Ephesians 4:9,10

Ephesians 4:9

Consider:

I. The ascension of Christ in the light of its previous and preparatory history. That the Son of man ascended from the deepest depth of human history and experience, from the lower parts of the earth, up above all heavens, presupposes His descent. In His descent He became the hidden presence and controlling power of the world's history until the old world passed away in His death and the new world rose in His resurrection.

II. The Ascension in the light of its declared purpose: "That He might fill all things." (1) When we see the only-begotten Son, clothed in a body like our own, exalted above all the heavens, in that sight we have before us the all-glorious and controlling centre of all the spheres, the key which interprets the testimony of prophecy, the gathered firstfruits of a new and redeemed world. The Gospel contains a gospel for nature as well as for man, the prediction of the day when the strife of elements shall cease, and when the powers of darkness shall be swallowed up of light. (2) By Christ's ascension our nature is endowed with an exalted fulness and clothed with a glory becoming the Son of God. "A parcel of clay," to use the words of Archbishop Leighton, "is made so bright and set so high as to outshine all the flaming spirits of eternity and the stars of the morning." And with such a miracle of grace who can regret his connection with a sinful history which conditions so great a salvation?

W. Pulsford, Trinity Church Sermons,p. 271.

Reference: Ephesians 4:9; Ephesians 4:10. C. Kingsley, Town and Country Sermons,p. 388.