Ascension Day
Dear friends of Jesus,
"The Forgotten Holiday" could be another name for the major Christian festival that took place this week. Did you know there was one? We're told in Scripture that forty days after His resurrection, Jesus ascended back into heaven (see Acts 1). Well, this past Thursday marked forty days after Easter and thus The Festival of the Ascension of Our Lord was celebrated.
40 is a significant number in the Bible. I'm not sure there are any insignificant numbers in the Bible, but some pop up more than others. For example, it rained during the Flood for 40 days and 40 nights. The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land for 40 years. Jesus fasted in the Judean desert for 40 days as He battled against the devil's temptations. What do all those 40's have in common? It seems forty is the number that marks a period of testing and severe trials: the flood, the wandering, the tempting, etc. If the Lord asks you to do something for 40 days or 40 years, be prepared...
What does it mean then that Jesus ascended back into heaven after 40 days? On the one hand, we can say that it marked the end of Jesus' own period of testing and trials. His mission and ministry on earth were complete and it was time to head home. In doing so, it appears that in the Ascension of Jesus, He also redeems and completes the number 40. As believers in Christ, connected to Him by faith, we must each endure our own "forty years" of wandering and testing in this life, but here's how it ends: with an ascension into glory. Jesus' ascension gives us a comforting picture of what He has accomplished for us: entrance into heaven. You see, Jesus can only return to His Father, to His home and throne if He has successfully fulfilled everything the Father set before Him. And He has, so He does. Because Jesus lived a perfectly sin-free life, died a substitutionary death, and rose again victoriously, your sins are paid for and removed. Your salvation is complete. Your future is secure. Your eternal home is set.
How could we not celebrate this occasion? How fitting a day to shout and sing our Alleluia's! How glorious is our loving, living, and ascended Savior! If anyone has ever earned the right to have a welcome home party and to hear the words "Well done, good and faithful servant!" it's Him.
So that's what we'll do on Sunday; we'll observe this high and holy Festival of our Lord's Ascension. I know, it's not on the actual day, but we can still celebrate it and all that it means for us nonetheless. So I hope to see you and your family for worship tomorrow at 9:30AM. There's no better way to start the week than by receiving all the gifts our God has in store to give us through His Word and Sacrament.