21 May 2020
On Christ’s Ascension
IV. Christ's ascension has given us greater privileges and joys than the devil had taken from us
Accordingly,
dearly-beloved, throughout this time which elapsed between the Lord's
Resurrection and Ascension, God's Providence had this in view, to teach and
impress upon both the eyes and hearts of His own people that the Lord Jesus
Christ might be acknowledged to have as truly risen, as He was truly born,
suffered, and died. And hence the most blessed Apostles and all the disciples,
who had been both bewildered at His death on the cross and backward in
believing His Resurrection, were so strengthened by the clearness of the truth
that when the Lord entered the heights of heaven, not only were they affected
with no sadness, but were even filled with great joy. And truly great and
unspeakable was their cause for joy, when in the sight of the holy multitude,
above the dignity of all heavenly creatures, the Nature of mankind went up, to
pass above the angels' ranks and to rise beyond the archangels' heights, and to
have Its uplifting limited by no elevation until, received to sit with the
Eternal Father, It should be associated on the throne with His glory, to Whose
Nature It was united in the Son. Since then Christ's Ascension is our
uplifting, and the hope of the Body is raised, whither the glory of the Head
has gone before, let us exult, dearly-beloved, with worthy joy and delight in
the loyal paying of thanks. For today not only are we confirmed as possessors
of paradise, but have also in Christ penetrated the heights of heaven, and have
gained still greater things through Christ's unspeakable grace than we had lost
through the devil's malice. For us, whom our virulent enemy had driven out from
the bliss of our first abode, the Son of God has made members of Himself and
placed at the right hand of the Father, with Whom He lives and reigns in the
unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen. On Christ’s Ascension
IV. Christ's ascension has given us greater privileges and joys than the devil had taken from us
Leo the Great, Sermon 73
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