Forty days after Jesus was raised from the dead, He was raised up to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. His "ascension" was His enthronement as the Messiah.
Easter is considered the most important date on the church calendar, but Ascension Day might arguably be more important.
On that day, Jesus ascended into heaven, to be enthroned at the right hand of the Father.
In his gospel, Luke says,
50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. (Luke 24:50-51 )
Then in his book on the Acts of the Apostles, Luke gives more detail:
9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
Acts 1: 9-11 (New King James Version)
The New King James Version has the Cloud passively receiving Jesus, but the English Standard Version more accurately has the Cloud actively taking Jesus. What's the difference?
In Scripture, the Cloud is not simply inanimate water droplets in the sky. In his book Paradise Restored, David Chilton writes:
God revealed His presence to His people in the Cloud of Glory. The Cloud functioned as a sort of "mobile home" for God—His fiery chariot by which He made His presence known to His people. The Cloud served as a guide for Israel, giving light in the darkness and shade from the heat (Exodus 13:21-22; Psalm 105:39), but bringing judgment to the wicked (Exodus 14:19-25). On Sinai, the Cloud was accompanied by thunder, light, fire, smoke and an earthquake (Exodus 19:16-20), and was filled with innumerable angels (Deuteronomy 33:2; Psalm 68:17). The Cloud is nothing less than a revelation of the invisible Heaven, where God is seated on His throne of glory, surrounded by His heavenly court and council (Exodus 24:9-15; Isaiah 6:1-4), and from which He spoke to Moses (Exodus 33:9; Psalm 99:7).
The prophet Daniel foresaw Christ's Ascension and enthronement as the promised King:
Again, Chilton writes:
It is commonly assumed today that this text describes the Second Coming, and thus that Christ's Kingdom (often called the Millennium) begins only after His Return. Of course, this ignores the fact that Daniel had already prophesied the Kingdom beginning in the days of the Roman Empire [Daniel 2]. But notice exactly what Daniel says: Christ is seen going up, not down! The Son of man is going to the Ancient of Days, not coming from Him! He is not descending in clouds to the earth, but ascending in clouds to His Father! Daniel was not predicting the Second Coming of Christ, but rather the climax of the First Advent, in which, after atoning for sins and defeating death and Satan, the Lord ascended on the clouds of heaven to be seated on His glorious throne at His Father's right hand. It is noteworthy too that Daniel used the term Son of Man, the expression Jesus later adopted to describe Himself. Clearly, we should understand Son of Man to mean simply Son of Adam—in other words, the Second Adam. Christ came as the Son of Man, the Second Man (1 Corinthians 15:47), to accomplish the task assigned to the First Man. He came to be the King.
When the Apostle Peter spoke to thousands of "devout" Jews (Acts 2:5), he summed up the meaning of Easter and Ascension Day:
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29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. 34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says [Psalm 110:1] himself:
36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” |
So the REAL meaning of Ascension Day starts with this:
“Jesus is the Christ”
This is the most controversial proposition on the planet. Nobody believes this.
NOBODY.
If I can persuade you to believe this, you and I may be the only two people on the planet who believe it.
Is there a single church in America that teaches this? Not just as an empty feel-good slogan on a bumper-sticker, but in the same way Peter's audience understood it:
and the same way Roman Government understood it.
I've been told that I exaggerate when I say "Nobody believes this."
Maybe.
But two things are clear:
Let me prove this clearly. Nobody believes that Jesus is the Christ.
Jews do not believe this.
Nobody will disagree with this claim: The Greek word "Christ" is the equivalent of the Hebrew word "Messiah."
Jews do not believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah foretold by David and the Prophets in the Old Testament.
So Jews do not believe that "Jesus is the Christ."
That was easy. You should have no problem assenting to that. (No, I'm not "anti-semitic." Simply talking about what Jews believe is not "anti-semitism.")
But here's what's surprising. The vast, overwhelming majority of churches, theologians, and average Joes who were in a pew on Easter morning and call themselves
Christians do not believe this.
Christians agree with Jews: Jesus of Nazareth is not reigning as the Messiah right now, today, .
Let's look more closely at what the Jews think about Jesus, and we'll find that most Christians agree with the Jews.
First, let's go to a Jewish website and find an article called "Why Jews Don't Believe In Jesus." This article has been republished on the internet hundreds of times. It says,
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I hope you're willing to agree that Jews do not believe that Jesus is the Christ.
