Why Jesus' Ascension Matters for Christians Today

Jesus ascended back to heaven 40 days after his resurrection. We know this because Luke tells us (Acts 1:3). It’s a very important event, and Luke is the guy who wrote both accounts of it. One is shorter (Lk 24:50-53), and the other is a bit longer (Acts 1:10). Other New Testament writers constantly reference it, too.

Why talk about the ascension?

One big reason is that the Christian story makes no sense without it.

• The bible tells us that Jesus is coming back—but coming back from where?
• The bible says that Jesus is the shepherd for all believers. If that’s true, then where is his “shepherd command center”? Is he in Olympia? In Atlanta? In London? In Durban?
• If Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit, where does he pour it out from? Is he in a house somewhere in West Olympia, pouring out the Spirit onto new believers in Tokyo? Even the imagery of “pouring out” suggests a spatial position above us somewhere—but where?
• If Jesus left this earth to prepare a place for us, at what location is he making these preparations?

A helpful analogy to start

Here’s an analogy that helps explain the difference between Jesus’ ministry during the incarnation and now—after the ascension. The analogy is the difference between tactical and strategic command, in a military context.

• A tactical commander is focused on a specific, local objective with a relatively small number of resources. He and his men must take that hill, right there. This is a very narrow focus.
• A strategic commander sees the whole picture—not just that hill, but all the hills. The whole battlespace. The logistics. The reinforcements. The larger plan for the entire campaign.

Jesus’ incarnation v. ascension is like that:

• The incarnation was a tactical command situation. Jesus and a relatively small band of followers wandered to and fro in a very small area, among a fairly small group of people, as he trained a very small cadre of followers. Jesus didn’t worry about what is now China, India, or Argentina. He focused on Capernaum, the Sea of Galilee region, and other local areas.
• But, at his ascension Jesus pinned back on his Fleet Admiral (5-star) insignia and began running the entire cosmic war from his combat information center at the Father’s right hand. He now acts “from Washington” (as it were) to impact individual “commands” at far-flung outposts (large and small) all across the world.
• Tactical v. strategic command.

Goals for studying Jesus’ ascension

Jesus performs at least three big jobs in heaven:

1. He’s the King who wages divine war against Satan.
2. He’s the High Priest who reconciles us to God and always lives to make intercession for his people (see Heb 5-10). I covered this during my ascension sermon in 2024, and you can watch it here.
3. He is our shepherd and guide—this will be our focus in this article.

This article has two goals:

1. To show us why the ascension is such an important part of the Christian story.
2. To know why Jesus’ ascension is a good thing for you, and why it should comfort you.

We’ll make our way through this in three steps:

1. We’ll look at some (not all) hints from the old covenant, and their fulfillment in the new covenant scriptures so we can “see” the ascension throughout the bible.
2. Next, we’ll consider where, exactly, heaven is. Have you ever thought about that?
3. Finally, I’ll provide five reasons why the ascension matters today for you if you’re a Christian.

I could say much more on this topic (especially on Jesus as king and high priest), but we’ll stick to the “Jesus as shepherd” theme here.

From Hints to Reality

I’ll discuss two old covenant hints about the ascension, and two new covenant texts that show these hints have now become reality.

Two old covenant hints

The first old covenant hint we’ll consider that points to Jesus’ ascension is the Day of Atonement ritual. You can find this by comparing Leviticus 16 and Hebrews 9.

1. You have the tabernacle and its sturdier replacement, the temple building. The bible explains the elaborate rituals the covenant member and the priest perform to atone for the sins of the people. These are foreshadowing’s (or “types”) that signal a greater fulfillment by Jesus in the new covenant (Heb 9:1-9)—the same way a little boy’s tricycle foreshadows his first car.
2. The tabernacle and its furnishings inside the holy of holies also “stand for” the heavenly realities above (Ex 25:9)—they’re like LEGO figurines of the true reality (Heb 8:5).
3. So, in old covenant worship, on the Day of Atonement that high priest goes in, offers the blood of the sacrificed animal, and makes atonement for the people.

So far, so good.

