#201 Lu. 24:50-53 THE ASCENSION OF JESUS Introduction: In our text two Sundays ago Jesus assigned His church the difficult task of going into all the world to preach the gospel. In our text last Sunday, Jesus promised His church the power that would be needed to carry out that difficult assignment. He promised power from on high. The power which He promised is the Holy Spirit of God. In our text today Luke closes out his book by giving an account of the ascension of Jesus to heaven. I. Our indebtedness to Luke for his record of the ascension We are dependent almost entirely upon Luke for a record of this event. It seems so strange to me that Matthew says nothing at all about our Lord's ascension. Neither does John. Mark barely mentions it. He makes one simple statement to the effect that Jesus was received up into heaven and that He sat down at the right hand of God. That really is so very little. On the other hand, Luke gave two separate accounts of the ascension. The first is here in the Gospel of Luke. The other is in the first chapter of Acts, which Luke also wrote. His two accounts are very much alike, but we have a more complete picture by have them both.. I want you to note Luke's account as given in our text and we will fill in what little information is given in the other accounts. In the Book of Acts we are told that after His resurrection, Jesus made a number of appearances to His disciples during the next forty days. Luke, himself recorded the appearance of Jesus to the two disciples on the Emmaus road. He made mention of the fact that Jesus also appeared to Simon Peter. Then Luke gave an account of His appearance in the midst of His disciples who were gathered in the upper room. This was when He invited them to touch Him and He ate food in their presence. Then Luke gave an account of the Great Commission in which the Lord told them to go to all nations and preach the gospel. Luke does not inform us that this commission was not given to them at Jerusalem. It was given in Galilee. The promise of power from on high may have also been first given in Galilee. But they were told to tarry in Jerusalem while waiting for the promise to be fulfilled. So most of the appearances took place at Jerusalem. During those appearances Jesus taught His disciples and helped to prepare them for the time when He would be gone from them. II. The ascension as described by Luke It was on one of those appearances at Jerusalem that we read about in our text. The church people, in keeping with the instruction of Jesus were tarrying at Jerusalem waiting to be endued with power from on high. Jesus made an appearance there and asked that they all follow Him. V. 50, "And he led them out as far as to Bethany..." Bethany was located about two miles from Jerusalem on the Mt. of Olives. Our text does not specifically say that He carried them to the village of Bethany, but rather that He led them as far as Bethany. As far as the language of the text is concerned, He could have stopped right in the middle of the village. However, it is more likely that they were near the village but not directly in it. They were, at least, in the vicinity of Bethany. (V. 50), "...and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them." There alone with His disciples, Jesus lifted up His hands and pronounced a blessing upon them. Luke does not tell us what He said, but we can be sure that He was asking God to bestow upon them His special love and care. V. 51, "And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven." Jesus was still speaking to them pronouncing blessings upon them when He started rising up in the air. He just kept talking to them pronouncing blessings as He went away. The account in Acts says that He disappeared from their sight into a cloud. In Mark's account, Mark said that He went away into heaven and took His place sitting at the right hand of God the Father on the throne of God. Apparently the disciples were unable to see Him take His seat at the right hand of God the Father, but they would be familiar with the Old Testament Scripture which had predicted that He would do so. In Psalm 110:1 we read, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." III. The great joy that came to the disciples V. 52, "And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy." What a magnificent event! Can you imagine what it would be like to see and hear Jesus talking to you and all of a sudden He just starts to rise in the air and disappears into the clouds? Right in your presence, He has gone away into heaven to take His seat at the right hand of God the Father as it had been predicted that He would. As the disciples walked back to Jerusalem together, they were all filled with joy. You would think that they might be saddened by the fact that Jesus has left them and returned back to heaven. But they were so excited about the greatness of the occasion that they were not saddened by His departure from them. I want you to look back to the time of the crucifixion and take a look at those disciples then. They had been a sad sight. They were shook up, as well they might be. They were in deep depression. But for forty days now, Jesus has been going in and out of their midst making appearances among them. He has been teaching them anew the things they needed to get ready to carry out the Great Commission. Now they have just witnessed the greatest scene they have ever witnessed in all their lives. They had witnessed as Jesus went away into heaven. Luke does not mention the angels in this account, but