Luke 24:50-53
We’ve come to the final verses of Luke’s Gospel. I invite you to turn there, Luke 24:50 to 53. And as I’ve anticipated preaching this final paragraph, I’ll admit to having some mixed emotions about this. I’m somewhat reluctant to come to the end of this magnificent and beloved Gospel that’s taught me so much about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But on my reflection and study, I’ve changed my mind that I’m not mournful to leave Luke’s Gospel behind.
I’m very eager actually to preach this sermon to you, since we’re really not ending, are we? We are really embarking on a new beginning, because as we end, as Luke ends, he really is not ending with an ending, but with a commencement. He’s pivoting us into the book of Acts, where the story continues, where the building of the church, our church, that’s where our foundation is found. We can only appreciate the way Luke draws this Gospel to a close through the detailed exposition that we have pursued together for more than a decade now. But we’re able to appreciate the state of mind that the Lord has left his disciples in having done the homework, having done the study and it is a joy to to have this culmination, this final paragraph, to draw our attention to reasons that we can rejoice today.
As we saw last time, our Lord prepared his disciples to continue on his work. He commissioned them to preach the gospel. He tied everything together for them, connected his teaching to the teaching of Scripture, the teaching of Scripture in its central theme of Christ’s redemption. He opened their minds to understand everything. And having connected all the dots for them, having opened their minds and opened their eyes, he’s now commissioning them as eyewitnesses. He’s sending them out with a message of repentance, and he’s allowing them to proclaim the promise of forgiven sin.
What a joy to be able to proclaim a reconciled relationship to God through faith in Jesus Christ. He’s promised to give them the abiding presence and power of the Holy Spirit. His own presence and his own power through the Holy Spirit and that Holy Spirit, he is the promise of the Father; he is the gift of the new covenant, as we have seen.
So now that these men are ready, Jesus confirms their readiness by the way that he leaves them and departs into heaven. Let’s take a look at that, at those verses. Luke 24:50 through 53, “And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands, He blessed them. And it happened that while He was blessing them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they, after worshipping him, return to Jerusalem with great joy. And we’re continually in the temple, blessing God.”
Keep a finger there in Luke 24, we’re going to be right back. But turn over to Acts chapter 1, Acts chapter 1, and I want you to see the fuller account that Luke records of the ascension because there’s, there are more details, there’s more to it. Acts chapter 1, we’ll read verses 1 to 14 and that’s a summary really of this, of what Jesus did during his 40 days between the resurrection and the ascension. And here we see again in Acts 1, a repetition of the command to wait for the Spirit. He is the one who will enable them to be his witnesses. We see the ascension itself, the return to Jerusalem. Everything that’s in Luke 24 is here in Acts chapter 1, but with a little bit more detail.
“The first account, O Theophilus, I composed about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs. Appearing to them over 40 days, and speaking about the things concerning the Kingdom of God, and gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, ‘You heard of from me. For John, baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ So when they had come together, they were asking him saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the Kingdom to Israel?’”
Another way of putting that is, Lord, is it at this time that you will fulfil your kingly office? Is it your royal office, your kingly ministry that we’re going to see on display? “And he said to them, ‘It’s not for you to know the times of the seasons which the Father has set by His own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the end of the earth.’ After He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking toward heaven? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.’”
Promise of the second coming. “Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem. A Sabbath stays journey away, and when they had entered the city they went up to the upper room where they were staying, that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all with one accord, were continually devoting themselves to prayer along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers.” I love that. And his brothers signaling that his unbelieving brothers are now believers.
You can go back to Luke 24, but I wanted you to see that, because it’s so important to understand that Luke had all those details available to him when he wrote the final paragraph of his Gospel. We know that Luke had done his research, he had conducted his interviews. He knew. And so we have to ask the question, if there is more to say; if there is a fuller account and we see part of that account in Acts chapter 1, and we know that there are even more details than that.
Why did he not include that fuller account here in Luke 24? Why does he boil it down to just this detail, these facts? We have to understand that every author of Scripture, if we think about the divine author, the Holy Spirit, and also the human author, in this case Luke, but every author of Scripture has a purpose for the details that he uses for each account. He has so many things that he could say, but he edited it down to what he should say, what he must say.
Luke had lots of details about what had happened on this final day of Jesus time here on earth, far more than we find in Luke 24 and Acts chapter 1 combined. So why is he so brief here on his final day when Jesus departed from his men and ascended into heaven? It was another monumental day of our Lord, an event with many, many important, fascinating details and Luke’s minimalist account boils something down for us and draws our attention to the purpose of this event, which I hope to unpack for you this morning.
One of the questions I asked when approaching my own study of this text is this question: What was the purpose of a visible ascension? That is, why did Christ leave in this way? So that his apostles could see it, so they could witness it. We could paint a contrast just by understanding what we’ve been reading about the risen Christ and the Lord Jesus vanishing supernaturally, showing up supernaturally. He’s disappearing and reappearing without any apparent effort, with no apparent explanation. It’s just seems to be his new way.
In fact, as we learned last time, post resurrection, Jesus has been with his disciples visibly, physically, only exceptionally; that is to say, his physical visible presence with them is now the exception and not the rule. His abode really is in heaven, and so he comes to sojourn with them for periods of teaching. So now that he’s leaving for an extend extended length of time, why does he now linger in his leaving? Why doesn’t he just vanish, show up in heaven? Why the visible departure? Why draw it out? Whatever the answer or answer is plural to the question has to do, something to do with blessing.
You notice when we read Luke 24:50 to 53, three times, Luke uses that verb, eulogeo, to bless, “He blessed them,” verse 50, “while blessing them,” verse 51, and then the final words of the Gospel, verse 53, “They in turn were continually blessing God.” So far from what we might have expected in this departure, in this event, that this would be an occasion for the disciples, of sadness and sorrow. This is a blessing saturated text, a blessing saturated account of a a blessing saturated occasion, which is contrary to what we may have expected.