There's a lot of Bible verses cited in that paragraph. You might be thinking, "Hey, those guys are Jews; they know the Old Testament; those verses must prove what they're saying." Are you willing to be like the Bereans and "search the Scriptures" to find out (Acts 17:11)? It would take as much time to read all those verses as it would to watch a football game on TV. I'm assuming you're one of those people who believe the Bible is the Word of God, and you want to make sure that you are correctly interpreting the Bible. You are willing to look up all the citations and see what the Bible really says. Most others will be bored reading lots of long passages from the Bible. [If you don't believe the Bible is the Word of God, you might just be persuaded after you hear an interpretation of that book that isn't goofy -- like so many books published by Christians which go out of date every six months when the previous prediction about who the latest "antichrist" is fails to materialize. Please keep reading; this is nothing like contemporary "prophecy books."]
The vast, overwhelming majority of church-goers do not believe that Jesus fulfilled all those prophecies. Or is bringing about their fulfillment in our day as He reigns as Messiah. They sympathize totally with the Jews. Jews are not thankful that the carpenter's son, Jesus of Nazareth. brought about "universal peace."
Neither are Christians.
They believe "peace on earth" (Luke 2:14) has been postponed until the Second Coming.
My favorite verse in that long string of citations is Micah 4. In case you don't know me, I'm Kevin Craig, founder of a non-profit tax-exempt organization called “Vine & Fig Tree.” The name of that organization is taken from the Old Testament prophet Micah, who spoke of a day when we beat our "swords into plowshares" and everyone dwells securely under his own "vine and fig tree" (Micah 4:1-7). I'd love to convince you that the fulfillment of this prophecy does not await a future second coming of the Christ (like most Christians believe).
The Jewish website understands that most Christians have this mentality. Christians admit that the Jews are correct to say that Jesus didn't fulfill all those glorious "messianic prophecies," and on that basis might be disqualified as a candidate for Messiah. But Christians have an "out." That Jewish article goes on to say:
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Go back to Acts chapter 2. Peter tells all those "devout Jews" that Jesus "whom ye crucified" is the fulfillment of David's prophecies about the Messiah.
What did those Jews think Peter had just said? Did they think Peter had just said that Jesus must come again after about 21 centuries in order to become the Christ?
Nope. They all trembled in their sandals because they had assassinated the Messiah.
Oops!
Killing the Messiah is not a good thing.
Peter says their act of murder did not stop the Messiah. He rose from the dead. But He was not just raised from the dead, but raised up to the Throne of David at the Right Hand of Almighty God in heaven. Peter's audience understood that they needed to be saved from the vengeful anger of the Messiah.
And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Acts 2:40
The American Bible Society translates Acts 2:40 this way:
Peter made his appeal to them and with many other words he urged them, saying, “Save yourselves from the punishment coming on this wicked people!”
Peter said is "coming," Peter says, and to use a crude vulgarity, He is pissed.
Jesus did not pass out syrupy, positive-thinking Hallmark cards to those who tortured Him to death. During His years of public teaching, He constantly threatened "this wicked generation" with fiery judgment.
It is a widely-held belief among Christians that Jesus offered to be the Messiah of Israel, but the Jews rejected Jesus as their King, and so Jesus could only be their "savior," a substitutionary atonement that would secure them a ticket to heaven when they died if they trusted in Jesus as their sacrificial lamb. Even if they rejected Him as their King/Messiah.
The unbelieving Jews not only rejected Jesus as their King, but rejected the offer to be "savior," because who wants to spend eternity hanging out with a deluded con-man who falsely claimed to be the Messiah?
By declaring Jesus to be the Christ, Peter destroyed one of the great myths of our day, a myth that is almost universally held by all Christians: that because the Jews rejected Jesus' offer to be their Messiah (King), Jesus could still (but only) be their "savior."
This is a central belief of the view called "Dispensational Premillennialism."
"Savior," but not King. King only when He comes a second time -- more than 21 centuries away.
The Jews who heard Peter's words did not get that impression. Peter gave no reason to believe such an idea. Jesus is the Christ, not just a potential savior.
There is no Biblical support for the idea that the Messiah can only reign over those who give Him their permission.
The Old Testament prophets spoke of a Messiah who would take vengeance on His enemies:
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In fact, Jesus destroyed His enemies in A.D. 70, laying waste the city of Jerusalem, while saving the remnant who believed Him. The Jewish historian Josephus recorded the horrifying judgment on unbelieving Jews in his writings on the Jewish wars and destruction of Jerusalem, in which the Jews, under relentless protracted siege by the Roman armies, resorted to cannibalizing their own children before Jerusalem was burned to the ground (Deuteronomy 28:52-57). The Jews thought the Messiah would destroy the enemies of the Jews -- the unclean pagan conquering Roman gentiles. It turned out that the Messiah's enemies were the Jews themselves.
