The ascension was an important historical event. It could not have been omitted. Had we learned only that Jesus was raised from the dead and appeared to His disciples at times, we would be expecting similar post-resurrection appearances in our day. But this was limited to the specific season of forty days and nights. God had something else on His calendar: Pentecost. Jesus was taken upward to heaven to mark the end of His limited personal earthly ministry to enter into a larger dimension in which He could be spiritually near to every believer.  

The ascension provides historical continuity between the Jesus of the gospels and the spiritual Christ of the epistles. 

We know we are speaking of the same Jesus as described in the letters of Paul, Peter and John, as well as by the Gospel writers. He had simply entered into a new dimension. He is continuing the work He began on earth through the Holy Spirit in His believers who have become literal members of His Body.  

 Jesus ascended that He might fill and permeate all things with His presence. 

While on Earth, His personal presence was limited to His physical body. Now He can fill all of His own with His personal presence through the Holy Spirit, and He can fill the heavens and the earth.  

Jesus ascended above all His enemies. 

All His enemies-and ours-were put under His feet when God raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand. This is the place of ultimate authority and power in the universe. Jesus reigns now, no matter what things appear to be.  

 Jesus ascended in order to begin His high priestly ministry for us. 

We now have a God-man in the heavens interceding for us. We have a high priest who really understands us because He went through all the temptations we experience. He is easily moved with compassion toward us. But He is present with the Father to act as our advocate every time we sin. He is constantly interceding for us that we might be saved to the uttermost.  

Jesus ascended in order to give special ministry gifts to the Church. 

Jesus extended His own leadership in a very practical way. He gave to His Church five ministry gifts, each one continuing some important aspect of His own ministry. These gifts are: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. We need each of these for three reasons; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the Body of Christ. Christ gave these gifts to men through His ascension. (See Ephesians 4.) 

  Without His ascension, we could not have had the Spirit shed forth upon us.

Pentecost would have been an impossibility if Jesus had not returned to Heaven first to have His work of redemption approved. Because His blood was acceptable, He could shower His redeemed people with the gift of His indwelling presence. Peter specifically linked the sending of the Spirit with the ascension of Christ, when he said:  

“Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ “ (Acts 2:33-36).  

This is a key passage in understanding the present ministry of Christ. Take some time to understand it. This is how God fulfilled the Davidic covenant which promised a king to rule upon the throne of David forever. It required a supernatural fulfillment in Christ.