This is actually an occasion for great joy. It’s exactly how the apostles responded. We may wonder how could they do that? Well, as we work through some of the details, I think you’ll see why. And it’s my prayer for you, Grace Church, has been my prayer that you see the reason for joy in this passage, that you understand that you share, you actually do have a share in the joy of these apostles. You have a share in the joy of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and you have a share in the joy of Christ Church.
I want you to understand the blessing that’s upon you, as well, and the joy that’s yours in Christ. So two points this morning. First one, number one: joy in the Lord’s departure. Joy in the Lord’s departure, verses 50 to 51. Luke sets up the scene here, telling us who, when, and where in verse 50, starting with, the who. “He led them out as far as Bethany.” So he is the risen resurrected Lord Jesus. The them, refers to the eleven apostles and we saw those, heard those apostles named for us in Acts 1:13, which we just read.
Luke drops another hint to remind us who this, he is. It’s interesting we don’t see the word, the name Jesus. We don’t see the the moniker Christ. We don’t see the Son of man. We see pronouns, he, and filled into the pronouns, there’s a whole lot of information that we’ve been learning from Luke’s Gospel, but there’s another hint to remind us, who this he is, in that first sentence, “He led them out.” The verb, he led them, led them is exago, and that is shepherding language.
He led them out. We heard that earlier when it was used of God in Hebrews 8-9, who took Israel by the hand to lead them out of Egypt. He shepherded his people out of the land of Egypt, took them out from under hostility, out from under the Pharaohs, out from under the darkness of the false gods of Egypt, and, led them, into the promised land. He’s a shepherd. In like manner, the same verb is used of Jesus, exago, in John 10 verse 3, the Great Shepherding passage where Jesus calls his own sheep by name. They won’t listen to the voice of a stranger. His sheep will listen to his voice and they will follow him out of the, the sheep pen, out of the sheepfold. “When he leads them out,” leads them out, same verb there, he’s a shepherd, that’s who. When did this happen? It happened at the end of the 40 days that Luke spoke of in Acts 1, verse 3.
This is the final day. It’s the day when he visibly manifested his departure to them. It’s going to be another 10 days until Pentecost. So they don’t have long to wait in the city to receive the promise of the father, when they’re going to be clothed by the Spirit with power from on high. So this event is actually marked on the liturgical, counter, calendar, and it’s called Ascension Day. Ascension Day. I don’t know how many of you have that marked on your calendars at home and have little advent calendars leading up to Ascension Day, but it’s a good idea. Maybe we could start a tradition here in our church. Ascension Day falls on the Thursday that follows the sixth Sunday after Easter. So count from Easter Sunday, six Sundays later. The Thursday after that is the day that the Lord ascended into heaven. Ten days later will be Pentecost.
So that’s the who and the when and now we want to see where this happened. Where this happened is another important detail that sets the scene for us. Luke sets the scene like a good narrator. The Lord appeared to these men, other disciples also, but over a 40 day period and he did so in several places. We’ve seen the two disciples on the Emmaus Road in Luke 24:13 and following, they all went back to Jerusalem and he appeared there to them in the upper room.
So on the Emmaus Road, on the way to Emmaus, he was in Emmaus, he was back in Jerusalem; he also appeared, we know from the other Gospels, he appeared in Galilee, appeared to seven disciples on the shores of the Sea of Tiberia or the Sea of Galilee, John 2:11. He appeared to the eleven on the mountain that he designated for them, according to Matthew 28:16, the mountain designated in Galilee. Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 15:6 that Jesus appeared on one occasion to more than 500 disciples at one time. That’s quite a crowd. So presumably that was somewhere in Galilee as well. It was a a place large enough to accommodate such a large crowd.
So he’s appeared in Jerusalem, Emmaus, he’s appeared in Galilee, he’s appeared near the sea, he’s appeared on a mountain, but then in Acts 1:4, it says there that Jesus gathered the eleven together in Jerusalem. So at the end of that 40 days, day 40, he’s in Jerusalem. He tells them they’re not to leave Jerusalem. Verse 6 says, “It’s when they had come together that the eleven were asking Jesus about the time of restoring the Kingdom.”
Jesus said don’t think about my kingly ministry. You’re not to concentrate on, restore, restoration of the Kingdom, that’s going to happen in the father’s time. You concentrate on the mission that I’ve circumscribed for you, not the timing of the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel, but the time of the proclamation of the forgiveness of sins by repentance. So when Luke says in Luke 24:50, “He led them out, out of where he’d gathered them together in the city of Jerusalem, but then Jesus led them out of the city to the Mount of Olives on this special occasion again, he could have just said, go to the Mount of Olives. They would have walked over there and he would have vanished and then appeared there. Not this time. This time he walks with them. He travels with them. It’s a short journey that they’ve taken before, from the Upper Room into Gethsemane. This short journey from Jerusalem down through the Kidron Valley, up the opposite slope, up to the summit of the Mount of Olives and down the other side of the slope where Bethany lay. This short journey from Jerusalem to Olivet passed by the Garden of Gethsemane.
For Jesus, the Garden of Gethsemane, on the slopes of the Mount of Olives is where he fought the good fight in prayer. Remember that. It’s where he sought and received strength from the father to accomplish his mission. It’s where he wrestled in prayer; it’s where he was strenuous in his praying, so strenuous he sweated drops of blood.
For his disciples, it’s an opposite picture, the Garden of Gethsemane, represented their greatest shame, their monumental failure. It’s where they abandoned him. It’s where they left him behind. It’s where they scattered. It’s where they couldn’t even pray with him even an hour. Mixed emotions. This group is moving from the upper room in Jerusalem. He leads him past that famous battleground where he had shed his blood before pouring out his blood on the cross. Leads him past the place where these apostles had failed, where they’d abandoned him instead of standing with him and standing for him, standing firm, but passed it by, they did.
