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These groaning, broken bodies, these virus-catching bodies, these aging bodies, these
cancer-ravaged bodies, with all that they carry, their joys, the memories of joy in these

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bodies, the memories of sorrow in these bodies, all of it, they look to Jesus and they'd
see one of themselves.

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They see a human like us, not an angel, not a spirit.

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A human like us, raised up, ascended now, reigning from the throne of God, and he in his
humanity becomes a promise to us in our humanity.

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You will be raised, you will be healed, you will be glorified.

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This broken clay vessel of your body will be transfigured to a chalice in the house of
God, and its end is to be filled with the wine of his own life.

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The following message was recorded at Kingstree Church.

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May the Spirit use it to help you see, savor, and sing the beauty of God in the crucified
and risen Jesus Christ.

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We are in our third sermon now in our series Moving Through Acts.

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Our first sermon was Laying Foundations for this series, for this book.

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The second sermon last week.

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Was looking at Jesus' statements from Acts chapter one, verses six through eight.

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And we were focusing specifically on this concept of the kingdom, the kingdom of God.

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What is it?

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When is it coming?

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How is it coming?

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The disciples were asking Jesus that question at the beginning of the narrative in Acts.

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And what we said is that ultimately, though the kingdom does have a future element in the
New Testament, the kingdom is something that is coming.

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To be sure, the emphasis in the New Testament falls on the fact that the kingdom is
present now.

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The kingdom is where Christ is.

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And so the kingdom, if we want to say what it is in its most fundamental sense now, it is
Christ's rule over those who are united to him by faith and baptism.

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And it exists wherever he's obeyed as King.

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His kingdom is coming wherever those who are united to him.

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Are obeying him as king in our souls, in our homes, in our neighborhoods.

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So may his kingdom come.

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That's not just the spiritual prayer.

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It it means may his kingdom come here in our midst.

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May lives be bowed to this king.

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Now, this week we're going to look at what happens next.

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But again, we're not going to get terribly far.

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We are going to begin speeding up here, I promise.

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But there's a few things we just need to look at here at the beginning of this story.

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So what happens next is that Jesus bodily ascends into heaven.

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And it seemed to me that this requires a full sermon.

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And here's why.

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We're quite familiar with Jesus' birth, his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection,
rightfully so.

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These things, this is the center and the ground and the fullness of our faith.

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Absolutely.

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But we, in our particular tradition, we have observances.

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Throughout the year of Jesus' birth, his death, his burial, his resurrection, these are
things we remember.

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We don't really have an observance in our tradition for his ascension.

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Other Christian churches do.

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Ours does not.

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And one of the things that means is that it can be forgotten.

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We all know Jesus isn't here on earth right now, but his ascension, his bodily ascending
to the Father is something that just kind of gets missed.

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It can it can be glossed over.

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And that really is to our impoverishment because the ascension of the risen Jesus is
critical to our faith.

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This isn't just, you know, something tagged on at the end.

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This matters.

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It matters that Jesus ascends bodily to the presence of God.

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It has beautiful implications for reality and it has practical implications for our own
souls and how we live.

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And so it seemed to me.

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Worthwhile for us to take the sermon today and ask what is the ascension?

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What is this?

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And why does it matter for us?

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So that's what I want to look at this morning with you.

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And we will begin here, moving more quickly through the story of Acts, but a number of
these things need to be laid out at the beginning.

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Because honestly, the fact that Jesus is ascended to the throne and reigning, that fuels
the disciples' ministry throughout this book.

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It matters that he has ascended.

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So let me read for you the text, and then I'll pray and we'll look at this together.

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Starting in Acts chapter one, verse nine.

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And when he had said these things, the things we looked at last week, and when he when he
had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out

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of their sight.

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And while they were still gazing into heaven as he went, gazing up, behold, two men stood
by them in white robes and said, Men of Galilee,

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Why do you stand looking into heaven?

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This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him
go into heaven.

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So that's what we're going to look at this morning.

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Let me pray for the Lord's help and then we'll dive into this together.

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Father, we thank you for your word.

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We thank you that in it, your will, your mind, your heart has been presented in our own
language, is accessible to us in our own language, but accessible to us only to the degree

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that the Spirit would open this word to us and us to this word.

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And so we ask now, Father, that there would be the present, gracious working of your
spirit here in this room.

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the Holy Spirit of God working to allow me to faithfully unfold these concepts, to point
to Christ, to exalt and lift up our Savior, and to grant your people, Father, to

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faithfully receive and discern and apply these words.

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And I pray that all of this would be unto the hallowing of your name and the coming of
your kingdom and the doing of your will.

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In us and through us.

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We ask these things, Father, and we consecrate afresh ourselves and downstairs the
children, the nursery, and the children's class, and this whole gathering now into your

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hands.

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In Jesus' name.

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Amen.

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Okay, well, we will look at some of the implications of the ascension toward the end of
the sermon today.

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But what I want to do for us here at the beginning is to just talk about what the
ascension is.

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What is the ascension?

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The ascension of Jesus.

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And to do that, we need to actually start by talking about the human body, something we
all know, something we're all very familiar with, the human body.

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And you might say, what?

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The body?

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I thought we were at church.

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You know, bodies don't really matter, right?

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They're just these vessels that hold our spirits.

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They're just these clay prisons that keep us down.

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Our spirits are what matter, right?

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Our spirit is where we really are to be found.

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We're gonna be freed from these bodies someday, right?

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Well, no, actually.

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The human body is God's good design.

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Sometimes the way

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People talk about the body, you could think God like accidentally messed up and made this
thing called matter, made this thing called bodies, and he wish it didn't happen.

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But no, God made our bodies.

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And what we are as human beings is a invisible spirit and a visible body wedded together.

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That is a human.

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A invisible spirit ripped from the body is not the human as it should be.

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That happens at death.

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That is an unideal situation at death when our spirit is taken from our body.

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That is, that is, that happens and it's painful, and we all feel this isn't right,
something's wrong here.

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And it's temporary.

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And the spirit is with God and it's with Christ and it's it's joyful.

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But it Paul says it's still longing to put the body on.

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The goal, the end result for the human being is not to float around as a disembodied
spirit.

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But to be a risen body, to be a spirit in a body forever, we are going to be embodied
forever.

