Scripture tells us that Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

And so, the ancient church, the early church Fathers, and the historic creeds affirm that the bodily ascension of Christ is a vital part of God’s Big Story. Without it, the saving work of the Lord Jesus would be significantly incomplete.

And yet more recently, the church, especially the Western church, has either neglected Christ’s ascension, or underestimated and misunderstood its significance.

In this sermon, Pastor Chris makes the case for sayingthat all four parts of the work of Christ– Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension– are critical and can’t be separated or removed from the other.

The artwork that Pastor Chris referred to is “The Ascension” by British painter Ford Madox Brown. The full image is here. The lower portion is here. The middle, here. And the top portion is here. The top portion is being used as the featured image for this podcast/sermon.

The handout/notes we used is viewable/downloadable here.