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Hearts Sprinkled Clean (Ascension Sunday 2023)

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INTRODUCTION

The Ascension of Jesus is one of the key glories of the gospel, and it really is part of the good news. Our Conquering King is our High Priest, and He has gone ahead of us, appearing in God’s presence for us.

THE TEXT

“For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people…” (Heb. 9:19-24)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

From the time God first confronted sin in this world, it has been accompanied with blood (Gen. 3). So when Moses renewed covenant with God’s people at Sinai, everyone and everything was sprinkled with blood for the remission of sins (Heb. 9:19-22). Hebrews seems to combine a number of different cleansings, summarizing the whole system from the initial covenant ceremony with various rites prescribed in the law (e.g. Ex. 24, Lev. 14:4ff, Lev. 16, etc.). What that earthly tabernacle pictured was Heaven itself and God’s presence, and therefore, what that Old Covenant dedication and cleansing foretold was the purification of the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices (Heb. 9:23). Thus, it was necessary for Christ to ascend into Heaven itself – the temple made without hands – to appear in the presence of God on our behalf (Heb. 9:24).

WHY DOES HEAVEN NEED TO BE CLEANSED?

One immediate question that ought to occur to us is: why does Heaven need to be sprinkled clean by the blood of Jesus? Isn’t Heaven perfect, pure, and sinless? Remember that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and therefore, they are both places that God created side by side, intending for them to mingle and overlap. We see glimpses of this with Enoch walking with God, the burning bush, Elijah riding fiery chariots into Heaven, the vision of the heavenly armies surrounding Elisha and his servant, the transfiguration, and of course the Ascension of Jesus. Heaven is not far away; it is near, but the original unity has been terribly strained by our sin. Thus, the ultimate goal is pictured in Revelation in the imagery of the Heavenly Jerusalem coming down to earth from heaven, and the dwelling place of God being with men (Rev. 21-22).

But that still doesn’t really answer the question of why Heaven needs to be sprinkled clean. Oscar Wilde once told a story about a picture that told the truth about a man, and while he miraculously remained young, the more wicked the man became, the more the picture grew old and hideous.

On the Day of Atonement, in the Old Covenant system, two goats were chosen, and the sins of the nation were confessed over one and it was released into the wilderness. The other was killed and the blood was brought into the tabernacle in order to cleanse the tabernacle from all the uncleanness of the people, their transgressions and sins (Lev. 16:16, 19). In other words, because Heaven is not far off, and God in His mercy has drawn near and bound Himself in covenant to a sinful people, there is a sense in which our sinfulness stains God’s glory and collects in Heaven – like in The Picture of Dorian Gray – and must be cleansed.

THE GREAT MERCY OF GOD

We live before God constantly, and in our sin, we foul His presence. As His image bearers, our sins lie about Him. God is the Great King of the Universe, and we are insolent rebels, spitting on His mercies, despising Him and His goodness, mad with our lusts and envy and bitterness and complaints. And He gives and upholds us, and like Israel in the wilderness, we only complain and turn to idols. But God in His great mercy sent His only begotten Son into the world to be the true tabernacle (Jn. 1:14), which means He came to become that Image where all our hideous sin might collect. And so it did. And when He was lifted up on the cross, He was lifted up like the hideous serpent pierced (Jn. 3:14). But whereas Oscar Wilde’s image only mocked and caused despair, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, and all our sin gone forever. And if that wasn’t enough, He ascended into Heaven itself, into the presence of the Living God, appearing there in the presence of God for us (Heb. 9:24).

CONCLUSION: HEARTS SPRINKLED CLEAN

In the following chapter, it says that because of the blood of Jesus, we enter the Holy of Holies with boldness, because He is our High Priest (Heb. 10:19-20). We draw near with true hearts with full assurance of faith because our hearts have been sprinkled clean from an evil conscience (Heb. 10:21).

How are our hearts sprinkled clean? First and fundamentally by agreeing with God that you are a sinner in need of His great mercy. But then whenever you confess your sins to God and anyone you’ve sinned against, He promises to cleanse us by the blood of Jesus and wash us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn. 1:7-9).

Which means that part of what Jesus is cleansing in Heaven is us because that is where we are seated with Him (Eph. 2:6). This also means that Heaven and earth have been reunited, and while we do not yet see all things under His feet, we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor (Heb. 2:8-9).