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So that is that is the situation.

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Our bodies, Christian, right now, these broken bodies, these bodies that are under the
fall, in their pains and their pleasures, in their strengths and their weaknesses, in

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their abilities and their inabilities, in their youth and in their old age, these bodies
are means.

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Of knowing God.

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They're not just a weight He tied onto our spirit to make it hard for us.

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These bodies are given to us as gifts to know Him.

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And the particular strengths of your body, and the particular weaknesses of your body, and
the particular broken things about your body, and the particular helpful things.

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Those are means given to you, a particularly shaped key to fit into God and unlock.

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your specific fellowship with him.

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The body is not just this thing, it is a meaningful part of our spiritual life with God
now and for eternity, because our bodies are going to be raised.

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We are going to have resurrection bodies for all of eternity.

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Now they're not going to be exactly the same as these, you know, they're not going to have
the problems of these, but they are going to be bodies and you are going to be

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recognizable in them.

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Now,

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How do I know all this?

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Is this just me kind of coming up with ideas off the top of my head?

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We know this because of Jesus' body, because Jesus has a body, and that matters.

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This is going to loop around to the ascension.

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Just stay with me.

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God, think about this, could have conceivably redeemed the universe by speaking a word of
command, just speaking it invisibly.

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One would assume he could have done that, but he doesn't do that.

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He

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Redeems the universe by making, by causing the word to become flesh.

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The word became flesh and dwelt among us.

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That's how God chooses to redeem this universe.

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He redeems reality through the body of the crucified and risen Jesus.

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He redeems this universe through the body.

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One could assume if he just spoke it, he would have saved like the invisible creation, but
the whole material creation would be lost.

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And he says, I'm not gonna do that.

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I'm saving the whole thing.

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And so he comes, the Son of God comes bodily.

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Jesus was really in a body, in the womb of Mary, really born in a body, lived in a body,
suffered in a body, died in a body, just like you will, just like I will.

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God did.

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Truly in a body.

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And here's the key: was truly raised up in a body.

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If Jesus had raised as a spirit, then we would have all said, okay, the body was bad.

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I see now the body needed to be gotten rid of.

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But Jesus is raised in a body, which means the bodies are going to persist beyond death.

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The body matters.

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That's what the resurrection of Jesus means.

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So God

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Created our bodies, he gave us our bodies, and he does not plan to get rid of them.

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He will heal them, he will redeem them, he will raise them, he will glorify them, but he
won't obliterate them, he won't erase them.

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And we see that again, especially because Christ is raised from the dead in a body.

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Look at the emphasis that Luke gives this.

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Remember, Luke is the author of Acts, which is what we're looking at.

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Look at the emphasis that Luke gives to the embodied nature of

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Of the risen Christ.

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Let me read it for you in Luke chapter 24, starting in verse 36.

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As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them.

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Now that is surprising because his body apparently just came into the room.

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So his body can do different things than our body.

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But look what Luke goes on to say.

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And Jesus said to them, Peace to you.

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But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.

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So they think, okay, this is a ghost.

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That's what they think.

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And he said to them, Why are you troubled?

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Why do doubts arise in your heart?

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See my hands and my feet.

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Why does he say that?

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Look, my flesh is wounded.

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Look at the wounds.

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It is I myself.

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Touch me and see.

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For a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.

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And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

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And while they were still disbelieving for joy, what a beautiful statement.

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We'll just have to move past it.

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And marveling, he said to them, Have you anything here to eat?

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And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it before them.

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The point being, he is in a body.

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The risen Jesus is no ghost, he's no idea, he's no spirit, he is a body.

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He is an embodied human being.

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But here's the important important distinction.

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The risen Jesus is the is an embodied human, but he is in a body that exists now beyond
death.

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That's critical to get here.

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Because other people have been raised from the dead.

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Lazarus was raised from the dead.

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Jarius' daughter was raised from the dead.

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The widow's son was raised from the dead.

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But if you think of death as a river, all of them were raised on this side of the river.

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They all had to go through death.

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Jesus alone walks through the river.

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And comes out on the other shore.

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That's the difference in Jesus' body.

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He's not just raised to die again.

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He is raised beyond death.

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And we've never seen that before.

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No one has seen that's only Christ.

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And this is an example I use a lot, but it's it's very helpful for me.

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I hope for you too.

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Think about a field, seeds go into the ground, right?

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And you there's two ways for a seed to come out of the ground.

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You can reach in and pull it out and say, look, the seed's back.

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But

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It's still a seed, it still has to go into the ground and die.

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Or you can put a seed in the ground and it sprouts up and it rises up as corn with the
full ears of corn growing on it.

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Everyone who's been raised from the dead before is a seed taken back out of the ground,
still a seed, still has to die.

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Jesus' body is the corn that's grown up, actually grown up from the dead, never to die
again.

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You don't take the plant, the corn and put the whole thing in the ground again.

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The corn is raised from the dead.

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And that is Jesus' body.

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And that body, that body raised from the dead, is saying to us, You will be here too.

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Let me read this passage for you to kind of put this into context.

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First Corinthians 15, starting in verse 47, says this.

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Let me get to verse 47 here.

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Okay.

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The first man was from the earth, Adam, a man of dust.

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The second man is from heaven.

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As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust.

222
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That's us, dust dying.

223
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As is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.

224
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Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the
man from heaven.

225
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Which means Jesus now is raised in a body beyond all death.

226
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And Christian, that body is to us a promise of where we will be.

227
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That's where our bodies are going.

228
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I'm going to touch on that in a second, but let me, I'm just presenting that to you now as
the context that we're that we're talking in.

229
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Now, with this clear before us, the body matters, and Jesus is raised in a genuine human
body beyond death, but raised in a genuine human body.

230
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We then have to ask ourselves, where is he?

231
00:17:02,824 --> 00:17:04,824
Where is Jesus right now?

232
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Because sometimes he's not here.

233
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We can't see him here.

234
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He's here by his spirit, but he's not physically, visibly here.

235
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And because of that, we can also often think, well, Jesus kind of dissolves into
nothingness.

236
00:17:18,510 --> 00:17:24,352
But no, the ascension tells us he still has a body.

237
00:17:24,413 --> 00:17:25,213
Where is it?

238
00:17:25,213 --> 00:17:28,142
It is ascended to the presence of God.

239
00:17:28,142 --> 00:17:37,708
And we can have all kinds of metaphysical and and and physics discussions about what that
would mean, but the point is his where is the body of Christ?

240
00:17:37,708 --> 00:17:44,332
In the presence of God right now, as a body, raised up into the presence of God.

241
00:17:44,332 --> 00:17:48,834
I read for you what it says in Acts, where they're looking and he's taken up from them.

242
00:17:49,155 --> 00:17:54,378
Look what it says in Luke, or I'll read for you what it says in Luke.

243
00:17:55,212 --> 00:18:07,195
He led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, remember, which still have
the wounds in them, he blessed them with a sign of the curse born in his flesh.

244
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He blesses them.

245
00:18:08,516 --> 00:18:13,181
And while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

246
00:18:13,282 --> 00:18:16,444
So where is the body of Jesus right now?

247
00:18:16,545 --> 00:18:17,886
In heaven.

248
00:18:17,942 --> 00:18:27,205
In the presence of God, inaccessible, you can't fly there, you can't get there, but
really, truly, a place where the body of Christ is in heaven.

249
00:18:27,545 --> 00:18:40,448
And that's what the ascension is teaching us: that just as the Son of God bodily descends
in the incarnation, so too he bodily ascends in the ascension.

250
00:18:40,449 --> 00:18:46,058
He doesn't shed his body when he ascends, he goes up.

251
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Visibly taking the body, taking the human body up into the presence of God, just as he
descends and takes the human body, he takes that body up into the presence of God, which

252
00:18:56,904 --> 00:19:11,772
means the very same body that God made his own in the womb of Mary, and that in which he
lived and walked and wept and rejoiced and died and rose on this earth, that very same

253
00:19:11,772 --> 00:19:15,854
body now sits on the throne of the universe.

254
00:19:15,918 --> 00:19:20,101
Truly ruling over reality.

255
00:19:20,643 --> 00:19:34,395
One of us, think of this: one who has our flesh and our bone, one who's born of woman just
like all of us are, our brother rules the universe right now, sits on the throne of the

256
00:19:34,395 --> 00:19:35,576
universe right now.

257
00:19:35,576 --> 00:19:37,138
That's not a fantasy story.

258
00:19:37,138 --> 00:19:39,100
That's not a science fiction story.

259
00:19:39,100 --> 00:19:41,972
That's the reality that we live in.

260
00:19:42,380 --> 00:19:46,493
And again, I said there's all kinds of fascinating metaphysical questions to talk about
there.

261
00:19:46,493 --> 00:19:51,156
But the point is, this embodied Christ rules reality.

262
00:19:51,156 --> 00:19:57,501
Now, as beautiful as that is, just to consider, it also speaks a word of hope to us.

263
00:19:57,501 --> 00:20:01,924
Because remember, Paul said, as he is, so we will be.

264
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We have the image of dust now, these dying bodies.

265
00:20:05,887 --> 00:20:08,318
We will have the image of the man of heaven.

266
00:20:08,318 --> 00:20:10,830
We will be as he is.

267
00:20:11,032 --> 00:20:13,143
Think of here's an example for you.

268
00:20:13,183 --> 00:20:15,865
Think of a sculptor's workshop.

269
00:20:15,865 --> 00:20:25,511
You've got all these pieces of marble all over the place, halfway made, halfway built,
rough hewn, kind of chunked up, looking like they're not quite there yet.

270
00:20:25,511 --> 00:20:36,998
And you have one piece that is completely finished, polished, glass smooth, perfect in
every detail, set on the pedestal, the sunlight shining in on it.

271
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And the

272
00:20:37,812 --> 00:20:49,027
Unfinished pieces of marble can look at that piece and say, it's the same marble I am, the
same stuff, the same marble I am, shaped by the same sculptor I'm shaped by.

273
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And so as I I look at this and I say, it's it's rough hewn, it's broken, it's not what I
would expect.

274
00:20:55,249 --> 00:20:58,290
But I look at that and I say, that's where I'm going.

275
00:20:58,290 --> 00:21:00,421
That's where I'm being, that's where I will be made.

276
00:21:00,421 --> 00:21:01,972
So says the marble.

277
00:21:01,972 --> 00:21:07,690
And so too for us, the flesh of the risen Jesus is our flesh.

278
00:21:07,690 --> 00:21:25,354
Our humanity, our human nature on the throne, the very body that was hanging on the cross,
beaten, bruised, broken beyond recognition, that same body is raised from the dead and

279
00:21:25,354 --> 00:21:30,208
reigning over reality now is the body that God says it's it is my own.

280
00:21:30,509 --> 00:21:31,809
It is my own.

281
00:21:32,290 --> 00:21:37,036
And so what that says to us, Christian, is these groaning, broken.

282
00:21:37,036 --> 00:21:51,398
Bodies, these virus-catching bodies, these aging bodies, these cancer-ravaged bodies, with
all that they carry, their joys, the memories of joy in these bodies, the memories of

283
00:21:51,398 --> 00:21:58,403
sorrow in these bodies, all of it, they look to Jesus and they'd see one of themselves.

284
00:21:58,423 --> 00:22:07,124
We see a human like us, not an angel, not a spirit, a human like us, raised up, ascended
now.

285
00:22:07,124 --> 00:22:13,417
Reigning from the throne of God, and he in his humanity becomes a promise to us in our
humanity.

286
00:22:13,417 --> 00:22:18,219
You will be raised, you will be healed, you will be glorified.

287
00:22:18,219 --> 00:22:30,644
This broken clay vessel of your body will be transfigured to a chalice in the house of
God, and its end is to be filled with the wine of his own life.

288
00:22:30,784 --> 00:22:36,276
That's the s that's the truth for every every everybody and everybody here.

289
00:22:36,460 --> 00:22:40,291
That is the promise that the ascension makes for us.

290
00:22:40,691 --> 00:22:42,752
And the ascension makes another promise, too.

291
00:22:42,752 --> 00:22:44,452
Look what the angels say.

292
00:22:45,072 --> 00:22:46,713
Why do you stand looking into heaven?

293
00:22:46,713 --> 00:22:53,074
This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him
go.

