Bible Study Series: Acts 1:9-11. How did Jesus go into heaven? Luke describes it beautifully.
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At the link to the original post, next, I write more commentary and dig a little deeper into the Greek. I also offer a section titled Observations for Discipleship at the end. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided in the commentary section for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Acts 1:9-11
9 And when he said these things, he ascended, as they watched. A cloud took him out of their field of vision. 10 And as they were staring into the sky while he was going, two men wearing white robes stood by them. 11 They said to them, “Men! Galileans! Why are you standing and staring into the sky? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into the sky, will in the very same manner come back that you saw him going into the sky.”
Comments:
9:
This was Jesus’s ascension, which was visible. He will return in an equally visible matter.
“cloud”: In this passage it means a physical cloud, but who knows? It may also speak of a cloud of glory, so he was enveloped in his own glory. When he left their view, he entered another dimension and realm. Heaven is not a planet or any part of the space-time universe that God created. If it were, then where did God live before he made the heavens and the earth? When Stephen saw heaven open up (Acts 7:55-56), he did not look at a distant planet, but the veil was torn between his earthly existence and the heavenly realm.
Recall this verse in which Jesus described his Second Coming: “For just as flashing lightning shines from one end of the sky to the other end of the sky, so will be the Son of Man in his day” (Luke 17:24). The entire globe won’t miss it.
15. Do I Really Know Jesus? He Ascended into Heaven
Polhill: “The ascension narrative evokes rich biblical reminiscences—the translations of Enoch and Elijah, the cloud that enveloped Mt. Sinai. Indeed, clouds are often associated with theophanies. One particularly thinks of the transfiguration narrative of Luke 9:28–36. The picture in Acts 1:9 is that of a cloud enveloping Jesus as he disappeared from sight, just as in Luke 9:34–36 the appearance of the cloud led to the disappearance of Moses and Elijah” (p. 87).
Bruce (1988) is excellent:
The ascension here recorded was not the first occasion when he vanished from his companions’ sight after his resurrection. He did so after he made himself known in the breaking of the bread to the two with whom he walked to Emmaus (Luke 24:31). Nor are we intended to suppose that the intervals between his resurrection appearances during the forty days were passed by him in some intermediate, earth-bound state. The resurrection appearances, in which he accommodated himself to the disciples’ temporal condition of life, even going so far as to eat with them, were visitations from that eternal order to which his “body of glory” now belonged. What happened on the fortieth day was that this series of visitations same to an end with a scene which impressed on the disciples their Master’s heavenly glory. (comment on v. 9).
The resurrection and exaltation were one continuous movement over a period of forty days. God vindicated his Son.
I like Peterson here on both the literal and symbolic ascension:
Although this language [going up into the sky / heaven] should not be taken to mean that heaven is a physical reality somewhere out in space, it should not be dismissed as purely symbolic or pictorial. ‘A bodily ascension fits the Jewish background, especially after a physical resurrection.’ The story is told from the point of view of the spectators on earth. As experienced by the witnesses (before their very eyes), the physical departure of Jesus on this occasion was different from his disappearances during the preceding forty days of resurrection appearances (cf. Lk. 24:31). There was something final and decisive about his going this time. … What happened on the fortieth day was that his series of intermittent visitations [resurrection appearances] came to an end, with a scene which brought home to the disciples the heavenly glory of their risen Lord. The ascension was not the beginning of his heavenly exaltation. It was the ultimate confirmation of the status that had been his from the moment of his resurrection.” (comment on v. 9)
Keener (p. 111) produces a table showing the similarities between the aftermath of the resurrection (Luke) and ascension (Acts):
| Luke 24:4-9 | Acts 1:10-12 |
| Two men in dazzling clothes (v. 4) | Two men in white robes (v. 10) |
| Question: Why do you look for the living among the dead (v. 5b) | Why do you stand looking up toward heaven (v. 12) |
| Explanation of Jesus’s absence: He is not here, but has risen (5c). | Explanation of Jesus’s absence: This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come (v. 11) |
| They returned to Jerusalem (v. 9). | They returned to Jerusalem (v. 12). |
| Craig Keener, p. 111 | |
Why two angels? Possibly their number relates to Deut. 19:15, which says that from the mouth of two or three witnesses, every fact must be established, though Luke does not tell us why he reports that two angels were here. Other Gospel writers omit the second angel. Authors in the ancient larger Greek world and biblical authors are allowed to include or omit data points, per their strategy and purposes.
