Ascension And Return

The Miraculous Ascension Jesus is a fulfilled Biblical theme. After Resurrection Sunday, Jesus led the disciples out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven (Luke 24:50-51).

Luke began his Gospel with the “coming” of Jesus when he was born in Bethlehem. He ends the gospel with the “going” of Jesus when he parted from his apostles and was carried into heaven. We see a note in the gospel of Mark: [The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have verses 9–20.]. Both Luke and Mark end their gospels with the story of ascension. Luke begins his next volume of history called the book of Acts. The Gospel of Luke tells the story of Christ on earth; the book of Acts tells the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the fulfillment of the Great Commission in the establishment of the church. So Luke again in his two overlapping, interlocking histories ends with the ascension and begins with the ascension, which then should affirm to us its importance. It is the culminating end of one history and it is the inaugural beginning of another history. As we look at this miracle, I like to consider three aspects: The event itself the miraculous ascension, the response of the witnesses, and its significance.

Birth, Death, Resurrection, Ascension and Return of Christ are fundamental to Christian Faith

We celebrate his humility at Christmas as a baby in a lowly manger. We celebrate his power over death at Easter. We celebrate his crowning and the coming King at his ascension. From condescension as a baby to coronation as the King of Kings, from humiliation to exaltation is the story of redemption.

Luke’s inspired presentation of Christ is arranged in two great movements: first the “Coming” of the Lord from heaven to earth; and then his “Going” from earth to heaven. . . . Appropriately, the climax of the “Going” shows the man, Jesus, rejected and crucified on earth, but now risen and ascending, being received up into glory. Between the “Coming” and the “Going” is the sum of the message of salvation. The pre-existent and eternal Son of God came to our world and became a man like us so that he might secure for us here in this world forgiveness, wholeness, peace with God and the certainty that God’s will shall eventually be done on earth even as it is done in heaven. But there is more. By his “Going” he has taken humanity to the experience of glory as all who believe in Him will one day be brought to share his glory and to reign with him at his return

Commonly called the ascension, the belief that Jesus “ascended” into Heaven, has been essential to followers of Jesus for almost 2,000 years (e.g. The Nicene Creed, 325 A.D.). But what does it mean that Jesus “ascended into Heaven”? Did Jesus take off into outer space? Is the point of the ascension that Jesus floated away into the clouds, or is it something else? More importantly, why does any of this matter? To answer these questions, and to better understand Jesus’ powerful ascension, we need to step back and start with the big biblical concepts of Heaven and Earth—God’s space and human’s space. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In Hebrew, the word “heavens” (Hebrew, shamayim) literally means “the skies.” In modern English, we usually use the word “earth” to refer to the whole planet or globe, but the Hebrew root word, ehrets, simply means “land.” So the heavens and the earth are most basically the skies and the land, but there’s more.

Throughout the Bible, the biblical authors use “the skies” or “the heavens” to refer to the place where God lives—God’s space. And they use “land” or “the earth” to refer to the place where people live—humanity’s space. The key here is that both spaces were included in the natural, created world. So why do we say that God is “up there” when he is also right here?

When ancient Hebrew writers talk about geographic locations and spatial relationships in the physical world, they often use these physical descriptions to represent a higher, transcendent reality. For example, death and emptiness are down or under in Sheol. And because God is transcendent, or above all, his space is described metaphorically as being above, or up, or in the heavens. God’s vision for Heaven and Earth—God’s space and humanity’s space—is that both would be fully integrated as one. God’s space and our space are to overlap, “on Earth as it is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:10) when we pray "Your kingdom come.Your will be done,On earth as it is in heaven."