294
00:22:53,115 --> 00:23:05,978
So this is not a sermon about the return of Christ, but the ascension, the bodily
ascension of Jesus, promises to us also a bodily return of Jesus.

295
00:23:06,678 --> 00:23:09,439
Jesus is not coming back as an idea.

296
00:23:09,439 --> 00:23:14,790
Or, well, isn't his return really the philosophy that we all have to be good and kind to
one another?

297
00:23:14,790 --> 00:23:16,531
Isn't that really the return of Jesus?

298
00:23:16,531 --> 00:23:19,162
No, that is not really the return of Jesus.

299
00:23:19,162 --> 00:23:22,722
His return is an embodied return.

300
00:23:22,722 --> 00:23:26,343
Just as he ascended, so he will return.

301
00:23:26,344 --> 00:23:35,456
And when he does, the wounds of his crucifixion and his glorified body will be a
declaration to all creation.

302
00:23:35,892 --> 00:23:50,972
This one is Lord, God, and King, returned and healing all of humanity, not just healing
the invisible spirit, healing all of humanity in the embodied return of our King and our

303
00:23:50,972 --> 00:23:51,593
Savior.

304
00:23:51,593 --> 00:23:55,215
Now, that's a little bit about the ascension.

305
00:23:55,215 --> 00:24:00,409
The ascension is kind of this final vindication that bodies do matter, that bodies do
matter.

306
00:24:00,409 --> 00:24:03,661
God took it with him all the way to the top.

307
00:24:04,021 --> 00:24:05,066
Now, what are some

308
00:24:05,066 --> 00:24:07,197
Implications for us about this?

309
00:24:07,197 --> 00:24:09,209
Is this just an interesting theological idea?

310
00:24:09,209 --> 00:24:11,651
And if you like that kind of stuff, good for you.

311
00:24:11,651 --> 00:24:18,175
Now, I think there are some applications we can consider, some implications of this that
can help us.

312
00:24:18,175 --> 00:24:28,281
The first one is this: look with me or listen carefully with me as I read Acts chapter 2,
verses 32 and 36.

313
00:24:28,482 --> 00:24:34,872
Here's what Paul or Peter says in his sermon: Acts chapter 2, verses 32.

314
00:24:34,872 --> 00:24:36,223
Through 36.

315
00:24:36,623 --> 00:24:51,503
He says this, this Jesus, God raised up, and of this we are all witnesses, being therefore
exalted, there's the ascension, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and

316
00:24:51,503 --> 00:24:59,938
having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this
that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

317
00:24:59,959 --> 00:25:05,042
So the Spirit is given as the as the result of Christ being raised to the throne.

318
00:25:05,058 --> 00:25:17,247
Then listen, for David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, The Lord said
to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

319
00:25:17,247 --> 00:25:31,597
Let all the house of Israel therefore therefore know for certain, and we could say, Let
all creation therefore know for certain God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus

320
00:25:31,597 --> 00:25:33,448
whom you have crucified.

321
00:25:33,944 --> 00:25:39,717
So the ascension declares that this Jesus is Lord and Christ.

322
00:25:39,717 --> 00:25:51,063
Now, those two terms are loaded with all kinds of meaning, but in that particular context,
most immediately, Lord is the term that Caesar claimed for himself.

323
00:25:51,063 --> 00:25:59,688
Lord, when you hear Lord in that context in the Roman Empire, it meant the king of the
world, the emperor, the ruler.

324
00:25:59,888 --> 00:26:03,646
And so Peter says the ascension tells us that Jesus is.

325
00:26:03,646 --> 00:26:05,948
At least the ruler of the world.

326
00:26:05,948 --> 00:26:09,110
Of course, Lord also pulls in all these senses of divinity.

327
00:26:09,131 --> 00:26:12,593
But Jesus is the is the Lord, not Caesar.

328
00:26:12,593 --> 00:26:14,175
Jesus is the Lord.

329
00:26:14,175 --> 00:26:15,556
And he is the Christ.

330
00:26:15,556 --> 00:26:19,158
He's the anointed King, the divine King.

331
00:26:19,319 --> 00:26:33,446
So the ascension declares that the body slain and buried is right now alive and reigning
over the cosmos as Lord.

332
00:26:33,686 --> 00:26:35,046
And Christ.

333
00:26:35,167 --> 00:26:48,594
And one reason that matters for us is because it means that the Jesus who is literally
ruling the universe right now is the very same Jesus we meet in this book.

334
00:26:48,594 --> 00:26:58,750
The very same Jesus who walked on this earth, the very same Jesus who you can know as you
read the gospels, as you read his witness in the Old Testament, as you read his word

335
00:26:58,750 --> 00:27:02,522
through his apostles, this same man.

336
00:27:02,676 --> 00:27:13,545
Rules the universe right now and rules your life right now and rules the test results
right now and rules the the all the uncertainties for you right now.

337
00:27:13,545 --> 00:27:18,298
This Jesus rules reality right now.

338
00:27:18,439 --> 00:27:24,544
And a lot of times we want to, or people want to, kind of shape Jesus in their image.

339
00:27:24,544 --> 00:27:30,289
uh Basically, Jesus can end up meaning whatever I think is kind and morally good.

340
00:27:30,289 --> 00:27:32,510
We can just think that's Jesus, right?

341
00:27:32,610 --> 00:27:38,224
But the ascension says no, a real person is ruling the universe.

342
00:27:38,224 --> 00:27:42,697
He's not an idea that can be shaped over time and qualified over time.

343
00:27:42,697 --> 00:27:53,865
The same person who walked on the earth is ruling the universe right now, listening to me
and evaluating what I'm saying about him right now.

344
00:27:53,865 --> 00:27:55,746
This real person.

345
00:27:55,846 --> 00:28:02,110
And so it holds us to accountability before a genuine king.

346
00:28:02,218 --> 00:28:03,389
A genuine person.

347
00:28:03,389 --> 00:28:07,921
Jesus isn't this philosophy that we can kind of push around and make it work.

348
00:28:07,921 --> 00:28:12,664
He is a person who is who he is and is not who he is not.

349
00:28:12,664 --> 00:28:14,134
And he really reigns.

350
00:28:14,134 --> 00:28:16,245
He's really Lord and King.

