Readings

Heidelberg Catechism LD 18
46 Q. What do you mean by saying, "He ascended into heaven"?
A. That Christ, while His disciples watched, was lifted up from the earth to heaven and will be there for our good until He comes again to judge the living and the dead.

47 Q. But isn't Christ with us until the end of the world as He promised us?
A. Christ is truly human and truly God.
In His human nature Christ is not now on earth; but in His divinity, majesty, grace, and Spirit He is not absent from us for a moment.

48 Q. If His humanity is not present wherever His divinity is, then aren't the two natures of Christ separated from each other?
A. Certainly not. Since divinity is not limited and is present everywhere, it is evident that Christ's divinity is surely beyond the bounds of the humanity He has taken on, but at the same time His divinity is in and remains personally united to His humanity.

49 Q. How does Christ's ascension to heaven benefit us?
A. First, He pleads our cause in heaven in the presence of His Father.
Second, we have our own flesh in heaven__ a guarantee that Christ our head will take us, His members, to Himself in heaven.
Third, He sends His Spirit to us on earth as a further guarantee. By the Spirit's power we make the goal of our lives, not earthly things, but the things above where Christ is, sitting at God's right hand.

Zechariah 3:1–10 (NIV84)
1Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.
2The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
3Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.
4The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.”
5Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.
6The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua:
7“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.
8“ ‘Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch.
9See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.
10“ ‘In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”