But how does Jesus make this picture become real? How does he complete the reality to which the old covenant LEGO minifigures pointed? He completes it by going to the real throne room in heaven, offering his own blood from his own sacrifice, and making permanent atonement for his own people. This means Jesus must leave here and go back to heaven to complete the picture—this is the ascension.

Next, we turn to King David, who certainly understood at least something about this. Consider Psalm 110:1, which is the most quoted text in the new covenant scriptures! “The LORD says to my lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’”

Jesus used this text to explain that the Messiah was more than just David’s son—he was a divine figure. He asked folks who the Messiah would be, and they said it would be David’s son (Mt 22:42). Well, Jesus asked, how could David (who spoke by means of the Holy Spirit) call his own son his lord (Mt 22:43)? “If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” (Mt 22:45).

Look back at Psalm 110:1 (above), and think with me here:

1. There are two “Lords” in this verse. One is Yahweh, whose personal name our English bibles always translate in ALL CAPS, so we’ll catch it. We’ll call him “Lord 1.”
2. But who is this other “lord,” the one not in capital letters? We’ll call him “Lord 2.”
3. Whoever Lord 2 is, he seems to be divine—this was Jesus’ point in Matthew 22:42-46. What person could sit beside God in heaven? So, Lord 2 is divine, and the Christian story tells us it is Jesus.
4. Fair enough—but if Lord 2 is Jesus, and Jesus came here during the incarnation, then how does he get back there to take his seat and pin back on his 5-star, Fleet Admiral insignia?

Well, he leaves.

He ascends back to where he’d been before the world began. He went back to heaven. He’s gonna stay there “until I [Lord 1] make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (Ps 110:1). The apostle Peter understood this, which is why he quoted Psalm 110:1 and said: “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah” (Acts 2:36).

Remember the tactical v. strategic analogy we mentioned earlier. Now, since the ascension back to the throne room in heaven, Jesus the king is directing this multi-front, cosmic and divine war from heaven until all his enemies (Satan and his minions) are crushed in the dust before him.

Two new covenant realities

The apostle Peter preaches that “[h]eaven must receive him”—that is, Jesus the Messiah—“until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:21). When heaven receives Jesus, we have the ascension, which will terminate when Jesus once more descends here with the heavenly host to crush Satan and his minions under his feet (Rev 19; Mt 24:29-31).

The martyr Stephen, whose sad story God preserved for us in Acts 7, saw the risen Christ in heaven after his ascension. When Stephen denounces the Jewish council— “[y]ou stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!”—he faces almost certain death. At that crucial moment, Luke tells us:

… Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55-56).

Jesus is not here. He is “up there,” in heaven. He ascended. And, of course, the Christian story tells us that Jesus is coming back here one day. From where is he coming back? From heaven.

Where is heaven?

I won’t spend too much time here, but it is something many Christians probably haven’t thought about much. I’ll only skim through this one, but it’s worth thinking about. Where is heaven? Here’s what we know:

1. Jesus is clearly not here.
2. He is also clearly somewhere else, in some real, physical, actual place. We know this because Jesus keeps his physical, resurrected body, which must take up real estate somewhere.
3. Jesus taught us to pray “Our Father, who art in heaven” (Mt 6:9), which means the Father is also taking up real estate somewhere. Yes, God is spirit and has no innate physical form with which to occupy a space, but he is “up there” in heaven.
4. And we know that Jesus will one day come back to here from that place.

But where is it?

1. It isn’t up in the sky. God isn’t in outer space! If you leave earth’s atmosphere, you won’t find him there. Or on the far side of the moon. Or hiding in one of Saturn’s rings.
2. But heaven seems to be a physical place somewhere.

So, it’s best seen as a different dimension—a divine alternate realm that’s above this one.

Heaven is the place where God is. It isn’t a fixed address—it moves when God moves. This is why the apostle John tells us that, one day, God will re-locate from heaven to earth. He will bring heaven to earth, just as he promised through the prophet Zechariah (Zech 2:10).

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God (Revelation 21:2-3). But, for now, “heaven” is this alternative divine dimension where Jesus went at his ascension.

In the next article, we’ll talk about five things Jesus does for his people from heaven as our shepherd.