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Author: Stephen Weller
737 words, 4 minutes read time

Jesus Is Now In Heaven

Scripture: Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:9-11

In the previous lesson Jesus told the disciples that it was not for them to know when the kingdom would be restored to Jerusalem and then instructed them to wait in Jerusalem to receive the Holy Spirit and then to go and fulfill the great commission. In this lesson Jesus will bless the disciples and then ascend into heaven as they watch.

^{Acts 1:9} And when he had said these things, ^{Lk 24:50} and lifting up his hands he blessed them. ⁵¹ While he blessed them, ^{Acts 1:9} as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ^{Lk 24:51} he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. ^{Acts 1:10} 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.” ^{Lk 24:52} And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, ⁵³ and were continually in the temple blessing God.

“These things” pertain to what we covered in the last lesson about the kingdom and about receiving power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them. Jesus now raises his hands as he stands before them. Can you visualize the scene with Jesus facing his disciples with his hands raised blessing them, and as he speaks they are looking at him and they notice that he begins to rise from the earth, up to a cloud where they lost sight of him as he continued on up into heaven. That cloud was not an ordinary cloud but the cloud of glory that surrounds the very presence of God. This is the same cloud that overshadowed them at the time of the transfiguration of Jesus (Luke 9:28 – 36).

Now try to imagine what the disciples were feeling and thinking. As Jesus disappears from their sight, two men dressed in white robes appeared, standing beside them, spoke to them 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.”

These two men were angels in human form as indicated by their white robes. There was a similar occurrence in Matthew 28:1 – 3 ESV: ¹ “Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. ² And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.” An example in Luke 24:1 – 4 had two men in dazzling apparel and may be the same two men as here with the disciples.

An important point made by the two men to the disciples was that Jesus would one day return bodily and visible just as in his ascension. The date of his return is unknown and is a time that we wait expectantly for. The Scriptures spoke of his first coming and he came and now these two men in white robes inform us that Jesus will return. Jesus also spoke of his return as do the Scriptures.

With all that has taken place, the disciples are overwhelmed with great joy and they pause and have a time of worship and then as instructed, they return to Jerusalem to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit and as they do they spend time in the temple blessing God.

Conclusion

With Jesus now back in heaven and the disciples back in Jerusalem waiting for the Holy Spirit to come upon them, we come to a major transition point in our study of moving from the gospels in our adventure with Jesus and the disciples to the Acts of the Apostles as we continue our adventure with the Holy Spirit and the disciples. Please pray with me that God will provide me with continued good health to allow me to press on with this work to his glory.