Luke 24:50-53 The ascension of Jesus
into heaven. Mark 16:19 is the only other mention of Jesus' ascension. Details are sparse. While He was blessing
them, He was raised up into heaven. Of course God's presence is most likely in
a different realm than our space-time continuum. Metaphorically God is above
us, which is reflected in several Old Testament visions of God. So the
disciples would certainly have understood the symbolism of Jesus rising into
heaven as His ascending to the Father. The concept of heaven as being another
state of existence was communicated via some of the OT prophets, but with
little explanation.
We
are dealing here with spiritual mysteries here. And the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit that we shall see in Acts does not resolve any of them. We will be
entering a new state of life on this earth (not in heaven) in which Holy
Spirit-empowered believers will live with the power of heaven in the midst of a
fallen earth. And so Luke's account of the events surrounding the life of Jesus
Christ on the earth, that he had carefully researched, (Luke 1:1-4) comes to a
close. The sequel picks up here, with a parting commission from Christ before
He ascends. (Luke 24:49-51, repeated in Acts 1:8-9)
Jesus
then gave them a very specific command: wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit.
He did a contrast with the baptism of John. The baptism of the Holy Spirit
could not possibly have been understood by them at that time, but Jesus wanted
them to recognize it when it happened. In the case of the baptism of John, the
Greek word baptizo was borrowed,
normally meaning to dip or dye, as when one is immersing a garment in a vat of
colored liquid in order to impart color to it. John's baptism was more symbolic
of washing, as he baptized people for the repentance from sin. When the
disciples were immersed with the Holy Spirit, they took on the color of God, so
to speak, going far beyond repenting and being washed, but being God-filled in
their spirit. So when this happened as recorded in Acts 2, Peter immediately
recognized it and put words to it. (Acts 2:38-39)
At
this time, the disciples were still a bit stuck in their Maccabean heritage,
and asked if it was now that Jesus would be restoring the kingdom of Israel.
Jesus very gently told them that they were not privy to God's timetable, but
that when this event happened, it did mean one specific thing: they would be
His witnesses to the ends of the earth. It is not clear if this was intended as
a command or a simple statement of fact. When the Holy Spirit came on them,
they would be impelled by His inner prompting so that they would have no choice
but to be His witnesses. And it would be to the gentiles, although they quite
possibly thought He was referring to the Jews of the dispersion.
Matthew's
account of the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20) gives a slightly different
emphasis. In that account, Jesus instructed His disciples to make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to observe everything that He
commanded. This contrasts to Luke's account in Acts, in which Jesus said they
would be witnesses to the ends of the earth. There is a difference. The concept
of making disciples and teaching people to observe everything Jesus commanded
involves more than witnessing to them, and having them come to a statement of
faith in Christ. What we will find later in the New Testament is that although
Paul was the apostle of grace, it is through his epistles that the instructions
for obeying Christ's commands and discipling ourselves as we follow Christ are
fleshed out. (I Cor 9:27, I Tim 4:7-8).
In
self-examination, one of my fears is that I worry too much about times and
epochs, to the detriment of doing what the Holy Spirit impels me to do. How can
I be a witness to the remotest parts of the earth? If I cannot go, or if I am
not gifted or called to travel to foreign lands, how can I be a witness to the
many lost people I meet each day, and how can I support and further the work of
God in those remote countries?
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