Sermon outline, May 8

Peter J. Leithart, May 02, 2005

INTRODUCTION
Ascension Day doesn�t have the cultural charge that Christmas and Easter do, but it�s equally important. Jesus�Eascension is one of the chief goals of His entire ministry, the day on which the Father installed His king on Zion to rule the nations with a rod of iron and to shatter them like earthenware. Ascension Day marked the end of Jesus�Ecombat against Satan, and the beginning of ours.

THE TEXT
�And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven . . .�E(Revelation 12:1-17).

KING JESUS
The ascension was the climax of the work of Jesus is underscored in this passage. The story of Jesus is told in miniature: A woman (Israel) gives birth to a boy who is threatened by the dragon, Satan (Revelation 12:1-4). But the boy is caught up to God�s throne to rule the nations (v. 5), and throws Satan out of heaven (vv. 7-9). The announcement in verse 10 tells us what has happened: �the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down.�E What did Jesus come to do? According to Revelation 12, Jesus came to rule the nations and to cast Satan out of heaven, so that he might no longer accuse the saints.

Further, this chapter is in the exact center of the book of Revelation. As Warren Gage has pointed out, John and Revelation together form a crossing structure that centers on the announcement of Jesus�Etriumph over Satan at His �lifting up.�E John�s gospel begins with an announcement of the �tabernacling�Eof the Word (John 1:14) and a celebration of a wedding (John 2:1-11), and Revelation ends with an invitation to the marriage Supper of the Lamb (19:8) and declaration that the �tabernacle of God is among men�E(Revelation 21:3). On the other hand, Revelation begins with a vision of the glorified Jesus (Revelation 1:12-20), and John�s gospel ends with the resurrection of Jesus. These two narrative lines cross at John 12 and Revelation 12. As Gage writes, this is �the thematic center of the story told by the two books, tells of the great reversal that takes place as the Son is lifted up and Satan is cast down. John 12:28-31 and Revelation 12:9-10 are anchored by word combinations that occur nowhere else in either book. These passages constitute the literary axis of the two Johannine books. . . . Both passages concern the announcement of Christ's kingdom. In John 12, Jesus rides into Jerusalem upon a donkey. The crowds proclaim Him "King of Israel" and the Pharisees worry that "the world has gone after Him" (John 12:13,15,19). The Revelation passage that corresponds to the Triumphal Entry of the Gospel opens with the announcement that "the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever" (Rev 11:15; cf. Rev 12:10). In John 12:32, the Son is lifted up. The matching declaration of Revelation 12:9 is that the Dragon is cast down to earth.�E

SATAN AND ASCENSION DAY
Throughout the Old Testament, Satan had access to the courtroom of God. Satan comes as a prosecuting attorney, the �accuser�E(which is the meaning of the Hebrew word �Satan�E. He is among the �sons of God�Ewho appear before Yahweh in Job 1-2, and He brings a charge against the blameless Job. In Zechariah 3, Satan is at the side of the defiled high priest Joshua �to accuse him�E(v. 1). Because God had not dealt definitively with sin, Satan was in a position of considerable authority under the old covenant.

Ascension Day is bad news for Satan. Already during Jesus�Eministry, Jesus was waging war against the accuser, and He says at one point that He saw Satan fall from heaven (Luke 10:18). But Satan doesn�t finally lose his position of authority until Jesus ascends to the right hand of the Father. Then, as Revelation 12 shows, Satan is thrown down with his angels (v. 9). This is not, however, the end of Satan�s campaign against God. Instead, once thrown down, He begins to persecute the woman (12:13), and then calls up a sea beast and a land beast to assist him (ch. 13). He continues the assault on the saints until the city of Babylon (Jerusalem) falls (chs. 17-18), after which He is thrown into the abyss so that he will not deceive the nations (20:1-3), as he had done previously (cf. 13:14). This doesn�t mean that Satan is completely powerless, but that he cannot do anything that will inhibit the spread of the kingdom of Jesus.

ASCENSION DAY AND US
Ascension Day occurred nearly 2000 years ago, and at that time Jesus triumphed over Satan and cast him from heaven. But Ascension Day also has implications for us. Revelation highlights two. First, Revelation shows that the Ascension of Jesus involves the ascension of the saints. This is evident already in Daniel 7, where the angelic interpreter tells Daniel that the ascension of the Son of Man to the Ancient of Days means that �the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom�E(v. 18; cf. v. 27). The ascension of the saints is one of the over-arching themes of the entire book of Revelation. At the beginning of the book, John sees twenty-four angelical �elders�Eenthroned and crowned (4:4), but before long, they are casting their crowns at the foot of God�s throne (4:10). Throughout the book, twenty-four angels carry out God�s orders, as the old creation is destroyed and a new creation is formed. By the end of the book, the angelic rulers have been replaced by saints who participate in the first resurrection and �reign with Christ a thousand years�E(20:4). Revelation moves from the old covenant, where angels rule the world, to the new covenant, where the saints rule the world.

Second, in Revelation 12 in particular Jesus�Eascension means that Satan is cast down to earth. This looks like a threat to the faithful on earth, and in one sense it is. The serpent pursues the woman, and elsewhere Peter warns about Satan seeking the saints like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8-9). Yet, Satan�s fall is also an advantage for us. So long as Satan was in heaven, we could not fight him directly. Now that Michael the chief of the angels has thrown Satan from heaven, Satan is within our grasp. Satan is alive on planet earth. And that�s good news to us because God promises that we will trample him under our feet (Romans 16:20).

CONCLUSION
In Revelation, the saints triumph over Satan by witnessing faithfully despite persecutions and threats, persevering unto death. Our triumph over Satan takes the same form as Jesus�Etriumph: suffering leading to exaltation, cross leading to resurrection, descent leading to ascent. Our struggles in Moscow are part of that triumph.