Jesus’ life on earth always seemed to end on a weird note. Right after He pays for sin, saves the world, comes back from the dead, and has regathered His followers, Jesus just…leaves. I’m sure the disciples felt like this was an anticlimax too because they are literally left on the top of the mountain staring up into the sky with their mouths open. God has to send two angels down just to get them to move on. But is there more going on here than Jesus taking off from the party early? Indeed there is. 

The Ascension may actually be the most overlooked and underrated part of the Gospel story. This moment when Jesus left earth and entered heaven stands as the great transition point beginning the age of the church and the mission of bringing the good news to the ends of the earth. But why did Jesus have to leave and why is His departure good news?

  1. Jesus’ ascension affirms His reign as King of the Universe.

It’s not just called the ascension because Jesus is raised up into heaven. He is also being exalted as King over the universe. This moment is captured in Ephesians 1:19-23 where Paul says that Jesus is given a position “ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name”. God the Father lifts Jesus from earth to sit at the throne at His right hand, the traditional place of power for a second-in-command, or the heir to the throne. Jesus is being placed here at an equal footing in majesty and authority with God the Father who is giving Jesus free reign to govern all things. That means that we can be confident that He can help us achieve the mission He gave us. If the person in charge of the universe has given us a command, not only should we do it, but His power ensures we can do it. 

  1. Jesus’ position at the right hand of the Father affirms His authority & access.

This place of authority and access that Jesus occupies not only gives Him authority over all the world but also pictures His unlimited access to the Father’s attention. Jesus is always before the Father, which means that if we belong to Him, then our advocate also has the ear of the God of the Universe. That is a comforting thought in a world that continually ignores or hates Christians. We don’t need the world’s attention. We need only to know that we have a representative in the throne room of heaven. After all as Romans 8:31-35 asks, if God is for us, who can be against us?

  1. Jesus’ intercession as our High Priest affirms our forgiveness and family status with God.

And Jesus is acting not only as our kng, but also as our High Priest. Hebrews 7:23-27 highlights that part of Jesus’ job in God’s throne room is to plead our case and remind God that our sins have been paid for. Now normally a priest brings a sacrifice of blood before a deity in order to cover over the sins of the people. This is what the Israelite priests did in the temple. But Jesus is a better priest, who has already offered, once for all, His own blood to pay the penalty for all sin, for all people, for all time. His ministry now consists of stepping forward constantly to remind the Father that His own sacrifice is applied to our account and His own blood pays for our sins. And the Father is constantly pleased to accept His sacrifice and plea on our behalf. 

This would be like if you went to court and your defense attorney plead your case for you and then walked over to the judge’s stand (since Jesus after all is going to judge the world) and then pronounced the sentence. Both the judge and the attorney are on your side! You’d be safe in assuming you’d win the case. We too have that kind of confidence with Jesus as our advocate and High Priest in heaven. With Him, we are always forgiven and received.

  1. Jesus’ heavenly project is preparing a place for us to be with Him again forever. 

In John 14:1-4 Jesus tried to prepare His disciples for His departure by telling them that He is going ahead to heaven not to escape from them but to prepare a place for them. The idea is that Jesus is currently preparing the kingdom He promised to give to us, so that when He returns, He can bring that kingdom with Him and we can be with Him forever. Now the exact nature of this preparation is left a mystery. Is Jesus literally building the New Jerusalem perfect city we see coming down from heaven in Revelation 21? Or is this preparation speaking of the spiritual work of preparing us for heaven through saving the lost and sanctifying the saved? Jesus keeps that to Himself. What we do know is that Jesus did not leave us forever. He is coming back and is determined for us to spend eternity with Him. So that when He left us on that mountain, it would be the last time we would be apart ever again.