(No, I'm still not being "anti-semitic." Possibly most Jews accepted Jesus as their Messiah [Acts 2:41, 47; 4:4; 5:14; 6:7; 12:24; 19:20; 21:20; Matthew 13:31-33; John 12:24,42; 3:2; 11:45; 19:38; Colossians 1:6]. It was only the richest and most powerful of the Jews [the "one percent"] who rejected Jesus. That's because they preferred Caesar over Christ (John 19:15). Maybe instead of calling me "anti-semitic," you should just call me "anti-rich.")
Even if Jesus had never been described as "Messiah," but only as a "savior," the word "savior" in the Scriptures is virtually synonymous with "messiah." The Biblical word for "savior" is also translated "deliverer," and the "judges" are called "deliverers" and "saviors" (example: Nehemiah 9:27). But the judges were also "rulers," who "judged" (governed) Israel, very much like "kings," and the word "messiah" means "anointed," as in "king." So there really is no Biblical difference between a "savior" and a "messiah-king." A "savior" is also a "governor." In the Bible, a "savior" brings "salvation," and in the Bible "salvation" includes such concepts as "victory," "safety," "security," "welfare," "health," and "liberty." "Salvation" in the Bible is "political," and Jesus is a political Savior.
Jesus was made messiah and king at His first coming 21 centuries ago, not just "savior" in the neutered sense of that word. One of the first acts of His reign as Messiah was destroying Jerusalem. And Jesus the Christ has been reigning as Messiah ever since.
Wikipedia says that some nations (many formerly Christian nations) like Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Vanuatu still have Ascension Day as a public holiday. Government offices, schools, banks and many businesses are usually closed in countries where Ascension Day is a public holiday. But the United States is now an atheistic nation, so most Americans don't think about Easter and Ascension Day the way Christians did a few generations ago. Tragically, we are all victims of educational malpractice. We don't know the 2,000 year history of the Reign of the Messiah. We don't understand how Jesus the Ascended Christ is reigning in our world today. Jesus ascended to the Throne of David, according to Acts 2. He began reigning as the Messiah two thousand years ago. There is overwhelming evidence that Jesus is reigning as the Messiah, and the prophets who predicted His coming would see the fulfillment of their prophecies in the world around us.
The evidence of the reign Jesus as Messiah is called "Western Civilization." We have been blinded by our atheistic culture, socialist schools, and violence-loving media, and don't see what the prophets would see. If Isaiah or any other prophet were to travel through time to our day, he would fall on his knees in profound gratitude for the transformation of the world which Jesus has wrought as Messiah. The contrast between the condition of the human race before Christ and the human condition after Christ could not be more stark.
One reason we don't believe THAT He has been reigning and fulfilling Biblical prophecies is because we do not understand HOW He does this. We believe Jesus has to be on a literal, physical throne in Jerusalem before He can exercise His full rights and powers as Messiah. That's because we no longer understand how "the Invisible Hand of Divine Providence" works in our everyday lives, through the miracle of "capitalism."
The Bible says Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed, our King and Priest.
The Bible also says we are all kings and priests (Revelation 1:6; 5:10).
If we as kings and priests obey the commands of Christ, then He exercises His reign as Messiah through us.
This
means we do not need a visible, physical king or priest on planet earth.
This means no mortal man on earth is legitimately a king or a priest.
The implications of this are staggering.
Even though I truly believe you will love learning about Ascension Day and "The REAL Meaning of Easter" -- especially if you embrace the idea and make it the cornerstone of your life -- I must confess that there is a significant down-side to your going any further.
Vine & Fig Tree is known by church leaders (if it is known at all) as a "dangerous" "heretical" "cult." They say we're propagating "another gospel."
Vine & Fig Tree is known by political authorities (if it is known at all) as a "seditious," "treasonous," "un-American" "hate group."
Happily, Vine & Fig Tree is still known by the IRS as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and your donations are tax deductible.
But if you come to agree with the worldview and ambition of the Vine & Fig Tree cult, and you make a tax-deductible donation of even one dollar to it, your church pastor will excommunicate you, and all your friends at church will shun you.
I was excommunicated from the last church of which I was a member. No church anywhere will allow me to be a member.
You might also lose your job.
Especially if you work for an arm of the government and were required to take an oath to "support the Constitution" as a prerequisite for employment.