They followed the Lord up the Mount Olivet. They went no further than Bethany, the village, where remember Lazarus, was his friend that he had raised from the dead, along with his sisters Mary and Martha, situated on the eastern slope of Olivet. They didn’t go there, but they stopped on Olivet. And that is where, according to verse 50, Jesus lifts up his hands, he blesses them. Whatever memories of failure that had come to mind on that short walk that they were taking, whatever feelings of shame came to their minds, whatever feelings of shame had clouded their consciences, and troubled their hearts, all that went away in this moment. Now, why would that be? Because there, visible in his uplifted hands were the nail prints, the marks in his flesh, though he is in a resurrected body, he has chosen to keep those precious scars, those marks that signal to these men that their sins are atoned for, and their guilt is erased, and their shame is gone.
Shame is no longer warranted because their failures are forgotten, their guilt is forgiven, propitiated before God, expiated, removed from his presence, and they are fully reconciled to God. And in case any of them missed the visual cue, any lingering doubt is erased when Jesus starts to speak and he starts pronouncing this blessing upon them.
Now we don’t know the exact content of the blessing of his benediction, but when this word was used of God or Christ in blessing us, eulogeo, means to confer favor upon. So that’s what he was doing. He’s conferring favor upon them. He’s pronouncing blessing upon them. He’s giving benefit in his words or promising or announcing benefit to them. He lifts up his hands, he shows them the scars, and he starts pronouncing, pouring out blessing, approbation, love, approval.
I like how John Calvin says this. He says, “when one man blesses another, it is nothing else than praying on behalf of their brethren. But with God it is otherwise. For He does not merely befriend us by wishes, but by a simple act of His will He grants what is desirable for us.” That’s so true; an act of his will, and his will which was decreed from before the foundation of the world, that everything that has happened in Luke’s Gospel exploded from that decree and conferred benefit and blessing and love on these men. So Jesus is standing before these men on the eastern slope of Mount Olivet near Bethany; he’s standing there as a kind hearted, merciful priest who following the sacrifice that he is offered up to God, which has been accepted by the way, proven by his resurrection from the dead and now he, being assured of divine favor, Jesus is pleased to announce God’s favor upon those for whom he atoned.
Some have questioned whether Jesus was here taking the role of a priest. They say things like this: nothing priestly is in this context, they say also nothing really priestly. Luke doesn’t really focus on Jesus priestly ministry throughout his Gospel. So nothing priestly in his Gospel, nothing priestly in the context. Oh, unless the lifting of the hands, on pronouncing this divine blessing is exactly that. Seems to me that Jesus is raising his hands and pronouncing this blessing over his men as if to take exactly that posture. He is the now reigning and forever reigning High Priest. We know the Messiah is not from the tribe of Levi. He descended from the tribe of Judah, the kingly tribe, not the priestly tribe of Levi. So he’s not of the order of the Aaronic priesthood, that is to say, the failed Aaronic priesthood, the priesthood that he has just condemned and indicted in a few chapters before this.
This Messiah of the tribe of Judah, he is the prophet Moses promised in Deuteronomy 18. He is the king that God promised through Samuel to David, the son of David. But he is also the priest, not according to the tribe of Levi, not according to the Aaronic priesthood, but according to the priestly order of Melchizedek, according to Psalm 110, verse 4, which is a perpetual priesthood. That verse says, “From God the Lord in heaven to the Lord on earth, you are a priest forever, forever.” The writer of Hebrews makes a pretty compelling case in chapters 5 through 7 that this Jesus, the Son of God, he is high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 7:28, “The law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, the word of promise, appoints a son made perfect forever.”
Jesus entered into the Holy of Holies before God himself. Hebrews 6:20 says, “He entered there as a forerunner for us. He passed behind the veil, through the veil into the holy of Holies as a forerunner for us, becoming a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Now, that’s just some evidence from the book of Hebrews, but let’s find several reasons in this text that Jesus is acting in a high priestly role. I see four reasons here: A biblical reason, a sacrificial reason, a relational reason, and a theological reason. Biblical, sacrificial, relational, theological.
First, biblically, his blessing that he gives here, the the posture of his blessing and the fact that he gives a blessing, it really does fit the biblical pattern of the High Priest blessing the people, which Israel as a nation is very familiar with. All through the days of sacrifice at the Temple, this priestly blessing is announced over the people. So they’re very familiar with us. It’s in their law, it’s in the prophets, it’s in the daily practice and exercise of the Temple. We read in Leviticus 9:22, at Aaron’s ordination, the very beginning, the very first act of his high priestly ministry, after the sacrifice, Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and he blessed them and then stepped down after making the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings.
So when Aaron and his sons were to bless God’s people, God commanded Moses to instruct Aaron, “Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel.” And we’re very familiar with this. Numbers 6:24 to 26, what does it say? “Yahweh bless you and keep you. Yahweh make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Yahweh lift up his countenance upon you,” or His face upon you, “and give you peace.” You know that blessing. It’s a biblical pattern, and Jesus is following it here, lifting up his hands, having made the sacrifice, and pronounces a blessing over his people.
There’s another reason to see Jesus acting in a priestly role. Second, sacrificially. As I said, he raised his hands, his hands being the very proof of his perfect atonement; we just heard in Leviticus 9:22, “Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them,” but only after performing atoning sacrifices, making the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings. Blessing of Aaron came only after atonement was provided. That’s how blessing could be pronounced. That’s how absolution from sin could be offered. It’s based on an atonement that’s already been offered and consumed on the altar, a sweet aroma before God and accepted. And that priestly blessing reassured the people that all their sins are forgiven.
Same thing Jesus is doing here, but far greater than Aaron and his sons. Unlike them, Jesus, as we read in Hebrews 7:27, Jesus does not need daily, like those High Priest, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for all the sins of the people, because he did this once for all when he offered up himself. What’s the evidence of that? His nail scarred hands.
Thomas Goodwin says, “To show that the curse was gone and that sin was gone. It’s as if Christ himself said this, O my brethren, I have been dead, and in dying made a curse for you. And now that curse I have fully removed, and my Father hath acquitted me, and you for it. Now I can be bold to bless you and pronounce all your sins forgiven and your persons justified.” Where’s the visible proof? As I said, in his hands; his lifted up, nail scarred hands which the apostles could see plainly, which Luke pointed out here to us, the readers, so that we can meditate on this, reflect on this.
With his hands raised, Jesus speaks a blessing over them, perhaps an Aaronic blessing, but now interpreted through the paradigm of his redemptive fulfilment, now interpreted through the prism or the lens of full atonement. “Yahweh bless you and keep you.” Yeah, “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Yahweh bless you and keep you.” Yes, “He predestined you to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself. He did that according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace which he graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our transgressions according to the riches of his grace.”
He continues in that Aaron blessing. “Yahweh, make His face shine upon you, be gracious to you, lift up His countenance upon you. Give you peace. For God, who said light shall shine out of darkness, is the one who’s shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” So as Paul tells the Corinthians, “Grace to you, peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” If he pronounced the Aaronic blessing, we don’t know the content, but if he pronounced some blessing like that, man, it was filled in with New Testament truth, New Covenant truth, gospel truth. And what they saw him do, what they heard him say, is secured by the once for all perfect sacrifice that he offered to atone for their sins. Man, what assurance he’s giving them in his departing, what reasons for joy, removing all sense of guilt, and shame, and failure, and sadness, and sorrow. He imbues them with strength, and joy, and confidence, and assurance because he loves them.
So Biblical reason, priestly pattern of the Aaronic blessing now taken up by Jesus and he can do that because of the sacrifice, the sacrificial reason. This justifies him pronouncing a blessing over his men because he’s atoned for their sins. Their sins are paid for. They are bought and paid for. They’re ransomed by his blood.
Third, there’s a relational reason. Relationally, Jesus assures them of abiding favor; abiding favor, continuing favor, in this high priestly blessing. See that in verse 51, “It happened that while He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.” “While He was blessing them, He parted from them.” Remember the question we asked earlier? What was the purpose of a visible ascension? Why did Christ leave in this manner? So his disciples could see it; so they could hear his blessings when he ascended.
Worship continues, it continues because the story is not over. The mission of Christ continues. It continues in and through his church. Travis Allen
So relational reason: He loves them. He loves them dearly. He wants them to hear, he wants them to see. The last thing he wants is for them to question his love for them. He won’t have it. He’s not going to have them doubt any longer, question anymore. The last thing that he wants them to see him doing, the last thing he wants them to hear him saying, I bless you, I favor you, I accept you. The Father accepts you. The Father loves you. I love you. He’s saying I bless you because the father has chosen you in me before the foundation of the world, You’re mine. The father sent me to atone for your sins. He accepted my sacrifice. He’s forgiven your sins. You’re now accepted in me, the Beloved, and you’re accepted by me too.
Let there be no doubt, let there be no more question in your mind, no shadow in your hearts, because the father loves you, receives you, accepts you, and I do too. You’re mine. I’m yours forever. Let there be no doubt whatsoever in your hearts. Again, he could have just translated from earth to heaven in a flash. All these things would still be true, would they not? His atonement still have been made? Yes. Would God still have received him into heaven? Absolutely. Would the commission continue, would the Spirit, still come? Absolutely, yes, yes, and Amen.
So why does he want him to see it? Why does he want him to hear it? Why does he want to part from them while blessing them? Relational reason: I love you. I don’t want you to ever doubt my love for you. So biblical, sacrificial, relational reasons to see Jesus in this high priestly role. And by the way, beloved, you need to remember these things continue when he parts from them, it’s an imperfect verb that’s used to show this continual parting. This is going on while he’s ascending, and we’re to take that and transfer that into a continuousness. It’s happening now.
The biblical reasons remain. The sacrificial reasons remain. The relational reasons remain. His love doesn’t change; he’s immutable, fixed in His love for us. Finally, theologically, and this reason Luke reserves for us, his readers. The disciples, the apostles maybe couldn’t see this or discern this in the moment, but the way Luke has written this has given us a little special, maybe a one of those Easter eggs, you know, they’re hidden and you go find it and say, hey, look at here. That’s what he has for us.
So the apostles got that when they went and read Luke’s Gospel. They got what we’re about to get, but he reserves this one for us, his readers, end of verse 51. “It happened that while he was blessing them, he parted from them,” and then this, “and was carried up into heaven.” That verb, translated, was carried up, it’s kind of an unusual word for Luke to use for this event. In fact, some, so unusual that some commentators mistakenly, I think, they think that some editor made an error here and used the wrong word and it kind of crept into the copies. This is not an error at all. This is intentional from Luke. He’s not using the usual word for taken up, but that doesn’t mean he made a mistake.
In Acts chapter 1 verse 9, he does use a different word. He uses the word epairo, speak of taken up. In Mark’s Gospel Mark 16:19, Mark uses the word analambano, and both of those words are very appropriate and very usual, normal, common to describe ascension, being taken up, going up. Here Luke uses a different verb. He uses the verb, anaphero. Ana upper or again and then phero, to bear and that works. It does work, but it’s just not the expected verb. It’s it catches our attention and that’s what Luke wants it to do. The LSB, as I read, translates this as he was carried up, that’s a good translation. To be born upward, that’s a little more awkward to say it that way, but that’s a very accurate way to translate this as well. And what’s interesting in Luke’s verb choice is that this verb is often used of a sin sacrifice, and it’s used of a sin sacrifice in the sense that that sin sacrifice bears or assumes the sin of the offerer.
Matter of fact, anaphero is the verb in Isaiah 53:12 where it says, “He himself bore the sin of many.” Same verb in the Septuagint, the verb anaphero. “Therefore I will divide for him a portion with the many, and he will divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He himself bore,” he assumed, he took upon himself, he carried in his own body, “the sin of many,” and then this, “and interceded for the transgressors.” The sin bearer is also the one who intercedes. The propitiation, the propitiatory sacrifice is also the one who prays for us.
Luke is using that word with intent. He wants to show us, his readers, that Christ is the sin bearer and now Christ as the sin bearer, having borne the sins of his people to the cross, he’s now borne up into heaven. His once broken body, now resurrected, now glorified, is now carried up to the father and there he is at the father’s right hand as a perpetual reminder of the ransom price, paid in full.
Think of it this way, by contrast, what other sacrifices of Israel for the centuries before; what other sacrifice of Israel, of the millions and the millions, of the goats and the lambs sacrificed to God, which of them are in God’s presence perpetually? Not one. All those sacrifices were consumed on the altar, burned up. There’s only one sacrifice for sins that is perpetually before the father, it’s Jesus Christ the Righteous One and that sacrifice lives. That’s what Luke wants us to see here. That’s where Luke wants us to be assured. That’s where he wants our joy to be full.
That’s what Jesus is doing for his apostles even now. So as he departs from the apostles, as he’s carried up into heaven, as the body of the Lamb of God once slain, now resurrected, now glorified, his pierced hands are raised, the blessing of kindness is upon his lips. He’s carried upward and out of their sight, but the last words that they heard from him were words of blessing, divine favor, full atonement, full acceptance. The last image that they see his hands raised up, their great high priest conferring favor upon them and he leaves them with this perpetual assurance so that they expect his priestly ministry is going to continue on and on, all through their lives, all through the Church age.
Now that the order of Aaron has defaulted, now that Aaron and his sons, the Levites, have failed, both Temple and priesthood have been condemned. “Jesus Christ is our great and only high priest, the one mediator between God and man after the order of Melchizedek. So he lives now and forever, more to make intercession for His people.” Romans 8:34, 1 John 2:2, and then he sends his Spirit to aid him in his intercession work according to Romans 8:26 and 27.
What joy, what joy, in how the Lord departs, how he leaves them. He leaves them with full assurance, full confidence, certainty of his favor, of his blessing, of his heart for them, and in no doubt of God’s heart for them, because he is God in the flesh. Notice the effects on the apostles in point two. Point two: Joy in the disciples return. Joy in the disciples return, verses 52 to 53. “And they after worshipping him, return to Jerusalem with great joy and they were continually in the Temple blessing God.”
The main verbs there are, they returned, in verse 52 and, “they were,” it’s a state of being verb. “They were,” in verse 53, those are the two main verbs: they returned, they were. But the emphasis in this first verse is on the first phrase, which is a participial construction. “They were worshipping him.” That’s where the emphasis is. There’s also emphasis in the final phrase, also a participial construction, “they were blessing God,” so they were worshipping God, and they were worshipping Christ and they were blessing God: Worship, bookends their return.
Somewhat surprisingly, this is the first time that Luke uses the verb worship. The verb worship, which is the verb proskuneo. Luke has portrayed people bowing down and worshiping Jesus in his Gospel, but their worship does fall short of what we see here and what we see now. Simon Peter, you may remember in Luke 5:8, he fell down at Jesus feet and confessed his sins after the large catch of fish. Remember he rebuked the Lord. The Lord said yeah, try it anyway; large catch of fish, he says, “Depart from me Lord, I’m a sinful man. He bowed down at his feet.” He’s worshiping.
Remember that sinful, notoriously sinful woman in Luke 7, end of Luke 7, where she comes and breaks into the afternoon meal at Simon the Pharisee’s house, and she’s just overcome with emotion and she’s weeping and drenching his, as yet, unwashed feet. Simon didn’t even bother to wash his feet or have his servants wash his feet. Total disrespect. She comes there, rectifies that situation with her own tears, drenches his feet with her tears, wipes them with the hair of her head, kisses his feet, anoints him with oil. She’s worshipping.
But in both those cases and in other cases recorded in the Gospels, this pre-cross, pre-resurrection worship of Jesus is without the full knowledge of who he really is and what he’s accomplished, right? Pre-cross. How would you know? How would you know that he’s going to be put on a cross, that his body is going to be the sin bearing offering, the atonement for sin? How would we know he’s going to be buried, physically buried in a tomb? How would we know he’s going to be resurrected from the dead? When you worship knowing who he is, what he has actually done, what his life, death, and resurrection have accomplished, now the worship is in full knowledge, that’s how we worship him.
These disciples, these apostles, now with full knowledge, with their minds open to understand the Scriptures according to verse 45, now understanding this connection between what Jesus taught of himself in the Law and the Prophets in the Psalms, now seeing his predictions in the fulfillment of his suffering and his rising again, in real time, having been accomplished, they were there to witness it. Now seeing his pierced hands raised, now hearing him speak the priestly benediction over them, now they’re worshipping him not only in his death, burial, resurrection, but in his ascension. It’s come full circle. He’s come from heaven as the Incarnate Son of God. He’s returning to heaven as the Incarnate Son of God.
They worship him now for the first time, in full knowledge, with their minds open to understand who he is, what he’s done, what he’s accomplished, what all this means. Their minds are exploding. To borrow the language of the earlier text, their hearts are burning within them. Notice there are several ways we see here that this act of their worship, their joyful worship, motivates several righteous actions. Several believing actions kind of flow out of this worship. And these are the actions really that characterize all true believers. These are the actions, the worshipful actions, that characterize and drive the life in the priorities of believers; just as what characterize these apostles.
