Wisdom has as its core quest God Himself. A wise man will look at the glory of the heavens and the earth and realize that such order and such majesty is not just the work of random forces. Thus he will see the order - see the creation and immediately realize that there is a Creator. We will try to look at each of these questions and see the wisdom in asking these things. (Due to the sheer grandeur of the questions themselves - we will only answer one each post on this verse - therefore there will be multiple posts on verse 4 in this blog).
Question #1 - "Who has ascended into heaven and descended?" What is fascinating is that God asked questions very similar to this to Job when Job decided that God was unjust - and that Job needed for God to explain Himself in Job's suffering. The Word of God answers this first question - which assumes that there is a God. There is also an assumption that the one who has ascended into heaven itself and descended would be an authority on these matters. Humans are a horrible choice when it comes to the matter of the origin of the earth and all its processes (like wind, clouds and rain, creation, and the identity of God Himself who made all these things).
Here we have our first problem with philosophers in our world. They want to know why and how we can just assume that there is a God. They make no such assumption - demanding proof that there is a God or gods before they continue. The argument here is honestly pretty simple. For there to be a creation - for there to be something - there has to be a creator - there has to be someone who made it. When we see a painting we do not doubt there was a painter. When we see a building we do not doubt there was a builder. When we see a book we do not doubt there was an author. Why then when we see creation do we doubt a creator? To argue that there is no God - and that creation was never created - it just happened - is to argue that nothing plus no one equals everything. It is also to argue that if random processes just happened to bring about everything around us - that there is absolutely no reason to exist - and that it is the height of foolishness to even ask if there is meaning in anything around us. The worldview that demands that God prove Himself beyond the fact that there is a creation of His making, is to descend into Nihlism. That is the only "honest" conclusion that can be reached if there was no intelligent being behind the design in our universe. If everything came about by chance - it still exists by chance - and since there is no reason to random chance - there is no reason to our lives and no reason for which we exist.
The wise man, as said earlier, knows to ask these questions. His assumption is that God is able to ascend and descend the heavens at will. If God is able to make all that we see - and even beyond that - going up into heaven and coming down from there is not difficult. If there is such care and such glorious design in all that there is - He must be a God of detail and beauty. No one has seen God at any time. The Word itself tells us that if a man were to see God he would not live. Thus, the question also asked here is who has the revelation of God. Who has ascended before Him - and who hase descended to earth again. Here we have the answer - it was Jesus Christ - He is the One who has given us the perfect revelation of God through His life, death, burial, and rsurrection. There is only one who has done this - and it is the Lord Jesus Christ. He has ascended and descended! He has brought us revelation of God - but has also brought us far more! He has brought us salvation and a payment for our sins.
Wisdom drives us to know Who God is. And true wisdom is in knowing that God has revealed Himself and shown us Who He is. We find in Scripture that this is answered on our behalf. Jesus Christ is the One who has ascended into heaven - and descended from it. Know Him and we will know wisdom. Know Him and we will know all that we truly need to know in this life and in this world.