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Our Ancient Hope

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INTRODUCTION

It is regrettably commonplace for expositors, even conservative ones, to state that the doctrine of the resurrection was not plainly taught in the Old Testament. But the event of Christ’s resurrection came in the middle of human history, and Paul calls this event the “hope of Israel” (Acts 28:20; cf. Acts 25:19). The resurrection of Christ from the dead caught everyone by surprise . . . but it should not have.

THE TEXT

“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Philippians 3:20–21).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Just as the death of Adam (Gen. 5:5) signaled the future death of us all, so also the resurrection of Christ is the first fruits of our general resurrection. Our foundational citizenship is in Heaven, and we look for the Lord Jesus Christ to come to us from there (v. 20). When He comes, on that day He will transform our vile bodies—some still alive, and others in the grave—and these bodies will be conformed to the pattern of His glorious body (v. 21). This will be done in accordance with the power that enables Christ to bring absolutely everything into subjection to Himself. This is the blessed hope, and this is what we look forward to—the telos of all human history.

NO NEW-FANGLED DOCTRINE

I began by lamenting the fact that so many dismiss the resurrection faith of the saints in the Old Testament. When the Lord Jesus shut down the Sadducees on this question, He did it with a rebuke that backhanded their ignorance of the (Old Testament) Scriptures. They did not know the Scriptures or the power of God (Matt. 22:29). Martha, a devout Jewish woman of the first century, knew that her brother Lazarus would rise in the resurrection on the last day (John 11:24). How could she know this? It would have to be from the Old Testament.

And consider this great confession of Job:

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God: “Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25–27, NKJV).

The doctrine is not an obscure one.

“After two days will he revive us: In the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.” (Hosea 6:2).

“I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction! Pity is hidden from My eyes” (Hosea 13:14, NKJV).

Isaiah says the same, and in a passage that Paul quotes in his defense of the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:54-57):

“He will swallow up death in victory; And the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; And the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: For the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaiah 25:8).

This is something that the people of God have known from the book of Genesis on (John 8:56; Mark 12:26). This has been our hope, from ancient times until now.

RESURRECTION POWER NOW

The transformation of our vile bodies will be complete when the Lord Jesus comes down from Heaven, but that is not when the transformation process starts. The transformation begins with regeneration. Our experience of Christ in our lives now is an experience of resurrection power in the here and now.

“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him . . . Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:5–8, 11).

The power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that is dealing with you in your day-to-day striving against sin.

“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:11).

THE OLD WORLD IS PREGNANT WITH A NEW WORLD

When Christ came out of the grave, He walked into an old world that had at that moment been made new in principle. When He went to the cross, He transformed death. When He was laid in the grave, He sanctified all of our future graves. And then when He rose from the dead, He entered into a world made new.

“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful” (Revelation 21:5).

But it was not His sovereign good will to transform everything by throwing a breaker. Something like that will have to wait until the Second Coming. The Second Coming is when the world, now pregnant with life, will give birth to that life. Until that time, until the due date, the world will grow continually heavier with this life, carrying in the womb of the world the glory of the coming world.

“For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now” (Romans 8:22).

And all of this is a manifestation of resurrection power. We see it in history, we see it in our own testimonies, we see it in the growth of the church throughout the world, and we see it by faith in the glorious day that is coming. Contrary to the grievous errors of the full preterists, the world is not going to be pregnant forever.

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Resurrection Hope (CCD)

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THE TEXT

Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable (1 Cor. 15:12–19 NKJV).

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Believing is Seeing (King’s Cross Church)

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INTRODUCTION

After touching Jesus’ hands and side and believing, Jesus said to Thomas, “because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed” (Jn. 20:29). There is a particular blessing in hearing the good news that Jesus is risen from the dead and believing. In fact, while sight has a good function, it is not the controlling or foundational faculty. What you believe colors what you can or will be able to see. Living by faith doesn’t mean living in an imaginary world; it means living with the certain knowledge that some things are true even though you can’t see them and with that knowledge seeing everything more clearly.

THE TEXT

“And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus…” (Lk. 24:13-35)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Luke sets up this story by highlighting the uncertainty of the women and the disciples having found the tomb empty and hearing a message from angels (Lk. 24:1-12). With that uncertainty and unbelief lingering, two other disciples began walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus that same day, talking about everything that had happened, and Jesus joined them, but they didn’t recognize Him (Lk. 24:13-16). Jesus asked them what they were talking about and why they were sad, and they asked Him if He was the only pilgrim in town who didn’t know what had happened to Jesus of Nazareth (Lk. 24:17-24).

