The Ascension: Misconceptions of the Cloud Gazers

“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?” (Acts 1:11) was the question of the two men robed in white. Why indeed? Why would men who had been so carefully instructed in the work of ministry stand staring uselessly into the sky? Had they learned nothing in their three year disciple training program? What, exactly, was it they expected to see?

We can hardly blame them of course. For we also live in an age of cloud gazing. We have met them and they are us. And we thought those disciples were so pitifully silly, standing there staring into the sky. Did they not know? Had they not been told? Jesus had instructed them plainly, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and righteousness…” Yet, all memory of that command seemed to have been forgotten for a few minutes as these men stood looking into the clouds where Christ had gone. They needed a friendly reminder that there was work to do, a kingdom to be sought and built. Gazing into the sky was not a part of the program God had for them. It was time to get on to the next step.

One of the interesting things about this passage, the most detailed of the ascension descriptions (Acts 1:3-11), is the book in which it is found. After all, most of the words of Christ and His direct interactions with His disciples are found in the Gospels. Yet here, out of place, almost misplaced, we find this gem of a passage describing this story of a last earthly meeting of Christ and His disciples. We might reasonably ask, why here, why at the beginning of the history of the New Testament church? The remainder of the book of Acts records the selfless work of those same men as they obeyed God and built His kingdom in their time. It is a record of their labors to seek first the kingdom of God. They had a kingdom to build and would expend all they had or hoped to be in the pursuit of that mighty cause. They shook off the cloud gazing and got to work.

Now, here we are, twenty centuries later, an entire generation of Christian cloud-gazers, awaiting with bated breath, events to transpire from the sky. Some of our theologians (misguided I believe) have labeled our historically new-found conception the Imminency of Christ. The idea is that we can expect Jesus to physically return to our presence at any and every moment. By this belief, there are no necessary conditions, no transformation of culture, no victory of the church to achieve in history. The Imminency doctrine holds that any moment could be the moment. Combined with a gross misreading of Biblical prophecy, we have become a generation of cloud-gazers like no other. Given that the doctrine is never mentioned in The Apostles Creed, The Nicene Creed, The Westminster Confessions, Confession of Dort, or any formulation of church doctrine prior to the year 1800, it is useful to ask, Is this doctrine of Imminency really a Bible doctrine? Or, is it an intruder in Christian theology that needs to be shown the door?

In this short article I cannot address all aspects, or answer all questions, relating to these issues. However, I have assembled a short list I am calling:

Misconceptions of Cloud Gazers

1. All Biblical talk about Christ’s return refers to the end of the church era. An alternative, and stronger, understanding is that many references to Christ’s return are discussing His return in judgment on national Israel at a near date. Hence, when Jesus speaks of His coming such that “this generation” will see it, He is being quite literal. Those often-used time statements were intended to communicate the shortness of time before national Israel would be judged. They were not meant to describe events twenty centuries later. The destruction of national Israel was an historical earthquake that marked the end of one age and the beginning of another, the age of the church.
2. The church will be defeated in history. This is unfortunate and causes real problems. The Bible never discusses the church as an institution that will fail in history. Biblical teaching informs that Jesus’ kingdom is to be expanding like leaven in a loaf of bread until the entire loaf rises and fills the pan, or as a mustard seed that grows into a bush that fills the whole garden. The church will not fail in history. Rather, the church will advance from victory to victory until its mission is completed and the gates of hell are knocked off their hinges. Sometimes the church seems to lose ground, but the ultimate direction is victory in Christ.
3. There is no logical or theological motivation to build or renew the Kingdom of God, or as I refer, Christian Civilization. This is why some of our brethren talk of doing nothing so that the world will fall apart faster and hasten the return of Christ.
4. Cloud-gazers are frantic to quick evangelize, but slow to work toward long-term building of God’s kingdom. After all, if Jesus is coming back tomorrow, why work with a view toward the centuries?
5. There is no generational or covenantal thought or action, thus denying core Biblical doctrine. Scripture regularly discuses the success of families and nations in terms of the children’s children and like terms. We hobble ourselves, the church, and the building of the kingdom when we stop thinking covenantally.

So, here we are, in a sea of our beloved friends in Christ who hold to doctrine fit for nothing useful. The culture around us crumbles, while the American church preaches a loud message that there is nothing that will succeed, and we should get ready for the end. “Look at the newspapers” my friends implore me. But, when I suggest that instead we return to Scripture then I am accused of being a smart mouth with a bad attitude. Nevertheless, here I am again, urging my brethren to return, to re-think what God has said. It looks like western nations are in a lot of trouble, but this is not the end of the age. It may be the end of an era, but it is not the end of the age. Rather, this is the beginning of a renewed church and a renewed culture. God is at work renewing the nations and advancing toward victory. We can be a part of that great work.

For Christian Culture,

Don Schanzenbach 4-7-12