I studied law and passed the California Bar Exam, but when the California State Bar learned that I believe Jesus is the Christ, they said I could not be permitted to take the oath to "support the Constitution," and must be denied a license to practice law. Details. If you believe Jesus is the Christ, you cannot become a naturalized citizen of the United States. There are dozens of federal cases that reach this conclusion, going all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. Details. This really should come as no surprise to any intelligent person, since Jesus Himself was a victim of judicial assassination by the religious and imperial forces of His day. Clearly, your loyalty to Caesar is suspect if you claim a competing allegiance to some guy who calls Himself "the King of kings."
Caesar was obviously a "king," but he also claimed to be a "lord" and a "god." Jesus claimed to be the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and the God of gods.
According to the German historian, Ethelbert Stauffer, the religious principle of the Roman Empire, from the days of Augustus on, was salvation by Caesar: “Salvation is to be found in none other save Augustus, and there is no other name given to men in which they can be saved.”
This helps us to understand the boldness of St. Peter, and the total power he declared rested in Christ, when he said of Jesus Christ, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
War between Christ and Caesar, the Christians and Rome, was thus inevitable. The state and its emperors claimed to offer salvation. The church declared only Christ does.
We are again in the age of Caesars, of political saviors. All over the world, politicians proclaim their plans of salvation, and the cornerstone of their building is man. Look unto me, these false saviors declare to the peoples, vote for me and be saved.
-- R.J. Rushdoony
The Old Testament prophets unmistakably declared that the coming Messiah would bring social and economic salvation. Another word for the holistic Biblical concept of "salvation" is "Western Civilization." That links shows that salvation comes from Christ, not the Greeks and Romans. Salvation/Civilization comes from the True King, not the false kings and lords and gods at the United Nations. All of these kings and lords should repent -- abdicate -- and declare their allegiance to the Christ. The "Vine & Fig Tree" ideal is that of a global Theocracy, or Christocracy. Caesars throughout history -- and the churches that support them -- see this as "Anarcho-Theocracy" -- both "treason" and "heresy."
Do you want the approval of the institutions of church or state, or do you want the approval of Jesus the Christ?
Is Vine & Fig Tree a heretical cult?
Is Vine & Fig Tree a subversive anarchist cabal?
Jesus is the Christ.
The two most controversial words in that statement are the words "IS" and "THE."
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Most church-going Christians believe that Jesus will become the Messiah at a future Christmas, a future advent, a future "Second Coming." But the word "IS" -- present tense -- is the wrong word to use about Jesus being the Messiah. To say that Jesus "is" the Messiah is to say that He already became the Messiah and began ruling in the past. The word "preterit" is from the Latin word for "past," and the idea that Jesus began ruling as Messiah in the past is called "the heresy of preterism."
All you have to do is read 101 verses to realize that nobody in the New Testament was thinking about events that would take place 21 centuries in the future. The imminent destruction of His enemies was foremost on the mind of the Messiah's followers in the years A.D. 30-70. There isn't a single verse in the New Testament that was intended by its author to address an event 2,000 years or more in the future. Read more.
To say that Jesus IS the Christ TODAY is to say that He is already fulfilling ALL Messianic prophecies. It is to say that EVERY prophecy will be fulfilled in this present age. We need not wait for a "Second Coming" to see the fulfillment of ANY Messianic prophecy.
This claim completely violates a core belief of "Dispensational Premillennialism," which has been the dominant view of prophecy in America for a century. That view holds that NO Messianic Prophecies are being fulfilled in this "parenthesis" age. The clock of prophecy has "stopped ticking." It won't start ticking again until the Messiah really comes and is seated in Jerusalem. Or until something happens to Israel. Or something else.
What are your favorite Messianic prophecies? What do you imagine to be the most glorious features of the "millennium?" What wonderful things will be experienced in the "New Heavens and New Earth?" Do you believe Christians should be working to make those prophecies a reality today, ? I know of only a handful who would say "yes." The vast majority of Christians believe that the most glorious features of the Messianic Age must wait for the Second Coming of the Christ, when Jesus will truly begin reigning as the Christ.
But Jesus IS the Christ, the Messiah, the King, today.
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The word "THE" is also very controversial. Almost nobody believes that Jesus is the ONLY savior we need -- in a political and social sense. The word "Christ" has many meanings. The basic meaning is "anointed," as in "king" (Matthew 21:5 ), e.g., "King of Israel" (John 1:49). Jesus is also called a "Ruler" (Micah 5:2), a "Potentate" (1 Timothy 6:15 ), a "Governor" (Matthew 2:6 ), a "Captain" (Hebrews 2:10 ), a "Prince" (Isaiah 9:6 ), and many other words (some of which we aren't familiar with in our day, like "Horn" [Luke 1:69 ]) which are political in nature.
