On Sunday I was reflecting and mediating on the glorious supernatural
event of Jesus ascending bodily into heaven. I haven't done much
mediating prayer before and decided to read the 5 passages in the Bible
that record these events prior to doing so. They are as follows:
Matthew
28:16-29: Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to
which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw Him they worshiped Him,
but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them,
"All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, Go therefore and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end
of the age."
Mark 16:14-20: Afterward He
appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table,
and He rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because
they had not believed those who saw Him after He had risen. And He said
to them,
"Go into all the world and proclaim the
gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be
saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs
will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons;
they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their
hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they
will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." So then
the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven
and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached
everywhere while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by
accompanying signs.
[Note: different versions may have slightly different text here depending on what early texts they are translating from.]
Luke
24:50-53: Then He led them 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. And they worshiped Him and returned to
Jerusalem with great joy, and were
continually in the temple
blessing God. (Emphasis added for effect, I think that Luke includes
that detail for a reason, but that topic will be for another post about
them being in the House of the Lord.)
[Note: Earlier in
Luke 24 there is loads of great stuff concerning the last acts,
institutions, and teachings of Jesus, including twice opening up their
minds to understand the scripture concerning Himself. Highly recommend
reading that chapter]
John 21: While John doesn't
record the specific ascension event, he does include a good deal about
Jesus and His last interactions. Both almost humorous, and also very
critical to understanding the early church and the Christian Tradition.
Topic for another blog post.
Acts 1:6-11: So when they
had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore
the kingdom of Israel?" He said to them,
"It is
not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His
own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come
upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the end of the earth." And when He had said
these things, as they were looking on, He was lifted up and a cloud took
him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as He
went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, "Men of
Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken
up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go
into heaven."
...
Hmm...
You still with me?
Okay, good.
Let's just say my mind was reeling.
"There
is so much here! I could meditate on this stuff for days!" - hence
deciding to blog this stuff out. Here are a few quick thoughts.
Do these passages seem a little chaotic to you? They do for me. You can almost sense what these guys were feeling when writing this stuff down.
Excited
Passionate
Purposeful
Exuberant
Urgent
Imagine with me for a moment all the thoughts as they wrote.
He was died, but now He is alive, and we are saw Him leave!
He showed up and taught us so much!
He said, "meet me here." We went there!
He met us on the road out of town, in the upper room, by the sea, on the mountain.
We almost didn't recognize Him at one point! (Luke 24)
We are seeing things in a whole new way!
Feel the excitement as they are writing this stuff down?
This
guy Jesus, whom they had followed, ate, slept, and studied under for
three years; whom they had seen crucified in a Roman execution; whom
they witnessed being raised to life, victorious over death and the
grave; with whom they then interacted with in so many varied encounters
in the day the days that followed. Now He is leaving them. He is going
to heaven. To be "seated at the right hand of God." Where He is seated
as our great high priest. (See Hebrews 4:14 - 5:10)
Can you begin to feel their doubt?
I can picture them saying to each other on the way to Bethany,
"If we are to be like our rabbi and risen Lord, that means we could be killed!" (See John 21)
"How can we deny what we have seen?
"Will others see what He has shown us in scripture?"
Can
you feel the emotion that these authors are sharing? Now they're men on
a mission. They are focused on Christ who is now in heaven. Their
desires are now heavenly focused.
I look forward to
meditating more on these passages, and the event of Christ being taken
up into heaven. What a marvelous mystery and I have much to learn from
these passages.
Come, let's follow Jesus together.