in Acts Luke tells us that two angels appeared and told them that some day Jesus was come back to earth. IV. The worship services in the temple V. 53, "And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God..." That is, in the daylight hours they were in the temple. Each evening they would return to the upper room where they would spend the night and where they would be assembled on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit would come upon them. But every day in the daylight hours they would go into the temple and hold worship services under one of the porches. I want us to listen in on one of those worship services by way of imagination. We do not know exactly what was done and said, but we do know sufficiently sell to get a pretty good idea what was taking place. For one thing, we know that they read some Old Testament Scriptures. I have no way of knowing for sure what Scriptures they read, but I strongly suspect that they read some of the prophecies concerning the coming of the Christ and His crucifixion. I strongly suspect that they also read Scriptures concerning His resurrection from the dead. I am almost certain that they read Psalm 110:1 which prophesied of His ascension. If not, there were other prophecies of the ascension in the Old Testament. They would all listen attentively as the Scriptures were read. Then whoever the spokesman may have been would remind them that those prophecies have now been fulfilled and that the Christ is now seated at the right hand of God the Father as the prophecy has said that He would. I can almost hear them all joyfully praising God. I can almost hear them all shouting, "Amen! Amen!" Even Luke himself joins in with an "Amen" of his own right here in the text. Even Luke cannot write about this at some later date without getting happy about it. Note our text verse as Luke say, "Amen" and with that word, he closes out his book. V. A reminder of some important things In our text today we have witnessed a magnificent event. We have witnessed as Jesus Christ, the Son of God, dwelling in a fully adult human body, arose into the air and went away to heaven in the clouds. He went away to take His rightful place seated at the right hand of God The Father on the throne of God in heaven. This serves as a reminder that this same Jesus had earlier come down to this earth from that same throne in heaven. As one of the Holy Trinity He had sat on that throne along with God the Father. As Eternal Spirit God, He had sat there. As Creator God He had sat there for it is this Second Person of the Trinity who had created the heaven and the earth. Yet when He had descended from heaven to the earth, He was not in the fully grown body of a man. He did not descend in the clouds. Rather He descended in a manner invisible to the world and took His place hidden away in the womb of Mary. He was there unseen until the day of His birth in Bethlehem of Judea. As far as the eye could see, there was no significant difference in this child and other children who were born into this world. Yet in reality there was all the difference in the world. As a child, Jesus grew up in the home of Joseph and Mary as the oldest son among other children in the family. The world still could not tell any significant difference in this child and other children. As a young man, Jesus was taught to do carpentry work. I cannot help but wonder if, somewhere in the world God may have preserved some piece of His carpentry handiwork which may be brought forth in millennial times as a memorial to that part of His life and ministry on earth. The adult life of Jesus made a drastic change when He was baptized at the hands of John the Baptist. From that time forth He began to preach and gather disciples. He organized His church and lead them in spiritual and numerical growth for three years. His ministry came to its peak when He went to the cross and died for the souls of men. This was His chief purpose in coming into the world. He had come to seek and save that which was lost. He died on the cross and arose from the grave. In our text that same Deity God, that same Second Person of the Trinity who had come to the world in the form of a little baby left this world in the fully grown body of a man which had been crucified on a cross and which had arisen from the grave. Some day He will leave that throne in heaven. He will leave that place where He is seated at the right hand of God the Father and He will step back down through the clouds again. He will come back to this world to set up His throne in Jerusalem and to rule the world during the millennium. He will come back to rapture all the people whom He has saved and reward them for their service rendered to God. After the millennium He will then sit upon another throne. He will sit upon the Great White Throne and judge the unsaved people of the world. Conclusion: Let me ask you this: Have you ever repented of your sins and trusted Jesus as your Savior? If you have done so then we rejoice with you because you will have a place in heaven. But if you have not done so, then you had better take advantage of what little opportunity you have left and place your faith in Jesus Christ to save your soul. I am going to call upon our musicians right now and ask them to come forward to be prepared to lead our congregational hymn. I am going to also call upon you and ask you to come forward. I am going to ask you to come and get prepared to stand before God in judgment. Come and place your faith in Jesus Christ to save your soul.