Check your life and see do I act like this? Does my heartburn like this? If it does not, take your temperature, check your pulse. Pray before God. Ask him to reveal, are you one of his? Do you belong to him? Is there some sin that’s keeping you from seeing what you ought to see? Is there something that’s dulling your heart, something that’s distracting you, taking you away? Because listen, when your heart is filled with worship in full knowledge and understanding this is what comes out of your life: first their worship motivated their obeying.
Notice that they, after worship him, worshiping him, returned to Jerusalem. Why’d they go back into Jerusalem? Obedience to the command of verse 49. You’re to stay in the city until you’re clothed with power. Check! Going to do it. Acts 14, “Gathering them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem to wait for what the father had promised.” Done! We’re going to do it. Yes, Sir! Yes, Lord! Look, when we worship Christ, we want to do what he says, exactly what he says. We don’t want to veer out the path at all. Why? Because to obey Christ is the most joyful thing that we can do. It’s what we were designed for, what we were created for.
Man, there’s so many distractions and so many lies out there of what you ought to achieve, what you ought to pursue. I feel for the young people today. They’re flooded with options, so many distracting options, so many things that they can get into, so many things that they shouldn’t get into but they do. Chasing lies and deception, distractions always contrary to God’s design for their life. God designed us to be happy in Christ, to be happy in obedience, to be happy doing something great for his name, to be part of the most significant and meaningful project out there, which is to evangelize and disciple, which is to build the church, which is do Christ’s will, to obey his Word. It is awesome, it is life giving, it is stimulating, it is joyful, and there’s so many sad people running around thinking that this earth is their home, this is their heaven on earth, and they’re going to chase it, get it, and then one day they’re going to stand before God and answer for all that, and that will be a sad day. Look, when we worship Christ, we want to do what he says. We can think of nothing better. True Christians love obeying Christ. That’s what worship does. It drives and motivates obedience.
Second, worship motivated. They’re rejoicing and day after worshipping him, return to Jerusalem and not reluctant, reluctantly. They weren’t begrudging, they weren’t dragging their feet. They weren’t like, man, there’s a football game on. We sure we have to go back right now. They went with great joy. They went with great joy. Prior to the Passion Week, when Jesus told them that he was going away in John 13:33, remember that scene where the apostles, they became troubled by him saying I’m going away. They became sorrowful. Peter asked him, Lord, where are you going? Lord, why can’t I follow you right now? Don’t leave.
John 14:1, Jesus said,” don’t, “don’t let your heart be troubled believe in God, believe also in me.” Why not let your heart be troubled? “Because I go to prepare a place for you.” I’m doing good work up there. I’m getting a place ready for you. “And if I go and prepare a place for you,” why would I do that? “So that I can come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” Still, in spite of that good news, he had to tell them again. Don’t let your heart be troubled. Don’t let it be fearful.
Later that night, says in John 16, verse six, “He said, ‘because I’ve said these things, sorrow has filled your heart.’” He’s reading them like a book. Hearts are manifest before them. This is the night of his betrayal. It’s in the upper room. “He said, ‘I tell you the truth, it’s to your advantage that I go away.’” I know it’s hard for you to understand, but look, this is, this accrues to your benefit. “‘If I don’t go away, the advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I’m going to send him to you.’” That’s new covenant language. I’m going to send the Holy Spirit to you. You guys realize what this means, it means you are going to be partakers of a new covenant, not like the covenant I made with your Father’s when they died in the wilderness because they broke that covenant and they abandoned God and God abandoned them. No, not that covenant.
You’re going to be participants, a new covenant. You can have the gift of the Holy Spirit. Oh, there is treasure and riches abounding for evermore for you. “It’s to your advantage that I go away. If I go away, I’m going to send the advocate to you.” Then he says this in John 16 verse 16, “A little while and you will no longer see me. And again in a little while you will see me.” Death burial. Don’t see him. Resurrection, you will see me. Some of his disciples then said to one another, what is this? “He’s telling us a little while, you’ll not see me. A little while again you’ll see me. And he said, because I go to the Father.”
So they were saying, what is this that he says a little while. We do not know what he’s talking about. Jesus knew they’re wishing to question him. They’re whispering among themselves right there at the table. “And he said to them, ‘Are you deliberating together about this? That I said, a little while you won’t see me,’” a little again. “‘A little while you will see me. Truly, truly. I say to you, you will cry and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned to joy. Whenever a woman is in labor, she has sorrow because her hours come, but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the suffering because the joy that a child’s been brought in the world.’”
It’s like that, guy’s. Therefore, you too have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and no one will take your joy away from you. That is what Luke is summarizing with that simple description. They returned to Jerusalem with great joy, abiding joy, indomitable joy. You know, all through the book of Acts, these guys are chucked in prison, beaten, Paul’s stoned. So much suffering, so much difficulty, so much rejection. I can’t find any evidence that they ever lost their joy. No one could take it away.
So between the Upper Room and now, 40 days later, what’s changed? What’s changed is that they’re worshipping and their worshipping is now fully informed. They’ve got full gospel, knows they’ve got full gospel understanding and that leads to joy. The great joy, mega is the word. Mega joy of this informed worship of this gospel obedience.
Third, worship motivated. They’re witnessing. It says that they were continually in the Temple. What were they doing there? Let me go back to the Temple. Interesting that Luke starts his Gospel in the Temple in Jerusalem and ends his Gospel in the Temple in Jerusalem. What are they doing in the Temple? Worshipping. Now they’re worshipping, while they’re obediently waiting for the promise of the father. They’re rejoicing in the fulfillment of Christ of all the temple sacrifices. They see him in the temple sacrifices, the temple furnishings, the temple accoutrements. They see him in the temple itself.