351
00:28:16,406 --> 00:28:31,074
In that sense, then the doctrine of the ascension has a political dimension because it
means we actually belong to a king, not just an affiliation, a person, a king who is

352
00:28:31,074 --> 00:28:32,194
alive.

353
00:28:32,354 --> 00:28:34,515
We don't just follow the memory of Jesus.

354
00:28:34,515 --> 00:28:41,418
We follow Jesus because He's alive and ruling the universe right now.

355
00:28:41,418 --> 00:28:44,239
We are beholden to a king.

356
00:28:44,239 --> 00:28:52,342
We are a people, Christian, who are united not simply because, well, we have a particular
morality and it helps us kind of come together.

357
00:28:52,342 --> 00:28:55,543
No, because we belong to a particular man.

358
00:28:55,684 --> 00:28:58,915
We belong to a particular king and we obey him.

359
00:28:58,915 --> 00:29:02,086
Yes, we are citizens of the United States.

360
00:29:02,210 --> 00:29:05,772
But we are supremely citizens of this king's kingdom.

361
00:29:05,772 --> 00:29:13,134
And our citizenship, our devotion belongs to him supremely.

362
00:29:13,395 --> 00:29:15,736
That's the first implication of the ascension.

363
00:29:15,736 --> 00:29:25,670
Second implication of the ascension is that we have salvation, we have eternal security
because Christ is ascended to the throne of God.

364
00:29:25,670 --> 00:29:27,360
You say, how's that?

365
00:29:27,661 --> 00:29:31,572
Let me read you a passage from Hebrews, Hebrews chapter seven.

366
00:29:32,108 --> 00:29:38,742
Where the author of Hebrews, traditionally understood to be Paul, is laying this out for
us.

367
00:29:38,742 --> 00:29:42,124
Hebrews chapter 7, verses 23 and 25.

368
00:29:42,124 --> 00:29:44,986
Here's what the author writes for us.

369
00:29:45,166 --> 00:29:55,292
The former priests, that is the priests of the old covenant, the former priests were many
in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in their office.

370
00:29:55,292 --> 00:29:58,644
So there had to be lots of them because they kept dying, just like all of us do.

371
00:29:59,884 --> 00:30:11,022
But he who holds his priesthood permanently, but he, that's Jesus, he holds his priesthood
permanently because he continues forever.

372
00:30:11,022 --> 00:30:12,443
He never dies.

373
00:30:12,443 --> 00:30:24,991
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him,
since he always lives to make intercession for them.

374
00:30:25,732 --> 00:30:28,714
So the death of Jesus, the sacrifice of Jesus.

375
00:30:28,714 --> 00:30:35,560
Is the once for all offering that covers us from beginning to end for all time.

376
00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:36,801
Absolutely.

377
00:30:36,801 --> 00:30:42,265
But that once for all sacrifice needs to be presented before God.

378
00:30:42,265 --> 00:30:44,747
It didn't just happen at one time and pass away.

379
00:30:44,747 --> 00:30:48,349
It is continually held before God.

380
00:30:48,450 --> 00:30:50,812
How is it continually held before God?

381
00:30:50,812 --> 00:30:52,873
In the person of Jesus.

382
00:30:52,894 --> 00:30:58,382
Jesus Himself is both the perfect sacrifice given and the perfect

383
00:30:58,382 --> 00:31:02,886
priest who continually holds that sacrifice before God.

384
00:31:02,886 --> 00:31:05,148
And how does he continually hold it before him?

385
00:31:05,148 --> 00:31:10,973
By being himself, because he in his body is the crucified one who is raised.

386
00:31:10,973 --> 00:31:16,017
He continually holds before God the wounds, the wounds in his hands, the wounds in his
side.

387
00:31:16,017 --> 00:31:24,354
He presenting himself continually as the ones for all offering for our sins, covering us.

388
00:31:24,354 --> 00:31:27,496
So Christian, you are covered.

389
00:31:28,174 --> 00:31:39,781
Covered at every moment by the body that bore your sin and the wounds that swallowed your
hell and the heart that poured down your healing.

390
00:31:39,781 --> 00:31:42,422
He is covering you continually.

391
00:31:42,422 --> 00:31:55,890
God presenting himself to God through God forever, because the ascended one bears in
himself still the body that is our sacrifice.

392
00:31:55,890 --> 00:31:56,564
He is

393
00:31:56,564 --> 00:32:07,798
There is the body, there is the as the embodied Jesus saying continually, this sacrifice,
this is given fully for these ones who belong to me, continually before God.

394
00:32:08,259 --> 00:32:12,241
So, Christian, take comfort and be exhorted.

395
00:32:12,241 --> 00:32:17,042
Take comfort because when we fall, we have an intercessor.

396
00:32:17,143 --> 00:32:25,706
The very body that was crucified for you is living now and standing before God, saying,
Still.

397
00:32:25,998 --> 00:32:30,239
Still it's offered, still it's presented, still it covers.

398
00:32:30,979 --> 00:32:40,802
So be encouraged, but also be exhorted because we dare not, I dare not, take the
intercession of the Lord lightly.

399
00:32:40,802 --> 00:32:54,326
If God in Christ is continually presenting his crucified and risen body before the throne,
covering me, how dare I say, well.

400
00:32:54,358 --> 00:32:56,538
I'll do it and he'll forgive me afterwards.

401
00:32:56,538 --> 00:33:01,040
I'll I'll just go ahead and do it this time and I'll get forgiven later.

402
00:33:01,081 --> 00:33:05,543
That is a that is damnable territory to walk in.

403
00:33:05,543 --> 00:33:10,965
Doesn't mean you are damned, but it is very dangerous to walk in that territory.

404
00:33:10,965 --> 00:33:12,826
And so may we be comforted.

405
00:33:12,826 --> 00:33:13,966
He covers us.

406
00:33:13,966 --> 00:33:15,627
May we be exhorted.

407
00:33:15,627 --> 00:33:18,147
He's interceding for you right now.

408
00:33:18,538 --> 00:33:20,909
So that's the second, that's the second implication.

409
00:33:20,909 --> 00:33:24,116
First, it means we have a real king reigning now.

410
00:33:24,116 --> 00:33:28,669
Second, it means we have an intercessor presenting himself for us now.

411
00:33:28,669 --> 00:33:35,412
Third, the ascension presents Jesus as the invincible anchor of our hope.

