He Ascended Into Heaven

Friendship United Methodist Church and Marble Hill United Methodist Church, May 21, 2023

John I. Carney
12 min readMay 21, 2023

--

Painting of Jesus ascending into the clouds, with his disciples and two angels below.
John Singleton Copley, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Luke 24:44–53 (CEB)

Jesus said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you — that everything written about me in the Law from Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. He said to them, “This is what is written: the Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and a change of heart and life for the forgiveness of sins must be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Look, I’m sending to you what my Father promised, but you are to stay in the city until you have been furnished with heavenly power.”
He led them out as far as Bethany, where he lifted his hands and blessed them. As he blessed them, he left them and was taken up to heaven. They worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem overwhelmed with joy. And they were continuously in the temple praising God.

Acts 1:1–11 (CEB)

Theophilus, the first scroll I wrote concerned everything Jesus did and taught from the beginning, right up to the day when he was taken up into heaven. Before he was taken up, working in the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus instructed the…

--

--

John I. Carney

Author of “Dislike: Faith and Dialogue in the Age of Social Media,” available at http://www.lakeneuron.com/dislike