Today our text comes to us from Acts 1:1-11. Here is the text as it is translated in the Common English Bible:
Theophilus, the first scroll I wrote concerned everything Jesus did and taught from the beginning, right up to the day when he was taken up into heaven. Before he was taken up, working in the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus instructed the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed them that he was alive with many convincing proofs. He appeared to them over a period of forty days, speaking to them about God’s kingdom. While they were eating together, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised. He said, “This is what you heard from me: John baptized with water, but in only a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
As a result, those who had gathered together asked Jesus, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?” Jesus replied, “It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” After Jesus said these things, as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going away and as they were staring toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood next to them. They said, “Galileans, why are you standing here, looking toward heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you saw him go into heaven.”
And that's it! There is no other "historical" account of the ascension, save for the extremely brief text at the end of the Gospel, Luke 24:51: As he blessed them, he left them and was taken up to heaven. But really, since Theophilus wrote both Luke and Acts, the larger text above is really just an exposition of the shorter text in Luke.
Before we really delve into the details around ascension, we must remember that Jesus has been resurrected and has a new body which is unlike our bodies in many ways. As I discussed in posts from earlier in Easter, Jesus' resurrected body is both recognizable and not entirely the same. Jesus was not brought back to life in the way Lazarus was, or in the way doctors can resuscitate patients on the operating table; he was cold dead, and then came back to life in a new form which had many consistencies with his old body's form. [Look back to our devotional from March 31 for more details.]
So before people get all hung up with a scientific explanation of ascension, we need to bear in mind that there is currently no scientific understanding of resurrection, and therefore we cannot understand the physics behind Jesus' ascent. Nor should we be too concerned about this; after all, it's not as if we have to worry about it at all. When we experience resurrection of the dead, it will be the establishment of God's permanent and holy New Jerusalem on earth, and we will not need to ascend into heaven like Jesus because he will already be here with us! With that in mind, Jesus' ascension into heaven may never again be repeated! So the how/what/where is not the issue here, as we will never be able to ascertain a scientific explanation of this one-time event so far in the past.
What we should focus on is not the minutia of the ascension, but rather on the purpose. Why did Jesus ascend into heaven at all? What does it matter? Well, let's begin with the obvious but important realization that Jesus did not die again after resurrection. That is important because it makes resurrection distinguished apart from being brought back to life, such as with Lazarus or hospital patients. In those cases, people die again, and for good, until resurrection. Jesus' ascent is critical for this basic Christian principle in understanding these fundamental differences in God's world, and what's going on with life and death.
Furthermore, Jesus does not stay with us on earth in his resurrected form; rather, he ascends into heaven and sends the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, in the meantime. Jesus was never meant to remain on earth any longer than a "normal" human being. That makes sense because Jesus is God in the flesh, who came to be in total solidarity with humanity and to experience life in our shoes as fully as possible, in order to be able to rescue us from our selfishness and sin and show us a more perfect way. Jesus' time on earth came to an end, and it was time for the church to be born and flourish through the people of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. God saw it fit for us to experience Christ through the Holy Spirit, the Church, and the witness of the saints rather than in his physical form. My guess, although I don't pretend to speak for God, is that if Jesus were to have stuck around for centuries, we would have focused too much on his earthly form rather than focus on his Father in heaven. And his desire was to draw us into God's eternity, not prolong us in our earthly focus.
Finally, the apostles witnessed Christ going upwards into the sky. We of course know that the sky is no closer to God than the ground; but this was Jesus' intentional move, to communicate not a physical location of heaven, but rather the understanding that he was going to an entirely different reality where humans cannot willfully follow on our own. Two thousand years ago, people could not fly or go into outer space, so Jesus' ascent was clearly a signal saying: "Hey, don't physically try to follow me!" That also makes sense, because his friends were really going to miss him, and the church would now begin to long for his return. It was important for the apostles to witness this ascent so that people would not theorize Jesus had simply run away and was hiding in an undisclosed location. Of course, people are still trying to locate his body, but I suppose the skeptics will never stop!
Christ's ascent into heaven marks the end of his earthly ministry. Christ, who is the New Adam, the new example for humanity to follow, also demonstrates in his ascension that humanity can and should now be focused heavenward rather than the broken affairs of this world. Since Christ has ascended into heaven, he illustrates that the path is paved for us as well; and just as he encourages us to follow in his footsteps in ministry to the world, he encourages us to follow him (spiritually) heavenward just as he ascended. Even though Jesus spent over thirty years here on the ground, he never stopped looking up, and his ascension highlights our need to do the same. Woe to us, who focus almost entirely on the situation on the ground!!
