Latest From the BELC
MISSION NEWSLETTER Every other month our CLC Board of Missions updates us with recent news from various mission fields. The largest church body with which… Read More »Latest From the BELC
MISSION NEWSLETTER Every other month our CLC Board of Missions updates us with recent news from various mission fields. The largest church body with which… Read More »Latest From the BELC
COVER STORY – ASCENSION
Ascension is actually not our holiday, is it? Not really. It belongs, for the most part, to our Lord Jesus. Think of it. If you were Jesus, wouldn’t you be eager to return to heaven to be with your Heavenly Father and to exist in the perfect bliss of paradise—especially if you knew from personal experience what that place was really like?
Clearly. Who wouldn’t want to be there right this minute? The Apostle Paul certainly agreed. In his letter to the Philippians he said, “If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” (Philippians 1:22-23 ESV)
The Ascension was therefore the day Jesus got to go home—victorious! It was Jesus’ great day as He returned to the glory and bliss of His Father’s side in heaven.
That’s not to say that there’s nothing in the Ascension for Christians.
The word the Bible uses to describe how the disciples stood staring off into space is the same one it uses to describe how the children of Israel stared at the glowing face of Moses when he came down from Mount Sinai (2 Corinthians 3:13), and how Stephen stared at the vision of angels when he was being stoned (Acts 7:55). Clearly, this event was absolutely amazing to those who witnessed it. Who knows how long the disciples stood there, or how long they would have stood there had the two men dressed in white not arrived? The angels asked the same question anyone walking up to a similar group today would ask: “Why do you stand looking into heaven?” The angels obviously knew the answer, so with the question they offered both an explanation and a promise—and in that explanation we learn the promise that the Ascension of our Lord Jesus holds for us: “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11 ESV)Read More »Pause, Consider, but Then Move Forward
A HYMN OF GLORY LET US SING (THIRTY-FIRST IN A SERIES)
“On Christ’s ascension I now build/ The hope of mine ascension.” (verse 1)
When Christ returns on Judgment Day, you, along with all believers, will ascend bodily into heaven, to be forever with Him where there is no sorrow, no tear, and everlasting joy. This fundamental Christian doctrine is scorned by many “modernists” as “pie in the sky bye and bye”—mere wishful thinking. However, our confidence in this truth is unshakably founded on the inerrant Word of God and confirmed by the historical fact of Christ’s Ascension.
In John 14:2-3, Jesus tells His disciples, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” When the resurrected Jesus later visibly ascended into heaven, that historical event—witnessed by the apostles—confirmed His promise. Josua Wegelin (1604-1640) provides an additional reason for our assurance. He writes, “For where the Head is, there full well/ I know His members are to dwell/ When Christ shall come and call them.” (verse 1)Read More »“On Christ’s Ascension I Now Build” TLH Hymn 216
GEMS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT Life is a journey. As Christian travelers, we’re simply passing through the Temporary on our way to the Eternal. During… Read More »Prepared for the Journey
STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight,… Read More »A Faith That Runs
READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER (AUTHORITY OF THE WORD) Passages that will help you respond when people say… It used to be that the most… Read More »“Don’t Judge Me”
The ROAD TO REFORMATION In observation of the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation, we are presenting a brief survey of the life of Martin… Read More »Luther Reforms the Liturgy —1526—
A SLICE OF LIFE IN THE CLC SNAPSHOTS OF CONGREGATIONS FROM AROUND THE CHURCH OF THE LUTHERAN CONFESSION I would imagine that the sight of a… Read More »Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church Hidewood Township, South Dakota
[The following is a report from Pastor Jyothi Benjamin on “public Gospel meetings,” a recurring evangelism effort of the Church of the Lutheran Confession in… Read More »CLCI Public Gospel Meetings
Forty-seven members and visitors gathered to dedicate a new church building for Peace Lutheran Church on Sunday, October 15, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. The church… Read More »Dedication of New Church for Peace Lutheran Church, Mission, South Dakota