Reference: Ascension
American
The visible ascent of Christ to heaven. When our Savior had repeatedly conversed with his apostles during forty days, after his resurrection, and afforded them infallible proofs of its reality, he led them out to the Mount of Olives, and was raised up to heaven in their sight, there to continue till he shall come again at the last day to judge the quick and the dead, Ac 1:9,11. The ascension was demonstrated by the descent of the Holy Ghost,
Joh 16:7-14; Ac 2. It was Christ's real human nature that ascended; and he thus triumphed gloriously over death and hell, as head of his body the church. While he blessed his disciples he was parted from them and multitudes of the angelic hosts accompanied and welcomed him, Ps 24:9; 68:17. The consequences resulting from his ascension are: the fulfilment of types and prophecies concerning it; his appearance as a priest in the presence of God for us; his more open and full assumption of his kingly office; his receiving gifts for men; his opening the way to heaven for his people. Heb 10:19-20; and assuring his saints of their ascension to heaven after the resurrection of the dead, Joh 14:1-2.
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LET not your hearts be troubled: trust in God, and trust in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: and if not, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Yet I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I went not away, the Comforter would not come to you; but if I go, I will send him unto you. And when he cometh, he will convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment: read more. of sin first, because they believe not in me; then of righteousness, because I am going to the Father, so ye see me no more; and of judgment, because the ruler of this world hath sentence pronounced on him. I have many things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them just now. But when he is come, the Spirit of truth, he will conduct you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever things he shall hear, he shall speak: and he will declare to you the things that shall come hereafter. He shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
And as he was speaking these things, while they were looking upon him, he was taken up; and a cloud enveloping him hid him from their eyes.
who also said to them, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up to heaven? this Jesus, who hath been taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in the same manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Having therefore, brethren, entire liberty of entrance into the holies by the blood of Jesus??20 a way, which he hath consecrated for us, newly opened, and giving life, through the vail, that is, his flesh;
Easton
See Christ.
Hastings
The fact of our Lord's Ascension is treated very scantily in the Synoptic Gospels. From Mt. it is entirely omitted. In the appendix to Mk. the words in which it is stated are rather the formula of a creed than the narrative of an event (Mr 16:19). Lk. is somewhat more circumstantial, and, though the chronology is uncertain, mentions the journey to the neighbourhood of Bethany and the disappearance of Christ in the act of blessing, together with the return of the disciples to Jerusalem (Lu 24:50-52). The narrative, meagre as it is, is not inconsistent with, and may even presuppose, the events recorded at greater length in Acts (Ac 1:6-12). Here we learn that the scene was more precisely the Mount, of Olives (Ac 1:12); that the final conversation, to which allusion is possibly made in Mr 16:19, concerned the promise of the Holy Spirit (Mr 16:6-8); and that the Ascension, so far as it was an event and therefore a subject of testimony, took the form of the uplifting of the bodily form of Jesus from the earth till it disappeared in a cloud (Mr 16:9-10). Whether this experience involved more than the separation of Christ from immediate contact with the earth, and included His gradual recession into the upper air, there is nothing directly to show. The general form of the narrative recalls the Transfiguration (Lu 9:28-36 ||). The words of the 'two men in white apparei' (Lu 9:10) suggest that the final impression was that of disappearance above the heads of the onlookers (Lu 9:11). It will be noticed that, while the Markan appendix and Luke, unless the latter narrative is interpolated, blend fact and figure (Mr 16:19 'received up [fact] into heaven [partly fact, partly figure], and sat down at the right hand of God [figure]'; Lu 24:51 'he parted from them [fact], and was carried up into heaven [partly fact, partly figure; but see Revised Version margin,' as must necessarily be the case where the doctrine of the Ascension is concerned; Acts, on the other hand, which purports to describe an event, rigidly keeps within the limits of testimony.
There are certain anticipations of the Ascension in the Gospels which must be regarded as part of their witness to it. Thus Lk. introduces the account of our Lord's last journey to Jerusalem with the words 'when the days were being fulfilled that he should be received up' (Lu 9:51 Revised Version margin). It is probable that the Ascension is here delicately blended with the Crucifixion, as apparently by Christ Himself in Joh 12:32. Again, the word exodos in Luke's account of the Transfiguration, rendered in the text of RV 'decease,' but marg. 'departure,' seems to have the same double reference (Lu 9:31). Our Lord's predictions of the Second Coming 'on the clouds' (Mt 24:30; 26:64; cf. 1Th 4:16; Re 1:7) almost necessarily imply the Ascension. The Fourth Gospel, while in its accustomed manner omitting the story of the Ascension, probably regarded as known, introduces definite references to it on the part of Christ both before and after the Resurrection (Joh 6:62; 7:33; 14:19,28; 16:28; 20:17 etc.). And if we compare statements in the Epistles (Eph 4:8; Heb 1:3; 4:14) with the Ascension narrative, it is scarcely possible to doubt that the writers accepted the historic fact as the basis of their teaching. To this must be added all those passages which speak of Jesus as exalted to the right hand or throne of God (Ro 8:34; Eph 1:20; Heb 10:12 etc.), and as returning to earth in the glory of the Father (Mt 25:31; Mr 8:38; Php 3:20 etc.). In connexion with the Session, St. Peter, after mentioning the Resurrection, uses the expression 'having gone his way into heaven' (1Pe 3:22, cf. Joh 14:3). Nor can we omit such considerations as arise out of the fact of the Resurrection itself, which are satisfied only by an event that puts a definite period to the earthly manifestation of the incarnate Christ.
