The King's Departure and Our Marching Orders Text: Acts 1:9-11
Introduction: The Un-Retired King
Modern evangelicals have a bad habit of treating the ascension of Jesus Christ as though it were His retirement party. In this telling, Jesus finished His hard work on the cross, put in His three days, did a forty-day victory lap to show off the resurrection body, and then ascended to a well-deserved rest at the right hand of the Father. And there He sits, waiting patiently, perhaps tapping His fingers, until it is time for the great recall at the end of history. Consequently, the church is left behind like a lonely widow, gazing wistfully into the heavens, waiting for her long-absent husband to return and fix everything.
This is a disastrous misunderstanding. The Ascension is not the retirement of Christ; it is the coronation of Christ. It is not His departure from the work, but His installation into the seat of all cosmic authority. When Jesus ascended into heaven, He was not leaving the world to its own devices. He was going to the Ancient of Days to receive the kingdom, the glory, and the dominion, just as the prophet Daniel had seen centuries before (Dan. 7:13-14). He went up so that He could begin to rule and reign over every square inch of the cosmos, which He had just purchased with His own blood. The Ascension is the central, pivotal event that inaugurates the kingdom of God on earth in its New Covenant form. It is the foundation of the Great Commission and the engine of our gospel confidence.
Luke, in the first verse of this book, tells Theophilus that his gospel was an account of all that Jesus began to do and teach. The clear implication is that the book of Acts is the account of all that Jesus continues to do and teach, through His body, the church, by His Spirit. The Ascension is the hinge. It is the moment the king moves from His earthly, localized ministry to His heavenly, universal session, from which He directs the entire campaign for the subjugation of the entire world to His loving rule. What the disciples witnessed on the Mount of Olives was not an ending, but the beginning of the end for all rebellion.
The Text
And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."
(Acts 1:9-11 LSB)
The Royal Procession (v. 9)
We begin with the event itself, the visible departure of the Lord.
"And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight." (Acts 1:9)
This is a literal, physical, bodily ascension. The same Jesus who ate fish with them, the same Jesus who bore the scars in His hands and side, was taken up into the sky. This is crucial. The incarnation was not a temporary costume. A man, a human being, our kinsman redeemer, has entered into the throne room of the universe and has taken His seat at the right hand of Majesty. Humanity has been glorified and enthroned in the person of Jesus Christ. This repudiates every form of Gnosticism that despises the material world. God is not saving us out of this world; He is saving this world, and the ascension of a physical man to the seat of power is exhibit A.
And notice the cloud. This is not a mere weather event. Throughout the Scriptures, the cloud is the visible manifestation of the glory and presence of God, the Shekinah. It was the pillar of cloud that led Israel through the wilderness. It was the cloud that descended on Mount Sinai. It was the cloud that filled Solomon's temple. And it was the cloud on the Mount of Transfiguration. This is a divine chariot. Jesus is ascending on the clouds of heaven, which is a direct fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy. He is the Son of Man, going to the Ancient of Days to be given "dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him" (Dan. 7:14). This is not a retreat. This is a triumphant procession to His coronation.
He was received "out of their sight." His physical, localized presence was being exchanged for His spiritual, universal presence through the Holy Spirit. He had told them it was to their advantage that He go away, so that the Helper could come (John 16:7). The king was ascending to the command center in order to deploy His forces everywhere at once. The work was not stopping; it was about to explode across the globe.
The Gentle Rebuke (v. 10-11a)
The disciples' reaction is entirely understandable, but it required a course correction from heaven's messengers.
"And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking toward heaven?'" (Acts 1:10-11a LSB)
They are staring, slack-jawed, into the empty blue. They are "gazing intently," which has the sense of being fixed, motionless. And in that moment, two angels appear. These are messengers, and they have a message. And the message begins with a question that is also a gentle, but firm, rebuke: "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking toward heaven?"
This is one of the most important questions in the book of Acts, and it is a question for the church in every generation. Why are you standing still? Why are you idle? Why are you staring at the sky when you have your marching orders? Jesus had just finished telling them that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them, and that they were to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8). Their task was not to stare at the spot where He had disappeared, but to turn around and get to work.
This is a direct refutation of any quietist, pietistic, "escape-hatch" eschatology. The Christian faith is not about waiting for the rapture bus. It is about taking dominion. The angels are redirecting their gaze. Don't look up at where He went; look around at the world He now rules. Don't be mesmerized by the glory of His departure; be mobilized by the glory of His commission. The Ascension is not a reason to stop working, but the very reason we can work with the absolute assurance of victory. He has all authority. Therefore, go.
The Promised Return (v. 11b)
But the rebuke is immediately followed by a glorious promise that gives context and shape to our work.
"This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11b LSB)
The promise is one of absolute continuity. "This same Jesus." Not a different, ethereal, spiritual phantom, but the same crucified, risen, and ascended Lord. The one who walked with you will return. And He will return "in just the same way." How did He go? He went personally, bodily, visibly, and in the clouds of glory. That is precisely how He will return at the end of the age to judge the living and the dead.
This promise of a future, final, physical return is the bookend of history. But it is not a reason for inaction in the middle. Rather, it is the guarantee that our historical labors are not in vain. We are not trying to build a kingdom that will be obliterated and replaced. We are advancing the kingdom that will be consummated and glorified at His return. The king who left is the king who is coming back. And He is coming back to inspect the work He gave us to do.
So the angelic message is perfectly balanced. First, "Stop staring and get to work." Second, "The one you're working for is coming back to reward your work." The Ascension establishes His present authority for our mission, and the promised return establishes the future hope for our mission. He is ruling now, and He is returning then. Both truths are essential. Without His present session, we have no power. Without His future return, we have no ultimate hope. But with both, we have every reason to be joyfully confident and relentlessly industrious.
Conclusion: From Spectators to Witnesses
The event of the Ascension was designed by God to transform the apostles from spectators into witnesses. They had been watching what Jesus did. Now, they were being sent to declare what Jesus did and to continue what Jesus is doing.
The Ascension means that the throne of the universe is occupied by our elder brother. He has not abandoned us; He has positioned Himself to empower us. He is not absent; He is omnipresent by His Spirit. And He is not idle; He is actively reigning, putting all His enemies under His feet through the faithful proclamation of the gospel and the discipleship of the nations (Ps. 110:1). He is doing that right now, through us.
Therefore, the question of the angels echoes down to us. Why do you stand gazing? Why is the church so often paralyzed, looking for a sign in the sky, when we have been given a commission for the earth? Why are we waiting for a rescue mission when we have been commanded to undertake an invasion? The king has been crowned. He has all authority. He has given us His Spirit. And He has promised to return when the mission is accomplished, when the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.
The Ascension is not a mystery to be pondered in stillness, but a reality to be proclaimed with boldness. It is the declaration that Jesus is Lord, not just in our hearts, not just in our churches, but over every congress, every parliament, every courtroom, and every classroom on this planet. He has ascended. Therefore, we must descend. We must descend from our holy huddles and our spectator seats and get into the mud and the mire of this world, armed with the invincible gospel of the ascended King, confident that His kingdom is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away.