Acts: The Ascension | Josh Harrison
What the Earliest Church Believed About Jesus: The Significance of the Ascension
There’s a strange comfort in rituals and patterns we’ve inherited from church life. We often do things a certain way because, well, that’s how they’ve always been done—think of the family who always cut their Thanksgiving turkey in half, never realizing it sprang from grandma’s lack of a big enough pan. Josh drew upon images like this as he invited us, not to mindlessly preserve tradition, but to rediscover the original convictions of the first church in the Book of Acts. Our present challenge, especially as a young church plant, is not to merely imitate what’s been handed down, but to ask: Why do we exist? What lies at the very center of our faith?
And so, this week, we were guided past the familiar terrain of incarnation, cross, and resurrection, to focus on a truth that is regularly overlooked: the Ascension of Jesus. According to Josh, the ascension is not simply a supernatural exclamation point at the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. For the earliest church, it was an event with living, dynamic significance—a truth that shaped their identity, mission, and confidence.
Ascension: More Than a Farewell
Early Christians, Josh reminded us, confessed that Jesus “ascended bodily into heaven.” This is no minor detail, and it ought not be abandoned to obscure church tradition. The New Testament, especially the Letter to the Hebrews, the Gospel of Luke, and Acts, is saturated with references to the ascended Christ.
When we encounter the ascension, we are not simply being told Jesus “can fly now,” or that heaven is simply somewhere above the clouds. Rather, the ascension marks an ongoing reality—one with profound implications for the way we live out our faith.
Four Images of the Ascended Jesus
With a sweep through Hebrews, John, Philippians, and Acts, Josh Harrison helped us see four vivid pictures of what the ascension means:
Jesus, Our High Priest and Advocate
The writer of Hebrews paints Jesus as the eternal High Priest—a role saturated in Old Testament imagery of the Day of Atonement. In Jesus, the sacrificial lamb and the High Priest are one and the same; because he has ascended, he “stands in the presence of God as our advocate.” No longer do we hover outside the holy places, uncertain and condemned. By his ongoing intercession, “the throne room of God is as familiar as our family room”—and there is nothing left that can separate us from God’s love.
Jesus, the Architect of New Creation
In John 14, Jesus declares he goes “to prepare a place” for his people. Josh pressed beyond sentimental visions of pie-in-the-sky mansions. Instead, Jesus’ ascension signals that he is actively architecting the restoration of all creation, not its destruction. Our lives and works have meaning now; the choices, creativity, and reconciliation we enact are not lost—they’re woven into the coming world he is building.
Jesus, the Enthroned King
Echoing Philippians 2, the ascension is also Jesus’ enthronement; he is not only Savior but King. The cross is not merely the payment for sin, but the defeat of sin and death, the reclamation of creation’s authority. Christians are not consigned to cycles of defeat; empowered by the resurrected, reigning Christ, we find hope that transformation—personal and cosmic—is possible.
Jesus, the Giver of the Spirit
Finally, Jesus tells his disciples it is good that he goes away—because the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, will come. Ascension means the gifts and power of the Spirit are poured out. It is the Spirit’s presence that confirms the reality of Jesus’ reign and empowers the Church to participate in God’s ongoing restoration project.
Four Key Lessons
Ascension is Present, Not Past: The ascension is not just a historical oddity—it defines how we relate to God and the world now. Jesus’ intercession is ongoing.
Advocate, Architect, King, and Giver: Jesus’ ascended ministry contains layers: he removes barriers, bestows dignity on our lives and work, reigns as king over all, and empowers us by his Spirit.
Christian Life is Participation, Not Passivity: Our lives matter. What we build with Jesus, by the Spirit, is fitted into the world he is remaking. We are not waiting for evacuation, but working toward renewal.
We Live from Confidence, Not Condemnation: Shame and separation have lost their power. Because Jesus has gone before us, we are invited freely, confidently, into the very presence of God—finding mercy, hope, and a call to co-create with our High Priest.
If you’ve ever wondered why the church gathers, hopes, and serves, the answer might just be: Because Jesus ascended—and that’s the best news that you may have overlooked.
