Ascention, Jamestown, NC
Timothy Keller writes that after the Russians put a man into orbit in 1961, Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev pronounced that “we didn’t see God, so we have proved there is no God”. Perhaps that comment was uttered with a tongue-in-cheek or perhaps Mr. Khrushchev simply had a mistaken view of heaven like so many others. We “gaze at the heavens” and look “heavenward”, up at the sun, moon and stars. When Jesus departed from this planet to prepare a place for us, he ascended into Heaven. But Keller reminds us that “He went into Heaven with a capital H. And that is something far more profound than an orbit in outer space”. And although He said His Father’s mansion had many rooms, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t talking about a humongous Motel 6 space station orbiting the earth either.
We talk about rocket ships blasting off into space or roofers climbing ladders, but we don’t normally say they ascended into a higher sphere. However, we do talk of a king or queen ascending to the throne to acquire a greater authority. And we know that our spiritual Creator transcends both time and space and is therefore timeless and omnipresent. But when the Son of God became flesh and entered this mortal world, He was bound to one place in time, like the rest of us human beings. When His transformed being ascended into Heaven, He entered into the sea of eternal spiritual consciousness in the presence of the Father. Which clarifies why he left and why we can be assured that He has fulfilled his promise to be with all of us always.
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