The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1899, Page 17

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Che Lutheran Pioneer. —

A MISSIONARY MONTHUY.

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PusiisHep BY THE HvancELicaL Lurueran SyNnopIcaL ConFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA.

Ascension.

Golden harps are sounding,
Angel voices sing,

Pearly gates are opened,
Opened for the King.

Christ, the King of Glory,
Jesus, King of Love,

Is gone up in triumph
To His throne above.

All His work is ended,
Joyfully we sing;

Jesus hath ascended!
Glory to our King!

He who came to save us,
He who bled and died.

Now is crowned with gladness
At His Father's side.

Never more to suffer,
Never more to die,

Jesus, King of Glory,
Is gone upon high,

All His work is ended,
Joyfully we sing;

Jesus hath ascended!
Glory to our King!

Praying for His children
In that blessed place,
Calling them to glory,
Sending them His grace;
His bright Home preparing,
Christians, for you;
Jesus ever liveth,
Ever loveth too.
All His work is ended,
Joyfully we sing;
Jesus hath ascended!

Glory to our King!
LY e Selected.

+ +a or oe

The Ascension of Christ.

Christ’s ascension was prophesied in the
Old Testament. It is there written: ‘‘God
is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the
sound of a.trumpet. Sing praises to God,
sing praises!’” Ps. 47, 5.6. And again it is
written: ‘‘Thou hast ascended on high, thou
hast led captivity captive: thou hast received
gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also,’’
Ps. 68,18. Christ’s ascension was also fore-
told and talked about by Himself. When
some murmured at His sayings, He asked
them, ‘‘What then if ye should behold the
Son of man ascending where He was before?”

‘St.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Oflice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

May, 1899.

Louis, Mo.,

“Yet a little while I am with you,’’ said He
to the Pharisees, ‘‘and I go unto Him that
sent me.’’ ‘To the disciples He said, “T go
unto the Father.’? The morning of the resur-
rection He said to Mary, ‘‘I am not yet as-
cended unto the Father; but go unto my
brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto
my Father and your Father, and my God and
your God.”’

But He did not ascend for forty days after
His resurrection. The Bible says of the risen

passion by many proofs, appearing unto them
(the disciples) by the space of forty days.’
During those forty days He spoke to His dis-
ciples ‘‘the things concerning the kingdom of
God.”’
He was for the last time visibly present with
His disciples on the Mount of Olives.

cloud received Him out of their sight.’”
Who was it that thus ascended?

lived here on earth and suffered and died for
the salvation of sinners, the same that rose
again for our justification. The work which
He came to do was finished, and so He re-
turned to the Father that sent Him. “Tr 1s
FINISHED!?? That is the cry of victory from
the cross. ‘‘Ir 1s FINISHED!” That is the
cry of triumph from the empty grave on Eas-
ter morning. ‘Ir 1s FiNisHED!”” That is the
shout of the Conqueror as from the Mount of
Olives He returns to the Father on Ascension
Day.

Yes, it is finished. Nothing has been left
undone for the salvation of sinners. The
work of our redemption is finished. There-
fore Christ, before His ascension, told His
disciples to go into the world and preach the
Gospel to all creatures. That Gospel is the
glad news of the finished work of our re-
demption. It is the hand in which the as-
cended Saviour offers to every sinner the

ifts which He ‘‘received for men; yea, for
the rebellious also.’”” He who rejects this
Gospel thereby rejects his only salvation;
for outside of that finished work of Christ
there is nothing in the universe of God that

Saviour, ‘tHe showed Himself alive after His

And at the end of those forty days

‘As
they were looking He was taken up and 8

It was
Jesus Christ, the God-man, the same that
was born of the Virgin Mary, the same that

No. 5.

can save him. ‘‘He that believeth not, shall
be damned.”? But he who accepts this Gospel
with a trusting faith, thereby accepts the fin-
ished work of the ascended Saviour and en-
joys all the gifts which He received for men.
He has forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
“He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved.’”

—. ooo

A Day of Joy.

Ascension Day is a day of joy. On that
day we are reminded of what we confess of
Christ in the second article of the Apostles’
Creed: ‘‘He ascended into heaven, and sit-
teth at the right hand of God the Father Al-
mighty.”

But it is not a subject of sorrow that Christ
left this world and now sits at the right hand
of God. No. The right hand of God is not
a certain place in heaven, far away. Accord-
ing to Scripture, the right hand of God is His
almighty power and majesty. When we are
told that Christ sits at the right hand of God,
we learn that Christ, according to His human
nature, as our Brother, entered into the maj-
esty and glory of God, into the full use of His
almighty power. He rules and fills all things.
He, also according to His human nature, is
with us at all places and at all times, though
we see Him not. He is able, as He is willing,
to fulfill the promise given to His believers
before His ascension: ‘‘Lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world.” In
His ascension He withdrew only His visible
presence. His children live in this world by
faith, not by sight. But at the end of their
pilgrimage their faith shall be changed into
sight. ‘Where I am, there shall also my
servant be,’’ says the Saviour. We shall see
Him whom, having not seen, we love; and in
whom, though now we see Him not, we be-
lieve. This is our firm hope in this valley
of tears. A Christian may live in poverty,
bowed down with troubles, sorrow, and care;
his home in this world may be a cabin or
some miserable hut, still he can rejoice. He
knows that he is a pilgrim and a stranger and
can tarry but a while. He knows that his
true home is above, where his Saviour is gone