The Ascension: What Happened After the Resurrection and Why It Matters

Do you have a project that you’ve been working on, trying to get finished, maybe even for a long time now, but for whatever reason, you just haven’t brought it to completion? Perhaps I’ve just described your garage, that business plan, a book you’ve been trying to write, some home repairs, a ministry project, or the tree house you intended to build for your kids in the backyard. Sometimes having unfinished business can keep us up at night and feeling restless. But in contrast, there is nothing quite as exhilarating, or fulfilling, as seeing a work come to fruition.

Our family has mastered the art of celebrating the completion of things—even the little things. It’s become so common in our household that even after our son takes out the trash he walks back up the hill and says, “How are we going to celebrate?” Of course, if you’ve seen the hill we live on you would agree that taking our trash to the curb is a colossal feat!

Why do we have this culture of celebration in our home? Because whether it’s closing out one chapter of ministry and beginning a new one, celebrating the end of a grueling gymnastics season, finishing a school project, or returning from an exhausting but successful mission trip, we want to foster a culture in our home that puts a premium on finishing strong. In the little things as well as the big things, our children have learned that faithfulness in carrying out our responsibilities and bringing them to completion is a virtue.

In short, our family understands the importance of finishing what we began.

After His resurrection, Jesus spent forty days giving convincing proofs that He was truly alive (Acts 1:3) and had conquered death itself. He presented Himself to some women near the tomb (Matthew 28:9-10), to His disciples (Luke 24:36-43), and to more than 500 other witnesses of His resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:6).

At the end of those forty days, Jesus and His disciples went up to the Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem. There, Jesus promised His followers that they would soon receive the Holy Spirit, and He instructed them to remain in Jerusalem until the Spirit had come (Luke 24:49). Then Jesus blessed them, and as He gave the blessing, He began to ascend into heaven.

Jesus rose from the ground gradually and visibly, in a literal, bodily return to heaven, as many onlookers watched in wonder. As they stood in suspense, two angels appeared and promised them that Jesus would one day “come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

His glorious ascension into heaven signified success and completion in His earthly ministry. Jesus had accomplished His work. All that He had come to do, He had accomplished. His sacrifice on the cross was perfect, exchanging His righteousness for our sins, and the way He went back to the Father marked the culmination of a sacrifice that God was well pleased with (Hebrews 10:1-18).

Paul, while in a prison cell, was able to write with passionate assurance in God’s faithfulness even in such dire circumstances because he was convinced that God always brings His plans to fruition. In Philippians 1:6 he says, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

Regardless of your circumstances today, you can rest assured that God will always bring His good work to completion in your life. We serve a God Who finishes what He begins. Let this truth breed boldness in your life that no matter what you may be up against in this hour, you worship (celebrate) a God Who brings goodness to fruition (Romans 8:28).

Let this be your confidence as you abide in Him today!

God can be trusted because He always finishes what He begins and He brings goodness to fruition.

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