Going Up and Coming Back
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This week we are wrapping up our time with Jesus after his resurrection before his ascension into Heaven as we see Him ascending back to his father today. We have seen Jesus interact with the women outside the tomb, and we talked a little bit about how this interaction being in the Bible is a good case for the accuracy of the Biblical narrative, because in the first century you would have never used a woman to convey a message because of how they were viewed in society. We also saw Jesus interact with Cleopas and his companion and them return to their friends in Jerusalem to find Jesus meeting with the ten in the upper room. We saw Jesus come back and speak directly to Thomas doubts and help him to believe. We saw Jesus come and meet the disciples after Peter had led them out to fish, and then last week we looked as Jesus restored Peter to ministry and sent him into the world. We talked about how hard it would have been every morning from the day the rooster crowed as Peter denied Jesus for a third time, and having the rooster crow each morning to remind him of his failures. We saw how this conversation was really about the mark of discipleship and how the call to being a disciple requires a call to love, a call to sacrifice, and a call to obey.
This morning, we will pick up the story as Jesus will leave his disciples and return to his father in Heaven. The story this morning will come from the end of the Gospel of Luke and will proceed through the Book of Acts. While they today are separated by the Book of John, for much of the early church history they were always one narrative, Luke - Acts and meant to be read together. The reason for the break is most of these books in their inception were written down on scrolls to be kept and passed around. The normal length of these scrolls was about 30 feet long to keep them from being too heavy and awkward to move around, which was about the distance needed to record both Luke and Acts. It is pretty widely accepted these books were written by a companion of Paul. So, It is no wonder then that we would pick up this story and follow it through in the way we will this morning. What we will see is Luke telling us of the ascension in both the end of the Gospel and tell us again at the beginning of the Book of Acts. First in Luke.
50 And he(Jesus) led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them.
51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.
What is so cool about this is Luke has come full circle he has ended his Gospel in the exact place the Gospel begin, in the temple, the place where people went to meet God. In the first chapter of Luke we see Zechariah inside the temple burning incense as were his priestly duties before the Lord, the people on the outside in prayer at the same time. Here, they are at the temple and people are gathered around the Lord and worshipping the Lord as he returned to his father in Heaven. Some scholars have even said the beginning of the Book of Luke is about the coming of the Lord and this is about the Going up of the Lord.
This isn’t a departure from his earthly ministry but this is a transition in the life of Jesus, he is returning to where he started, he is currently seated at the right hand of God in the place where he once left to come to Earth. It is important to note here when Jesus left he didn’t just disappear as he had in most other cases when he had appeared to them before. Instead in this instance they were able to watch him as he went into Heaven and this is how they knew his ministry had shifted, they were able to see him returning to where they came he didn’t just disappear and they were wondering where he was. Now, they clearly see where he is going and they know where his power is.
We should be able to take some comfort in this story, because we can know while Jesus isn’t physically with us, we can’t see him in the room, we know where he is and now he is still in control at the right hand of the father. Even when things get hard we can know he is still with the father working in our favor. We can take comfort knowing that even as Jesus was ascending, he was still pouring out blessings upon his people as they stood and watched him go, knowing he is still offering the same blessings to us in our life today. And we continue in Acts.
1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,
The question we often get is who is this Theophilus whom Luke has addressed both his Gospel and the Book of acts to. There are a couple of different schools of thought when people try to discern who this Theophilus is. The first, Theophilus was a Roman soldier who loved the church and wanted to know more about Jesus, so Luke was writing to him trying to tell him the story of Jesus life and ministry. Secondly, the Greek translation of Theophilus literally means lover of god, so there are some who believe Luke was writing to all of the believers in the church to catch them up on what Jesus had done. Thirdly, as the Book of Acts culminates in Paul going before the governor in Rome, there is the view that Luke was Paul’s attorney so to speak, and is writing to the governor in defense of Paul. The idea is the governor is like okay, so he is here for preaching Jesus, what is this all about, and Luke has written to explain to the governor the whole story from beginning to end.
