As we entered into the text of The Acts According to the Apostles, we observed Luke’s 2nd salutation to Theophilus noting Acts as the 2nd book to his comprehensive volume of Luke-Acts. In Luke’s Gospel, we read what Jesus began to do; in Acts, we find what Jesus continues to do … through His chosen apostles. Jesus spent 40 days of concentrated time with His 11 disciples, confirming and strengthening their faith and further instructing them on the kingdom of God. He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem but to instead wait for the promise of the Father, which would be “power from on high,” the Holy Spirit whom Jesus would send from heaven, baptizing them in the Spirit.
In Acts 1:6, the disciples asked Jesus if He would now restore the kingdom to Israel. While Jesus did not directly answer their question, He did direct their minds to the mission at hand. To know when the kingdom would be consummated was divine knowledge beyond their privilege. They had a commission from Jesus, and He would empower and equip them for it! This equipping would come through the power of the Holy Spirit, who would lead them to witness all that they had seen Jesus say and do. This witnessing by these eyewitnesses would begin first in Jerusalem, then in Judea/Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth: a universal/global scope of their gospel mission.
Luke records the Jesus’ ascension in Acts 1:9-11. The disciples stood gazing into the skies long after Jesus was carried from their sight. 2 angels then addressed the 11 disciples and reminded them of their duty just given to them by Jesus. But they also assured them (and all future believers) that Jesus will certainly return in the exact same manner that He had just departed. The disciples could no longer depend upon the visual presence of Jesus – now they would live through eyes of faith! Jesus wouldn’t really be absent from their lives: the ascended Christ would be manifestly active among them through His divine agent, the Holy Spirit (of Christ).
The final part of our study was an examination of the theological significance of the Ascension. Is the Ascension as important as the Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection? If so, why? What happened when Jesus ascended back to heaven? How can we more clearly see the full import of the ascended, enthroned Jesus as THE Prophet, Priest, and King? What was necessary to occur before the Holy Spirit could be sent to the apostles? What importance is there to the church of the reality that through His ascension, Jesus became head of the church? What did His exaltation demonstrate to Satan and all the hosts of evil? What did the Ascension confirm and authenticate? Find out the vast importance that the Ascension is to the theology of the Christian faith by clicking on the link to the teaching below:
