Can People Fly?
The Importance of the Doctrine of the Ascension
Today is Ascension Day, the Thursday in the year that the Church has historically remembered the Ascension of Christ. Of all the doctrines around Christ, I would say this is the one that is most neglected, to our detriment. For in my experience, it is the one that fills believers most with an electric charge of spiritual energy.
There are several questions that are answered by Ascension Day. The first is, “Can people fly?” Yes, yes we can. Not yet, but one day we will, just as Christ ascended in the clouds:
Acts 1:9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
1 Thess. 4:16–17 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
So yes, people can fly, and one day we will. (I can only assume this means we can walk on water, too, but I digress.)
It also answers the question: in this present chaos, is there anyone in charge? Yes, yes there is. The Ascension is the fulfillment of Psalm 110, where David observes in the Spirit Yahweh (“the LORD”) saying to his (David’s) “Lord”:
Psalm 110:1 The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
We now live in the age of the reign of Christ. He is King. Over all. And all means all.
This leaves us with many questions. If he reigns, why this or that evil? He does not give us many answers, just as he only said to Job, “I am God, and you are not.” But he does wrap us in a covenant of grace, one that promises he will never leave us nor forsake us (Deut. 31:5; Joshua 1:5; 1 Chron. 28:20; Psalm 94:14; John 14:18; Heb. 13:5).
He calls us to trust that covenant and seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. All of which leads us to the Great Commission. Note that it does not begin with something that we do, but something which is true about Christ:
Matt. 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The Great Commission begins with a call not to action but to faith, specifically in what was ratified in the Ascension - that there is now no square inch over this existence over which Christ does not say “mine.” This is the faith that propelled the Moravians to leave family, lands and culture behind, for they knew that Christ was King over the islands of the Pacific.
And this is the faith that must propel us today, across the street or across the aisle, to share the gospel - that Jesus is King over that house, that living room, that family of Muslims or Sikhs or Hindus or atheists. He reigns. When we get there, Jesus will already be there, reigning and working.
We do not obey the Great Commission in part because we do not believe the Ascension. Yet he is enthroned; He does reign; and not for nothing. He reigns for the hallowing of the name of the Father, to advance His kingdom, so that His will would be done. And so as we believe that and move, he supplies us by His Spirit whatever we need, forgiving us our errors, and leading us every step of the way.
We don’t need better tactics. We need faith the size of a mustard seed, faith in the Ascension of Christ. Hallelujah! Our God reigns!
“Therefore, go . . .”