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This episode has been edited for clarity and space.
Ross Hastings
Hi. I’m Dr. Ross Hastings. I’m the Sangwoo Yutong Chee Professor of Theology at Regent College.
David Capes
Dr. Ross Hastings, Ross, good to see you. Welcome to “The Stone Chapel Podcast.”
Ross Hastings
Thank you so much, David. Pleasure to be with you. It’s good to see you.
David Capes
We tried to get you down here one time, and we weren’t successful, but we want you to come and be a part of the things we’re doing at a future date. I love your book that we’re going be talking about in a minute, called The Glory of the Ascension. But before we do that, let’s talk a little bit about you. For those who don’t know Ross Hastings and don’t know Regent College, tell us a little bit about you and the school.
Ross Hastings
Yes, I’m the son of missionaries from Scotland. So, I’m Scottish by blood, but I grew up mainly in southern Africa, in Zimbabwe, what was then Rhodesia. And my first career was in chemistry. I took a PhD in chemistry at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and then went into pastoral ministry. I was a pastor for 20 years. Following that, I took a PhD at St. Andrews in Theology and now occupy the Chair of Theology at Regent College. I lost my first wife to cancer 16 years ago, and I remarried three years later to a wonderful lady called Tammy, and between us, we have three children and nine grandchildren who are the joy of our lives.
David Capes
Grandchildren are fantastic. You’ve had a bit of a journey, theologically. Tell us about that.
Ross Hastings
My parents were missionaries with the Open Brethren, Plymouth Brethren. That was my start in life. I’m grateful for the strong emphasis on biblical knowledge and biblical teaching. And then at some point, I became a pastor, and I was a pastor of more progressive Brethren churches, but then ultimately felt the need to move into a denomination where pastors were really understood and accepted. I was a pastor in my last pastorate for 11 years at Peace Point Alliance Church in White Rock, BC. It is a wonderful ministry. Our church grew from around 900 to 3,000 during that time. There was significant conversion growth, mainly through The Alpha Course. And then I took a position at Regent College. I’ve been at Regent as a professor for almost 20 years.
David Capes
Wow, that’s incredible growth. And my friend George Guthrie is right next to you in the offices there.
Ross Hastings
I do! Regent is this wonderful place. We look at the subject of integration a lot. I do work in theology itself, but also science and theology. We have theology and the arts, and we have a long history of integration, recognizing that Christ is Lord overall. We look to give our students a theology for life.
David Capes
So, he’s Lord over chemistry too, as well!
Ross Hastings
He’s Lord over chemistry. My next book is called God and Molecules. It comes up next July.
David Capes
Oh, fantastic. I didn’t know about your science background. One of our podcasts recently was on the Hall of Reason, which is something we do on science. Maybe we can figure out a way to get you to Houston to talk about God and molecules. In the meantime, let’s talk about your book that I have sitting here. It’s called The Glory of the Ascension. The subtitle is Celebrating a Doctrine for the Life of the Church by Dr Ross Hastings. This is published by IVP Academic. It’s a great book. I’ve had an opportunity to sit with it and spend some time and just enamored with it.
Let me tell you why. A number of years ago, I had a mentor named Robert Sloan. He’s president of Houston Baptist University, now Houston Christian University. He was also a professor of mine, and I remember him giving a very stirring sermon on the ascension and how it was a neglected doctrine and how the church needs to recover it. And I remember being moved by that particular thing. And it seems to me that you’re doing some of the same things in your book. Tell us about the big idea of your book.
Ross Hastings
I was motivated by the fact that there is a real lack of emphasis in theology and academic theology on the ascension, and also a lack of preaching in the church on the ascension. So that was a motivation for it. Much more than that, I’m enraptured by the theme of the glory of the Ascended Son. I think that is the more constructive motivation, to describe the glory of our great high priest in his ascension and in his session at the right hand of the Father where he sat down having completed the atonement.
And then his ongoing intercession, which is his unfinished work, which I would describe as the ongoing salvation. Not so much atonement, but the ongoing salvation of the Church, which he exercises by his high priestly ministry. Ever living to make intercession for us. And so, I argue that the glory of the ascendant Son has such repercussions for us as the church to encourage us, that we’re being kept by His power, that he’s sympathetic with us in our suffering, that he is our prophet, priest and king. Each of those offices contribute to his glory as the one who has ascended on high. So, the word glory is important to me, that theme of glory works its way into what he has already accomplished by sitting down at the right hand of the Father. And what he is continuing to do as our Prophet, Priest and King,
And what he will do when he returns and we will see the fullness of the kingdom worked out. The kingdom has come. He is reigning now, but the Kingdom has not yet fully come. We anticipate that day. And there’s a parallel between his ascension and his return, his Parousia that the angels anticipate in Acts chapter one, for example. He shall come in like manner as you’ve seen Him go. Those are some of the themes around this major theme of the glory of the Ascended Son.
David Capes
Why do you think the ascension has become a neglected doctrine?
Ross Hastings
I think mainly for reasons of cosmology. People and even scholars have struggled with this notion that Jesus, in Acts chapter one, is described as going up into heaven. And what does it mean that he went up? Is heaven up? Or is heaven another sphere that we can’t see? For reasons of cosmology, people have struggled. You know, I find the book of Hebrews interesting. From that perspective, the book of Hebrews does not struggle with cosmology. Let me just give one example. It was the verse I quoted earlier when he had by himself purged or purified our sin. He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Now I realized that the descriptions of little texts are all cryptic, but for him, what Christ has
accomplished when he had, by himself, purged our sins, presumably on the cross on earth, then it immediately says he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. So, there isn’t that kind of dualism in the book of Hebrews that we struggle with. But I think that’s one of the reasons because there has been a struggle around the issue of cosmology. That’s one of the major things.
David Capes
I remember back in the Jesus movement days, because I’m a child of that, there were cartoons that were floating around. They were trying to depict these things. And you saw the disciples on the top of the mountain, and you saw a cloud, and then you saw the soles of Jesus feet, just hanging in mid-air. So that cosmology does create a problem for us, doesn’t it? Or not really being sure what that language means when it says that he was taken up.
Ross Hastings
Yes, one other issue that has occurred, has been with respect to a disagreement over when He ascended. So, if you read Acts chapter one, it seems very clear he ascended 40 days after he rose from the dead. John, chapter 21, of the authors I refer to, says that Jesus says to Mary, don’t touch me, because I’ve not yet ascended to my Father. And there’s a school of thought that thinks that portrays the idea that maybe he ascended on the day of resurrection. This whole 40-day thing this author says harks back to the Old Testament, to 40-day periods, or even the 40-day temptation of Jesus. It wasn’t meant to be taken literally. Well, I take issue with that. I think Luke is the most literal of the gospel of the
writers. In Luke, when he writes Acts, I think he’s a medical doctor. I don’t think he’s writing mythology. I think John means to portray that Jesus said, I am in the process of ascending to my Father.