From what has been said it will appear that the Ascension stands on a somewhat different level from the Resurrection as an attested fact. Like the Virgin-birth, it did not form a part of the primitive preaching, nor does it belong to the evidences of Christianity. The fragment of what is thought to be a primitive hymn quoted in 1Ti 3:16 somewhat curiously places 'preached among the nations' before 'received up in glory.' But it is nevertheless a fact which came within the experience of the Apostles, and can therefore claim a measure of historical testimony. The Resurrection is itself the strongest witness to the reality of the Ascension, as of the Virgin-birth, nor would either in the nature of the case have been capable of winning its way to acceptance apart from the central faith that Jesus actually rose from the dead. But neither the fact itself nor its importance to the Christian believer depends upon the production of evidence for its occurrence. It will not be seriously disputed by those who accept the Apostolic gospel. On the other hand, the fact that the Ascension was accepted in the primitive Church as the event which put a term to the earthly manifestation of Christ brings out the Resurrection in striking relief as in the full sense of the word a fact of history. It is the Ascension, represented as it is in Scripture not only historically but mystically, and not the Resurrection, which might be viewed as an apotheosis or idealization of Jesus. That 'Jesus is now living at the right hand of God' (Harnack) is not a sufficient account of the Christian belief in the Resurrection in view of the Ascension narrative, which, even if Keim and others are right in regarding it as a materialization of the doctrine of the eternal Session as set forth in the Epistles, becomes necessary only when the Resurrection is accepted in the most literal sense.
The Ascension is the point of contact between the man Jesus Christ of the Gospeis and the mystical Christ of the Epistles, preserving the historical character of the former and the universality of the latter in true continuity. It enabled the disciples to identify the gift of Pentecost with the promise of the Holy Spirit, which had been specially connected with the withdrawal of Jesus from bodily sight and His return to the Father (Joh 16:7; cf. Joh 7:39). An eternal character is thus given to the sacrifice of the death of Christ, which becomes efficacious through the exaltation of His crucified and risen manhood (Heb 10:11-14,19-22).
J. G. Simpson.
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And then shall the sign of the Son of man appear in the heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth lament bitterly, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
But when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory:
Jesus saith to him, Thou hast spoken [the fact]. Moreover I tell you, hereafter ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, before this adulterous and sinful generation; of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he shall come in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels.
But he saith unto them, Be not affrighted, ye seek Jesus the Nazarean, who was crucified; he is risen, he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples, and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him, as he told you. read more. And they going out hastily, fled from the sepulchre, for trembling and astonishment had seized them: and they said not a word to any person, for they were affrighted. Now being arisen early, on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. She going, told it to those who had been with him, as they were wailing and weeping.
Then the Lord, after having thus spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
Then the Lord, after having thus spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
Then the Lord, after having thus spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
And when the apostles returned, they told him what they had done. And taking them, he withdrew privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. But when the multitudes knew it, they followed him and receiving them, he spake to them concerning the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of a cure.
And it was about eight days after these discourses, that taking Peter, and John, and James, he went up into a mountain to pray. And it came to pass, as he was at prayer, that the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment white and refulgent. read more. And, lo! two men conversed with him, who were Moses and Elias: who appeared in glory, and mentioned his departure, which he was ready to accomplish at Jerusalem.
who appeared in glory, and mentioned his departure, which he was ready to accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and they who were with him were weighed down with sleep: but when they awoke, they beheld his glory, and the two men who were standing with them. read more. And it came to pass, as they were departing from him, Peter said unto Jesus, it is well that we are here, and we will make three tents, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias; not knowing what he said. And as he was thus speaking, a cloud came and overshadowed them: and they were afraid as they were entering into the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son; hear him. And when the voice ceased, Jesus was found alone. And they held their peace, and told no man in those days a word of the things which they had seen.
And it came to pass, as the days hastened to their period when he should be received up [to glory], that he resolutely set his face to go to Jerusalem;
And he led them without [the city] as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. And it came to pass, as he pronounced the benediction upon them, he was parted from them, and taken up into heaven.
And it came to pass, as he pronounced the benediction upon them, he was parted from them, and taken up into heaven. And they, after paying him their adorations, returned to Jerusalem with vast joy:
What then if ye see the Son of man ascending where he was formerly?
Then said Jesus unto them, A little while longer I am with you, and I am going to him that sent me.
(Now he spake this in reference to the Spirit, which they who believe on him should afterwards receive: for as yet the Holy Ghost was not given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.)
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
And if I go and prepare you a place, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
Ye have heard that I told you, I am going away, though I am coming again to you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I am going to the Father: because my Father is greater than I.
Yet I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I went not away, the Comforter would not come to you; but if I go, I will send him unto you.
I came out from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I am leaving the world, and going to the Father.
