Festival of the Ascension of the Lord
Scripture: Isaiah 57:15 (NKJV)
57:15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”
Devotion
There is a strange tension in this passage. On the one hand, God is “High and Lofty”; on the other hand, He is “with him who has a contrite and humble spirit.” This is the same as to say that God is righteous and just (Ps. 33:5), and that He “justifies the ungodly” through faith (Rom. 4:5). God is holy and righteous, but His righteousness is best shown in His acts of grace toward lowly sinners.
Today the Church celebrates the Ascension of our Lord, when the Lord Jesus Christ bodily ascended to the right hand of God the Father. Even though He rules from that “high and lofty” throne at the Father’s right hand, He is still very present here on earth with those of a “contrite and humble spirit”—that is, with those who believe. The Lord Jesus never left us; He is just as present with us today as when He walked the earth with His apostles. What has changed is how He is present. He is present with His Church everywhere through the Word, preached and read, and through the Lord’s Supper. Through these means, though He sits in heaven, He is very present to comfort and strengthen those who repent of their sins and turn to Him in faith.
We pray: O King of Glory, Lord of hosts, who didst this day ascend in triumph far above all heavens, we beseech Thee, leave us not comfortless, but send to us the Spirit of Truth, promised of the Father; O Thou who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