412
00:33:35,733 --> 00:33:36,713
Hope.

413
00:33:36,913 --> 00:33:39,395
We're saved in hope, Paul says.

414
00:33:39,395 --> 00:33:42,877
And the ascended Jesus is our hope.

415
00:33:42,877 --> 00:33:44,007
Let me show you this.

416
00:33:44,007 --> 00:33:47,189
Again, we're gonna stay in Hebrews just a few chapters earlier.

417
00:33:47,189 --> 00:33:49,921
In Hebrews chapter one, here's what the author says.

418
00:33:49,921 --> 00:33:52,562
I'm sorry, Hebrews chapter two, verse eight.

419
00:33:54,134 --> 00:34:03,442
He says, now in putting everything in subjection to him, that is to ultimately to Christ,
he left nothing outside of his control.

420
00:34:03,743 --> 00:34:18,596
At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him, but we see him who for a
little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor

421
00:34:18,596 --> 00:34:21,558
because of the suffering of death.

422
00:34:21,912 --> 00:34:23,203
So what's the author saying here?

423
00:34:23,203 --> 00:34:27,965
He's saying we look around and we do not see everything subjected to God.

424
00:34:27,965 --> 00:34:30,065
We look around and we say, really?

425
00:34:30,286 --> 00:34:33,727
This is the world subjected to you?

426
00:34:33,727 --> 00:34:37,529
It looks to me like this is the world subjected to death.

427
00:34:37,529 --> 00:34:41,030
It looks to me like there's chaos all around.

428
00:34:41,310 --> 00:34:45,912
It looks to me like there's brokenness and violence and pain all around.

429
00:34:45,912 --> 00:34:49,974
And the author says, right, when you look around, that's what you see.

430
00:34:50,296 --> 00:34:56,449
But when you look to Christ, to the risen one, you take heart, you take hope.

431
00:34:56,690 --> 00:34:59,171
And then I want to know, how does that work?

432
00:34:59,331 --> 00:35:00,772
How does it encourage me?

433
00:35:00,772 --> 00:35:07,875
How is it when looking at the broken world around me, looking at the ascended Jesus can
give me hope?

434
00:35:08,036 --> 00:35:08,446
Why?

435
00:35:08,446 --> 00:35:09,727
I can say, well, good for him.

436
00:35:09,727 --> 00:35:10,837
He's there.

437
00:35:10,837 --> 00:35:12,899
But how does that give me hope?

438
00:35:12,899 --> 00:35:18,922
And it's tethered to this idea of the ascension of Christ bodily into heaven.

439
00:35:18,922 --> 00:35:19,480
Let me

440
00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:21,430
Try to explain that for you.

441
00:35:21,691 --> 00:35:25,772
Remember, Jesus right now is in the body.

442
00:35:25,772 --> 00:35:28,612
He is in a human body.

443
00:35:28,933 --> 00:35:29,923
What is a human body?

444
00:35:29,923 --> 00:35:32,514
Well, you know, muscles, nerves, all kinds of stuff.

445
00:35:32,514 --> 00:35:34,694
But at the base, it's matter.

446
00:35:34,694 --> 00:35:36,154
It's stuff.

447
00:35:36,315 --> 00:35:46,657
It's the very stuff of the world around us, the same stuff that's making this and making
me, and making the trees and the stars and the corn and tears and blood, the stuff of this

448
00:35:46,657 --> 00:35:47,698
broken world.

449
00:35:47,698 --> 00:35:49,708
That's what his body's made of.

450
00:35:50,354 --> 00:35:57,438
The body of the risen Christ is made of the stuff of this broken world.

451
00:35:57,858 --> 00:35:59,319
Why does that matter?

452
00:35:59,319 --> 00:36:00,740
Why does that matter?

453
00:36:00,740 --> 00:36:03,541
Because look at it now.

454
00:36:03,782 --> 00:36:05,742
Look at Jesus' body.

455
00:36:05,803 --> 00:36:08,664
It is perfectly reconciled to God.

456
00:36:08,704 --> 00:36:11,325
He it is the body of God.

457
00:36:11,386 --> 00:36:16,309
Jesus' body, glorified, like we saying, wounds glorified above.

458
00:36:16,309 --> 00:36:19,182
Look at the body of Christ radiant.

459
00:36:19,182 --> 00:36:22,504
Crowned with glory, the worship of heaven.

460
00:36:22,624 --> 00:36:29,509
But that body that God says it's mine, it's the same stuff of this broken world.

461
00:36:29,809 --> 00:36:42,797
So think about when we stand before Jesus one day, when we stand before the embodied Lord
one day, will you at that moment be looking at molecules and atoms and flesh and bone?

462
00:36:42,818 --> 00:36:45,459
Or will you be looking at the glory of God?

463
00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:46,901
The answer is yes.

464
00:36:46,901 --> 00:36:47,781
Yes.

465
00:36:49,812 --> 00:36:58,509
In the body of Christ, the stuff of this world is so perfectly reconciled to God that to
see it is to say, this is the glory of God.

466
00:36:58,509 --> 00:37:00,431
All I see is the beauty of God.

467
00:37:00,431 --> 00:37:02,202
All I see is the face of Christ.

468
00:37:02,202 --> 00:37:05,535
But the face of Christ is made of the stuff of this world.

469
00:37:05,535 --> 00:37:07,166
Now, here's the point in all this.

470
00:37:07,166 --> 00:37:09,117
Here's what I'm getting at.

471
00:37:10,019 --> 00:37:19,308
That the ascended Jesus, what has happened to the stuff of this world in the body of the
ascended Jesus is the promise of God.

472
00:37:19,308 --> 00:37:21,098
I'm going to do that with everything.

473
00:37:21,219 --> 00:37:32,832
What I've done with the broken stuff of the world and the body of my son, so reconciling
it to me that it is my image and glory, I'm going to do that with all the stuff of this

474
00:37:32,832 --> 00:37:35,722
world, with all the matter of this world.

475
00:37:35,722 --> 00:37:40,384
It will all be so reconciled to me that you will not know.

476
00:37:40,384 --> 00:37:43,084
Is it a tree or is it the beauty of God?

477
00:37:43,084 --> 00:37:46,205
Is it my hand or is it the grace of God to me?