They see Christ everywhere now. Everything’s pointing to Christ. Do you think they kept silent about that or you think they taught? Some people think they told them, hey, check this out. Excited to tell everybody about it. Their worship, their joy is a witness to everyone and it’s the most compelling witness because it’s grounded in the truth of Scripture. It’s based in the reality of what Christ has done and what he’s accomplished. Their witness is now filled with joy. Worship motivated their obeying, their rejoicing, their witnessing. One more, worship motivated their praising, which again, as I said, brings us full circle. It’s like saying their worship motivated their worship. And that really is how it, how it works; true worship begets true worship and it involves obedience, joy, and witness.
If you’re going to be a true worshipper of God, you’re going to be obedient to him, you’re going to be joyful in him, and you’re going to be a witness of him. They’ve been blessed by Christ. Christ, who pronounced the favor of God upon them, and now they turn around and they bless God in return. They, they’re not conferring anything upon God obviously. When it comes from God to man, he blesses man or Christ blesses man. He’s conferring favor. He’s giving them something that they lack.
When we turn and bless God, when we eulogize him, eulogeo, we return thanks to him. We just, we’re acknowledging what he really is, who he is, what he’s like, what he’s done. We’re praising him. We’re returning thanks to him. We have nothing except that which we’ve received and we’re acknowledging that. He’s so abundantly blessed them. Their hearts are filled with joy, filled with worship, and they love going back to the Temple and worshiping him, seeing him in everything, rejoicing, telling others, and now praising him.
Praising him, reminds me, there’s a verse in Ruth, Ruth 2 verse 4, where Boaz, he comes from Bethlehem and he says to the reapers, reapers who are in his field, he says, “May Yahweh be with you.” Remember that man, Boaz, noble man, dignified, well spoken, worshipper of God, he says to the reapers in the field, “May Yahweh be with you.” And remember the reapers are there; these are the people who are reaping and picking up all his, they’re working for him. They say to him in return, ‘May Yahweh bless you.”
They don’t say, well, of course you would say, “May Yahweh be with you,” you who are in the power position, you who are the one whose advantaged to me having to be under your authority and subservient to you. You are being, you are the power guy, so, yeah, obviously you’d say something like that. Nice to say that when you live in the lap of luxury, when you own the field, that we’re crawling at your feet reaping your stuff.
Can’t wait for the the Great Awakening, where I can flip this whole thing around and the oppressed now gives it to the oppressor. No attitude like that at all. May Yahweh be with you, they say to him in return. May Yahweh bless you. Where are these reapers reaping? In the fields of Boaz. They’re experiencing the blessing of Boaz, the fruitfulness of Boaz, seeing God’s blessing upon Boaz. And these reapers, in their hearts, they’re not jealous, they’re not envious. They recognize Boaz is favored of God and we are favored in his favor, and we rejoice in that. May Yahweh be with you, reapers. May Yahweh bless you, landowner. So experiencing the blessing of Boaz, they receive the benediction of Boaz and they return the blessing to Boaz.
So same thing our Lord does with these apostles. Same thing he does with you and me. We’re already receiving, experiencing the blessing of God, the favor of God, and he pronounces that benediction over us. He prays over us. You know, right now while we’re in this service, our Lord Jesus Christ, I can say without fear of any contradiction, the Lord Jesus Christ is interceding for you and me, Grace Church right now. He loves this service. He loves the proclamation of his Word. He loves the the upholding of his name. You know who else loves that? The Holy Spirit. He rejoices when the son is exalted, when we proclaim his Word. You know who else loves us? The father in heaven loves to see the Holy Spirit doing his job and exalting the son.
You know what we’re doing here? We’re doing what pleases the triune God. Together, He’s pronounced blessing over us. We’re experiencing his blessing. We have the satisfaction of his sacrifice for our sins. We’re forgiven. We’re covered in his righteousness. We’re reconciled to God. We’re in him, at the right hand of the father. He intercedes for us. He does that for our good. He does that for our blessing. And all we do simply return thanks. It’s right and appropriate. But boy, don’t we long to do it. Don’t we want to be zealous and eager to return thanks and praise God, from whom all blessings flow.
Worship continues, it continues because the story is not over. The mission of Christ continues. It continues in and through his church. That’s what makes the ascension of Christ so critical to understand. It evokes such great joy in us as we worship the risen and glorified Christ.
I want to give several closing thoughts, and we’re going to pick this up next time in a sermon on the ascended ministry of the Lord Jesus. I want to, I want to take some time next week and just pause on this point and reflect on it with you. But as I said from the beginning, I’ve been praying for you all, that you’ll rejoice in Christ, who is your forerunner into heaven. That you’ll rejoice in Christ, who’s your great high priest, the one who intercedes for you, who ascended into heaven for you, who is there ministering to you because he loves you. He favors you. If that doesn’t lift your heart and cause your heart to burn within, again check your temperature, check your pulse.
Let me give you a few reasons to rejoice. Rejoice in the ascension of Christ because it is his due reward for his faithful obedience. Don’t we love justice? We do. It’s in our heart to love justice. You know what’s just and right? For Christ to be rewarded for what he has done. Is there anyone more deserving? Is there any, anyone more undeserving of the ignominious death that he died on our behalf? I mean, he didn’t deserve to die, he’s sinless, undefiled, spotless, Lamb of God; shouldn’t have died, should live.
His bodily ascension means that we will follow him there. Travis Allen
So having given himself over to death for us, having gone through the suffering and the death and all the humiliation, faithfully obeying God, doing the father’s will, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, Should he not? Isn’t it not just and right for him to be exalted on high? Absolutely it is. And so in our hearts, we love justice, we love righteousness, and we love to see him rewarded, to get his due. His days of humiliation have ended and the time of his exaltation has begun, and it will never abate, never change.
