Acts 1:1-11
In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set 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, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
One made up story leads to another
This story sounds kind of made up. Almost like if they made up the story of the resurrection, well now they have a problem, “Where is Jesus?” They can’t say he’s dead. They can’t say they don’t know. Where did he go after His resurrection? That doesn’t make sense. Why wouldn’t He stick around, they can’t kill him again! So this sounds like a follow up story to the first story they made up about the resurrection. But if He never rose from the dead, they would have to have some explanation why He is not around. The other-worldliness of Jesus ascending into the clouds and disappearing sounds like the perfect made up story to the other one about him rising from the dead.
But just as Jesus ascension into Heaven became obscured by the clouds, perhaps the significance of this as it pertains to humanity, has become obscured to us who are trying to see it. What is the significance of His ascension? Is the answer is obscured behind the following questions? Why didn’t Jesus stay and finish what he started? He defeated death, what more could man do to him!? Why didn’t he organize His disciples and lead the movement? Why didn’t he start the church in Jerusalem? After all He had just accomplished, why did He leave?! That would be like the coach taking an entire team of average players and getting them to the Super Bowl and then leaving right before the game.
Don’t Leave Me
It would be hard for me, if I were there, to understand why He left. Perhaps the two “Angels” that said that He will be back might have left me believing that would happen pretty soon…like a few days tops. Perhaps I wouldn’t have thought that that was it, I was never going to seem Him again this side of Heaven. The most incredible cosmic event just happened, God became one of us, lived among us and taught us how to live, we killed him but he rose from the dead, and came back to help us see all the ways that our written history has been pointing to this moment, forgave us for killing him, but then He leaves. Maybe I would be thinking that he just had somethings to take care of like check in with the Father and get a doctor’s clearance that the whole death burial and resurrection thing didn’t affect his performance in any way.
Jesus is speaking to the apostles here, the men he specifically chose. But chose for what? He never told them how to organize as a church. He never gave them any studies to convert others. In verse 3 it says that he talked with them about the “kingdom of God”. And then in verse 6 they ask him if he is going to “restore the kingdom to Israel?”. I wonder if perhaps they were still not grasping what the kingdom of God would look like.
Perhaps they were seeing Jesus as their king and Israel as God’s people and they would rule over the world. Maybe the only way that they were going to make sense of all that Jesus was trying to help them understand when He spoke of the kingdom of God was for Him to get out of the way and let the Holy Spirit lead. Jesus was done. The kingdom of God has no king. It has no leader. It has no country or boundaries or native people. The kingdom of God is not an earthly kingdom and cannot be set up like one. If we insist on God’s kingdom on earth looking like how we like to organize ourselves, we will never see it.
The Holy Spirit
God’s kingdom was soon ushered in on the day of Pentacost as the Holy Spirit poured out from heaven upon the earth. The apostles were given supernatural abilities to share the message of Christ with the world. It was chaos in that unnatural and miraculous things were happening beyond the control of those whom they were channeled through. That day was the ushering in of the kingdom of God. It wasn’t a day where a plan was drawn up and leaders were chosen and groups were organized. It was a day that a cosmic event changed the world. The Holy Spirit of God was poured out upon the earth for all to receive and that marked the arrival of the kingdom of God.
Jesus could not die a second time but his work was done and it was now time for the Holy Spirit to reign. So naturally Jesus should return to the Father in Heaven. This way the world could experience the Holy Spirit reigning in our lives and bringing us together as the people of God. Christ, who became flesh for man, became spirit again for man, as He ascended into the heavens. Perhaps it wasn’t the clouds that obscured us from fully seeing him ascend. I wonder if it isn’t our clinging to the desire for Christ to remain as flesh that obscures us from fully seeing His ascension.