About this sermon
1. Notice that our Lord’s accession into heaven was an historical event seen by multiple witnesses (v. 9).
2. Understand that Christ’s ascension marked His heavenly exhalation, coronation, and enthronement at the right hand of God the Father (vv. 10-11).
3. Take to heart that the manner in which our Lord ascended indicates the manner in which He will return (v. 11).
Sermon transcript
Well please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word. We continue our Foundations of Faith series, a series which is being guided by that great classical Bible-based creed of the church, the Apostles’ Creed. And this morning we consider the doctrine of Christ’s ascension into heaven. And what better place to consider this doctrine than Acts 1. Verses nine through 11, I’m gonna read the first 12 verses of Acts chapter one to fill out the context a bit. But let us hear God’s holy word from Acts chapter one. In the first book of Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach. until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you heard from me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And when He had said these things, as they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight.
And while they were gazing into heaven, as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who has taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Once again, please join me in prayer as we ask for the Lord’s blessing. upon the preaching of his word. Our gracious God, heavenly Father, we thank you that you have revealed yourself and your truth to us. We thank you that in the holy scriptures you grant us this treasure of saving truth. We pray that by your spirit we would be edified and strengthened and built up in our faith through what we consider today.
Open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word. And once again, Lord, we beseech you to set a guard over my lips, that I, your unworthy servant, may speak only that which is faithful to the word, edifying to your people and glorifying to your holy name. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said. Amen. You may be seated. For the children this morning, there’s quite a few key words that you can be listening for, or that you can select to listen for, as you’ll see in your sermon outline. The title of my sermon this morning, Foundations of Faith, He Ascended into Heaven. Well, dear ones, if you were asked to come up with a short list of things that Jesus did in order to secure your eternal salvation, what do you think that you would include on that list?
I imagine there’s many things that you might include on such a list, but my guess is that you would probably include as important items on that list the truth that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and that on the third day he rose again from the dead so that all who trust in him might not perish but have everlasting life. And you know, you would be correct. You would be correct to include those items on your list. For friends, the atoning death and the glorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus are indeed foundational, central truths to the gospel message. However, friends, there is another very important thing that our Lord Jesus did in order to secure our eternal salvation, but which many Christians seem to either ignore or neglect in terms of giving it the attention that it is due.
And that is the truth that our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, as we confess in the words of the Apostles’ Creed. It’s a vital truth. This truth of the ascension of Christ is a vital gospel truth. He ascended into heaven and it is to that truth that I would have us turn our attention on this Lord’s Day morning as we consider a passage from God’s Word which records this event of our Lord’s ascension into heaven. We have Luke’s record of this amazing historical event. Now, as we turn our attention to our passage for this morning, I would point out to you that this passage from God’s Word reveals not only the historical event of our Lord Jesus being lifted up into heaven, the glorious event of our Lord’s ascension, but this passage also points to why this supernatural event is so important. in Christ’s completion of the work that God the Father had given him to do.
Christ had completed his saving mission and the crowning proof of that was not only his resurrection but also his ascension into heaven. But this event recorded by Luke also points to why this supernatural event is so important in Christ’s completion of that work. Dear ones, the truth of our Lord’s glorious ascension into heaven is an absolutely essential doctrine of the basic gospel message. It’s just as essential to the biblical gospel as is the truths of our Lord’s incarnation, of His death on the cross as a substitutionary atonement for our sins, and His bodily resurrection from the dead on the third day. Our Lord’s ascension into heaven was essential for the confirmation and securing of our eternal salvation, and therefore it is also vital for our comfort and our encouragement as weary pilgrims of Christ, especially as we make our journey through this valley of tears to our eternal home where Christ has gone before us to prepare a place for us.
Now when it comes to our passage for today, let’s consider the context here. Luke was the human author of both the Gospel of Luke as well as the Book of Acts. In fact, the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts should really be viewed as two volumes of one historical work. Volume 1 being the history of what Jesus began to do and teach during his time on earth, as recorded in Luke’s Gospel. And Volume 2 being what Jesus continues to do through his church in his resurrected estate of exaltation, as recorded here in Luke. in the Book of Acts. In fact, many have suggested, you know, the Book of Acts is titled the Acts of the Apostles. Some have suggested, and I think rightly so, that it would be better entitled the Acts of the Holy Spirit or the Acts of the resurrected Jesus through the Holy Spirit in and through his church.
