Series: Beginnings of the New Testament Church
Part 1: The Ascension

This is where the rubber meets the road, isn’t it? This is the great defining point of Christianity. Either the historical person called Jesus Christ rose from the dead or he didn’t. If he didn’t, then all this stuff about Christianity is just another philosophical set of teachings that isn’t any better than any other teachings one might wish to consider. BUT, if he did, then it changes everything. If he did (since who can do that but a Being far beyond us), then it validates everything that he did and taught.

This is the stumbling block for so many. They just can’t get their minds around the possibility because it is so profoundly counter to our human experience. But if one is to truly seek the truth then one must start from a position of possibility. Why? Because starting from a position of impossibility preordains the conclusion and cannot result in an intellectually honest evaluation. If a person evaluating Christianity refuses at the outset to allow for at least the possibility of a resurrection, then that person is deciding the outcome of his/her evaluation before considering even one shred of evidence! Frame it how one will, that is not an intellectually honest evaluation. If that is where one begins, then any further inquiry is simply prejudiced from the beginning and not worth the time to continue. If one is seriously interested in the pursuit of truth (wherever that leads), then one must be open to any conclusion to which the evidence leads.

Final Instructions

As the time for his departure approached, Jesus gathered his closest followers around him for some last words of instruction.

Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said,”you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4-5 NASB)

The second person of the Trinity, the Son, was about to return to the Father from where he had come. But he would not leave those he loved uncared for. With his departure, the next stage in God’s plan was about to begin — the Church Age. Beginning not too many days from then, the Spirit of God would be given in a way that had never happened before. From that point forward, God (in the form of the Holy Spirit) would actually indwell those who put their trust in Jesus. (This is what Jesus meant by being “baptized with the Holy Spirit”.) Jesus was about to outline their life’s mission — a mission which would be empowered by the actual presence of God within them.

But the disciples still didn’t get it.

So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.” (Acts 1:6-7 NASB)

Like most Jews of that day, the disciples were still looking for a lesser Messiah. Under the teaching of the Jewish rabbis, most Jews had grown up thinking of the Messiah promised in the Old Testament as a political hero — an earthly conqueror who would overthrow the domineering government of the Romans and once again establish an independent Jewish nation with a Jewish king. The scriptures, however, had a much greater Messiah in mind. Jesus came not to free the Jews from political domination (a real but temporary condition), but to free them from the lasting consequences of sin’s domination. The disciples were focused on the temporary — Jesus was focused on the eternal.

Do you sometimes pray for something and get frustrated when you don’t see God’s immediate answer? Like the disciples, we sometimes have a smaller goal in mind than God does. Keep trusting in God — don’t give up. He may have a much larger goal in mind for you than what you’ve been thinking, and He knows just the right time to let you know. Trust he has your best in mind, and keep living faithfully.

After instructing His disciples what not to focus on, he then turned to what they were to focus on:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 NASB)

The New Testament Church was about to be born, and it was to start with the disciples. They were to wait in Jerusalem (Luke 24:49) until the arrival of the Holy Spirit. Then, and only then, were they to begin the work of telling the world the truth. The American Heritage Dictionary [Note 2] defines “witness” as

        1. One who can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced
        2. One who furnishes evidence.

The disciples were to tell the world what they had experienced. Author Ray Stedman helps us understand the role of a witness as it was intended to be:

“Christians are not to be like salesmen going out to peddle a product nor are they to be recruiters trying to get people to join a religious club. By doing this the church has become false and has lost its power….The mark of a carnal church is that it loves to talk about itself. These early Christians never witnessed about the church at all; they witnessed about the Lord — what He could do, how He would work, what a fantastic person He was, how amazing His power was, and what He could do in human hearts.” [Note 3]

The disciples had spent three years in intensive training. Now it was almost time to put their training into practice.

The Ascension

He had loved them, he had taught them, and soon he would empower them by the Holy Spirit. The gift had been given and it was up to the disciples to share it with the rest of the world. His mission accomplished, it was time to return home — for awhile.

And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11 NASB)

With that he was gone. But as the angels informed the disciples, so the scriptures inform us: One day He’ll return just as he left — physically, visibly, and as indicated in I Thessalonians, with authority:

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NASB)

Bank on it. It will happen just as it says. Will you be ready?