God’s Right Hand on Earth and in Heaven
Ascension (Observed)| Mark 16:14-20| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| June 1, 2025
In the words of a creed, we find the fundamentals, the bedrock of a person’s faith. The word creed comes from the Latin for “I believe.” When a person is baptized, He is joined to a confession of faith. From the very earliest days of the Christian Church, converts baptized into the Christian faith would confess a creed, which would become their confession of faith for the rest of their lives. Babies too would be baptized into the confession of a creed, which would be taught to them. With a creed, a Christian simply confesses the basics of his faith. The creeds covered the basics of Christianity, One God, the Father, who created all things, His Son Jesus Christ, true God, yet who became man, being born of the Virgin Mary, who suffered and died for our sins before rising again on the third day, and the Holy Spirit, who also is God. Today, the Church has three ancient creeds: The Apostles,’ Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds. And in each of these creeds, Christians confess that Jesus ascended into heaven.
From the earliest years of the Christian Church, Christians have confessed the fundamental truth that Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father, so central is this truth to the Christian religion. Yet, today, the Ascension of our Lord is forgotten by most. It does not enjoy the prestige of being a national holiday like Christmas. And for most Christians, Thursday passed by like any other Thursday, without them remembering the 40th day of Easter on which Christ ascended into heaven. Most churches move their Ascension celebration to the next Sunday, because so few people will attend an Ascension service in the middle of the week. Yet, we must not forget that Christ’s Ascension is so important that all Christians everywhere, at all times confessed it as a foundational statement of their faith!
So, why is the ascension of Christ so important? Well, the creed tells us one significance of Christ’s ascension. “From thence He will come to judge both the living and the dead.” After paying for the sins of the whole world by offering Himself, body, and soul, as an atoning sacrifice, Christ rose from the dead, shed His humility, and sits in glory at God the Father’s right hand. To Christ has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. He will return to judge. And no one can escape His judgment. Even the dead will be raised up to stand before Jesus’ judgment throne. All of you, and everyone you know, your wife and children and grandchildren, every person you have ever walked by on the sidewalk or passed by on the road, or seen on the TV or computer screen, or read about in a history book, will stand before this Jesus on the day of judgment. That Christ ascended to the right hand of God the Father means that He is Lord of all, as St. Paul declares in Philippians 2, “Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11) Christ’s ascension means that He has all authority in eternity.
Yet, Christ’s ascension does not only have significance for a day sometime in the future. Christ’s ascension is of the utmost importance for us Christians and indeed, for all people on earth today. Although, Christ has bodily ascended to the right hand of God the Father in heaven, He is not trapped there like a bird in a cage. Rather, the right hand of God the Father is His omnipresent omniscience and dominion as the Savior of the world, meaning, at the right hand of God’s power, Christ has the power to be present everywhere and anywhere and to accomplish all things. There is no place on earth outside of the Father’s right hand, where Christ exercises His ultimate authority as Lord.
And we know this from two statements that Jesus made before ascending to the Father’s right hand. First, Jesus commanded the Gospel to be preached to the entire creation. In Matthew 28, Jesus says, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And in our Gospel lesson from Mark 16, Jesus says, “Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation.” With this statement, Christ declares His authority over the whole earth. He sends His ministers to make disciples, that is, to proclaim His message of forgiveness and salvation, so that whoever believes this Gospel, acknowledges Christ’s Lordship over all things, and will be saved eternally. Jesus does not tell His disciples to ask permission of the local authorities as they go. Rather, they are to preach the Gospel and make disciples whether it is illegal or not, so that Jesus’ disciples declared to the Jewish Sanhedrin and to Roman emperor and to kings in lands far and wide, “We must obey God rather than men,” (Acts 5:29) when they were commanded not to preach Christ.
And thus, Christ conquered the whole world, not by shedding blood like the Islamic Jihads did, but by the words He sent His disciples to preach, words of peace from God, forgiveness and salvation as free gifts won by Christ Jesus to be received by faith. Indeed, Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, as He told Pontius Pilate (John 18:36). This means that Jesus will leave the temporal governance of people’s bodies and possessions to earthly authorities for now. But by commanding His Church to proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation, Christ declares His authority over the soul of every person on earth. The soul that believes this Gospel will be saved. The soul that does not believe this Gospel will be condemned. No government on earth has such authority.
