Recently, our church celebrated Ascension Day, and in doing so we learnt four important biblical promises.

Promise #1: Jesus is with us always

Jesus said in Matthew 28:20, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” This was not a figure of speech, in the way that we often say to each other at a farewell that ‘we are always with each other in spirit and mind’. Jesus’ statement was (and still is) reality.

On Ascension Day, Jesus left the earthly realms to the heavens, and thus fulfilled His promise of ‘being with us always’. Jesus is both in heaven and right here with us, because of His omnipresence.

John 20:17 “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’

Mark 16:19 “After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and He sat at the right hand of God.”

The promise of Matthew 28:20 is for all His disciples who carry out His will – to be witnesses to all people, ‘from Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’. But how do we become these witnesses? The second promise helps us with this.

Promise #2: Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit as our helper.

John 14:16-17 “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives in you and will be in you.”

The Greek word for ‘advocate’ is Parakletos; ‘Para’ meaning ‘beside’, and ‘Kaleo’ meaning ‘called alongside to help’. In the legal context, an advocate is someone who will defend us and plead our case before a judge. In a more personal context, this word refers to a friend or a helper who provides comfort, guidance and strength to endure difficult times. In fact, this Greek word has so many synonyms that there is no single agreed upon meaning in history, and each translation in the Bible has a different meaning. This is how versatile the Holy Spirit is in our lives – to guide, comfort, strengthen, advocate and admonish us, amongst many other things.

Luke 24:45-48 “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them: ‘This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

John 16:8 “When He (our Advocate) comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement. 

We have an advocate, comforter and helper in the form of the Holy Spirit to guide, defend and teach us how to be witnesses for God. The Holy Spirit will live in us and be with us always so that we can abide in Jesus.

Promise #3: We will always have a home in God’s house. 

John 14:2 “My Father’s house has many rooms, if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” 

No matter what happens on earth – sorrow, ruin, deprivation – we will always have a place in God’s house, one that has been prepared by Jesus!

We can also learn from Abraham in Hebrews 11:8-10.

v8: By faith, Abraham obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going

v9: By faith, Abraham made his place in the promised land in tents

v10: For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Abraham was a man who could afford mansions, but he chose to live in tents because that was where God led him to, and he looked forward to his heavenly home where he would always be with God. He knew that was the ultimate place to be in, rather than in the riches of the world.

Promise #4: Jesus will come to take us to heaven one day – a sweet conclusion to this series of promises.

Acts 1:11 “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

John 14:3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am.”

We are already always with Jesus, because He is here with us. But one day, we will be in the heavenly realms together with Him, with our entry bought by His precious blood that was poured out for us. What an amazing thought this is!

Reflection:

With this in mind, how should we live our lives?

It is important to think about what will happen when Jesus comes again:

Malachi 4:1-2

v1: A day of miserable, painful judgement

v2: A day of glorious joy – “The sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out like calves leaping from the stalls.”

2 Peter 3:11-12 “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives, as you look forward to the day of God and the speed it’s coming.”

If Jesus has yet to come, it is because He is extending His grace to us here on earth. In 2 Peter 3:15 it says to “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation.”

We need to live our lives with a passion to be His witnesses, so that others too may know His salvation. Too often we fear rejection, persecution or ridicule in sharing our faith; sometimes we also fear the suffering that will befall us when we are God’s people. But if we truly meditate properly on this decision, what do we have to fear when Jesus, the One who has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18), is with us always?