Kingdom Victory or Sinking Ship?

The ascension of Jesus was not a vacation. Christ ascended up to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father far above all rule and authority and power and dominion (Eph 1:22). He must reign until all enemies are under His feet and the last enemy that will be destroyed is death (1 Cor 15:25-26). He is more than a Saviour on a cross. He is the resurrected King on a throne.

When He ascended into the clouds everyone was looking up into the sky for obvious reasons. But what I find very interesting is what happened when they were looking up… “And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?” (Acts 1:10-11)

Even though, to us, that might sound like a stupid question, I think the two men in white wanted to make a point loud and clear. It was as if they were saying, “Men of Galilee, he’ll be back—but, in the meantime, don’t you have something to do? Didn't He tell you to DO something?" Didn't he give you an assignment? You saw the plane leave now get out of the airport and get busy. Jesus will come back but in the meantime “occupy” or “engage in business" till He comes. (Luke 19:13)

The problem with staring into the clouds and being worried about being “Left Behind” is that you can’t see what’s happening on earth. As the saying goes, “you’re so heavenly minded your no earthly good.” Some might object and say “this world is only getting worse… all we can do is look up and hope that Jesus might come to rescue us at any moment.” That’s just like the guy who said “You don’t polish brass on a sinking ship.” The problem with that phrase is that it assumes two faulty things. First, that the world is nothing more than a “sinking ship”; second, that “occupying” or “engaging in business” or rebuilding would be nothing more than “polishing brass.”

We should not inwardly rejoice when we see crime on the rise and wars abounding and the family unit collapsing. We should not see our world falling apart as progress. We should not have as our goal the complete collapse of civilization, a sign that Jesus might come to rescue us at any moment. We need to be about our Father’s business. We should be taking dominion and advancing His Kingdom in the earth. Why do you stand looking into heaven? Look around; make a difference; get busy! Christians are not called to be mere survivors but more than conquerors.