Editor’s Note: May 14, 2026 is Ascension Day according to the calendar of the Anglican Church. It’s our pleasure to publish this inaugural article by W. Ross Hastings on the topic of the Ascension, in our continuing exploration of this underappreciated doctrine. Dr. Hastings is the author of The Glory of the Ascension (IVP Academic, 2025).
“He was taken up in glory.”
This is how Paul describes the ascension of Jesus in an early doctrinal summary of the Christian faith (1 Tim. 3:16). This event in the history of Jesus was then deemed important enough to be included in the Nicene Creed. Despite this, the doctrine has often been neglected in both the pulpit and the theological academy to such an extent that some have described as being in eclipse.
A Doctrine in Eclipse
Why might this be? Consider the following. First, the challenging cosmology of the ascension. What does his going up from Jerusalem mean for where heaven might be? Is heaven really up? And would ‘up’ be ‘down’ if you lived ‘down under’ in Australia? Second, the challenging idea that the Son of God, fully divine but fully human, in a glorified body, has taken his place as a man in the Godhead. Third, the tendency to conflate the ascension with the resurrection of Jesus, as if they were one event, thus shading the ascension under the resurrection. And fourth, the seemingly obscure references to the king priest Melchizedek and how, according to Hebrews, Jesus assumed this order of kingly priesthood.
Yet the cosmology is not a problem if we understand that the God who created space and time can transcend both if he chooses. Where heaven is remains a mystery. We rest in the fact that it is where the triune God dwells. And the entry into heaven of the man Christ Jesus is in one sense no more than an extension of his incarnate existence which began when he as the eternal Son became human.
Further, it’s not as if he was outside of the presence of his Father throughout his whole life on earth. In fact, the reality that he is a man in glory is absolutely vital for our salvation as human beings. In God’s eternal council he chose his Son to become human in order that in Jesus, the last Adam, the humanity which had become alienated from God and broken through sin would in Christ’s humanity be reconciled and restored to become the new humanity.
The church father Irenaeus spoke of this as recapitulation, the re-heading of the human race in Christ. In the glorified Jesus, at the right hand of God, we have the embodied destiny of all redeemed humanity who will one day also be glorified—he is bringing “many sons to glory” (Heb. 2:10)—and take their place in heaven come to earth.
As for the tendency to conflate the events of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, this narrative is countered by the fact that these events were separated historically by forty days. The apostles’ teaching concerning these two events in the history of Jesus makes clear that, though clearly related, each event has a different doctrinal focus. Theologian Stephen Seamands expresses the importance of the distinction in this way: “Proclaiming the ascension is therefore crucial in fully and properly exalting Christ. For Jesus is not only risen but reigning. Not only alive but sovereign, not only central but supreme.” Summing up the extensive work of theologian Douglas Farrow1 on the ascension, Seamands adds:
Whenever we fail to proclaim the ascended Christ, enthroned and exalted, something else—our personal agendas, the world’s agendas, the church’s agendas—moves in to fill the vacuum. Mark it down: when we fail to exalt and enthrone Jesus, something or someone else inevitably assumes the throne.2
And as for the so-called obscurity of Melchizedek and the high priesthood of Christ, even an initial probing will yield great treasures concerning the offices of Jesus after he ascends to the Father’s right hand. He is seated and crowned there as Lord, that is, as prophet, priest and king on our behalf. Those functions are vital to our being kept by God’s power right on into eternity, cleansed continually in our confession of sins, accompanied by his comfort in our trials, and empowered in our prayers as Christians, and in our worship as the church.
The Ascension in Hebrews
This brief article3 is an attempt to help Christians today to recover from the eclipse by introducing some glorious reasons why the ascension matters, including why it matters for the Christian life.
Why is the ascension important? Just how much the ascension matters to the writer of Hebrews is clear when he begins his epistle with a summary (Heb. 1:1–3) of the great themes of the gospel and glory of Christ that includes a phrase about the ascension: “he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (Heb. 1:3, NIV). There is no mention of the resurrection, though it is implied, whereas this ascension phrase is one of the main clauses, indeed, the climactic clause. The writer wants to stress the ascension in this cryptic yet majestic summary of the being and actions of the Son-priest that are the subject of this epistle. This is fitting, for it is not an exaggeration to say that the ascension is central to the book of Hebrews, and central to an understanding of the identity and saving work of Jesus.
This great passage conveys the multifaceted glory of the Son who is the ultimate prophet, priest, and king. As prophet he is the revelation of who God is: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets . . . but in these last days he has spoken to us in Son” (Heb. 1:2, author’s translation). He is also the king of the cosmos, the “heir of all things” who “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven,” (Heb. 1:2, 3, NIV). And—crucially for our access to God and communion with him—the great high priest: “After making purification for sins, he sat down” (Heb. 1:3).
Christ’s once-for-all sacrificial and victorious atonement is a crucial part of his role as our priest, and he carries the emblems of it in his enduring scars as the now-ascended high priest. Though some scholars have opined that the ascension is itself atoning, since atonement cannot be separated from the total history of the person of Jesus, it is better to see it rather as the celebration of the completeness of atonement accomplished in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection on earth.
He “sat down” after he had purged our sins because that atoning work was completed. But whereas the atonement of the priest was completed, the application of that atonement in his intercessory work in heaven towards the completion of the salvation of his people continued. In Hebrews, the ascension is both the sign that his atoning work is finished and the sign that something is not finished and has only just begun.
The high priestly ministry of Jesus can be summed up by his two postures: seated after accomplishing atonement and standing to minister for the completion of the salvation of his people. A vivid example of this is when Stephen saw Jesus standing to receive him into heaven at his martyrdom (Acts 7:55–56).
In Hebrews 10, the Father tells the ascended Son to sit on his throne until his enemies are made his footstool (Heb. 10:13). His kingship is a present reality in heaven, but it is being realized gradually on earth by the Spirit and through his church on mission. It will be revealed climactically when he returns at the second coming. Jesus uniquely combines the office of king and priest under an order that Melchizedek prefigures in the Old Testament (Gen. 14:18; see Heb. 5:10; 6:20; 7:1–17).
As king and priest, he does ongoing salvific work as he guides the mission of the church, shepherds his people, and moves our fallen creation towards the new creation which will be fully inaugurated when he returns in glory.
Recovering the Importance of the Ascension
So, why is the ascension important? It was the acceptance and celebration by the Father in heaven of the atoning work the Son had competed on earth. He presented his humanity, his offering of himself, and his work on behalf of humanity when he ascended on high and sat down. The seat in the heavenly sanctuary is a throne, and his sitting on that throne is a signal of coronation and completion, resulting from a victory won over sin, Satan, and death (Heb. 2:14–15).
However, although the atonement was completed when Jesus sat down, the church’s salvation was not yet completed and will not be until the consummation of all things. The writer reflects this when he states that Jesus “holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost [right on to the end] those who draw near to God through him” (Heb. 7:24–25). That is, in Pauline terms, the church that Christ purchased once and for all (“Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,” Eph. 5:25) is still in need of perseverance and of purification (“that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word” Eph. 5:26), again and again, until Jesus comes.
Another way to say this is that the enacting of atonement, objectively speaking, was finished when he ascended and sat down. However, subjectively speaking, the application of the atonement would constantly be needed throughout the church’s corporate life and all through the personal life of each believer. In this vein, Calvin speaks of Christ’s death as an intercession and insists that his heavenly intercession is not a repetition of the atonement but a reflection and representation of his death.3
The significance of the ascension, therefore, was that it signaled the beginning of Christ’s intercessory work in heaven, enabling us to worship and pray. His priesthood is how we, his people, are priests (Heb. 8:1; see Heb. 9:14). His offering and ongoing priestly intercession also enable us to be holy and become holy (Heb. 10:10, 14). He gives longevity and resilience to every true believer, bringing them all the way to glorification.
How much does the ascension matter? In a nutshell, the believer’s devotional life is possible only because Christ ascended for us after having lived and died for us. Through it, we now have access as priests to God (Heb. 9:14) in the one great High priest (Heb. 8:1–3) through the blood he shed and the body he offered up to the Father (Heb. 10:19). We have access because when he ascended, he offered up his humanity for us, a humanity he had freely taken up in his incarnation. He acted representatively for humanity in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
Drawing Near Through the Ascended Christ
We can add one more dimension to the importance of the ascension. One great theme of the gospel is that all those in union with Christ are already seated in the heavenlies with him (Eph. 2:6). This is God’s reality about us.
However, having access into God’s presence through the finished work of atonement is not the same as accessing that access. That requires his ongoing, unfinished work as our priest and our drawing near through prayer.
Even this drawing near in prayer is affected by the ascension. Hebrews describes the intercessory priesthood of Christ that engraces and enables our access and communion with God. We can pray only because he intercedes in his ongoing work as the high priest for us. As an old hymn goes, “To all our prayers and praises Christ adds his sweet perfume, and love the censer raises, their odors to consume.”4
1 Douglas Farrow, Ascension and Ecclesia: On the Significance of the Doctrine of the Ascension for Ecclesiology and Christian Cosmology (Eerdmans, 1999). Douglas Farrow, Ascension Theology (T&T Clark, 2011).
2 Stephen A. Seamands, Give Them Christ: Preaching His Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, and Return (InterVarsity Press, 2012), 141, emphasis added.
3 For a more comprehensive treatment, see W. Ross Hastings, The Glory of the Ascension: Celebrating a Doctrine for the Life of the Church (Downers Grove, IL.: InterVarsity Press, 2025).
4 See John Calvin, Institutes 2.16.2.
5 From the hymn, “The Holiest Now We Enter” written by Mary Bowley Peters (1813-1856).
