And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven.
Luke 24:51 ASV
The above verse relates the ascension of Christ into heaven, an event which was ten days before the first Pentecost after the resurrection, and thus some forty days after the events related in the first part of Luke chapter 24.
And when he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
Acts 1:9-12 RSV
And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 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.”
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away;
The indication in Acts 1:9-12 is that the ascension occurred on Mount Olivet; but it is wrong to make a contradiction out of the fact that “they were over against Bethany,” as here.
This does not at all say that he ascended “from” Bethany, but from a point (on the Mount of Olives) which was over against Bethany, that village being located, of course, on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives.
The “two locations” are one.
Besides that, the words “and was carried up into heaven” may have the same meaning as the passage in Acts 1:9, that is, that Jesus was taken up beyond their vision.
It is just possible that Luke 24:51 does not describe the ascension.
Human eyes were not permitted to see the event of the resurrection itself … The angels as the constant witnesses of God’s action saw it … By their testimony the resurrection was made known to men.
In Acts 1:9-12 a cloud obscured the actual “going up” of Jesus; and, as the holy angels announced the ascension in connection with that disappearance, their word identifies that event as the ascension.
If we identify this occasion with that, as being one and the same, which is the view most reasonable to this writer, then it may be assumed that the sacred author in this passage merely left off mentioning the cloud.
“Carried up into heaven” would then be understood as an event certified by angelic testimony but not actually witnessed by men.
So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
Mark 16:19-20 RSV
And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. Amen.
In the year 177 A.D., Irenaeus quoted this verse and another from the beginning of this gospel, thus proving that this passage was received as a part of God’s word at that early date, long before the Sinaiticus or Vaticanus manuscripts were written, and indicating the rightful place of this portion of Mark in the sacred canon, independently of these manuscripts.
Here Mark did not state exactly where the ascension occurred; and the alleged contradictions regarding this event as having occurred in Galilee, or in Bethany, are of no weight at all.
There is every likelihood, if not certainty, that the actual ascension to God was unseen by human eyes, just as the resurrection was not actually seen; and there could have been more than one (there certainly were) instance of Jesus’ “going up” in the presence of his disciples, just as he disappeared in the interview with the disciples at Emmaus, or later with the eleven.
(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth?
Ephesians 4:9-10 RSV
He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)
As to the matter of ascension.
Paul in Ephesians 4:9, made an argument to the effect that the ASCENSION of Christ proved that CHRIST HAD ALSO DESCENDED TO THE EARTH.
Paul’s argument was not that any ascension proves a descent. If he meant such a thing as that, it would not have been true.
The ascension of Christians to be with the Lord in eternity does not prove that they also descended, etc.
Paul did not argue that “an ascension implies a descent”; any child would know better than that, and Paul was no intellectual child.
What then was his argument?
Paul, along with the whole New Testament church, believed in the pre-existence of CHRIST WITH GOD, before the world was, worshipping him as LORD, SAVIOUR, KING, CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE, SUSTAINER OF THE UNIVERSE, or as Paul himself titled him, KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS
(1 Timothy 6:15).
Now, when it is declared of Jesus Christ the Lord that he ascended, the inescapable and necessary deduction is imperative: that he also descended!
How otherwise could a member of the Godhead ascend?
How could the Holy One, with God in the beginning, “the same was God”; how could he have ascended without first descending?
This verse, therefore, far from being “pure midrash,” is one of the most eloquent passages in the New Testament touching upon the glorious Christian doctrine of the Ascension of Jesus Christ and of his pre-existence from all eternity with the Father.
These words counteract any thought that by his ascension to heaven Christ thereby, in any sense, deserted the earth.
On the contrary, he fills the entire universe.
The ascension of Christ meant not a Christ-deserted, but a Christ-filled world.
The manner of Christ’s “filling” all things, of course, is not in a physical sense.
It is his all-pervading power and sovereign authority; it is his omniscience and universal presence in all places simultaneously – these are the qualities of our Lord in view here.
A few of the scriptures showing how Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of God, in Heaven.
But from now on the Son of man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”
Luke 22:69 RSV
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Colossians 3:1 RSV
And Jesus said, “I am; and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
Mark 14:62 RSV
Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.
1 Peter 3:21-22 RSV
Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from THE THRONE OF GOD AND OF THE LAMB.
Revelation 22:1-2 RSV
Through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Revelation 7:17 RSV
Our flesh, in the person of Jesus, is upon the throne of God, henceforth called the “THRONE OF GOD AND OF THE LAMB.”
Christ, the Lamb, and our Savior, rules over Heaven and Earth!
Christ’s Victory over Sin and DEATH is the sole basis of humanity’s hopes and aspirations!
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
1 Corinthians 15:54-58 RSV
“Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
For where TWO OR THREE are gathered in my name, there AM I IN THE MIDST OF THEM.”
Matthew 18:19-20 RSV
|| Aretherra© 
Beautiful article yes God always wipe our tears! He is the protector thanks for sharing 🙂 Amen!
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