Ascension “Prime Minister Jesus?” Acts 1:6-8

Ascension “Prime Minister Jesus?”
May 24th, 2020 – Acts 1:6-8

May you receive from God the forgiveness you have not deserved, not get the punishment you have, and may you have peace with God through the blood of Jesus Christ our risen King.

King?

How many of you remember having a king as your ruler? Not many? We have had a Queen for many years, but no King. Even when we have a king or the queen, they have not been absolute rulers. They do not single-handedly run the country and anything they say goes.

Because we have not had such a monarch, it is hard for us to understand when we talk about Jesus as King. When we read about Jesus’ disciples asking Jesus when He will restore the Kingdom to Israel, it is hard to understand the politics. We know that Jesus is the rightful King of Israel, but He is even the rightful king of the entire world. He is the rightful King of the Kingdom of Earth. No one has ever come close to ruling the entire world before – or let alone come close to doing it well. What does a kingdom look like even? These are all foreign concepts for a lot of us.

Ascension

Today we remember Jesus’s ascension. He had come to earth, lived, died, rose again and lived on earth teaching and showing Himself to people to be alive. After 40 days, He ascended into heaven. He went up and took His physical body into the heavenly realms where the throne for the ruler of the entire cosmos is. It is there that Jesus continues to live still – ruling from His throne in heaven.

But we do not have thrones or absolute rulers (that are good) to see and relate to. So, how do we understand Jesus?

We can relate to His physical body, which is like ours. But ascending into heavenly realms? Not something we experience every day and can relate to well. The rising-from-the-dead thing is a little hard to relate to also.

So, to make it a little more relatable, it is kind of like Jesus is the whole House of Commons, and the Governor-General, and the Senate all wrapped up in one supremely powerful person. AND He’s also the leader of the country too. Could we say He’s like “Prime Minister Jesus”? A title like this is not even close to adequate for what Jesus is, but, thinking about it can help translate the concept for us.

Maybe a corporate analogy is better? He’s like the top boss of a company who can do whatever He wants. But, the boss must have employees to work for them.

Servants

Even so, Jesus rules, He is “The Boss” of the world, by appointing people to rule under Him. Every government of the world exist because Jesus has appointed them to be caretakers of His people. Jesus gives them the power and He holds them accountable to do a good job. No matter if they realize He is the king or not, they will one day know.

In the meantime, Christ, gives the people who know Him power to announce His reign. Christ gives the power to announce His good laws and decrees.

Thankfully, King Jesus gives the power to do something else very important. We all rack up huge debts to the crown. We all rack up offences against Him and against our fellow citizens of His kingdom. He gives the power to forgive those debts. He gives the power to give us a clean slate and live freely in His Kingdom. This is all through the price He paid for our debts through His blood on the cross.

Because our King ascended into heaven those 2000 some years ago, we have an ultimately good ruler who works through broken people to bring healing and hope to every generation.

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