It is likely that the day slipped by without much recognition. Not all holidays—a contraction for the phrase “holy days”—are regarded with the care the word itself necessitates. Sometimes the holiest moments come not with fanfare but like a thief in the night.

Forty days after the celebration of Easter and the resurrection of Christ is the remembrance of another eventful day, which happened to come yesterday. The gospel writer records: “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘See, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’ Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.”(1)

Even to Christians, the ascension of Christ may not seem as momentous as the resurrection or as rousing as the image of Jesus on the Cross. It may seem like just one more detail tied up in the claims of Jesus Christ, a detail not worth professing on its own. But no action of Christ is without weight, and this, his last action on earth, is one of the great Christian hopes. The ascension was a living and public declaration of the dying words of Christ on the Cross: It is finished. The work God sent him to accomplish was finally completed. Ascending to heaven, Jesus only furthered the victory of Easter. Thus, Ascension Day, a holy day falling inconspicuously on a Thursday in May, is the remembrance that Christ, who went to the depths to reach us, is rightfully lifted on high.

But there are other reasons why the day merits our remembering of its mystery and import, and none is as simple as the fact that Jesus himself told us it was important. “It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”(2) Curiously, mysteriously, Jesus describes his own departure as a gift to the world. As Jesus returns to the Father, a greater Comforter is sent, the Holy Spirit, the Counselor given in his name, who guides us into all truth, and testifies of all that is to come. Rising to life and then to the heavens, Jesus sends forth the one who leads us further into the kingdom, until he comes once again to take us home.

So, we are first reminded in the ascending of Jesus that the work he came to accomplish is finished; we are given in the ascending of Jesus the gift of the Spirit; and third, within his parting, we are given the assurance of his return. As the disciples were watching and Jesus was taken up before their very eyes, a cloud hid him from their sight. The text then refers to them “looking intently up into the sky as he was going” when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them: “‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go.’”(3) In his resurrected body, Christ ascended to heaven, fully human, fully divine, and entirely glorified. We therefore carry in our own flesh a guarantee that Christ will bring us to himself. Which is to say, we are not left as orphans! Jesus ascended with a body and is coming back for those in bodies. He is preparing a room for us, which we know is real because he is real. The Christian profession is indeed uniquely, mysteriously full of what it means to be fully human: Christ will come again.

But until this day, the ascension of Jesus Christ means furthermore that we have in heaven today our advocate before the Father. Jesus is enthroned in glory and seated at the right hand of the Father as our righteousness today. That is to say, the work of Christ on the Cross is not only finished, it has been declared by the Father entirely effective, and the presence of Jesus in heaven is our guarantee. As John writes, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”(4) Thus, the ascension of Christ is a fitting reminder of all that God has declared and all of creation will one day profess: “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the Name that is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”(5)

Though it may have escaped attention, yesterday was a holy day indeed. As is their custom, the congregation of the Gloucestershire Cathedral celebrated Ascension Day by scaling the 269 steps of the cathedral and looking to the heavens. The choir sang from the top of the tower, looking up as they sang, singing to Christ the ascended, the name above every name. A worthy celebration.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Luke 24:49-53.

(2) John 16:7.

(3) Acts 1:9-11.

(4) 1 John 2:1.

(5) Philippians 2:9-11.