Jesus responds, chiding them for their unbelief, and proceeds to explain from Moses and all the prophets that the Messiah had to suffer before being glorified (Lk. 24:25-27). When the disciples drew near their destination, they urged Jesus to come with them, and when He sat down with them, and blessed and broke bread and gave it to them, their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus, and He vanished (Lk. 24:28-31). Making sense of the glorious Bible study on the road, the two immediately returned to Jerusalem and told the others who had also heard that Peter had seen Jesus (Lk. 24:32-35).

THE BLIND ADAMSON FAMILY

Instead of grabbing the shoulders of Cleopas and the other disciple and looking them in the face and saying, “It’s me! It’s me!” or saying, “Oh fools and slow of heart to recognize that I’m standing right in front of you,” Jesus locates the foolishness and unbelief in their failure to remember and believe the Bible (Lk. 24:25). We have a hard time believing this, but one of the central messages of Scripture is that we cannot see or understand anything rightly apart from God and His Word. While the serpent promised a greater vision and wisdom, when the eyes of Adam and Eve were “opened,” they actually became blind and foolish (Gen. 3:5-7).

This doesn’t mean unbelievers can’t see or understand anything; nor does this mean that Christians magically see everything clearly. But it means that because of sin and separation from God everything is distorted, disoriented, and muddled. We desperately need the spectacles of Scripture and the Lasik surgery of the Spirit. Jesus says that having unconfessed sin is like having a log in your eye (Mt. 7:3-5). This is one of the reasons Jesus heals so many blind people during His ministry. He came to give sight to the blind Adamson family (Eph. 4:18).

MOSES, THE PROPHETS, AND RESURRECTION PROOF

So beginning with Moses, Jesus explains how the Scriptures teach that the Messiah had to suffer before coming into His glory. Jesus may have begun in the Garden with the Fall and promise of the seed of the woman and the skins that covered their shame: there needed to be blood shed by a substitute so that Adam and Eve could live. He may have talked about the covenant promises pictured in circumcision, barren wives conceiving, Isaac received back from the dead in a type, Joseph’s suffering and glory – all stories of human weakness and death turned to strength and life. He could have traced the same themes in the Exodus, the sacrifices, the bronze serpent, the story of Job, many of the Psalms (16, 22, 69, 116), and prophecies of the Messiah (e.g. Is. 53, Jer. 20, Zech. 3). The Old Testament is all about Jesus.

This story illustrates what Jesus taught in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, which is about the rich man’s greed blinding him until it was too late and he died and found himself in torment in Hades (Lk. 16). When the rich man asks if someone might be sent back to warn his five living brothers, Abraham says that they have “Moses and the prophets.” And when the rich man argues that they would be more likely to repent if someone rose from the dead, Abraham says, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Lk. 16:31). If you will not believe God’s Word, then you will not believe even if someone rises from the dead (cf. Jn. 11:43-53, Mt. 28:11-15). Believing is seeing.

APPLICATIONS

Cleopas might be the same as “Clopas,” the husband of another Mary (Jn. 19:25), and they may be the two disciples going to Emmaus. Early tradition said that the two disciples may have been Clopas and his son Simeon, who was the second leader of the church in Jerusalem (after James). Another early tradition suggests that this Clopas was the brother of Joseph (father of Jesus), which would make the lack of recognition even more striking: not recognizing his own nephew.

Regardless, there’s a striking echo and reversal of Genesis 3 in this story: whereas two people ate food sinfully and their eyes were “opened” and they became ashamed of their nakedness and afraid (Gen. 3:6-7). Here, in Luke, we have two disciples filled with fear and shame, not seeing clearly, but in the breaking and eating of the bread with Jesus, their eyes are truly opened. While they only see Jesus for a moment, they suddenly see everything very clearly.

This story is one reason why the Reformation tradition has argued for the Word and Sacrament to go together and in that order. Hearing and believing the Word is the prerequisite for seeing and communing with Jesus rightly. But even then, the breaking of bread has a way of revealing what the Word says. What is it about the breaking of the bread? It’s receiving the gifts of God, giving thanks, and sharing them, and so seeing them by faith for what they really are.

Eyes are powerful gifts, but they are not simple mechanisms. Our eyes are loaded with biases and blind spots, prejudices and presuppositions. You need Jesus to show Himself to You in the Word and breaking of bread so that you can see Him crucified and risen, and by seeing Him, see your spouse, your family, your roommate, your neighbors, your job, your everything rightly.

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