Ascension - Acts 1:9-15

Just a footnote on what we discussed yesterday that I found interesting, when Christ commissioned the Apostles to take the gospel to the world, the IM details how they did just that saying, “Peter ministered in Romer (referred to as Babylon in this verse). According to traditions found in other sources, John ministered from Ephesus; Andrew preached the gospel in the region of modern-day Ukraine, Romania, and Russia; Matthew in Ethiopia; Philip in Syria, Turkey, and Greece; Bartholomew in India; Simon Zelotes in Britain and Persia; Thomas in India; and Mark in Rome and Egypt.” I really thought that it was interesting that they didn’t just stay within the Roman empire where there was relative political stability, but they went to deserts, jungles, islands, friends, enemies, and everywhere in between to bring other people the hope and peace in the Gospel.

1:9-11 – After commissioning the Apostles with their duty, Jesus “was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.” Now, we read about this before in the Gospels, but there is an addition here that is important. The account continues, “And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” The Gospels don’t talk about the two angels that speak to the group after Jesus ascends.
In discussing why this event is significant, the first question we must ask is why were there two angels and not just one or why weren’t there 15 angels, why is two an important number? First, the IM notes that this is “in accordance with the law of witnesses.” We know that the Law of Moses requires two or three witnesses to prove something. If it was just some guy, even if it looked like he was an angel, there would always be that “who was that guy and can we trust him?” But with two angels, both as witnesses, that confirms the truth of their words according to the law at the time.
But why stop at two, why not have six or nine? There were two angels to testify of when Christ would come again, but we have to remember that when Mark recounted the events, they saw Jesus ascend “into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.” So even thought there were only two angels talking about when Jesus would come back, that was either while or immediately following the view of Jesus sitting on the right hand of God. With all this happening at once, it would probably have been overwhelming for more than two to show up, and we still haven’t reached the day of Pentecost yet, so they need a little bit more time to settle into their new roles.
The second aspect of the angel’s statement to consider is why they even needed to come say it at all. We know that the disciples didn’t really understand, even at the point where the resurrected Lord was standing before them, what His mission on earth was, surely they wouldn’t have understood the “be a missionary until I return” to mean “I will come again in my glory. Be on the look out.” They would have been so overwhelmed with emotion and feeling at Jesus’ leaving again that they probably couldn’t have processed anything logically. They needed to have someone come down and spell it out for them, kind of pull them out of their own heads.
The IM comments, “This announcement makes clear to all mankind what they are to watch for in connection with the Savior’s Second Coming and protects them against deception.” Even with our current understanding of how Christ will return at the second coming, there are still people all the time trying to convince others that they are Jesus Christ, coming back to establish his kingdom. The disciples who watched Christ ascend would have been incredibly vulnerable to usurpers trying to manipulate them into discipleship. Because the angels set out a clear pattern of “watch for Jesus to come from the sky” anyone else claiming to be him would be a liar.
1:12 - An interesting note, one that I didn’t pick up previously is that Jesus ascended from “the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day’s journey.” So when Christ comes again and stands on the Mount of Olives, this will be a full circle moment. Also what is a Sabbath day’s journey? The IM says, “According to Jewish oral traditions a Sabbath day’s journey was the distance a Jew was permitted to walk on the Sabbath. Later rabbinic sources give this as 2,000 cubits- a distance of about 3,600 feet (about 1,100 meters.” Let’s remember that the Pharisees had made the law of Moses to rigid that Jews were confined to a certain area on the Sabbath day in order to avoid “breaking the Sabbath.” This is an example of how pervasive their corruption of the Jewish religion was to control the Jewish people.
1:13-15 – Leaving the Mount of Olives and going into Jerusalem, all the disciples of Christ, “the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty” “went into an upper room.” It lists off the Apostles who were there as “Peter and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeua, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.” It also mentions the presence of “the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.” We might presume that the women included Mary Magdalene, possibly Mary and Martha from Bethany, the wife of Cleopas, etc. The IM comments that the brethren of Jesus “were the sons of Mary and Joseph, Jesus Christ’s half-brothers. Though Jesus’ brothers had not always believed in His divinity, they were now counted among the believers. Jesus’ brother James would later become a leader of the Church in Jerusalem and an Apostles. His brother ‘Juda’ is likely the author of the Epistle of Jude.”
It is also mentioned that all these 120 disciples of Christ “all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.” We hear a lot about being “one” and Jesus used this reference all the time praying that his disciples would be “one” just like he and the Father “are one,” meaning “one in purpose.” This is always a concept that I struggled with because I feel like I’m on the fringes of the mainstream church because I have a different point of view on a lot of issues. So when I think about becoming “one” with a group of people who are, in my opinion, very closed minded and elitist on many issues, I don’t want to be like them. But I guess when I think about it, the charge isn’t to become one with another human being, but to become one with God as the standard. It’s like the saying that I adopted after my divorce, “run as fast as you can toward God and then look at who can keep up.”
Not “being one” comes with hostility and judgment. We all have our own issues and bring our own  insecurities to the table when it comes to church service. But how do we become “one” with God even if we feel that others are divisive and exclusionary? We can only control how we think and act and feel, and since we can’t do anything about how anyone else is, we need to know what to do so that we ourselves can feel “one” with the Lord. We can recognize that all of God’s children are precious, and while it’s obvious that he means those who are less fortunate then ourselves, we also need to understand that even those who we might struggle with are loved by him. As we shape our own characteristics to be more kind, more accepting, move loving, more generous to others, we will ourselves grow closer to God and be able to be an example and teach others how to do the same.