I pray that this week you would spend more time focused on God, heavenward, and on Christ, who rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father.
As a result, those who had gathered together asked Jesus, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?” Jesus replied, “It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” After Jesus said these things, as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going away and as they were staring toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood next to them. They said, “Galileans, why are you standing here, looking toward heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you saw him go into heaven.”
And that's it! There is no other "historical" account of the ascension, save for the extremely brief text at the end of the Gospel, Luke 24:51: As he blessed them, he left them and was taken up to heaven. But really, since Theophilus wrote both Luke and Acts, the larger text above is really just an exposition of the shorter text in Luke.
Before we really delve into the details around ascension, we must remember that Jesus has been resurrected and has a new body which is unlike our bodies in many ways. As I discussed in posts from earlier in Easter, Jesus' resurrected body is both recognizable and not entirely the same. Jesus was not brought back to life in the way Lazarus was, or in the way doctors can resuscitate patients on the operating table; he was cold dead, and then came back to life in a new form which had many consistencies with his old body's form. [Look back to our devotional from March 31 for more details.]
So before people get all hung up with a scientific explanation of ascension, we need to bear in mind that there is currently no scientific understanding of resurrection, and therefore we cannot understand the physics behind Jesus' ascent. Nor should we be too concerned about this; after all, it's not as if we have to worry about it at all. When we experience resurrection of the dead, it will be the establishment of God's permanent and holy New Jerusalem on earth, and we will not need to ascend into heaven like Jesus because he will already be here with us! With that in mind, Jesus' ascension into heaven may never again be repeated! So the how/what/where is not the issue here, as we will never be able to ascertain a scientific explanation of this one-time event so far in the past.
What we should focus on is not the minutia of the ascension, but rather on the purpose. Why did Jesus ascend into heaven at all? What does it matter? Well, let's begin with the obvious but important realization that Jesus did not die again after resurrection. That is important because it makes resurrection distinguished apart from being brought back to life, such as with Lazarus or hospital patients. In those cases, people die again, and for good, until resurrection. Jesus' ascent is critical for this basic Christian principle in understanding these fundamental differences in God's world, and what's going on with life and death.
Furthermore, Jesus does not stay with us on earth in his resurrected form; rather, he ascends into heaven and sends the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, in the meantime. Jesus was never meant to remain on earth any longer than a "normal" human being. That makes sense because Jesus is God in the flesh, who came to be in total solidarity with humanity and to experience life in our shoes as fully as possible, in order to be able to rescue us from our selfishness and sin and show us a more perfect way. Jesus' time on earth came to an end, and it was time for the church to be born and flourish through the people of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. God saw it fit for us to experience Christ through the Holy Spirit, the Church, and the witness of the saints rather than in his physical form. My guess, although I don't pretend to speak for God, is that if Jesus were to have stuck around for centuries, we would have focused too much on his earthly form rather than focus on his Father in heaven. And his desire was to draw us into God's eternity, not prolong us in our earthly focus.
Finally, the apostles witnessed Christ going upwards into the sky. We of course know that the sky is no closer to God than the ground; but this was Jesus' intentional move, to communicate not a physical location of heaven, but rather the understanding that he was going to an entirely different reality where humans cannot willfully follow on our own. Two thousand years ago, people could not fly or go into outer space, so Jesus' ascent was clearly a signal saying: "Hey, don't physically try to follow me!" That also makes sense, because his friends were really going to miss him, and the church would now begin to long for his return. It was important for the apostles to witness this ascent so that people would not theorize Jesus had simply run away and was hiding in an undisclosed location. Of course, people are still trying to locate his body, but I suppose the skeptics will never stop!
Christ's ascent into heaven marks the end of his earthly ministry. Christ, who is the New Adam, the new example for humanity to follow, also demonstrates in his ascension that humanity can and should now be focused heavenward rather than the broken affairs of this world. Since Christ has ascended into heaven, he illustrates that the path is paved for us as well; and just as he encourages us to follow in his footsteps in ministry to the world, he encourages us to follow him (spiritually) heavenward just as he ascended. Even though Jesus spent over thirty years here on the ground, he never stopped looking up, and his ascension highlights our need to do the same. Woe to us, who focus almost entirely on the situation on the ground!!
I pray that this week you would spend more time focused on God, heavenward, and on Christ, who rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father.
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