“I promise” is an everyday expression. People use it to make a special commitment to another person: “I promise to mow the grass tomorrow,” “I promise I will remember our anniversary next year, ” and the like. This two-word linguistic prefix is intended to add strength to the commitment. This is a stronger pledge than simply saying, “I will.”
Using the Phrase “I Promise”
By all rights, “I promise” should have no place in our language at all, especially not for Christians. Consider James’s words:
But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. (James 5:12)
In truth, every time we say “I will” or “I won’t,” we are making a promise. Let me suggest that we tend to use “I promise” because of those times we have failed to keep our word.
Not so with Jesus.
He states:
These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. (Luke 24:44)
This is powerful in that Jesus had recently risen from the dead, had spoken on the road to Emmaus, and now was appearing before His disciples. He addressed the disciples immediately after showing them the marks of His wounds from His passion. Eating before them was further evidence that this was indeed their Master. It was essential that the disciples were convinced of Jesus’ identity before He told them what must come next.
Opening Our Minds to the Scriptures
Verse 45 indicates, “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” Jesus opened the minds of the disciples to understand the predictions of His suffering, death, and resurrection in the Old Testament Scriptures. And after providing all the evidence, our Lord then brought it all together. I would have loved to see the expressions on their faces after receiving this enlightenment. This new understanding was necessary for the next step. Everything concerning Jesus’ Passion and resurrection in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms would equip them to take the Gospel into the world, both to Jews and Gentiles.
The gift of scriptural understanding can only come from the Lord through the work of the Holy Spirit. Recall Luther’s explanation of the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed:
I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.
As a blind, dead enemy of the Lord, I could never come to know the one true God without the work of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel. Using the Word and Holy Baptism, He gives us understanding of the Son and what He has done for us through His perfect life, innocent suffering and death, and victorious resurrection. Through this God-given faith, we receive forgiveness of sins and everlasting life.
The Promise of the Holy Spirit in the Ascension
For the disciples, the work had just begun. Jesus states:
And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. (Luke 24:49)
This promise was none other than the Holy Spirit, sent to the disciples at Pentecost. Manifested as a mighty rushing wind and tongues of fire, the Spirit equipped the Lord’s students to speak in native languages to carry out the dissemination of the Gospel into a dark, lost world. The sending of the Holy Spirit was Jesus once again keeping a promise—one He had made to the disciples before His Passion, as recorded in the Gospel of John.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you. (John 16:7)
In this way, Jesus was not truly absent but continued His presence through His Holy Spirit. Christ had secured the world’s redemption; now, it was time to build the Kingdom. The disciples, including us today, were to be His ambassadors.
Keeping Promises Through the Ascension
Having kept His promises and equipped the disciples, it was now time for Jesus to return to heaven and be seated at His Father’s right hand. Yet, despite all the evidence Jesus had provided regarding His purpose and plan, the disciples remained in at least partial ignorance. They asked, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). The question suggests that the disciples were still thinking that Jesus would return Israel to its former earthly glory. We mustn’t be too critical. How many times has the Lord taught each of us the same lessons?
In response, the Lord seemed to ignore the ignorant question and instead pointed them back to the true mission: “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority” (1:7). Jesus was referring to the Last Day, the true restoration of Israel. To appreciate the depth of this statement, it’s necessary to understand that the true Israel is not an earthly location or political nation, but rather all Christians.
Should we be surprised that the disciples ventured to the temple after seeing Jesus ascend into heaven? The two men had indicated that Jesus would return in the same manner He had left. Consider that the temple is where God’s people encountered Him. From the cloud and fire of the Tabernacle and forward, God promised to be present. Jesus is God, and this is where they sought Him.
The ascension is about keeping promises. Jesus will keep His promise to return in the same manner in which He left. Yet, He also keeps His promise to remain with us. Jesus is present in our worship spaces, present in His Word and Sacraments. He fills our hearts and minds as the Bible is read. He takes up residence in those who are baptized. He is present in His precious body and blood in Holy Communion. He is present to sustain our faith until the day He returns.
Scripture: ESV®.
Learn more about God’s fulfillment of promises in the book of Luke with this Concordia Commentary.
