Ephesians 4:8
Why Christ Ascended
Introduction
Today Paul is going to talk to us about the ascension of Jesus Christ. Particularly he is going to show us what it means for us as the Church that Christ is ascended. In verse 7 he says that Christ administered grace to the Church. This grace is the enablement to serve the Church. In verse 8 Paul says, “This is why it says”. He shows us the fact that Christ gives grace in verse 7 but in verse 8 he is going to explain why Christ can give it. In other words, Christ administers grace (verse 7), and He has authority to do so (verses 8-10). I want to look at several reasons why Christ ascended.
#1: He is Lofty (v8a, 10a)
One thing we need to see first is so that He would be Lofty. He is awesome in His loftiness. Notice verse 8 when it says, “He ascended on high”, and then in verse 10, “He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens…” If there is anything the Church needs in her eyes right now it is a sight of Christ lifted up as He actually is. Our eyes are just not looking high enough. “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above…” He is Her eyes will sparkle the higher she sees Her Lord. Paul preached this already for us in 1:19-22 when He said, “………..”
There is a question about what it means when it says that He ascended. Does it refer to His resurrection from the grave? Or, does it mean His ascension from the earth above the heavens? I do not believe it is referring to His resurrection - that is a separate glorious event that is always specifically referred to as the resurrection. And what is important to note is what is related to His resurrection – namely His conquest over sin and death and Satan. But, it is particularly important to notice that related to His ascension is His glorious elevation. Jesus has been lifted higher than everyone and everything else in the universe to the supreme place of power and authority. Paul preached this already for us in 1:19-22 when He said, “………..” He thought it was so good he preached it to the Philippians as well in 2:9-11 “……….”
Jesus wasn’t going somewhere He hadn’t been before. He was returning to where He had always been (John 1:14, 18; 3:13; 17:5;
Christ ascended precisely because He descended. He came down, and then He went back up. He said to Nicodemus in John 3:13, “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man.” He came down from glory into His humiliation. He stooped down to be humble. That is how it is. Glory follows humility. We live on this earth humbly like our Lord with the hope of glory to come. That was the pattern Christ set. That is the teaching, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but, whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Satan exalted himself, he wanted to ascend to where Christ is and he was cast down in humiliation. Christ humbled Himself, and was exalted in glory. So it is with us. Let us be humble, completely humble as Paul said in verse 2.
Pvb. 30:3-4; Acts 2:34; Romans 10:6-7; Heb. 4:14; 7:26;
#2: He Liberated Captives
Secondly, Notice that by ascending Christ Liberated Captives. Verse 8 says, “When He ascended on high, he led captives in his train…” Other translations might say it slightly different, like, “He led captive a host of captives” (NAS), or “He led captivity captive” (KJV).
There is a powerful visual here. Paul is loosely quoting Psalm 68:18, which King David wrote to tell about God’s victory over Israel’s enemies. The imagery is that of a victorious military general who would return from battle having conquered the enemy. Upon return to his own home he would march through the city in a great parade with everyone lining the streets to cheer and to rejoice at their general’s glorious return. One of the reasons for this parade was not only to celebrate, but, to publicly display the spoils of war. Extravagant possessions, loot of all sorts, all kinds of booty to take home and show off in front of everyone. But possessions were not all that were displayed. The enemies leaders – if still alive – would be chained and dragged around with great humiliation, expanding the already fervent national pride in everyone’s hearts. But still there was one more class of people in this parade that might help us understand what Paul is getting at in Ephesians. This class was what are called the “re-captured captives”. These are the soldiers who were taken captive by the enemy, but, because their Commander won the victory, he was able to “re-capture” them to himself.
We see this recapturing captives throughout Scripture. In Genesis 14 Abraham went to rescue his nephew Lot and succeeded to re-capture him. In 1 Samuel 11 King Saul goes and re-captures the Israelites who were being held by their enemies.