478
00:37:46,205 --> 00:37:49,186
Is it a feast or is it the love of God?

479
00:37:49,186 --> 00:37:52,267
The answer will be yes, yes.

480
00:37:52,368 --> 00:37:57,571
That's what the body of the ascended Jesus proclaims to us.

481
00:37:57,571 --> 00:38:00,192
And that is the promise that he makes to us.

482
00:38:00,192 --> 00:38:06,816
Think again of the story of the sculptor's studio.

483
00:38:06,816 --> 00:38:13,059
The same stuff that this broken marble is made of is what that statue is made of.

484
00:38:13,059 --> 00:38:17,621
And this broken marble is able to look at that and say, that's where this is all going.

485
00:38:17,782 --> 00:38:18,930
That's where this is all going.

486
00:38:18,930 --> 00:38:24,751
You see the ravages in this world, the brokenness of this world, the shattering of this
world.

487
00:38:25,912 --> 00:38:27,132
Compare that.

488
00:38:27,132 --> 00:38:34,174
That is to be seen as the ravaging of Christ's flesh, the tearing of Christ's flesh on the
cross.

489
00:38:34,174 --> 00:38:35,974
These two are parallel.

490
00:38:36,115 --> 00:38:43,697
And see now the resurrection of Christ and the ascension of Christ in this same broken
body, glorified to become the beauty of God.

491
00:38:43,817 --> 00:38:47,077
And that is saying, same thing here.

492
00:38:47,098 --> 00:38:48,738
That's going to happen here.

493
00:38:48,738 --> 00:38:49,998
That's going to happen here.

494
00:38:49,998 --> 00:39:01,712
So when we look around us and we see the brokenness of the world, Hebrew says, look to the
risen, embodied, ascended Christ and know what God has done with matter in him, he's doing

495
00:39:01,712 --> 00:39:02,682
with it all.

496
00:39:02,682 --> 00:39:06,123
What God has done with suffering in him, he's doing with it all.

497
00:39:06,123 --> 00:39:12,144
What God has done with sin and what it did to him, he's doing with it all.

498
00:39:12,144 --> 00:39:14,885
So we take heart as we look to this Christ.

499
00:39:14,885 --> 00:39:18,666
And then finally, briefly, one last

500
00:39:18,666 --> 00:39:20,027
Implication.

501
00:39:20,547 --> 00:39:32,715
The ascension of the embodied Jesus Christ means the genuine participation of our human
nature in the life of God.

502
00:39:33,456 --> 00:39:35,768
In the ascended Jesus, we see where we're going.

503
00:39:35,768 --> 00:39:39,720
And you know you've heard me say that before, but think about that.

504
00:39:39,761 --> 00:39:43,103
We see where we are going.

505
00:39:43,103 --> 00:39:47,572
Right now, as I've said many times today, I hope it's clear.

506
00:39:47,572 --> 00:39:51,484
Jesus is in a human body right now.

507
00:39:51,645 --> 00:39:58,089
But at the same time, Jesus is perfectly in the life of God.

508
00:39:58,330 --> 00:40:06,496
Jesus' human body does not keep him in any way from entering into the fullness of the life
of God.

509
00:40:06,496 --> 00:40:15,402
His human nature is fully woven into the very life of the triune God.

510
00:40:15,650 --> 00:40:20,472
And what that means for us is that, wait a second, that's my nature too.

511
00:40:20,513 --> 00:40:34,380
That's my nature, which means our human nature is not only capable of, but is intended to
enter fully into God's own life.

512
00:40:34,380 --> 00:40:38,042
That's the that is the the the end of the incarnation.

513
00:40:38,042 --> 00:40:41,544
When God becomes flesh, he's not just saying, I did this once.

514
00:40:41,544 --> 00:40:43,405
He's saying, that's what I'm going to do.

515
00:40:43,405 --> 00:40:45,536
I'm going to pull you into me.

516
00:40:45,602 --> 00:40:52,384
Just as I made a body my own, I'm gonna pull you into my life, entering into our life.

517
00:40:52,384 --> 00:40:57,645
Our human nature is intended to enter into God's own life.

518
00:40:57,645 --> 00:41:06,318
These bodies are not intended for us to beautify for a short time with this workout
regiment or this cosmetic thing or these clothes.

519
00:41:06,318 --> 00:41:07,328
Go ahead, it's fine.

520
00:41:07,328 --> 00:41:08,208
Do that.

521
00:41:08,208 --> 00:41:10,719
But no, these that's not what they're for.

522
00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:12,289
That's not what they're for.

523
00:41:12,289 --> 00:41:13,789
They're breaking down.

524
00:41:14,070 --> 00:41:15,392
These bodies.

525
00:41:15,392 --> 00:41:19,945
Are not for getting as much pleasure as they can while they're still capable of it.

526
00:41:20,025 --> 00:41:29,262
These bodies are not for getting the most experiences and the most money and the best
house and the best job, so I can be happy, maximize my happiness.

527
00:41:29,262 --> 00:41:31,853
That is not what these bodies are for.

528
00:41:31,853 --> 00:41:34,115
That is not what your life is for.

529
00:41:34,115 --> 00:41:37,157
Every voice around us will say that's what it's for.

530
00:41:37,157 --> 00:41:38,658
That's what it's about.

531
00:41:38,838 --> 00:41:40,299
But that is not what we're for.

532
00:41:40,299 --> 00:41:44,482
The ascension of the embodied Christ says, You.

533
00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:49,212
Are for being woven into the life of God.

534
00:41:49,292 --> 00:41:50,732
That's what you're for.

535
00:41:50,732 --> 00:41:57,015
It's like we're threads, and the world says, you know, you're made to be woven into this
foot mat here.

536
00:41:57,015 --> 00:42:01,397
And God says, No, you're made to be woven into the tapestry of my portrait.

537
00:42:01,397 --> 00:42:03,317
That's what you're made for.

538
00:42:03,438 --> 00:42:04,498
That's what you exist for.

539
00:42:04,498 --> 00:42:06,839
That's why why do you get up in the morning?

540
00:42:06,919 --> 00:42:14,688
Because we are becoming those whom in Christ will be fully folded into the life of the
love of.

