The Ascension of our Saviour.
I. As we meditate upon the passage before us, taking it in connection with other passages in which the same writer has entered more minutely into detail, there are several attendant circumstances of the Ascension upon which we may profitably dwell. (1) As to the manner of it. In the first place, we must notice that it was visible palpable to the senses of every beholder. You will see at once the fitness of this public triumph; it is true of the work of the Messiah, as it is true of the system which has been founded upon Messiah's death, that these things were not done in a corner. His Crucifixion, His Burial, His Resurrection, His Ascension, were public. (2) We observe next, in reference to the event, that the place on which it happened is worthy of our notice. He led them out as far as Bethany. We can imagine the feelings of the disciples as they trod the familiar road, for they had often been to Bethany together. The inner signification of Bethany is the House of Sorrow; and it is a beautiful illustration, both of the tenderness and of the completeness of His triumph, that, on his way to His highest exaltation, He should pass the place of His deepest sorrow, and that thence He should ascend straight to the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." (3) Note the act during the performance of which He was lifted up on high: "He lifted up His hands and blessed them." This, indeed, was His daily work. For this He counselled in heaven and visited the earth; and for this He returned to His own glory after He had effectually proved the fulfilment of the design of His humiliation.
II. Consider, next, the purposes of the Ascension. (1) The personal results of the Ascension were the publicity of the scene and the triumph of His entrance into His primal glory. (2) Then there were representative results arising from the ascension of our Saviour. Christ is the federal head, the second great representative Adam. By His exaltation our own race derives surpassing honour. (3) And then there were mediatorial results in connection with the Ascension of the Saviour. "He received gifts for men." That is the purpose for which He has ascended on high. All that He could do on earth He did, and He said, "It is finished." Then He went up, that He might superintend its working, and He sits at the right hand of the Father, that He might make intercession for us.
W. Morley Punshon, Penny Pulpit,new series, No. 168.