Illustration: One of the first jobs I had was in high school. I swept the floors of a certain company’s warehouse. Everybody called me “Sweep”. There were a lot of fun people there. Well the time came when I had to quit the job. As my last day drew near I began to get nervous because they had a certain tradition for people who quit. Now mind you there were a bunch of big tough guys that worked loading trucks and driving big hilos outside - and I was a pipsqueak. As my last workday was ending, I was outside strapping a truckload down. And then they appeared from behind the truck on all sides of me. About 12 of them. They were huge, like descendants of the Nephilim, and they had me surrounded. As they closed in the fight began and I put up a valiant battle for about 2 seconds before they had me totally shrinkwrapped. They threw me on a skid, and then drove me around the outside yard with a big hilo for all to see the company’s latest “quitter”. I was their captive. Then the boss showed up, whom I knew personally, and with his authority he re-captured this captive from the enemy.
Well who are these captives? Let us offer several possibilities. First, as some commentators suggest, it is the redeemed who were being held in Sheol (Hebrew) also called Hades (Greek). Before Christ came, when someone died they went to Hades. And apparently Hades had two compartments: one for the evil and one for the righteous, as indicated by Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It appears that Christ went down after His death, to re-capture those souls in the righteous side of Hades and bring them to heaven with Him. Now, since Christ’s resurrection and ascension, no one who dies in Christ goes to Hades, but, as Paul says, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord”. On the other hand, those who die in their sins today do go to Hades, the other compartment. Revelation 20:13 describes the scene before the Great White Throne where all the lost will be judged. It says books were opened and all the dead were judged. Then it says this: “The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them. Then death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is the second death.”
Also, it is all of us who have put our faith in Jesus who are part of Christ’s captives. We were once held prisoner to Satan and to sin and to the fear of death. But He has freed us from such powers and made us His captives. He parades us around as His re-captured captives. Second Corinthians 2:14 says, “But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.” We will be displays of His Grace where Ephesians 2:7 says we’ve been lifted up to be seated with Christ in the heavenly realms…WHY? …. Verse 7 says, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
We are Christ’s captives. He has secured us in Himself. We are taken unto Him away from the power of death, the power of Satan, the power of sin. Think of Colossians 1:13, “For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.” Let us be His willing captives, being led by Him each step of each day.
Why Christ Ascended
Introduction
Today Paul is going to talk to us about the ascension of Jesus Christ. Particularly he is going to show us what it means for us as the Church that Christ is ascended. In verse 7 he says that Christ administered grace to the Church. This grace is the enablement to serve the Church. In verse 8 Paul says, “This is why it says”. He shows us the fact that Christ gives grace in verse 7 but in verse 8 he is going to explain why Christ can give it. In other words, Christ administers grace (verse 7), and He has authority to do so (verses 8-10). I want to look at several reasons why Christ ascended.
#1: He is Lofty (v8a, 10a)
One thing we need to see first is so that He would be Lofty. He is awesome in His loftiness. Notice verse 8 when it says, “He ascended on high”, and then in verse 10, “He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens…” If there is anything the Church needs in her eyes right now it is a sight of Christ lifted up as He actually is. Our eyes are just not looking high enough. “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above…” He is Her eyes will sparkle the higher she sees Her Lord. Paul preached this already for us in 1:19-22 when He said, “………..”
There is a question about what it means when it says that He ascended. Does it refer to His resurrection from the grave? Or, does it mean His ascension from the earth above the heavens? I do not believe it is referring to His resurrection - that is a separate glorious event that is always specifically referred to as the resurrection. And what is important to note is what is related to His resurrection – namely His conquest over sin and death and Satan. But, it is particularly important to notice that related to His ascension is His glorious elevation. Jesus has been lifted higher than everyone and everything else in the universe to the supreme place of power and authority. Paul preached this already for us in 1:19-22 when He said, “………..” He thought it was so good he preached it to the Philippians as well in 2:9-11 “……….”
Jesus wasn’t going somewhere He hadn’t been before. He was returning to where He had always been (John 1:14, 18; 3:13; 17:5;
Christ ascended precisely because He descended. He came down, and then He went back up. He said to Nicodemus in John 3:13, “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man.” He came down from glory into His humiliation. He stooped down to be humble. That is how it is. Glory follows humility. We live on this earth humbly like our Lord with the hope of glory to come. That was the pattern Christ set. That is the teaching, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but, whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Satan exalted himself, he wanted to ascend to where Christ is and he was cast down in humiliation. Christ humbled Himself, and was exalted in glory. So it is with us. Let us be humble, completely humble as Paul said in verse 2.
