The Ascension

So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:6-11


Jesus' disciples didn't understand about the Church. They were still expecting the glorious kingdom, and thrones. Not yet. There is much, much more to be done. More to learn, and they were about to be equipped for that new knowledge. Jesus wouldn't talk timetables with them. Only the Father has that information. "You will receive power" to do the work of evangelizing the world, and here it is again: "you shall be My witnesses." This is not a command. It is a statement of fact. They will be. It is a certain occupation of their immediate and lifetime future. They are changed people. They are about to experience an even more dramatic and permanent change. There is a new and wonderful creation they are part of, and are about to take leadership in. They have become children of God by faith in Christ Jesus and there is no going back.

The transition will begin right here in Jerusalem, the center of all God's dealings with His people. Then it will spread throughout Judea and Samaria, and then into all the earth. Those Galileans standing there were to be the agents of this marvellous work, because of Whose they were.

Then He was taken up, out of their sight, into heaven. They stood there, mesmerized, gazing upward. Two angels stood by and told them to get on about their business. "THIS Jesus," not another, will return someday in just THIS SAME WAY. That is our assurance, when we hear about mysterious men here or there who claim, or whom others claim to be the Messiah. No. When He returns, it will be in this same manner as His disciples saw Him go. And no one knows when that will be, but the Father.