62 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?
This chapter sets forth three main ideas about Christ:
(1) He became incarnate after preexisting for eternity in heaven;
(2) Jesus would die in His humanity to pay for the sins of the world;
(3) Jesus would rise or ascend back to heaven. This ascension included His resurrection.
62 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend
The ascension of the Son of Man was an offense to some of Jesus’ superficial disciples. They knew that He claimed to “come down from heaven,” which demonstrated His eternal preexistence with the Father. It was a clear claim of deity. The return to heaven, where He was before, by ascension proves that His coming from heaven as God in the first place was a true claim.
where He was before?
“Where He was before” is Christ’s eternal preexistence with the Father before the incarnation. Jesus looked beyond the cross to a glory beyond death. The glorification of Christ in His ascension was a vindication of who He was (1 Co 15:43). The crucifixion of Christ is not the end of the story. The incarnation was one thing, but the ascension is another.
PRINCIPLE:
How people respond to Christ’s claims determines their eternal destiny.
APPLICATION:
Christianity is not a sphere where its followers can operate by amelioration. There is decisiveness in following it. Its doctrines do not allow for superficiality. The resurrection and ascension are much greater miracles than any that Jesus had performed to this point.