2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Notice here, at the beginning of Acts, Luke is giving a synopsis of what we have been talking about throughout this series, he’s saying hey for 40 days Jesus met with people and showed them a lot of different stuff so they could believe in Him again.
4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me;
5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Understand here, before Jesus transitions away to return to Heaven he is giving instructions to his followers to prepare them for what is to come. There are many different thoughts on what this means when Jesus is talking about being baptized with the Holy Spirit. There are a few different thoughts on Acts 1:5, the first is the baptism in the HS was only a separate event for these first century believers because the Holy Spirit hadn’t come yet, after the coming of the HS everyone else gets HS and Water baptism at same time. Then there is the group of people who believe until this day they are still two separate baptisms, and you need to have both of those. Most groups who hold to this belief don’t think that baptism in the HS is necessary for salvation, but is necessary for the power to do ministry in this life.
But this is the second time he has told them to wait for the HS to come to them, and it appears this time they have listened to him.
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
There it is, they are really thinking Jesus is finally going to give them what they need. He is finally going to bring them this kingdom they wanted right here on earth but Jesus is quick to respond.
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
8 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.”
You will receive power when the HS comes on you… we have talked a lot over the last few months about the Holy Spirit. Remember… talk a bit about HS in our lives remember a couple of months ago we talked about what the power of the hs does in our lives
1. OF SALVATION.
2. TO WALK IN GOD’S WILL.
3. To share Christ Boldly
4. To Live a Holy Life and fifthly
5. TO make difference with your Spiritual Gifts
Remember, this call to be witnesses is a call to testify, its a call to tell the world, its not a call to store up knowledge for our own, but to share it with the world.
9 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.
10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,
11 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.”
I feel as if this is the same thing these men would say to us today, why are you standing looking to heaven? So many of us get caught up in all the pain and craziness in the world we think for sure the return is imminent and we spend all of our time looking to Jesus for him to return. We wait, we pray for his return, we study all the signs around us, and I’m not saying we shouldn’t know the signs of the times to come, Jesus told us some of the signs of the end times in Matthew 26. However, what we often do is continue to look to heaven and forget about what he has actually called us to do in the world. We look to Heaven and hate the world. This was exactly the problem the two men, most scholars label as angels, have in this moment, the people here are staring into Heaven and looking for Jesus but he has just given them a call to be witnesses to the world and they are still caught up on Jesus in the clouds.
Which brings me to a second thought this morning, we talked a lot about Jesus and his returning to the right hand of the Father from a worldly perspective, but can you imagine what this must have looked like from the Heavenly perspective? The good news is we don’t have to imagine what it would have looked like. In the Book of Daniel it gives us a great picture of what this will look like: Daniel 7:13
13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
What we may miss here is the imagery of the high priest in the temple. Remember, the high priest would once a year on Yom Kippur would go into the Holy of Holies and present an offering for the people. He would wear a vest with 12 precious stones on the breast plate to symbolize all the tribes of Israel. And so the High Priest was offering a sacrifice on behalf of the entire nation and if the offering was accepting he would live, but if it wasn’t he would drop dead and they would have to pull him out by a rope attached to his ankle. But this high priest would get in and out of the holy of holies quickly they did not linger, but Jesus our high priest has travelled and stood before God as our perfect sacrifice and has set down at teh right hand of the father.
13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
So church this morning, quit looking to the Heavens, because he has given us work to do, and he has sent us power through the Holy Spirit to do the work he wants done. You can’t worry about his return, because we will never know the time, but what we can do is go into the world, especially since we think it is falling apart and growing further and further from Him, and share the gospel with the world around us. Remember, there is nothing you have to offer that is greater than Jesus. There is nothing in this world that is better than Him and if we think his return is soon, we need to bring as many people as we can with us. But don’t worry, we are not alone in our attempt, the Son of God is sitting at the right hand of the father making a case for us, and we have the Holy Spirit to lead and give us the power we need in this world.