Here is a multi-part study of angels in the area of systematic theology, but first, here is a summary list of the basics:
Angels:
(a) Are messengers (in Hebrew mal’ak and in Greek angelos);
(b) Are created spirit beings;
(c) Have a beginning at their creation (not eternal);
(d) Have a beginning, but they are immortal (deathless).
(e) Have moral judgment;
(f) Have a certain measure of free will;
(g) Have high intelligence;
(h) Do not have physical bodies;
(i) But can manifest with immortal bodies before humans;
(j) They can show the emotion of joy.
Angels: Their Duties and Missions
Angels: Their Names and Ranks and Heavenly Existence
Angels: Their Origins, Abilities, and Nature
10:
“staring”: it means “stare intently or intensely.” Luke is fond of it: Luke 4:20; 22:56; Acts 1:10; 3:4; 3:12; 6:15; 7:55; 10:4; 11:6; 13:9; 14:9; 23:1. Then Paul uses it twice: 2 Cor. 3:7, 13. They have to be shaken loose from their wonderment by angels and get back to the business at hand.
“sky”: it could be translated as “heaven.” You may do so if you like.
Schnabel says that the eleven no longer fear seeing two men in white robes, which indicates the angels’ glory or coming from the source of glory, God’s presence. “Like Jesus, believers no longer exhibit fear in visionary encounters” (in Acts) (comment on v. 10, Schnabel quotes another scholar John B. F. Miller).
11:
“Men! Galileans!”: These men were not from Jerusalem and Judea. Many Jerusalemites viewed Galileans as country bumpkins. They had an odd accent (Matt. 26:73). But these country bumpkins and about to turn Jerusalem and the religious city-dwellers—in sight of the temple—re upside down before they go off to the ends of the earth.
Have you ever heard the expression, “He is so heavenly minded that he is no earthly good”? It applies to those disciples staring up at the stunning ascension. Let’s not blame then too much, because we would have done the same thing. But the two men—who were angels, possibly the same two at the empty tomb (Luke 24:4)—had to jolt them loose and throw cold water on their heaven gazing, so to speak. It was now time for them to get on with kingdom business. Jesus also calls all of us to kingdom business. He calls all of us to receive his power and authority. When we receive him into our hearts, we have those things, but sometimes we need a fresh touch and power surge. The 120 are about to receive it at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).
“in the very same manner”: Longenecker reminds us that Jesus going up into the clouds means he will return in the clouds of his glory (Matt. 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27) (comment on v. 11).
To conclude ….
The ascension changes everything. He is now seated at the right hand of God. Even before his ascension he told the eleven: 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18). We may not see his complete authority because it works through you and me, when we proclaim the gospel and disciple nations and baptizing them.
19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19-20)
It is this same commission that Jesus spells out for the disciples here in Acts.
Even today, right now, he is guiding his church to go global with the gospel and the gift of water baptism, for the remission (or forgiveness) of sins.
Further, at the second coming, our bodies will be transformed and glorified, just as his body is now transformed and glorified. Then, under his Lordship and Kingship, we will rule and reign over a new heaven and new earth. He will have new missions and commissions for us. In the meantime, before then, let’s spread the gospel.
So, yes, the ascension changes everything.
GrowApp for Acts 1:9-11
1. Have you ever been so heavenly minded that you do no good for suffering humanity? How do you change from self: absorption to helping people?
2. What does the ascension mean for you personally and for the globe?
RELATED
The Historical Reliability of the Book of Acts
Book of Acts and Paul’s Epistles: Match Made in Heaven?
SOURCES
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