He has received into heaven without hesitation, without reservation. Paul rejoices in this in Philippians 2:9 to 11. “Therefore God also highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the father.” Listen, you either bow the knee now, today, or you will be made to bow later. And if you are made to bow because your heart isn’t in it, that is an indication that you are under the condemnation of God and will endure a just sentence for your rebellion.
Those of us who bow the knee now, who confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the father now, it’s because we’ve been highly favored. We’ve been shown grace, mercy, kindness from God. So rejoice in the ascension because it’s his due reward for obedience. Rejoice in the ascension of Christ because he charted the course where you are going to follow. He’s charted the course for you. This is the pathway. If I could state it very simply, the path is this suffering, glory; suffering first, and then glory. But we notice in the course that he charts for us, the journey that he takes ahead of us, just as Christ’s bodily resurrection is the hope of our own bodily resurrection, he is the first fruits of all who arise from the dead.
But so also his bodily ascension means that we will follow him there. Christ is our federal head, federal just meaning representative. He represents a redeemed humanity and he is a life-giving spirit. This Christ elevates us to this new reality, to a a greater and a better existence for humanity, which requires a world that’s fit for us. And this is what Jesus meant when he said to his disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
He charted the course for you. Rejoice in the ascension of Christ because he is your Christ forever. He’s your Christ forever. He’s your perfect mediator. He is your prophet, priest, and king. He’s yours. He’s given to you. He’s, in Christ means anointed Messiah; Mashiach, to be anointed by God, to be set in that position, to be the perfect mediator, the prophet, priest, and king. He’s been anointed by God for you, to minister to you. Acts 3:21 says that, “Jesus Christ is appointed for you whom heaven must receive.” That is, it’s an obligation for heaven to receive this Christ, who’s getting his due reward to be ascended and glorified on high and exalted. But he’s been appointed for you whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time. That is his second coming. That is, the entire millennial Kingdom portrays this restoration of all things, when Jesus will come and fulfill his kingly ministry. He’s king now, but that’s not visibly seen.
Now it’s time for his mediatorial, interceding, high priestly ministry. It says, the writer to the Hebrews says, in Hebrews 4:14 to 16, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who’s passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,” I love this, “let us take hold of our confession.” Take hold of it, hold on to it. Grab that confession of faith, that confession of truth, what you believe in your heart, what you confess with your mouth, take hold of it. “For we do not have a high priest who can’t sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things like we are, and yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. That we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Rejoice in the ascension of Christ, because that is evidence that he’s your Christ and he’s your Christ forever. Next, rejoice in the ascension of Christ, because in him the father accepts his chosen people. It’s in him the father accepts you if you’re one of his people. God sent his son to take on humanity, to be united to us, body and spirit. He is a real human soul, and it’s by his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, all of them in the body, that God receives to himself, the Incarnate Son, and in him he receives all of us as well. So in him God loves us, God approves of us, he favors us. He fulfills his purpose for humanity to be the image bearers of him. We, being conformed to the likeness of his son, are image bearers of God, conveying his love to all of creation. God loves us, redeemed humanity. He approves of us. He favors us because of Christ.
One more: rejoice in the ascension of Christ, because in him is the power to partner with him, to fellowship with him, in doing his will. While we await his return, our Lord Jesus, risen, glorified, resurrected, he now ministers to us by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, whom he sent to us, first to regenerate us, then to take up residence within us, to indwell us, to seal us, and to sanctify us, and conform us to the image of the Son of God. And this Jesus, ascended on high, ministers to us through the Holy Spirit, and by the Holy Spirit in prayer.
The son and the Spirit both interceding for us according to the father’s will. And so while he prepares a place for us, and while he, by the Spirit, prepares us for that place, he prays for us. What’s he praying for? What’s he praying for? He prays as the leader of our mission, the leader of his Great Commission. He prays for us as he sends us out to make disciples for God’s glory. He prays for us when we’re wounded by sins. He prays for us when we’re distracted by trivialities. He prays for us when we’re troubled, afflicted, hurt. Prays for us when we’re wounded, sorrowing. Prays for us when we’re rejoicing. He prays for our joy.
All of this, though, so we can keep our eyes on target. Keep doing the mission. As Alfred Edersheim says, “Theirs was to be work not rest, suffering not triumph. The great promise before them was of spiritual, not outward power of the Holy Ghost and their call not yet to reign with him, but to bear witness for him.” You know what we are beloved? We’re like heralds sent into a foreign land to stand in the marketplace and say, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, repent,” get your hearts ready.
We’re like John the Baptist going out there and saying repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. We’re out there to tell them, look, he’s coming again. Get your heart right, get your life ready, repent and receive the promise of forgiven sin, covering of righteousness. We’re heralds, we’re preachers, we’re teachers, we’re disciple makers. We go out there and evangelize those who are lost and all those who are found, we teach them to obey everything that Jesus has commanded. We disciple them. We fill the ranks of the elect church with worshipping, obeying, rejoicing, witnessing, and praising saints. That’s what we got to do. That’s our life’s work. All while we wait for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Isn’t this a great way to end the Gospel of Luke with this kind of hope and joy, this favor of God, this blessing? I’m praying it’ll ignite your heart and that we will turn this town upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let’s pray about that.
Our Father, we do ask that you would grant us what we request. In Isaiah it says the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands. And we have a nobility because of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit who indwells us, who continues to make us, to ennoble our lives, to make us more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. And the more we grow in that ennobling work, growing in virtue in the fruit of the Spirit, the more it is that our hearts are aligned with yours. The more we pray according to your will, the more we make noble plans.
Let us do noble deeds of proclaiming this good news to a lost and dying generation. Let us do our part in our corner of the vineyard, in our time to bring glory and honor to you. In the name of Jesus Christ. Pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to be working mightily within us. Fill us with joy, fill us with great hope and longing. Let us not be slack, but be fervent and earnest and sincere in our proclamation of the gospel. Let us be satisfied in nothing else, but content always and only in you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.