Many political terms can be inferred:
Our point is that Jesus is the -- THE -- the ONLY -- legitimate king, prince, ruler, president, prime minister, governor, legislator, judge, and potentate. If we simply practice what we preach -- by obeying His commandments -- without trying to be God ourselves (Mark 10:42-45), we will have a peaceful, orderly, and prosperous society. All other earthly kings, princes, rulers, presidents, prime ministers, governors, legislators, judges, and potentates are illegitimate usurpers and anti-Christ.
Which in His times He shall shew, Who is the blessed and only [monos, μονος] Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
Who only [monos, μονος] hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen , nor can see: to Whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only [monos, μονος] shalt thou serve.
Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6-7), and He commands us to beat our "swords into plowshares" (Micah 4:1-5). He forbids us to take vengeance against those who wrong us (Romans 12), and forbids us to resist military occupation by foreigners (Matthew 5:41). This means Christians should not support the armed forces or police (except in the same ways we love other enemies, like jihadists). (And just a few days after Ascension Day, everyone supports the soldiers: "Memorial Day.")
I know what you're thinking. "What are you, some kind of ANARCHIST?" We were all taught to be very suspicious of "anarchists" in schools run by earthly kings, princes, rulers, presidents, prime ministers, governors, legislators, judges, and potentates. We are never taught what Jesus taught. Jesus taught His disciples to not be "archists" (Mark 10:42-45).
Jesus taught "pacifism," and pacifism logically leads to a state-less society, a global “Vine & Fig Tree” society.
Jesus said the kings of the gentiles love to impose their will on other people by political and military force, but Christ's followers are not to do these things (Mark 10:42-45). Mark uses the Greek word from which we get our English word "anarchist." He says the kings of the Gentiles
love to be "archists." But Christians are NOT to be "archists."
So some folks will say all this talk about Jesus being THE Ruler -- the only legitimate Ruler -- ruling from the right hand of God in heaven rather than from Jerusalem --
will lead to "anarchy." "Anarchy" (the absence of "archists") is scary because it means we will have to trust God.
1 Samuel 8 teaches us that the desire for a visible, physical king on an earthly throne is a rejection of God.
God
is all the government we need (Isaiah 33:22).
Global obedience to Jesus as the Christ will certainly lead to the elimination of bloodthirsty empires and their Caesars, Pharaohs, and Fuhrers. But it will certainly not lead to chaos and
lawlessness (which is what most people have been trained to think of when they hear the word "anarchism" or contemplate the absence of "archists" in the swordless Kingdom of Christ).
In the Bible, "the sword" is a symbol for "the State." To advocate beating "swords into plowshares" is to advocate what some call "anarcho-capitalism" -- a "Free Market" society in which all economic activity conducted by families, businesses, charities, churches, and other voluntary associations is truly "free" from government interference. They are not free, however, from "interference" by Jesus the Christ. We obey His commandments in every area of life (not just in church, and not just in our "personal" or "private" lives).
The vast majority of Christians today do not understand "capitalism." Government schools teach the virtue and necessity of centralized government planning, and denounce decentralized voluntary planning. They do not understand why socialism is unBiblical. They do not understand how order can be maintained in society by Jesus reigning as the Christ from the right hand of God, without visible, physical kings, princes, rulers, presidents, prime ministers, governors, legislators, judges, and potentates. They do not understand how "the Invisible Hand of Divine Providence" works in a practical, day-to-day fashion. Most Christians are actually afraid of beating human swords into plowshares and trusting in Jesus to reign as the Christ and bring in "millennial" conditions on earth. In fact, they strongly oppose the idea.
Jesus is THE Christ, the only legitimate political Ruler, today.
Taken together, the two words IS and THE are branded as the heresy of "anarcho-preterism."
This website maintains that "anarcho-preterism" is "the real meaning of Easter."
This website goes further, and maintains that "anarcho-preterism" is "the Gospel." This is the "good news" which was preached to Abraham (Galatians 3:8). This is the central message of the whole Bible. Building the New Jerusalem is the meaning of our lives. It's why we're here.
The more you study the reign of Jesus the Messiah, to see what He has done (history) and how He continues to do it (economics), and the more you reflect on your own purpose in the building of the Kingdom of God, the happier you'll be. I guarantee that if you are diligent in this study, you will experience
the most profound, beneficial,
massive, and lasting
personal transformation
of your entire life
Christmas would not be complete without Easter, and Easter would not be complete without Ascension Day. Get the Big Picture on this website: