Now when He had spoken these things, while they looked, He was taken up. And a cloud received Him from their sight.

— Acts 1:9

When Christ Jesus was finished with all His work on earth, He ascended in triumph to heaven. The day of his ascension ought to be celebrated as the coronation day for the King of kings.

Christ, who was once despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, now occupies a most exalted position where there is joy forevermore. Jesus Christ, once derided by sinners, is now celebrated by saints. The scoffing and the hissing of the reprobate have given way to the panegyrics of angels. The flailing of whips and the pounding of hammers have been replaced by the flourish of trumpets, the beating of drums and the flying of colors. The Son of God has come home to sit at the right hand of His Father—until all His enemies are made a footstool for His feet and Christ becomes all in all.

It is this Christ in all His glory, and with all His authority and might, who will one day come back to earth—but not as He came the first time. Not in humility, but with all His splendor and glory.

Question to ponder:
How do you picture the exalted and glorified Christ?