But that would get to be a little bit of a long title there. Well, anyways, the fact that Luke wrote both Luke and the Book of Acts, this being the case, here at the beginning of the Book of Acts, Luke starts off with events that happened after Jesus had risen from the dead. And so if you look at verse one, let me briefly cover verses one to three. Luke says, in the first book, O Theophilus, this is how we know that the author of Acts is the same author as the author of the Gospel of Luke, because in the Gospel of Luke, at the beginning of that Gospel, he also addresses that work to Theophilus. In the first book, O Theophilus, that would be the Gospel of Luke, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up.” In other words, until the day of his ascension.
After he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles, the apostles being Christ’s appointed spokespersons, his spokesmen, after he had presented himself and given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. And then verse three, he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs. Jesus had appeared to multiple eyewitnesses after he rose from the dead. And you remember, the gospel accounts record numerous occasions where Jesus did so. Remember, for example, doubting Thomas, He said, I’m not gonna believe he rose unless I can see his nail prints and put my fingers in the spear wound in his side. And Jesus shows up the next week and basically says to Thomas, here I am, put your fingers here in my nail prints in my side. And Thomas fell on his feet and said, my Lord and my God.
And so Jesus presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And then after presenting himself to his apostles, Jesus gives his disciples some final teachings and instructions, and you can read about those from verses four through eight of this passage. But then after that, we are told in verse nine that our Lord ascended up into heaven in the sight of his apostles, as it says in verse nine. And when he had said these things, as they were what? As they were looking on. as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. Well, this brings me to my first point today, brothers and sisters. I want you to notice that our Lord’s ascension into heaven was an historical event seen by multiple eyewitnesses.
Our Lord’s ascension into heaven was an historical event seen, witnessed by multiple eyewitnesses. says again, verse nine, when they, when he, rather, had said these things, as they were looking on, who’s the they? In the context here, that’s his surviving apostles, the 11 apostles, all of the apostles minus, of course, Judas Iscariot, who tragically had committed suicide. So all of the apostles witnessed this, and what do they see? It says, as they were looking on, he was lifted up Let’s focus first of all on what it says here that they were looking on. Christ’s ascension was seen with their very own eyes. His ascension was a visible historical event seen by numerous eyewitnesses, namely his apostles. And this is important because many today would read a text like this and try to make it into a metaphor or a myth or a fable or perhaps an edifying spiritual story that conveys a visionary experience or what have you, but it’s important to understand this was not a subjective vision experienced by some isolated mystic, nor was it a hallucination brought on by wishful thinking.
Remember the disciples before his resurrection, Jesus’ disciples weren’t expecting him to rise from the dead, and they were surprised after he rose from the dead to see him. But so, no, this was not a hallucination, this was not some subjective vision, this was not a fable made up by the later church and read back into the history of the early church as some more liberal theologians would suggest. No, friends, this is presented by Luke who is a careful historian, is presented by the inspired writer Luke as a public historical event observed by numerous individuals. At least 11 individuals saw him ascend into heaven. And what does it mean when it says he was lifted up? It means that Jesus defied gravity, that he literally was raised from off the earth and taken into the glory realm of heaven.
Now, Let me just make a few comments about this term heaven and how the Bible uses that term. Just like in the English language, our own language, that term heaven can mean different things depending upon the context in which it is used. If you’re in a conversation with a scientist who’s an astronomer and he’s talking about heaven or the heavens, you know he’s talking about the physical heavens. He’s talking about the cosmos. But when you’re talking about a loved one, a fellow believer, a loved one or a friend who’s passed away, you say, well, that person has gone to be with the Lord in heaven. Well, the Bible uses this term heaven likewise in different ways depending on the context. The Bible often uses heaven not only to speak of the physical sky above and the habitation of the stars, but also that term is sometimes used to refer to the unseen spiritual heavenly realm, the realm where God’s direct presence shines in luminescent divine glory, the place where the Almighty is attended by the multitude of the heavenly hosts, angels and archangels, and departed saints.
And it is not that the spiritual realm, that this spiritual realm of heaven is literally physically, quote, up there. See, in recording this event of our Lord’s ascension, where Jesus is lifted up into the realm of heaven, Luke is not trying to give us a lesson in cosmic geography or the structure of the universe. Instead, this supernatural event of our Lord’s physical bodily lifting up into heaven is a fitting picture of Christ’s exaltation into that higher spiritual realm of heaven. And it is a fitting picture of his return into God the Father’s direct, glorious, kingly presence. And this is indicated by the phenomenon that attends our Lord’s physical levitation, his being lifted up physically from the ground into the glory realm of heaven. What does it say? It says, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
Now we look up in the sky and we often, especially here in Pittsburgh, we often see clouds, right? But, brothers and sisters, I would suggest to you that this is no ordinary cloud. You see, in Scripture, clouds were often symbols of God’s glory. And sometimes the clouds that show up in Scripture are not the natural phenomenon of clouds that we see. Sometimes they are what the theologians call theophanies. I believe, brothers and sisters, that there’s good reason to understand this cloud here as being no ordinary cloud. Rather, this appears to have been what some call the glory cloud, that glory cloud that so often shows up in Scripture. It may have even been the very Shekinah glory of God himself, the glory that had dwelt in the Old Testament temple. And that would make sense, after all, since Jesus himself is revealed in Scripture to be the living temple who fulfilled the symbolism of the Old Covenant temple.
