The Ascension - Taken Up

January 8

(Acts 1:9 NIV) "After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight."

(Acts 1:1-2 NIV) "I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach {2} until the day he was taken up to heaven..."

(Luke 24:50-52 NIV) "When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. {51} While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. {52} Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy."

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

Jesus walked the Earth for some forty days after His resurrection from the dead, teaching His disciples, and giving them some important final instructions. Then, He was taken up to heaven before their eyes. The ascension of Christ is one of the most fantastic stories in Scripture. Jesus gave the disciples one last proof of His divinity. People often ask, “Where is heaven?” We don’t know for sure, but we can say with authority that Jesus was “taken up”. He didn’t go down, nor did He go “poof”, and disappear like a magician. He was “taken up to heaven”. So whatever and wherever heaven is, we know that Jesus went up to get there. This is the context of the word “ascend”. Jesus came down to Earth, and He went back up to be with His Father in heaven. We too will one day ascend to meet the Lord in the air. What a glorious day that will be! -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day