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Here an account is given of our Saviour's triumphant ascension into heaven, with several remarkable particulars thereunto belonging.
Observe, 1. Who and what it was that ascended; even the same that descended. Christ Jesus, in his divine nature as God, and in his human nature as man, his person consisting of soul and body, he now ascended in both.
Observe, 2. The place he ascended from; from this world in general, and from Mount Olivet in particular, that very place where he began his last sorrowful tragedy. Where his heart began to be sad, here it is now made glad.
Learn thence, That God can make the very places of our trouble and torment, (as sick-beds, prisons, strange countries) to become places of comfort and triumphant joy unto us, when he pleases.
Observe, 3. The place whither he ascended, into heaven; that is, the third heaven, the throne of God, the seat of the blessed. Hence he is said to ascend far above all heavens; that is, above the aerial and starry heavens which we see, into the highest heavens; unto the place where he was before, as himself expresses it, Joh_6:62.
Thence learn, That the Lord Jesus Christ is returned back again to that sweet and glorious bosom of delight and love, from which he came at his first incarnation; What and if he shall see the Son of Man ascending up where he was before?
Observe, 4. The time when our Lord ascended, forty days after his resurrection. The care and love of Christ to his church was manifested by this his stay with them. Unspeakable glory was prepared for him, and did now await him; but he would not go to possess it, till he had settled all things for the good of his church. And when he had settled his family in order, and given charge to his disciples concerning the discipline of his house, he would stay no longer, lest he should seem to affect a terrene life.
Note hence, That Christ desired to be no longer here, than he had work to do for God and souls. A good pattern for our imitation, to desire life upon the score of usefulness: To be willing to be gone when our work is done.
Observe, 5. How and after what manner Christ ascended up into heaven. he ascended, as well as was raised from the grave, by his own power, verse 10 Whilst they looked stedfastly, he went up: that is, by his own divine power. True, the angels did attend him, but they did not assist him. Elias went to heaven in a chariot of fire, but he was fetched up, he could not carry himself up: but Christ needed no chariot, no carriage of angels for his conveyance, being the author of life and motion.
1. He ascended magnificently, with great triumph into his kingdom in heaven; God went up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. A cloud is prepared as a royal chariot, to carry up this King of glory to his royal pavilion: A cloud received him out of their sight.
And oh! what jubilations of the blessed angels were heard in heaven! The triumphs and universal acclamations are not ended to this day, nor ever shall end.
2. He ascended munificently, shedding forth innumerable and inestimable gifts upon his church at his ascension; When he ascended up on high, he gave gifts to men, prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
And oh! how many thousands now in heaven, and upon earth also, are blessing Christ at this day, for these his ascension-gifts!
Observe, 6. The witnesses of our Lord's ascension. Elias had but one witness of his rapture into heaven. St. Paul not one, but Christ will neither have all eye-witnesses of his ascension, nor yet too few; he did not carry all Jerusalem forth to see his glorious departure, but the select company of his disciples only: The number of witnesses were about an hundred and twenty. Those who had been partners with him in his humiliation, are now made witnesses of his glorious ascension. If we will converse with Christ in his lowly estate here on earth, we shall be made happy with the sight of his transendent glory ere long above.
Observe, 7. The cause and reasons why he thus ascended; namely, because had he not ascended, he could not have been inaugurated and installed in the glory he now enjoys above. Had he not ascended, he could not have interceded, as now he doth, for us here below. Had he not ascended into heaven, we could never have entered heaven: He entered as our forerunner, as our head and representative, and we ascend after him, in the virtue of his ascension before us.
In a word, had he not ascended before us, the Holy Spirit had not been enjoyed by us, as a sanctifier, and as a comforter, at least not in that measure in which he has been since enjoyed by his church. If Christ had not gone, the Comforter had not come. He begins where Christ ended. Take we good heed then, how we treat the Holy Spirit whom Christ sent down from heaven at his ascension thither; that we do not grieve him by our unkindness, nor vex him by our disobedience, nor quench him by our sinful neglects of duty: for in grieving our Spirit, we grieve our Comforter, and in grieving our Comforter, we grieve ourselves. But let us entertain him kindly, on the account of his nature, for he is God, Acts 5. On the account of his office, and the benefits we received by him; for he is Vinculum Unionis, the bond of union betwixt Christ and our souls, without which we can never have either interest in Christ, or communion with him.