Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Over the next 60 days two major things will be happening over and over all around our world. Graduations, as young people complete their studies, receive their diplomas and their commissioning out into the next stage of their lives. Do you remember those graduation moments in your life? Remember the hopes and dreams you had? And where has your life journey taken you since then?
The other major event will be weddings… lots and lots of weddings around the world. Similar to graduations, these events conclude a time of preparation (dating and engagement), and launch a couple into the new journey of interdependent life together! If you’ve been married, do you remember that precious, life changing moment when you covenanted yourself to God and to another person in marriage, for the rest of your life? And how has the journey of your life gone since then?
It is now 8 days since Easter. Easter is a singularly and hugely significant event in world history and the life of every Christian, anywhere in the world. So how has this week gone for you? What influence has Easter had on your daily attitudes and activities these past 8 days?
Dr. Luke begins his writing of the Bible book of Acts with this statement: “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day He was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen. After His suffering, He showed Himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days…” (Luke 1:1-3)
We don’t know much about Mr. Theophilus, but clearly he was a man of significant influence in his day, and Dr. Luke had either been commissioned by Theophilus to write a detailed, accurate story of Jesus’ earthly life and the events which followed Jesus’ ascension back to heaven, or at least Dr. Luke sent Theophilus a private copy of his two research projects which we have today as the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts.
Luke continues: “On one occasion while He (resurrected Jesus) was eating with them (His disciples), He gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4,5) We don’t know exactly when this meal discussion took place, nor where, but it should have been very clear to Jesus’ friends, do you agree? They remembered Jesus extensive teachings about the Holy Spirit in the upper room that Passover Thursday evening, before He was crucified. They remembered Jesus had said He would send the Holy Spirit AFTER He returned to His Father in heaven. (John 14:16 & 15:26 & 16:28)
They understood John the Baptist’s baptism, some of them had seen John baptize many, perhaps even some of them were among the baptized. But they did not yet understand what would happen when they were ‘baptized’ by the Holy Spirit! If they had known at that moment, sitting at the table with Jesus, what the Pentecost Holy Spirit experience was going to be like, what questions do you suppose they would have asked Jesus right then? But we have no record of any questions.
I presume it was some days later, perhaps the same day of His ascension, that Jesus was again with His friends, this time in Jerusalem. Perhaps they were having another of their many Garden of Gethsemane conversations. Jesus evidently loved that garden and the wonderful view of the east side of Jerusalem which you have from that garden and the mount of Olives. You’ll remember it was because of their frequency of meeting there whenever they were in Jerusalem, that Judas knew where he would find Jesus that betrayal night. (John 18:2)
Luke records: “So when they met together, they asked Him, ‘Lord, are You at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’ Jesus said to them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in all Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:6-8)
It seems so fitting to me that they would have this conversation in the Garden of Gethsemane. Let’s join them, my friends. Look at the faces of the disciples. By this time they’d seen Jesus, touched Him, had long conversations and meals with resurrected Jesus several times since that Passover/Easter weekend. They’ve moved beyond the shock of seeing His healed, resurrected body. They’re now focusing on the future, especially the future of their little movement.
We don’t know which disciple asked the question, but we can see them looking across the Kidron valley to Jerusalem and all the busy activity, including Romans soldiers seen everywhere.
We can understand their longing for the restoration of the kingdom of Israel, free from Roman authority. We can imagine what they were thinking as they considered Jesus as the King who had defeated death in His own resurrection; Jesus the king who could heal anyone from any disease; Who could feed a huge crowd from one little boy’s lunch; Who could raise other dead people to life… my goodness such a king would be invincible! Can you blame them for being so practical my friends?
And how do you think they received and responded, at least in their hearts, to Jesus’ answer to their question? He had told them once before that only the Father knew the exact time of some future events. Remember, Jesus had said to them “No one knows about the day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father…so you must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.” (Matt. 24:36,44) Were some of the disciples thinking that hour had come, Jesus was raised from the dead and it was now time?