Jesus is the Word made flesh who came to do what? To tabernacle, to make his tent his dwelling amongst us. And if you, just as a plug for this evening’s sermon, as we’ve been making our way through 1 Peter in the evening, we’ve been considering a passage in 1 Peter 2 where Christ himself is described as a living stone in this living temple. He himself is the divine living temple and we as the church are a living temple in spiritual and saving union with him. I would suggest to you, beloved, that there is good reason to believe that this cloud here was the same glorious supernatural cloud that had descended upon Mount Sinai when God had revealed his law to his redeemed people. That cloud was basically an indication that the glory realm of heaven was touching the earth.
That God was, as it were, pulling back the veil that separates the earthly realm from the glory realm of heaven. And that realm was shrouded, though, behind this supernatural theophanic cloud. I believe there’s good reason to understand this cloud as the same cloud that had led the Israelites through the wilderness, you know, the cloud which had hovered above the tabernacle in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, leading God’s people through the wilderness. I believe it was the same cloud that had filled Solomon’s temple at the temple’s dedication when the glory of God, the glory cloud of God, the presence of the holy God was present in the temple in such a thick manifestation of glory that the priests could not even stand up and they had to depart from the temple for a time.
It was the same cloud that had overshadowed the three disciples who had witnessed our Lord’s transfiguration on the holy mountain of transfiguration. And I believe it is the same cloud that will attend our Lord Jesus when he returns at his glorious second advent at the end of this age. It was It was, I believe, a supernatural theophany, a supernatural visible sign of God’s holy, glorious, kingly, and covenantal presence. This cloud that we see throughout Scripture, you can trace it, you can tie it all together from the Scriptures. This is pointing to a higher realm, a heavenly realm. And Christ has gone before us into that realm to prepare a place for us. How appropriate that this glory cloud should engulf our resurrected Savior as He ascended in victory back to the Father who had sent Him, having completed the work that the Father had given Him to do, and accompanying Him for His coronation at the Father’s right hand as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Now what do we learn from this amazing event here and from what we read about this event? Well, dear ones, this teaches us, among other things, among many other things, this teaches us that our Christian faith is based on the facts of history. It is based upon God’s mighty deeds and words of redemption performed in real space-time history. It’s based upon real events like our Savior’s virgin birth, His atoning death by crucifixion under Pontius Pilate, His glorious physical bodily resurrection from the dead, and yes, His bodily ascension into the glory realm of heaven to be our great high priest to represent us before the Father. Our faith is not based upon fantasy or upon myth or upon metaphor or mere wishful thinking. Our faith is based on God’s acts in history. And again, I know I say this often, but remember history is what?
His story. He is working out his sovereign plan throughout human history. Let us as a church faithfully confess to the world the historical truth of our precious faith. But next, beloved, as we go on in our passage, understand next that Christ’s ascension marked His heavenly exaltation, coronation, and enthronement at the right hand of God the Father. Christ’s ascension marked His heavenly exaltation, coronation, and enthronement at the right hand of God the Father as King of kings and Lord of lords. It says this in verse 10. And while they, while the disciples were gazing into heaven as he went up, and what a sight that must have been. Behold, that means pay attention, means this is important. Behold, two men stood by them in white robes. All of a sudden, these two men in white robes show up, and what does that indicate?
The white robes points to the fact that these were no ordinary men. This was what, again, to use a fancy term, this is what the theologians would call an angelophany. It was the angels manifesting themselves in human form to convey a message from the Lord. And so these two men, and you know, every fact in scripture is attested by two or more witnesses, right? And so there’s two men, there’s two angelic beings that stood by these disciples. And what did they say to them? Look at verse 11. They said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? To which I’m tempted to say, duh. That’s, don’t you see? But again, they ask a question to make a point here, to get them thinking. Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?
