The Ascension of Jesus

Overview

The book of Acts is about how the earliest church was essentially launched into a cosmopolitan and urban setting just like ours today. Our church has never been here just for convinced, believing Christians, but it’s also here for New Yorkers who aren’t sure what they believe (or who don’t believe in Christianity). Acts is one of a few books in the New Testament that is pretty specifically written for skeptical people.

There are images the Bible gives us to get across a fundamental change in our relationship with God that has come because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ — they are irreplaceable and nonnegotiable images. Here’s what they are. We are told that when Jesus Christ ascended, he didn’t just go up, but he ascended to the throne — the throne of the universe, and that means three things: 1) relational intimacy, 2) historical strategy, and 3) transforming advocacy.