Descending comes before Ascending

 

 

Mountain climbing does not appeal to me, nor does the view from up there, yet there is something about an aerial view of a city or other scenes from high places. If I am not physically on a high place a photo or a video of the view gives me a perspective I’d never otherwise have. It is difficult to describe; visually intriguing, emotionally exciting, and strangely apart from all of it — a place to observe without being in danger.

Is this idea of being in a high place without the danger of falling into the expanse below drawing me because it is somewhat like God’s invitation to worship? To “come up” and see what He sees? To view this world from His perspective? The emotion of worship and the emotion of those ‘views from above’ are similar!

In the OT, ASCENDS in not a theological term yet it does signify something about God and about worship. Moses “ascends” to the Lord at Sinai, but the people were forbidden to do so on pain of death. When he came down and found them worshiping a golden calf, he ‘went up’ to intercede for them (not unlike Jesus who ascended and “always lives to make intercession” for His people).

The OT also reveals how worshipers ascend to God in a physical sense, going up to Jerusalem and ascending to ‘high places’ meaning going up or ascending is part of the vocabulary of worship.

God also speaks of Himself as descending and ascending. In Exodus 3:7–8, He said:

“I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.”

After this descent, He says, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” He came down only to take them up.

These and other OT references point to the reality of Jesus coming down from heaven to deliver us out of the bondage of sin and bring us to the good and broad land of His kingdom. He does this by first taking our punishment for sin, dying and rising from the dead, then  ascending to heaven to intercede for those who will eventually follow Him in that ascension. He also came down that we might go up.

The Greek word is used for other sorts of “going up” but is most significant when used of Christ. Jesus said in John 3:13, “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man” making this a unique event. His descent declares the Father’s love. He came to show us what God is like and to give His life that we might live forever.

However, this action was not totally meaningful until He rose from the dead. His ascent reveals His power and Lordship but also shouts to me that when I die, He will take me to the heights, to the place where He is — not a ‘pie in the sky promise’ but a statement proven by His own resurrection and ascension into heaven.

Rationally, this makes no sense. How can a human body rise up through the atmosphere and into the vacuum of outer space? It must not be an ordinary human body. An entire NT chapter is given to try and explain that His body was more, different, able to do this — and my body will also be changed and able to rise above without falling and without falling apart. (See 1 Corinthians 15, too long to quote here.)

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. All that said, I can see how little I know of what it meant for Jesus to go up, to ascend. Yet I can also see that for all who believe this will be a fantastic transformation. I will not need a helicopter, or a drone, or any sort of camera or device to have a topside view of this world. Ascending to be with Jesus will be real, not like one of the visuals seen on television or in movies, nor like those dreams where I’m flying but He does use those ‘thrilling views’ to give me a tiny glimpse of the glory to come.