This Jesus, this one that you’re looking at, this resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified, the one whom you thought had been defeated, this Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, he’s going back up to heaven, back into the glory realm. Here’s the good news. He will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven. More on that in just a few minutes. But friends, our Savior’s being lifted up in the presence of His disciples and being received into the glory cloud, as we’re told in verse 9, these were visible indicators of the fact that Christ’s ascension indeed marked His heavenly exaltation, coronation, and enthronement at the right hand of God the Father. It’s also affirmed by the fact that these two angelic beings, these two men in white robes, announced to the disciples that Christ has indeed gone into heaven.
So they are bearing witness to the fact that Christ has been victorious. He has conquered sin and death and hell and he’s going into the glory realm of heaven, going back to be with his Father and to reign over all as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You know, this passage, I believe, contains what are likely echoes of Daniel 7, verse 13, and I believe that this passage is a fulfillment, this event of our Lord’s ascension is a fulfillment of the prophecy contained in Daniel 7, verse 13. 13 and 14, I’d invite you to turn there. I just want to, again, read that very briefly and make a few comments on it. In Daniel 7, verse 13, We read of this mysterious Son of Man figure. And this, by the way, is one of the reasons why I believe Jesus’ favorite self-designation was not Son of God, but Son of Man.
Because in this passage, the Son of Man is a divine messianic figure. It says this in verse 13, I saw in the night vision. So Daniel is seeing a vision. The context makes that clear. And behold, with the clouds of heaven, there are those clouds again, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days. So here is a picture of this messianic royal figure, this messianic son of man coming to the Ancient of Days, to God the Father. and was presented before him and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. This is speaking of Christ ascending into heaven, ascending to the ancient of days and taking up his kingly reign in glory.
And so again, this underscores the truth that our Lord’s ascension marked His exaltation, coronation, and enthronement at the right hand of God the Father. And the right hand of God the Father is the place of ultimate power, honor, and authority. The right hand of a king in the ancient world, if you were invited to sit at the right hand of an ancient king, that was the place of highest honor, the place of highest authority. Jesus, the God-man, Our Redeemer is exalted at the right hand of God the Father. Now what, how does this connect with our lives today? Well, in many ways, but let me just give you a few takeaways from this, a few lessons we can learn from this. My friends, the ascension and exaltation of Christ teaches us that Jesus reigns over all creation for the sake of His church, as the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 1, verse 22.
What does that mean? That means that Jesus Christ is King. He is Lord. And you might expect me to ask you the question, well, is Jesus your king? But I’m not gonna ask exactly that question, because guess what? Jesus Christ is your king, whether you acknowledge him as such or not. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. His authority, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him by the Father, as Jesus said in the Great Commission, in Matthew 28, verse 19. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, the Lord Jesus says. He is King, but in the gospel, He calls you and me and all people to acknowledge His Lordship, acknowledge His saving kingship. Have you, dear listener, bowed to Jesus in your heart by faith and received Him as your King, your Lord, your Savior from sin?
He has conquered sin and death and hell. He has ascended to the Father’s right hand. He reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords, and He calls you and me to repent and believe in him. He is the king. What will you do with your king? Will you reject him or will you by grace through faith receive him? The ascension and exaltation of Christ also confirms the truth that Christ is victorious over all of his and our enemies, including our greatest enemies. What are our greatest enemies? Some might say our greatest enemy is the government, or our greatest enemy is crime, or our greatest enemy is discontent or depression. And certainly all of those things can be viewed in a certain way, at least as enemies. Although God uses all things for the good of his people, but our greatest enemies, beloved, are sin, death, hell, and the devil.
But by grace through faith, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. We are victors and overcomers in Christ. His kingship, as attested by his ascension, guarantees our ultimate victory. As our shorter catechism states in answer to question 26, Christ executed the office of a king in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies. Without our Lord’s ascension, this kingly victory of Christ would not be possible, but because Jesus has ascended to the Father and reigns over all, he is able to subdue your stubborn will and mine. He is able to subdue us to himself, to rule us and defend us, and to conquer and restrain all of his and our enemies. How comforting that is, beloved. And friends, since we believers are united to Christ as signified and sealed in our baptism as Romans 6 teaches, since we are united to Christ by grace through faith, Christ’s ascension and exaltation indicates the advancing of our human nature.
You say, well, how is that the case? Well, Christ’s ascension represents the advancing of our nation because Jesus Christ was the God-man, true God, true man in one divine person. The Word made flesh, Emmanuel, God with us. In his incarnation, Christ took upon himself our humanity, body and soul. And so, Jesus is the Theanthropos, the God-man. And when he was exalted, lifted up into heaven, his human nature, too, was lifted up into glory. And since we are united to Christ in his death, resurrection, and ascension, We, beloved, are seated with Him at the Father’s right hand. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, as Paul tells us in Ephesians 1, verse 3. And our ultimate vindication, exaltation, and glorification in Christ are guaranteed by what He has done.
