The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1898, Page 18

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- heavenly paradise, which He had

18 The Lutheran Pioneer.

On the Lord’s Ascension.

A friend sends us the following summary
of a sermon preached in German on the Gos-
pel Lesson of Ascension day by the Rev. F.

have been easier for Him to cure them of |
their unbelief if he had not ascended into |

tween this command and His ascension? Most
certainly. We must remember that by His

heaven, but allowed them to continually en- | sufferings and death Christ redeemed, bought,
joy His visible presence? Never! ‘Blessed | won and gained the whole world; that is, the

are they that have not seen and yet have be-

entire multitude of sinners. Now was the

Sievers of Minneapolis, Minn. The instructive | lieved.’”’ For this reason the faith of His dis-| time, when Christ could say that majestic
summary was published in the Jfinneapolis | ciples might have easily gone astray from that! word: ‘‘All power is given unto me in heaven

Times, and is as follows:

Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, and forty
days thereafter ascended into heayen, is none
other than Christ crucified, unto the Jews a
stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolish-
ness. Even his ascension belongs to those

which is called the true living and saving |

and in earth. Go ye therefore into all the

faith, if Christ had not ascended into heaven. | world and preach the gospel to every crea-

Furthermore, His ascension had previously

been announced, and that frequently, by Him- |

self as well as by His holy servants in the
Old Testament. How, then, could His dis-

ture.”’ After He has bought and gained all
sinners, should He not have authority enough
to let them know it? This was manifested by
His ascension into heaven. It was a grand

things which must be judged spiritually, and| ciples have continued to believe His word, | thing, when a decree went out from Caesar
if He Himself had not kept it, if He had not | Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

therefore can not be received by the natural
man. It belongs to those mysteries of the
gospel which have not entered into any man’s
heart. Once Jesus said to the Pharisees:
‘Whither I go, ye can not come,’’ then said
the Jews: ‘‘Will he kill himself
because he saith: ‘Whither I go,
ye can not come’?’’ So little
did they understand of Christ’s
ascension, which can not be un-
derstood at all, except in the
light of the gospel. The gospel,
however, reveals unto us that
the ascension of Christ was a
glorious triumph over all our
spiritual enemies, as sin, devil,
world, death and hell; that Christ
by His ascension has prepared
the place for us and opened the

regained for us by His sufferings
and death; that Christ since His
ascension is sitting at the right
hand of God the Father, as our
mediator and intercessor. O, how
brilliant does the ascension of
our dear Lord Jesus Christ ap-
pear in the light of His holy
gospel! Indeed, we have no reason for Jamen-
tations or sorrow, but rather for great rejoic-
ing, if we look at Christ’s ascension in the
light of His holy gospel.

But, my friends, we may also exclaim:
O, how glorious does the gospel of Christ
appear in the light of His ascension! ‘The
subject of our present devotion and con-
sideration is:

THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IN THE LIGHT OF
HIS ASCENSION.

By Christ’s ascension

I. His gospel is gloriously confirmed,
II. the world is opened for the spreading
of His gospel,
II. the victory of His gospel is guaranteed
forever.

Confirming the Gospel.

Our text tells us in the fourteenth verse
that Christ scolded His disciples on account
of their unbelief, because they had not be-
lieved those women who had heen first wit-
nesses of His resurrection. But would it not

ascended into heaven? And if, in a point of |

such importance, concerning the only Saviour
of men, the prophecies would not have come
together with the fulfillment — how, then,

The Lord’s Ascension.

could we acknowledge and believe the gospel
of Christ as the eternal truth of God? Fur-
thermore, all those precious promises of the
gospel, that Christ should be our predecessor
into the heavenly mansions, and send His
Holy Spirit, and protect His church, until He
shall call all believers up to His glory, how
could all these and other sweet promises of
the gospel be true, how could the word and
the work of Christ be true, if he had not as-
cended into heaven to sit at the right hand of
God, the Father? How gloriously, then, is
the gospel of Christ confirmed as being the
everlasting rock of His church, by His ascen-
sion into heayen?

Given to the World.

But we must even say: Without the ascen-
sion of Jesus Christ into heaven we should
have no gospel at all. Our text tells us that
Jesus said to His disciples: ‘‘Go ye into the
world and preach the gospel to every crea-
ture.”” Why was it that Christ gave such
grand command for the first time just before
His ascension? Is there any connection he-

All the world, that meant as far as it was then
known and subjected to the Roman empire.
But when and wherever could any worldly
potentate issue a proclamation like this: ‘Go
ye into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature’?
And Christ who triumphantly
ascended into heaven, evidently
had power enough to have His
last will performed. For His
disciples went forth and preached
everywhere as our text says.
Yea, St. Paul could write to the
Colossians that the gospel was
come in all the world, and was
preached to every creature which
is under heaven. O, how should
we rejoice over the ascension of
our Lord, because we know that
from this most glorious event we
must derive that wonderfal bless-
ing, that in spite of all hostility
of the devil and the wicked
world, we have received and do
still enjoy the gospel of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ, the
heavenly message that Jesus
Christ came into the world to seek and save
sinners, the gospel which is the power of God
unto salvation to every one that believeth!

The Gospel Victorious.

But how is it possible, that sinners, who
in their nature are entirely depraved and un-
able to do the pleasure of God may believe
the gospel of Jesus Christ? ‘The gospel does
not promise anything which affords pleasure,
honor, riches of this world; the gospel is con-
trary to all inclinations of our sinful hearts;
the gospel does away with all wisdom and
merits of our own, the gospel invites us simply
to trust in the merits and righteousness of our
only Saviour, Jesus Christ, then to renounce
the sinful world and to follow our redeemer
on the narrow way, to deny ourselves and .to
take up our cross daily and habitually to look
forward to our Lord’s final coming, when st
last the times of our refreshing shall be st
hand. Who in the world is fond of such &
gospel? How could those few poor disciples
of Christ at that time have any hopes o ca
ing any success whatever, by preaching su