But Jesus made it clear… there was much more history yet to be written, and the next two great events on their calendar were going to be: His departure from them and return back to heaven, followed soon thereafter by His sending the Holy Spirit in power to them! Did you hear Jesus’ very clear words of commissioning to these His friends? “…You will be MY witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” I wonder if Jesus pointed as He spoke? Pointed straight across the Kidron valley to Jerusalem, the city they knew so well, but now a frightening city. Oh my, was Jesus really sending them back into Jerusalem the city which had rejected and killed Jesus? What would Jerusalem do to them, Jesus’ friends?
Then do you see Jesus pointing south to Judea and then pointing north to Samaria, as He spoke of those places He was sending His disciples? They knew those places. It wasn’t Galilee, but they’d been there with Jesus and I suppose they could imagine themselves going there again. And now look, Jesus is standing to His feet and pointing in all directions, with a big smile, as He invites His disciples to consider going far beyond Israel’s borders, to places they can’t hardly imagine.
Jesus can see the future… He can see the Gospel going to India with Thomas, and later further east to a place which would be called China and one of thousands of the missionaries, known as Hudson Taylor! Jesus pointed north, thinking of the days a huge nation would be called Russia would receive the Gospel of Jesus. Perhaps Jesus swung His arm in a big circle, indicating the nations that would be all around Israel, which He knew would all one day be Muslim nations. Then maybe Jesus pointed south, to the great continent of Africa and oh my how the Gospel would sweep across that continent bringing hope in generations to come. Perhaps Jesus then pointed west, beyond Jerusalem, to Europe where He knew some of those disciples would go, and then even further west to two continents, North and South America, the disciples couldn’t possibly have imagined. Oh the vastness of our world!
Consider this my friends, when Jesus made that statement to His friends that day, the entire population of the world was probably only about 300 million people, with perhaps 45 million people in the Roman Empire! Stats vary, depending on the sources you read, but as Jesus was standing there in the Garden, pointing to the world and challenging His disciples, Jesus could see the future world population growth. It would take all the way to the year 1804 for the world’s population to reach 1 Billion people.
But since then my friends, consider this:
1927… 2 Billion people
1959… 3 Billion people
1974… 4 Billion people
1987… 5 Billion people
1999… 6 Billion people
2012… 7 Billion people
and today. . . 7,754,100,000 (apx) here’s a website for you: https://www.census.gov/
Now my friends, what do you suppose these disciples were thinking as they stood there with resurrected Jesus contemplating the world as He was describing it?
We can’t really tell exactly how it happened, based on how Luke writes his record, but very soon after Jesus said this to His disciples, Jesus gathered with them and perhaps some others of His friends, further up on the hillside of the Mount of Olives. We can presume He was speaking to them and had perhaps even said goodbye to them. What we do know is they saw something no other human being has ever seen.
Luke describes it this way: “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.’ (Acts 1:9-11)
How, my friends, do you explain the ascension of resurrected Jesus into the sky, and ultimately His return to heaven where He reigns today in all His glory? How long they stood there searching the sky, we don’t know. How long the two angels remained with them, we don’t know. Finally they realized nothing more was going to happen, and someone said something like “let’s go somewhere to talk about what we’ve just experienced and figure out what we’re supposed to do now, with Jesus gone from us!!” And Luke says “Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives…and they all joined together along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers.” (Acts 1:12-14)
So my friends… what would you have done? How long would you have stood there looking up into the sky? Maybe a better question is this: ‘what have you done and what are you and I doing now, 8 days after Easter 2021’? Jesus has invited us to follow Him and He has opened the entire world to us. Where has Jesus led you and what difference have you made there? Let’s ponder that today. May I suggest you take your journal and write a paragraph or two as you consider your life journey from the vantage point of these last recorded words of Jesus and His ascension.
Today’s Scripture is Acts 1:1-14.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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