and glorifying God“ – not like people who have lost their best, but like those who still have it. Otherwise you know His word when He says: „Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.“ So He goes and remains. Well, dear friends, He remains; this is clear from what we said first of all, that He has filled all the heavens, including the earth. He is still there, He has only gone away because He never wants to be seen for the time being, but He is still there, He, your loving Savior, who wants to tear you out of all the snares of the devil, He has not gone, no, He has remained, as He also says: „Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.“
If the Savior were still on earth, we would have to keep asking where He is now so that we could seek Him out, we would have to proclaim it everywhere, as they say about great lords, we would have to put it in the newspapers at the end. But now He is with us until the end of the world. So take comfort, then, you who are struggling, you who are troubled, you who are hungry, you who are troubled within and without, just think that the Lord Jesus is with you! Oh, if only we all thought so! Oh, so much consolation today gives, hold on to it! hold out! in the end He will be victorious and will bring His children out of all evil, as He has promised! Amen.
Prayer: Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ, exalted to heaven, and yet also here in our assembly, help us to believe, help us to hope! Oh, we want to be blessed by your blessing hands! We do not want to lose sight of Your promising words again, we want to hold on to the fact that You are with us and cannot leave, so that we have nothing more of You, we want to ask You daily to establish Your glory more and more on earth, since darkness still reigns in so many ways. Lord Jesus, show yourself as victor, as helper, as savior to all those who call to you, and when we stand outside and look up into the sky and gaze at the stars, let us think: that is where our Savior has gone, that is where I may go too! Help us to be comforted in all trials, but also never to be unfaithful, but to remain steadfast in what Your word demands of Your children. Now, Lord Jesus, when we bless here, let it also be a blessing from Your hand! Lord, we look up to you, make it good in everything in life and death, until we see you in your glory. Yes, help us Lord, that it may be so! Amen.
Source: Johann Christoph Blumhardt, Ausgewaehlte Schriften, Vol. 2: Verkuendigung, newly edited by Wolfgang J. Bittner, Giessen-Metzingen-Zurich 1991, pp. 21-29.
NAMENSgedächtnis 