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.
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