Week 50 Day 4

November 10, 2022

Jesus Ascends into Heaven

Scripture: Mark 16:19-20, Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:9-11(NIV)

Mark 16:19-20
After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Luke 24:50-53
When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

Acts 1:9-11
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Devotional

Each of these accounts say Jesus was “taken up” into heaven. Angels told them to stop staring at the empty sky, but promised that Jesus would return the same way. Luke says their response was one of worship and great joy.

They had spent their last three years with the Son of God. They would spend the rest of their lives spreading news about Jesus to the world. As Mark states, “Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.”

From that moment forward, the disciples would have to carry out their commission without the physical presence of Jesus. The temptation still holds for us to stare at the sky and wait for His return, while Jesus has called us to go to the valley and proclaim His name. But we are never alone.

God promised, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

Jesus said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20)

And we have the Holy Spirit. Jesus proclaimed, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16)

We are never alone. And absolutely nothing can change that. Paul summed it up well in Romans 8:31-39, when he wrote,

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are never alone. Praise the name of Jesus!

Poem

Hello And Goodbye And Hello

When I first said hello to earth
Nine months before actual birth
I heard Mama humming
Her prayers, despite shunning
Her courage, obedience and hope

When my eyes first awakened on straw
I glimpsed up on faces all awed
Bright tears of the shepherds
The magis’ wise treasures
The least’s and the greatest’s deep love

When greeting the scholars and town
As I walked among those life let down
Amazement came o’er me
As many before me
Flung open the portals of faith

As ministry time rambled by
As followers shuffled goodbye
My heart was dejected
As many rejected
The Way and the Truth and the Life

When up to Jerus’lem I trod
To accomplish the great plan of God
Said goodbye to my Will
To face torture, be still
As My Father forsook me, full sin

As I said my adieu to my breath
And submitted my life unto Death
My crown was laid down
My lips made no sound
I rested in God’s Today grace

Then God recalled,
“Let there be Light!”
I burst forth from Death’s evil night
Arrayed in full glory
Redeemed Father’s story
I greeted Salvation’s new dawn

Along roads, behind doors I came
I greeted my loved ones by name
Forgiving the old strife
Displaying the new life
Commissioning work was bestowed

With arms wide I rose into Heav’n
Embraced running Father, love giv’n
Our great plan in action
Salvation’s transaction
Accomplished! Well done!
Here’s to Life!