JESUS' ASCENSION

 

JESUS’ ASCENSION

6So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7He said to them,

“It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

8But 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.”

9And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

10And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11and 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.”

ACTS 1:6-11

COMMENTARY

Forty days after our Lord resurrected and appeared to many, proving thus the reality and physicality of his resurrection, and after He formally farewelled and instructed his disciples in Galilee (Acts 1:3; Matthew 28:16; Luke 24:50-51); He met up again with the 11 disciples at Bethany, in the outskirts of Jerusalem, in Judea, giving his apostles his last instructions, comforting them, and ascending to the Father to sit on His right hand, until his return in Glory

(Mark 16:19).

From these events, not all described in this text, but all over the synoptic gospels and Acts, we can gather the following:

1 – As the human Messiah, Jesus confirms his eternal and definite authority in the Name of the Father (Matthew 28:18).

2 – Jesus gives the command to preach his message to all the earth, baptizing the converts in water in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, making thus the three names mentioned in the NT, equal to one another (Divine), and co-authors of the process of salvation

(Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-48; Acts 1:8).

3 – Jesus commands repentance for the forgiveness of sins, in his Name (Luke 24:47).

4 – Jesus makes clear the necessity of conscious water baptism for salvation in all converts

(Mark 16:16; John 3:5).

5 – Jesus promises signs and wonders that will accompany the Church in the expansion of the Gospel (Mark 16:17-18)

6 – Jesus commands to disciple the new converts to holiness (Matthew 28:20).

7 – Jesus promises to be with us every day, until He returns for us (Matthew 28:20)

8 – Jesus commands to remain in Jerusalem, until they receive the Holy Spirit, 50 days after, in Pentecost (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5).

WITH ALL THIS, our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated his love for us once more.

Jesus did not ‘leave’ Earth to its own luck. He continues on Earth, through the Holy Spirit:

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.”

John 14:18-19

JESUS is with us through the ordinances, specially the Eucharist, the memorial of his love for us at the cost of his own atoning sacrifice.

Jesus continues to save, to heal and deliver people trapped by the devil, even to this day, through the power He left to all the believers, through Faith in His Name in the Holy Spirit.

Jesus still forgives all sins; regardless how grave they may be. He is still is protecting and saving the adulterous woman from being stoned to death, and healing the woman with the blood that touched his robe; and resurrecting the death for the comfort of their families.

He does this in the lives of all men, women and children that come to Him in faith and submission.

In the lives of all those who surrender to His love and mercy. In the lives of all those left aside by men.

JESUS rescues all who come to Him in faith.

And Jesus is still with us, like He said, every day of our lives, every day…until He comes back again to take his people with Him.

Omar Flores.