Jesus saith to her, Touch me not; for I have not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and tell them, I am ascending to my Father, and your Father; to my God, and your God.
They then accordingly assembling together, asked him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time reestablish the kingdom of Israel? But he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times and the seasons, which the Father hath reserved under his own authority. read more. But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses for me, both in Jerusalem, and throughout all Judea, and Samaria, and unto the extremity of the earth. And as he was speaking these things, while they were looking upon him, he was taken up; and a cloud enveloping him hid him from their eyes. And as they looked up earnestly into the heaven, while he was passing, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; who also said to them, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up to heaven? this Jesus, who hath been taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in the same manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then they returned unto Jerusalem, from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, about a sabbath-day's journey distant.
Then they returned unto Jerusalem, from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, about a sabbath-day's journey distant.
Who is he that condemneth? Christ? He died, yea, rather, also is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
which he displayed in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly regions,
Wherefore the Scripture saith, "When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men."
But our conversation is in heaven as its citizens, from whence also we are expecting the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
And confessedly great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified by the Spirit, seen of angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
who being the splendour of his glory, and the very impress of his substance, and upholding all things with his powerful word, by himself having effected the cleansing of our sins, he sat down at the right hand of Majesty on high;
Having then a great high-priest passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast the confession.
And every priest standeth indeed daily performing the divine service, and frequently offering the same sacrifices, which cannot possibly take away sins: but this person, having offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever hath seated himself at the right hand of God;
but this person, having offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever hath seated himself at the right hand of God; henceforth waiting till his enemies be put as a footstool for his feet. read more. For by one oblation he hath made those perfect for ever who are sanctified.
Having therefore, brethren, entire liberty of entrance into the holies by the blood of Jesus??20 a way, which he hath consecrated for us, newly opened, and giving life, through the vail, that is, his flesh;
and having a great priest over the house of God, let us come to him with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and the body washed with pure water:
who is at the right hand of God, gone into heaven, angels and dominations and powers being put in subjection under him.
Behold! he is coming with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall lament bitterly, smiting their bosoms, because of him: even so! Amen.
Morish
This term is constantly applied to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to heaven from whence He came. Joh 3:13. Leading His eleven apostles out as far as Bethany, on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, in the act of blessing them He ascended up to heaven, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. Mr 16:19; Lu 24:50-51; Ac 1:9. The ascension of the Lord Jesus is a momentous fact for His saints: the One who bore their sins on the cross has been received up in glory, and sits on the right hand of God.
As forerunner He has entered into heaven for the saints, and has been made a high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Heb 6:20. His ascension assured, according to His promise, the descent of the Holy Spirit, which was accomplished at Pentecost. Joh 16:7; Ac 1:4,8; 2. As ascended He became Head of His body the church, Eph 1:22, and gave gifts to men, among which gifts are evangelists who preach to the world, and pastors and teachers to care for and instruct the saints. Ps 68:18; Eph 4:8-13.
His ascension is a demonstration through the presence of the Holy Spirit that sin is in the world and righteousness in heaven, for the very One they rejected has been received by the Father into heaven. Joh 16:10. The ascension is also a tremendous fact for Satan: the prince of this world has been judged who led the world to put the Lord to death; and in His ascension He led captivity captive, having broken the power of death in which men were held, Eph 4:8, for He had in the cross spoiled principalities and powers and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Col 2:15.
Above all, the ascension is a glorious fact for the blessed Lord Himself. Jehovah said unto Him, "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Ps 110:1. He has taken His place as man where man never was before, and He is also glorified with the glory which He had before the world was, besides the glory which He graciously shares with His saints. Joh 17:5,22.
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Then the Lord, after having thus spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
And he led them without [the city] as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. And it came to pass, as he pronounced the benediction upon them, he was parted from them, and taken up into heaven.
Though no man hath ascended into heaven, except he that descended from heaven, that Son of man the I am in heaven.
Yet I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I went not away, the Comforter would not come to you; but if I go, I will send him unto you.
then of righteousness, because I am going to the Father, so ye see me no more;
And now, Father, do thou glorify me with thyself in the glory which I held with thee before the world was.
And I have given them the glory, which thou hast given me; that they may be one, even as we are one:
and assembling them together, commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said he, ye have heard from me.
But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses for me, both in Jerusalem, and throughout all Judea, and Samaria, and unto the extremity of the earth. And as he was speaking these things, while they were looking upon him, he was taken up; and a cloud enveloping him hid him from their eyes.
and hath put all things under his feet, and hath appointed him head over all to the church,
Wherefore the Scripture saith, "When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men."
Wherefore the Scripture saith, "When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." Now this, that he ascended, what does it imply? but that he also first descended into the more internal parts of the earth? read more. He that descended is the same also, who ascended above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. And he himself appointed, some indeed apostles, and some prophets; and others preachers of the Gospel; and others pastors and teachers; for the perfecting the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ: until we all attain in the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a state of complete manhood, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
spoiling principalities and powers, he exposed them to view openly, triumphing over them on it.
into which the forerunner for us is entered, even Jesus, made after the order of Melchisedec an high-priest for ever.