“And hath raised us up together” (Eph. ii. 6).
Ascension is more than resurrection. Much is said of it in the New
Testament. Christ riseth above all things. We see Him in the very act of
ascending as we do not in the actual resurrection, as, with hands and lips
engaged in blessing, He gently parts from their side, so simply, so
unostentatiously, with so little imposing ceremony as to make heaven so
near to our common life that we can just whisper through. And we, too,
must ascend, even here. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those
things that are above.” We must learn to live on the heaven side and look
at things from above. How it overcomes sin, defies Satan, dissolves
perplexities, lifts us above trials, separates us from the world and
conquers the fear of death to contemplate all things as God sees them, as
Christ beholds them, as we shall one day look back upon them from His
glory, and as if we were now really “Seated with Him,” as indeed we are,
“in the heavenly places.” Let us arise with His resurrection and in
fellowship with His glorious ascension learn henceforth to live above.