"in The Meantime..."

“In the Meantime…”

Acts 1:1-14

A Tribal Chief lay dying.

He called to him three of his people and said, “I must select a successor.

Therefore, climb our holy mountain and return with a the most precious gift you can find.”

The first brought back a huge gold nugget.

The second brought back a priceless gem.

The third came back empty-handed, saying, “When I reached the mountaintop I saw, in the other side, a beautiful land, where people could go for a better life.”

The chief said, “You shall succeed me.

You have brought back the most precious gift of all: a vision of a better tomorrow.”

I think we all want a vision of a better tomorrow, especially given that we are now living in a time of great uncertainty.

And that is what the disciples wanted as well—a vision of a better tomorrow.

The Apostles and the Risen Jesus were on the Mount of Olives.

He’d been hanging out with them, on and off, for forty days after His Resurrection teaching them about the Kingdom of God.

But it must have been some difficult stuff for them to understand, because they still didn’t seem to have a clue of what Jesus was talking about.

One time, when they were eating together, Jesus told them that very soon they were going to receive the “gift” that God had promised them and which Jesus and even John the Baptist had been talking about for years.

The time of preparation for this was coming to an end.

Jesus would be ascending back to heaven where He would sit at the right hand of God the Father.

And then, after a few days of waiting, they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

This was the gift.

But, they still didn’t get it.

They didn’t get what it was about.

So, they interrupted Jesus’ stream of thought by asking: “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

They were thinking of God’s Kingdom in earthly, political terms.

And I think a lot of us still make that mistake today.

But Jesus never was about worldly politics.

The Kingdom Jesus was talking about is a Kingdom based on love, new life and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit

And the disciples are to spread the Good News that this world with all its troubles, violence, disease, sin and heartache is not our final destination.

They are to spread the Good News that through Jesus’ Christ’s death, Resurrection and Ascension to the right hand of God the Father—we now have a way to heaven—a way back to God.

And the Holy Spirit is the One through Whom we are given this guarantee.

Remember in John’s Gospel when Jesus is telling the disciples what will happen?

He tells them in John 14 and 15 that God will send them a Counselor—the Spirit of Truth—after Jesus ascends back to heaven, and that this is a good thing.

And this Holy Spirit will come upon the believers and open their minds to the Truth and the Scriptures.

The Holy Spirit will cause the believers to be born again, that is, born of God or born of the Spirit.

They will become children of God and the Spirit will give them courage—courage to go out into the world and spread the Good News.

And therefore, the work of Jesus Christ will continue through the work of those who believe—that is, the Church—the Church that we will talk more about next week, for next week is Pentecost or the birthday of the Church.

And what a glorious day that will be.

We are told that after Jesus finished telling them about what would happen, “he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.”

And those who had gathered around Jesus, who had just eaten with Him and listened to His teachings stared towards the heavens as this happened.

And they must have stood there for sometime, because the next thing that happens is two men dressed in white suddenly appear and ask them why they are standing there staring up into the sky.

And who can blame them, it’s hard for any of us to fathom a person lifting from the ground and floating toward the heavens.

Also, this is Jesus final departure from earth until He returns.

And so, this is not the end—simply a new beginning.

It’s a visual signal that the path has now been taken by Christ Himself, and we are to take it as well.

A new day has dawned, and in a few days it will be time to tell the world that we have been to the mountaintop, we have seen what is on the other side, and it is a better future—a future where the dwelling of God will, once again, be with people.