Jesus Ascends to Heaven

Context

The book of Acts continues an earlier account addressed to a man named Theophilus—an account of what Jesus began to do and teach. Now the focus turns toward the apostles Jesus had chosen and the work they would carry forward.

Jesus had suffered, and the apostles had seen him alive afterward. Yet they still needed to understand what would happen next. Their hopes for Israel, Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit, and their calling to bear witness all came together during these final days with the risen Jesus.

Story

For forty days after his suffering, Jesus appeared to his apostles and gave them many convincing proofs that he was alive. They saw him, and he continued teaching them about the kingdom of God. He also gave instructions to the apostles through the Holy Spirit.

While Jesus was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem. They were to wait there for what the Father had promised—the gift Jesus had already told them about. John had baptized people with water, but within a few days the apostles would be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

The apostles had a question. They asked Jesus whether this was the time when he would restore the kingdom to Israel.

Jesus did not give them a timetable. The times and seasons, he explained, were set by the Father’s own authority and were not theirs to know. Instead, Jesus directed their attention toward what they would receive and what they would do.

When the Holy Spirit came upon them, they would receive power. They would bear witness to Jesus, beginning in Jerusalem, then moving outward through Judea and Samaria, and finally reaching the ends of the earth. Their task was not limited to one city or region. The witness about Jesus was to keep spreading.

After Jesus said this, he was taken up while they watched. A cloud hid him from their sight.

The apostles kept looking intently toward heaven as he went. While they were still gazing upward, two men dressed in white stood beside them. They addressed the apostles as men of Galilee and asked why they were standing there looking into heaven.

Then the men gave them a promise. The same Jesus who had been taken from them into heaven would come again in the same way they had seen him go.

What We Learned

• The apostles’ witness was grounded in their encounters with the risen Jesus and in the teaching he gave them.
• God’s times and seasons remain under the Father’s authority; the apostles were called to focus on their mission rather than a timetable.
• The Holy Spirit would give the apostles the power they needed to bear witness to Jesus.
• Their witness was meant to move outward—from Jerusalem to surrounding regions and ultimately to the ends of the earth.
• Jesus’ ascension was joined to the promise that he would come again.