Real Hope: The Apostles' CreedMostră

On The Third Day

On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He will come to judge the living and the dead.

Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into heaven are critical to our understanding of God’s plan to restore His people back to Himself. Some stop the Gospel at the crucifixion, others at the resurrection. However, the significance of Jesus’ ascension should never be overlooked. This was always a key part of the plan.

Jesus’ ascension marked the end of His earthly ministry, His return to heavenly glory, and it ushered in a new age with Jesus as High Priest, ‘God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins’ (Acts 5:31 ESV). Jesus went to prepare a place for us and, in doing so, paved the way to pour out His Spirit on the church. ‘Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you’ (John 16:7B NIV). Peter sums this up when addressing the crowd after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost when he says, ‘Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing’ (Acts 2:33 ESV).

It’s also a foreshadowing of Jesus’ return – He’s coming back again. Directly after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, ‘… two men dressed in white stood beside [the crowd]. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven”’ (Acts 1:10b-11 NIV). What does this mean for us today? Well, among many other things, it means Jesus is on the throne, we have His Spirit to guide us in all things, and He is coming back again.

Written by LUCY WEIL