I think the Heidelberg Catechism does an excellent job of summarizing this. I invite you, if you’d like to follow along, to turn to page 880 in the back of your Psalter hymnal, page 880. To Heidelberg Catechism, question and answer 49, page 880. Question 49 of the Heidelberg Catechism asks, how does Christ’s ascension to heaven benefit us? Well, the Bible-based answer to that question is this. First, He is our advocate in heaven in the presence of His Father. Second, we have our own flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that Christ our Head will also take us, His members, up to Himself. Third, He sends His Spirit to us on earth as a corresponding pledge. By the Spirit’s power, we seek not earthly things, but the things above where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand.
Christian, Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. And because you, believer, are united to Christ, you are seated with Him in the heavenly realm, seated with Him in glory. We only perceive that by faith, not by sight, but a time will come When you go to be with the Lord or when the Lord returns to take you to be with himself, the veil that separates the earthly from the heavenly realm will be torn away and you will see and be in the presence of these heavenly realities. Praise be to God that Christ has ascended into heaven. But this brings me to my final point in your outline, based on verse 11. Take to heart, beloved, that the manner in which our Lord ascended indicates the manner in which he will return. The manner in which our Lord Jesus ascended indicates the manner in which he will return.
This is the clear meaning of what the angels say to the apostles here in verse 11. They said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? and then they give this wonderful promise. This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. How will he come back? In the same way you saw him go up. And again, this was a visible, glorious event. His ascension into heaven was a visible, glorious event. In His ascension, our Lord Jesus Christ ascended visibly, physically, gloriously, and publicly. As the angels assure the disciples, when our Lord returns on that final day, His return will not be in secret. The first time He came, He came to this earth in relative obscurity and secrecy. Relatively few people knew of the birth of our Savior.
But when Jesus returns, no one’s gonna miss it. You won’t miss the news. It’ll be obvious for all to see. It will be a worldwide, glorious, visible event. The return of Christ will not merely be a private, subjective, mystical event experienced in the hearts of believers alone. No, beloved, it will be an open, public, visible, glorious event. It will be an event of cosmic significance, cosmic upheaval. It will be as supernatural as was the initial creation, the original Big Bang, when God spoke and bang, it came to be, right? God spoke the universe into existence at the beginning and he will speak the new creation into being when Jesus returns in glory. The historical event of our Lord’s ascension into heaven guarantees it. And it also confirms it. This is also, truth is also confirmed in numerous places elsewhere in the word of God.
And as we close our time in the word today for this service, I’d like to turn to 1 Thessalonians 4 and read verses 13 through 18. And friends, remember as I read these verses, there’s great comfort here. This life is full of pain and suffering and difficulty and challenges. Yes, it’s filled with blessings and good things as well, but this is not heaven. God doesn’t want us to get too comfortable here, but there’s something better coming for those who know Christ as their Savior. We read these words in 1 Thessalonians 4, beginning at verse 13. Paul writes, and he’s writing to comfort the Thessalonians, some of whom had lost loved ones. He says, but we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, which is a euphemism for death. that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. It’s going to be a loud event. No one’s going to miss it. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.
And what’s the moral of it all? Verse 18, therefore, encourage one another with these words. Are you encouraged, brother or sister, by these words? As Jesus departed in that physical, glorious way, so in like manner he will return. And the good news, Christian, do you ever long to see Jesus face to face? You ever long for that time when you’ll get to go before the Lord Jesus and just stand in awe of Him, see His glory face to face? That time is coming. One day you will get to run into the arms of your Savior and He will embrace you. Be comforted by that, be comforted. Let us encourage one another with these truths, and may the Holy Spirit, through the Word, encourage our hearts today through what we have heard. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven.
We thank you that Jesus has ascended back into the glory realm to represent us before you. We thank you that he intercedes for us as our great high priest. We thank you that even now he is preparing a place for us believers. And we thank you, Lord, that he will come again to take us to be with himself forever. We pray that these truths would bring comfort to our hearts. And we pray, Lord, also that if any are here today or any are listening through the internet who have not come to trust in Christ as their Savior, we pray that by your Spirit you would open their hearts to Jesus, that they might receive him as their Savior from sin and their Lord, that they too might share in this comfort and hope. We pray these things, Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen.
Let’s respond to what we’ve heard by rising and singing our closing hymn, number 370, a hymn of glory. Let us sing, 370.
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