Audio - Jesus Ascended into Heaven
Play Audio
MP3 Download (20.3mb)
The Sixth Sunday After Easter
Jesus Ascended into Heaven
May 24, 2009
TEXT: (Ezekiel 36:25-27 NKJ) "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you,
and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all
your idols. 26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I
will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27
"I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you
will keep My judgments and do them.
Each week Lutherans read three Scripture lessons—an Old Testament lesson, a
letter to the Church which usually comes from the New Testament, and a lesson
from the Gospels—these lessons set the theme of the day for our worship—and
these lesson blend in harmony to set the tone for the day’s discussion or sermon
I seldom select the Old Testament lesson for our consideration, but perhaps I
should—this week I did
Jesus just ascended into heaven—He left the Church in the hands of the
Apostles—the Apostles were first-hand witnesses to the things of Christ—they had
the Holy Spirit breathed into them by Jesus on resurrection evening—this is
where Jesus established the Church in this world—He had completed all things
except the sending of the Holy Spirit to all the world as was promised through
the Prophet Joel
(Joel 2:28 NKJ) "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My
Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men
shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.
Prior to Jesus’ ascension, the Holy Spirit was breathed into the Apostles—it was
not until after the ascension that the Holy Spirit was poured out unto the
world—listen to the Easter evening start of the Church—Jesus breathing the Life
of the Holy Spirit into His Church—just as God breathed life into Adam when He
created him
(John 20:21-23 NKJ) So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father
has sent Me, I also send you." 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on
them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 "If you forgive the sins of
any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
(Genesis 2:7 NKJ) And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
With this as our background, let us consider the three promises of God given
through the Prophet Ezekiel in our lesson
God’s Promise to Cleanse Us
God gave Moses instructions for cleansing a house of God’s people when it has
been exposed to sickness—God was giving us a preview of how the dwelling place
of the Lord is to be cleansed from now until Judgment Day—we are that dwelling
place of the Lord—Jesus told us and Paul confirmed the presence of the Spirit
within us
(John 14:16-17 NKJ) "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another
Helper, that He may abide with you forever-- 17 "the Spirit of truth, whom the
world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know
Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
(1 Corinthians 3:16 NKJ) Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that
the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If, indeed, we are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit—which we are because we
are believers—then consider this Old Testament instruction to the priest to
cleanse a house of an Israelite from sickness
(Leviticus 14:49-53 NKJ) "And he shall take, to cleanse the house, two birds,
cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. 50 "Then he shall kill one of the birds in an
earthen vessel over running water; 51 "and he shall take the cedar wood, the
hyssop, the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain
bird and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. 52 "And he
shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and the running water and the
living bird, with the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet. 53 "Then he shall
let the living bird loose outside the city in the open field, and make atonement
for the house, and it shall be clean.
We are God’s people—God the Holy Spirit dwells within us—we have within us the
sickness of sin—the blood of the bird in the earthen vessel symbolizes the blood
of Christ who died in His earthen body—Jesus declared that He is the Living
Water to give us life—and that water would fill us and flow from us like a
fountain—remember Jesus’ discussion with the woman at the well?
(John 4:10-14 NKJ) Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God,
and who it is who says to you,`Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and
He would have given you living water." 11 The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have
nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living
water? 12 "Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and
drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?" 13 Jesus answered
and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 "but
whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the
water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up
into everlasting life."
As we think about the two birds used to cleanse a house—and we consider that we
are the “house” or dwelling place of God the Holy Spirit—then we must also
consider the symbolism of the washing of Jesus when John the Baptist baptized
Jesus—the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus in the form of a dove—the dove was flying
over the River Jordan—moving water which Leviticus calls living water—let
Scripture explain itself!
God’s Promise to Put His Spirit in Us
TEXT: Ezekiel 36:26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit
within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a
heart of flesh.
Ezekiel speaks of God removing the heart of stone and giving us a new heart—this
is more understandable for us when we consider the prophecy of Zechariah—listen
as God tells us about hardening the hearts of those who refused to obey His
commands
(Zechariah 7:8-12 NKJ) Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, 9
"Thus says the LORD of hosts:`Execute true justice, Show mercy and compassion
Everyone to his brother. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, The
alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart Against his brother.'
11 "But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears
so that they could not hear. 12 "Yes, they made their hearts like flint,
refusing to hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His
Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the LORD of
hosts.
As we already heard, the Holy Spirit has been poured out unto all men—but only
those who heed the message laid upon their heart will benefit—Jesus says we
merely have to ask, and it will be given to us
(Luke 11:13 NKJ) "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those
who ask Him!"
God the Holy Spirit Will Cause Us to Walk in Obedience
After Jesus’ ascension, He sent the Holy Spirit—the works of the Spirit fulfill
the promise God made to the prophets—listen to our Old Testament scholar, Paul
as he explains the Spirit of Christ and the gift of God
(Ephesians 2:8-10 NKJ) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should
boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Paul also teaches us that God wrote the Law onto our hearts—all men’s
hearts—each of us knows what is right and wrong—the Holy Spirit within us
empowers us to obey—we hav e the free will to refuse—pray that each of us walk
in the way God leads us
(Romans 2:13-15 NKJ) (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of
God, but the doers of the law will be justified; 14 for when Gentiles, who do
not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having
the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in
their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves
their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)
Jesus had to depart this world and send the Holy Spirit—it was God’s plan—next
week we will continue to discuss Pentecost—the arrival of the Holy Spirit sent
to believers
ALL GLORY BE TO GOD!