Christ presented His humanity, His offering of Himself, and His work on behalf of humanity when He ascended on high and sat down. The seat in the heavenly sanctuary is a throne, and His sitting on that throne is a signal of coronation and completion, resulting from a victory won over sin, Satan, and death (Hebrews 2:14–15).

“He was taken up in glory.”

This is how Paul describes the ascension of Jesus in an early doctrinal summary of the Christian faith (1 Tim. 3:16). This event in the history of Jesus was then deemed important enough to be included in the Nicene Creed. Despite this, the doctrine has often been neglected in both the pulpit and the theological academy to such an extent that some have described as being in eclipse.

A Doctrine in Eclipse

Why might this be? Consider the following. First, the challenging cosmology of the ascension. What does his going up from Jerusalem mean for where heaven might be? Is heaven really up? And would ‘up’ be ‘down’ if you lived ‘down under’ in Australia? Second, the challenging idea that the Son of God, fully divine but fully human, in a glorified body, has taken his place as a man in the Godhead. Third, the tendency to conflate the ascension with the resurrection of Jesus, as if they were one event, thus shading the ascension under the resurrection. And fourth, the seemingly obscure references to the king priest Melchizedek and how, according to Hebrews, Jesus assumed this order of kingly priesthood.

Yet the cosmology is not a problem if we understand that the God who created space and time can transcend both if he chooses. Where heaven is remains a mystery. We rest in the fact that it is where the triune God dwells. And the entry into heaven of the man Christ Jesus is in one sense no more than an extension of his incarnate existence which began when he as the eternal Son became human.

Further, it’s not as if he was outside of the presence of his Father throughout his whole life on earth. In fact, the reality that he is a man in glory is absolutely vital for our salvation as human beings. In God’s eternal council he chose his Son to become human in order that in Jesus, the last Adam, the humanity which had become alienated from God and broken through sin would in Christ’s humanity be reconciled and restored to become the new humanity.

The church father Irenaeus spoke of this as recapitulation, the re-heading of the human race in Christ. In the glorified Jesus, at the right hand of God, we have the embodied destiny of all redeemed humanity who will one day also be glorified—he is bringing “many sons to glory” (Heb. 2:10)—and take their place in heaven come to earth.

As for the tendency to conflate the events of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, this narrative is countered by the fact that these events were separated historically by forty days. The apostles’ teaching concerning these two events in the history of Jesus makes clear that, though clearly related, each event has a different doctrinal focus. Theologian Stephen Seamands expresses the importance of the distinction in this way: “Proclaiming the ascension is therefore crucial in fully and properly exalting Christ. For Jesus is not only risen but reigning. Not only alive but sovereign, not only central but supreme.” Summing up the extensive work of theologian Douglas Farrow¹ on the ascension, Seamands adds:

Whenever we fail to proclaim the ascended Christ, enthroned and exalted, something else—our personal agendas, the world’s agendas, the church’s agendas—moves in to fill the vacuum. Mark it down: when we fail to exalt and enthrone Jesus, something or someone else inevitably assumes the throne.²

And as for the so-called obscurity of Melchizedek and the high priesthood of Christ, even an initial probing will yield great treasures concerning the offices of Jesus after he ascends to the Father’s right hand. He is seated and crowned there as Lord, that is, as prophet, priest and king on our behalf. Those functions are vital to our being kept by God’s power right on into eternity, cleansed continually in our confession of sins, accompanied by his comfort in our trials, and empowered in our prayers as Christians, and in our worship as the church.

The Ascension in Hebrews

This brief article³ is an attempt to help Christians today to recover from the eclipse by introducing some glorious reasons why the ascension matters, including why it matters for the Christian life.

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