Pvb. 30:3-4; Acts 2:34; Romans 10:6-7; Heb. 4:14; 7:26;
#2: He Liberated Captives
Secondly, Notice that by ascending Christ Liberated Captives. Verse 8 says, “When He ascended on high, he led captives in his train…” Other translations might say it slightly different, like, “He led captive a host of captives” (NAS), or “He led captivity captive” (KJV).
There is a powerful visual here. Paul is loosely quoting Psalm 68:18, which King David wrote to tell about God’s victory over Israel’s enemies. The imagery is that of a victorious military general who would return from battle having conquered the enemy. Upon return to his own home he would march through the city in a great parade with everyone lining the streets to cheer and to rejoice at their general’s glorious return. One of the reasons for this parade was not only to celebrate, but, to publicly display the spoils of war. Extravagant possessions, loot of all sorts, all kinds of booty to take home and show off in front of everyone. But possessions were not all that were displayed. The enemies leaders – if still alive – would be chained and dragged around with great humiliation, expanding the already fervent national pride in everyone’s hearts. But still there was one more class of people in this parade that might help us understand what Paul is getting at in Ephesians. This class was what are called the “re-captured captives”. These are the soldiers who were taken captive by the enemy, but, because their Commander won the victory, he was able to “re-capture” them to himself.
We see this recapturing captives throughout Scripture. In Genesis 14 Abraham went to rescue his nephew Lot and succeeded to re-capture him. In 1 Samuel 11 King Saul goes and re-captures the Israelites who were being held by their enemies.
Illustration: One of the first jobs I had was in high school. I swept the floors of a certain company’s warehouse. Everybody called me “Sweep”. There were a lot of fun people there. Well the time came when I had to quit the job. As my last day drew near I began to get nervous because they had a certain tradition for people who quit. Now mind you there were a bunch of big tough guys that worked loading trucks and driving big hilos outside - and I was a pipsqueak. As my last workday was ending, I was outside strapping a truckload down. And then they appeared from behind the truck on all sides of me. About 12 of them. They were huge, like descendants of the Nephilim, and they had me surrounded. As they closed in the fight began and I put up a valiant battle for about 2 seconds before they had me totally shrinkwrapped. They threw me on a skid, and then drove me around the outside yard with a big hilo for all to see the company’s latest “quitter”. I was their captive. Then the boss showed up, whom I knew personally, and with his authority he re-captured this captive from the enemy.
Well who are these captives? Let us offer several possibilities. First, as some commentators suggest, it is the redeemed who were being held in Sheol (Hebrew) also called Hades (Greek). Before Christ came, when someone died they went to Hades. And apparently Hades had two compartments: one for the evil and one for the righteous, as indicated by Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It appears that Christ went down after His death, to re-capture those souls in the righteous side of Hades and bring them to heaven with Him. Now, since Christ’s resurrection and ascension, no one who dies in Christ goes to Hades, but, as Paul says, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord”. On the other hand, those who die in their sins today do go to Hades, the other compartment. Revelation 20:13 describes the scene before the Great White Throne where all the lost will be judged. It says books were opened and all the dead were judged. Then it says this: “The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them. Then death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is the second death.”
Also, it is all of us who have put our faith in Jesus who are part of Christ’s captives. We were once held prisoner to Satan and to sin and to the fear of death. But He has freed us from such powers and made us His captives. He parades us around as His re-captured captives. Second Corinthians 2:14 says, “But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.” We will be displays of His Grace where Ephesians 2:7 says we’ve been lifted up to be seated with Christ in the heavenly realms…WHY? …. Verse 7 says, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
We are Christ’s captives. He has secured us in Himself. We are taken unto Him away from the power of death, the power of Satan, the power of sin. Think of Colossians 1:13, “For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.” Let us be His willing captives, being led by Him each step of each day.
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