541
00:42:14,688 --> 00:42:26,147
Of God, like it says in the Psalms, feasting with God on the abundance of his own house,
drinking with God from the river of his own joy.

542
00:42:26,568 --> 00:42:34,534
This flesh, this breath, this bone, this brain, this soul, this life is made to be filled
with God.

543
00:42:34,534 --> 00:42:39,098
You are made to be filled with God like a chalice is filled with wine.

544
00:42:39,098 --> 00:42:44,728
You're made to shine with God's joy like a mirror lifted up into the sunlight.

545
00:42:44,728 --> 00:42:45,739
Shines.

546
00:42:45,739 --> 00:42:53,223
You're made to sing God's love the way a harp held in the wind will sing the love of God.

547
00:42:53,223 --> 00:42:58,506
And we're made to be folded into his life the way a thread is folded into a tapestry.

548
00:42:58,506 --> 00:43:03,609
Don't let the world say you're made to get to the weekend so you can just have a good
time.

549
00:43:03,609 --> 00:43:07,631
You're made to get to that new game release, that new movie release, that new vacation.

550
00:43:07,631 --> 00:43:13,564
You're made to just, just, just, you're made to be folded into the life of God.

551
00:43:13,996 --> 00:43:16,708
So may we settle for nothing less.

552
00:43:16,708 --> 00:43:19,610
And the ascension promises us this is so.

553
00:43:19,610 --> 00:43:20,791
This is so.

554
00:43:20,791 --> 00:43:22,471
And this is where you're going.

555
00:43:22,792 --> 00:43:27,915
And as we come to this table today, Christians, this is not just a thing we do.

556
00:43:28,016 --> 00:43:30,677
This is a foretaste.

557
00:43:30,677 --> 00:43:35,561
It's a tasting of the first fruits of that participation.

558
00:43:35,561 --> 00:43:36,742
That's why we're doing this.

559
00:43:36,742 --> 00:43:41,165
You know, Jesus says, This, this is my body, this is my blood.

560
00:43:41,165 --> 00:43:43,448
And there's so much mystery around that.

561
00:43:43,448 --> 00:43:50,481
But at the very least, he wants us to think, I am taking into myself the very fullness of
my Savior.

562
00:43:50,481 --> 00:43:55,023
I'm binding him to myself, even as he binds us to himself.

563
00:43:55,023 --> 00:44:02,526
Think about what Peter says as you come to the table today, think at what Paul, what Paul
says in 1 Corinthians 10.

564
00:44:02,826 --> 00:44:06,528
This is staggering, and I can't claim to completely explain it for you.

565
00:44:06,528 --> 00:44:11,520
But look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 16.

566
00:44:12,152 --> 00:44:15,403
The cup of blessing that we bless, right here.

567
00:44:15,523 --> 00:44:18,784
Is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?

568
00:44:19,164 --> 00:44:24,905
The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

569
00:44:25,246 --> 00:44:37,929
So as we come by faith to this table, Christian, through the working of the Spirit, you
are truly and mysteriously participating in that same body, the ascended body of the slain

570
00:44:37,929 --> 00:44:42,136
and risen Jesus, as we come to this table in faith by the Spirit.

571
00:44:42,136 --> 00:44:46,408
There is a participation happening with the living Jesus Christ.

572
00:44:46,669 --> 00:44:56,854
And it's not just a metaphor, it's not just something we can explain away as spiritual,
just as Jesus' body is not a metaphor, and Jesus' body is not spiritual.

573
00:44:56,874 --> 00:45:04,138
There is a genuine participation in the embodied life of the ascended Jesus that we are
about to enter into.

574
00:45:04,138 --> 00:45:05,779
And that's an awesome thing.

575
00:45:05,819 --> 00:45:09,581
And as we come to this table, Christian, we are pledging ourselves.

576
00:45:09,581 --> 00:45:11,081
Don't do it lightly.

577
00:45:11,102 --> 00:45:11,778
Don't

578
00:45:11,778 --> 00:45:14,739
Feast upon God lightly.

579
00:45:14,859 --> 00:45:20,121
We are pledging ourselves, body and soul, to Him as King.

580
00:45:20,502 --> 00:45:31,386
And we are receiving from Him His pledge of Himself to us as our life, and as the promise,
as I am, so you will be.

581
00:45:31,766 --> 00:45:41,486
So let's come to this table with trembling, with fear, with awe, with joy, knowing that
we're communing with our slain, risen, and ascended Lord.

582
00:45:41,486 --> 00:45:43,751
Let me pray for us as we do that.

583
00:45:45,688 --> 00:45:50,001
Father, we thank you for the glimpses you give us.

584
00:45:51,663 --> 00:45:56,967
Even as the glimpses of a mountain peak far off amidst the clouds, but we still see it.

585
00:45:57,227 --> 00:46:09,027
So with the ascension of Jesus, we don't see everything clearly, but we see something of
what you are doing with us, something of where you are taking us, and something of where

586
00:46:09,027 --> 00:46:10,858
you are taking all things.

587
00:46:10,858 --> 00:46:15,638
So we thank you, Jesus, that you did not cast off.

588
00:46:15,638 --> 00:46:26,951
Your body, as you rose from the dead and as you ascended to the Father, but that you
carried your body and our nature with you up into the heart of the Father, so that we can

589
00:46:26,951 --> 00:46:32,212
come there, so that we can live there, so that we can hope in that same union.

590
00:46:32,212 --> 00:46:34,153
Thank you, Lord Jesus.

591
00:46:34,153 --> 00:46:45,602
Thank you for this table that you've spread before us and that you continually spread
before us to bring us deeper in, further up and further into all that you are for us.

592
00:46:45,602 --> 00:46:56,885
Father, may we now come to this table and receive these words that we've heard in a way
that is not unto our judgment, but unto our further life and joy in Jesus Christ.

593
00:46:56,965 --> 00:46:58,866
We pray these things in his name.

594
00:46:58,866 --> 00:46:59,846
Amen.

595
00:47:00,386 --> 00:47:05,628
Thank you for listening to this message from Kingstree Church in Sabina, Ohio.

596
00:47:05,628 --> 00:47:14,272
To see more of the beauty of God in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, come worship
with us on Sundays at 10 a.m.

597
00:47:14,272 --> 00:47:18,156
Or visit our website at Kingstreechurch.org.