Hebrews 10: 12

¹²But when Christ^* had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, ‘he sat down at the right hand of God’…

For the early believers the ascension story of Jesus was part of the resurrection narrative; part of the new life and new creation story.  Jesus was raised from the dead and he ascended to heaven to be in the presence of His Father. In Acts 1 Luke continues the story of Jesus through the ascension story and the post resurrection discussions about the ‘restoration of the Kingdom’. The introduction to Hebrews also emphasises that Jesus, when He completed His work of making purifications for sins He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus are a completed work that allows His disciples to undertake and complete their part of the story. As N.T. Wright has claimed it’s helpful to think of the story of the Revelation of God in Christ as being, made up of parts like acts in a play; Creation, Fall, Israel, Jesus, the Present Age and the Age to Come. The present age is the period of time between the ascension of Jesus and His Second coming. This is the time when we are as individuals and as the community of believers are writing our part of the story of the Revelation of God in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus sat down and calls us to stand up and be counted as His. We are called to acknowledge Him as Lord through putting His words into practice in our lives and communities; establishing a Kingdom alterative to the same old death and taxes narrative of the Empire. Jesus promises to be with us through His Holy Spirit until the task is done and then He will return to complete the story and finish the establishing of His Kingdom here as it is in heaven in the ‘Age to Come’. Jesus ascended and sat down; will we stand up and live out His Kingdom’s values now in the Present Age?

Check out N T Wright and his work for yourself.