Jesus Ascends to Heaven

After Jesus suffered, he showed his apostles that he was alive. For forty days he appeared to them with many proofs and spoke about the kingdom of God. He told them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father's promised gift. They would soon be baptised in the Holy Spirit.

When they were together, they asked if this was the time the kingdom would be restored to Israel. Jesus said that the Father had kept those times in his own authority. Instead, they were to wait for the Holy Spirit's power and become his witnesses in Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Jesus led them out as far as Bethany. He lifted his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. As they watched, a cloud took him out of their sight. Mark also says that the Lord Jesus was received into heaven and sat at the right hand of God.

The disciples kept looking into the sky as he went. Then two men in white clothing stood beside them and asked why they were still staring upward. They said that this same Jesus, who had been taken up into heaven, would come back in the same way they had seen him go.

The disciples worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. They were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Mark adds that they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them, confirming the word by the signs that followed.