A STUDY BY
GARY RAY BRANSCOME
Lesson 14
Christ remained on earth for forty days following
His resurrection, during that time He gave His disciples their final
instructions and was seen by several hundred people. At the end of that time,
“He led His disciples out as far as to
Having ascended unto heaven, Christ continues to
make intercession for us. Had He stayed on earth, He would have either had to
judge the world then and there, or allow Satan’s dupes to continue trying
to kill Him. However, because He now sits at the right hand of God we have the
comfort of knowing that He is our advocate, and that He will return, as the
angels said He would — not in weakness but in power, not to be judged but
to judge. [1John 2:1, Romans
In his fury to destroy Christ, Satan is continually
trying to destroy us, and, to that end, accuses us before God day and night as
he seeks to have us delivered into his power (1Peter
5:8, Luke
Moreover, because our salvation depends on what
Christ did, not what we do, faith in Christ consists of relying on Him to get
us into heaven. Therefore, those who lead people to believe that Mary or the
“Saints” can get them into heaven are not only undermining faith,
but are also preaching a false gospel and leading people to rely on false
saviors (1Timothy 2:5, Galatians 1:6-9).
Christ’s ascension unto heaven is also closely
related to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, for if
Christ had not ascended unto heaven, the Spirit would not have been sent (John
16:7). Of course, because the Holy Spirit is omnipresent He has always been
present in the world, and through the nation of
I might also add, that
because Christ’s work of atonement is not limited by time, Abraham, and
all others who were saved before the day of Pentecost, were saved the same way
we are saved. Namely through faith in God’s promise of
forgiveness in Christ (Galatians 3:6-22, Romans 4:1-8).
Since Christ’s ascension went hand in hand
with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, any doctrines that deal
with work of the Holy Ghost [i.e. inspiration, repentance, conversion, faith,
church and ministry etc.] help us to more fully understand the spiritual significance
of Christ’s ascension. At the same time, because the Holy Sprit brought
the Bible into existence, everything that it says relates in some way to His
work of bringing Christ to the nations (2Peter
For example, Since Christ
said that the Holy Ghost would “reprove the world of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment,” we can see that the truth about creation
and the fall goes hand in hand with convicting the world of sin (John 16:8). In
other words, it is only as we come to know the truth about creation and the
fall, that we understand our relationship to God, the fact that He did not
create us with a sinful nature, and why we are accountable to Him.
Likewise, the truth of Christ’s incarnation,
death, and resurrection go hand in hand with the Holy Spirit’s work of
reproving our own righteousness, while convincing the world that true
righteousness can only be ours through faith in Christ (Romans 3:28).
Finally, the truth of Christ’s ascension,
return, and judgment go hand in hand with the Holy Spirit’s work of
reproving the world in regard to the final judgment, while making it clear that
only those who look to Christ for forgiveness will escape God’s wrath
(Romans 8:1).
In bringing the Bible into existence, the Holy
Spirit not only produced a book that contains history, law, poetry, prophecy,
and proverbs, but one that is profound. Within its pages the Holy Spirit not
only tells us how faith in the true God was kept alive until the work of
atonement was complete, but also reveals God (as Creator, Redeemer, and
Sanctifier) in way that makes the entire body of doctrine part of God’s
revelation of Himself. At the same time, the Bible was not written in the
language of philosophers and intellectuals, but in the simple straightforward
language of shepherds, fishermen, carpenters, and tent-makers.
The scholars of this world have sought for centuries
to discover the one key truth around which all knowledge fits together. Yet
that truth, God’s great master plan of creation, is found only in
Scripture. For, it is only as we acquire a Biblical worldview that we can see
how that the truth of creation is basic to all hard science, while the truth
about the fall is basic to what we know about human nature and society in
general. In other words, all that we can learn by observation, both about this
world and of the universe as a whole, is knowledge of God's creation. While,
all that we can learn about man’s phobias, fallacies, divisions, lust,
and greed reveals the consequences of the fall. In that way, all truth falls
into place around the Biblical record, and when understood correctly agrees
with and supports what the Bible says.
On one hand, the fact that Christ ascended unto
heaven is a warning, for it means that He will return to judge the living and
the dead, and that prospect should strike terror into the heart of the
unrepentant. On the other hand, it is a source of comfort to believers, not
only because all the treasures of heaven are ours, but also because His
ascension, like the resurrection, is a divine testimony to the fact that He was
who He claimed to be. In other words, if He had not truly been the Son of God
He would have died condemned as a sinner, God would have never raised Him from
the dead, and He would have never ascended unto heaven. In fact, that is just
one more reason why the Moslems (and others) who refuse to accept Him as Savior
and Lord, will be without excuse on the day of judgement.
[Mark 14:61-64, John 19:7, Matthew 25:31-34, 1 Corinthians 6:9,10, Romans 8:1.]
1. What does Christ do in
heaven?
2. What would have happened if Christ had remained on earth?
3. Who accuses us before God night and day?
4. Who lives to make intercession for us?
5. What is the connection between Christ's ascension and Pentecost?
6. Why is the Biblical record of creation basic to all hard science?
7. What does Christ's ascension into heaven prove?
8. Why is the fact that Christ ascended a warning?
9. What is Christ’s ascension a divine testimony to?
10. After His resurrection, how long was it until
Christ ascended unto heaven?