Second, we know that Jeus exercises authority as Lord on earth even as He sits at the Father’s right hand, because Christ assures His Church that He will continue to work with His Church on earth. In Matthew 28, Jesus says, “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” And in Mark 16, after Jesus promised signs to accompany the believers and then ascended into heaven, the Evangelist declares, “the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message with accompanying signs.” So, Scripture clearly teaches is that Christ Jesus works on earth with His Church through the proclamation of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments, even as He is at the Father’s right hand. The right hand of God in heaven is also present on earth, because Jesus is working on earth today.
St. Mark records Jesus telling them that those who believe in the Gospel will cast out demons, speak in new tongues, and be impervious to venomous snake bites and poison. And we read about these very miracles in the Book of Acts of the Apostles. Yet, since the Apostles died out, these miraculous signs also ceased to happen. But that does not mean that Christ stopped working with His church on earth. The much greater works, Jesus continues to accomplish among us as He promised. So, the sinner who is baptized into Christ is clothed in Christ. And the person who eats the bread and wine in the Sacrament of the Altar, indeed eats the very body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, because the right hand of God the Father does not prohibit Christ from being present with His Church on earth, but rather empowers Him to be present anywhere with His body and blood. Indeed, Christ would not truly be given a name which is above every name if He were not able to be present with His Church on earth. Christ’s human nature is empowered by His divine nature. His divine nature is not limited by His human nature.
St. Mark records Jesus condense the Gospel message to, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” You cannot separate the preaching of the Gospel from Baptism. And you cannot separate the benefits of the preaching of the Gospel and of Baptism from faith. Faith alone saves. As Scripture repeatedly says, “Whoever believes will be saved (John 3:15-18; Rom. 3:28; Eph. 2:8). Yet, here Jesus says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” Yet, He only says that those who do not believe will be condemned? So, does Baptism save or not? This becomes clear when we understand Christ’s ascension.
First, Christ won our salvation by becoming a man and obeying the Law in our place and then suffering and dying for the sins of the whole world and rising from the dead. That is what gained our salvation for us. Second, Christ ascended to the Father’s right hand, where, as we have just learned, He continues to work with His Church through the proclamation of the Gospel and the Sacraments to make disciples of all nations. Third, faith receives the proclamation of the Gospel and the promise of the Sacraments. From Christ’s glorious throne in heaven, He works through Baptism to give us His Holy Spirit, to forgive our sins, and clothe us in His righteousness. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, because whoever believes in Christ will not refuse to be baptized. And faith receives the wonderful promises, which Christ attaches to Baptism.
There is nothing that Baptism gives you that Christ’s obedience on earth, His suffering, death, and resurrection did not gain for you. And everything that Christ gained for you through His obedience, suffering, death, and resurrection, Baptism gives you. This means that Baptism gives forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Yet, you cannot receive anything that God gives you apart from faith. That is why whoever does not believe will be condemned. Even those who are baptized, if they do not believe, they cannot receive any of the benefits of Baptism.
Through the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments, our ascended Lord exercises His tremendous authority on earth. And through faith in the Gospel message and the promises attached to the sacraments, we become citizens of Christ’s heavenly kingdom. Through faith in the Gospel, we do not fear the return of our ascended Lord, rather we look forward to it with joy. Through faith, we recognize that our Lord ascended for the sake of our salvation, so we do not fear His return in judgment. When Christ returns, He will receive all those who believe in Him into everlasting life. Christ’s ascension means that Christ will return to judge the living and the dead. Christ’s ascension means that He has power to rule our souls on earth through His Gospel and Sacraments. And Christ’s ascension means that those who believe in Him will ascend as well to live in glory forever.
May we recognize the wonderful work our ascended Lord is doing for us today by forgiving our sins and clothing us in His righteousness, so that we may welcome His return and ascend to be with Him in joy forever. Amen.