Jesus’ Ascension
Seek the Truth with all your heart.
This was the conclusion of Jesus’ time on Earth, fulfilling the magnificent purpose of His life here; the bottom line of which was to enable all who choose, to be enabled to enter eternal life. He promised to return at the appointed time to take all GOD’s people, who ever lived or are still living, home to heaven; and that time is close.
Leading up to His ascension to return to His and our FATHER in heaven, Jesus had been preparing His followers .
Mark 16:14-20 ‘Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; He rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen Him after He had risen from the dead. He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all 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 drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands, and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and He sat at the right hand of GOD. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed His word by the signs that accompanied it.’
Luke 24:50-53 ‘When He (Jesus) had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising GOD.’
John 14:1-3 Jesus said “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in GOD; trust also in Me. In My FATHER’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.”
John 14:27-28 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
You heard Me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would be glad that I am going to the FATHER, for the FATHER is greater than I.”
John 15:9-17 “As the FATHER has loved Me, so I have loved you. Now remain in My love. If you keep My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My FATHER’s commands and remain in HIS love. I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are My friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know their master’s business. I have called you friends, for everything that I have learned from My FATHER I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so whatever you ask in My Name the FATHER will give you. This is My command: Love each other.”
John 16:28 ‘I (Jesus) came from the FATHER and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the FATHER.’
John 17:1-5 & 11-19 & 24-26 ‘After Jesus said this, He looked toward heaven and prayed: “FATHER, the hour has come. Glorify YOUR Son, that YOUR Son may glorify YOU. For YOU granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those YOU have given Him. Now this is eternal life: that they know YOU the only true GOD and Jesus Christ, Whom YOU have sent. I have brought YOU glory on Earth by finishing the work YOU gave Me to do. And now, FATHER, glorify Me in YOUR presence with the glory I had with YOU before the world began.”
“I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy FATHER, protect them by the power of YOUR NAME, the NAME YOU gave Me, so that they may be one as We are ONE. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that Name YOU have given Me. None has been lost except the One doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
I am coming to YOU now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of My joy within them. I have given them YOUR WORD and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that YOU take them out of the world but that YOU protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the Truth; YOUR WORD is truth. As YOU sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.’
“FATHER, I want those YOU have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory YOU have given Me because YOU loved Me before the creation of the world.”
Righteous FATHER, though the world does not know YOU, I know YOU, and they know that YOU have sent Me. I have made YOU known to them, and will continue to make YOU known in order that the love you have for Me may be in them and that I Myself may be in them.”
John 20:16-18 ‘Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward Him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher.”)
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the FATHER. Go instead to My brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to My FATHER, to My GOD and your GOD.” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that He had said these things to her.’
Acts 1:7-11 ‘He (Jesus) said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the FATHER has set by HIS own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth.”
After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”
Hebrews 4:14-16 ‘Therefore, since we have a great high priest Who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of GOD, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest Who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have One Who has been tempted in every way, just as we are; yet He did not sin. Let us then approach GOD’s throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.’
When Christ returned to heaven, the sense of His presence was still with His followers – a personal presence, full of love and light - Jesus, the Saviour, Who had walked, talked, and prayed with them, and spoken hope and comfort into their hearts. While His message of peace was still ringing in their minds, He was received into a cloud of angels and taken home to heaven.
Matthew 28:20b ‘And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’
Matthew 16:27 ‘For the Son of Man is going to come in His FATHER’s glory with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what they have done.’
At the allotted time He will return in the clouds of angels to take all of GOD’s children home to heaven to join GOD’s eternal family.
When the gates of heaven are thrown open to admit GOD’s children, the words of the King of heaven – Jesus – will be heard like the richest music:
Matthew 25:34 ‘Come, you who are blessed by My FATHER; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.’
Then the redeemed will be welcomed to the home that Jesus has prepared for them. Their brothers and sisters – friends – companions – will be those who have overcome Satan and all of his Earthly influences in every way; and through GOD’s grace have formed perfect characters. Every sinful way and imperfection have been removed by the blood of Christ Jesus; and the excellence and light of His glory exceeding the suns brightness, is imparted to them. The moral beauty and perfection of His character shines through them; and now, before the great white throne, without fault; they share the dignity and privileges of the angels.
In the light of this glorious inheritance, what can anyone give? They may be poor yet they possess a wealth and dignity that the world could never bestow. Such a soul; redeemed and purified from sin; with all the noble powers dedicated to serving GOD, is of surpassing worth. There is joy in heaven in the presence of GOD and the holy angels, expressed in songs of holy triumph, over every redeemed soul.
Matthew 16:26 “What good would it be for someone to forfeit their soul to gain the whole world. What can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
There is nothing on Earth that is remotely as good as the inheritance that is promised by Jesus and GOD to Their committed - devoted - loving - followers.