By listening to the following 28 minute mp3 sermon on the ascension, by Dr. Patrick Ramsey, I got a fuller understanding of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thought I had a full grasp of the gospel message, but not so.
Hopefully, you will also find this sermon helpful in broadening your conceptualization of the gospel.
After the sermon, I provided a bulleted list of highlights from the message.
- The gospel is the heart of God’s message to us about His Son
- In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul provided a summary of the gospel: Jesus’ death burial and resurrection
- The ascension is another important aspect of the gospel and the work of Christ
- When discussing the various aspects of the gospel, one must talk about two qualities: 1) historical facts and, 2) meaning of those facts, because facts have to be interpreted
- For example: some say that the death of Christ (a historical fact) is no different from anyone else’s death; but the Bible states that it is different because Jesus died for our sins (the Bible provided the true meaning of the various aspects of the gospel, not men)
- 1 Cor. 3:16; Ephesians 4; Psalm 68; 1 Peter…report the facts of the ascension
- Jesus ascended to heaven in a glorified human body
- He is an incorruptible, immortal human being; simultaneously, completely human in every way
- Heaven is a real place, His Father’s house, where God interacts with angels and humans… presently
- Jesus was translated to heaven: He was in the sky one moment, heaven the next
- It was necessary that the disciples saw Jesus ascend to heaven
- THE MEANING: 1) The ascension is Jesus’ victory parade, Col 2:15; Eph. 4…
- We who are in Him by faith are victorious too, so we can rejoice: we are so united to Jesus that we are in a sense with Him now
- Our life, our salvation are safe and secure, since we are bound to Him, hidden in God as in Romans 8
- He is with us via His Spirit as we walk through this earth [towards the celestial city]
- The Holy Spirit applies the saving work of Jesus to us
- Jesus is our great High Priest who cleanses us of our sins and brings us into the presence of God [Hebrews 7 and 9]
- Jesus is THE WAY to God: He ministers to us as the Old Testament High Priest ministered to the Israelites on the day of Atonement [Lev. 16]: that tabernacle Moses built was an earthly copy of the true one in Heaven where Christ now intercedes for us