The Ascension

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Acts 1:6-11

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

 
 

After the Resurrected Jesus has spent 40 days (i,.e., a long time) teaching the Twelve about the Kingdom of God, they want to know, “When will all this begin?” Jesus’s answer: “It’s not for you to know the exact timeline, but this is the sequence: it starts in Jerusalem, will move to Judea and then to Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth.” It’s like a series of concentric circles, with Jerusalem at the center. (Which, by the way, is also the outline of the book of Acts itself.)

 
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And then, Jesus ascends into heaven, bringing his bodily life on earth to a close.

We’re now in the period between the Ascension of Jesus and his Second Coming, which means we’re still in the period of the preaching of the Gospel and the proclaiming of the Kingdom to the ends of the earth.

 

How can you play your missionary part today?

How can you bring the Good News wherever you go today?