1 In my former book, Theophilus,
I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was
taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the
apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he
showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.
He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the
6 So when they met together, they asked
him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to
10 They were looking intently up into the sky
as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 "Men of
Psalm 19 says,
1“The heavens declare the glory of
God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night
after night they display knowledge.
3 There is no speech or language where their
voice is not heard.
And so ever since the
beginning of creation man’s eyes have been drawn heavenward where we gaze at
the beauties of the skies; a beautiful
sunset and sunrise; a magnificent storm; a beautiful vision of the skies of
heaven; all of these tell us of the power of the creator. Yet it is this beauty that has led many
astray – to mistake the creator for the creation and to try and read the
heavens for a more specific message than “God exists” or “God is powerful and
wise.”
Even within the confines of the Scriptures people have been
misled by their interpretation of the skies.
Theologians of the Middle Ages have been
vilified because of their misinterpretation of the sun standing still in the
book of Joshua to assume that the sun revolves around the earth. About ten years ago at the coming of the
Hale-Bopp Comet a cult was led to eat poisoned apple
sauce in the hopes of catching a ride on the comet up to heaven with Jesus. For almost a hundred years the Jehovah’s
Witnesses have been fooled into believing that Jesus already came invisibly
once, so that the generation that was alive in 1914 would be the last ones to
live to see the final coming of Christ.
These misinterpretations might cause us to be cautious of
looking at the skies. We have no choice,
as today our eyes are purposely turned heavenward by the Holy Spirit as we look
at the ascension of Jesus. It is an
awesome vision. But the lesson for today
is to not get fixated on the heavens. It
is ok to look, but don’t stare, because there’s more to the kingdom than that. It is a lesson that we need yet today.
Thy Kingdom Come
I. What is the Kingdom?
Instead of gazing at the heavens, prior to this the
disciples were constantly gazing at the earth.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry he was constantly having to battle against
his disciples thinking that he was going to some how establish a heavenly
kingdom of power on earth. And who can
blame them to a point? The temple had
been overrun by legalists. The country
had been conquered by Romans. And here
Jesus was chasing out demons, feeding thousands, and healing the sick; giving a
powerful message of forgiveness and hope.
Popular belief had the Messiah reestablishing a kingdom on earth, which
was further confused by a misinterpretation of prophets like Isaiah and the Psalmists
who described the future kingdom in physical terms which were meant to have
spiritual meanings. In light of this
confusion James and John at one time wanted to call down fire from heaven to
burn a city that had rejected Jesus.
Jesus’ enemies assumed that He was going to usurp the authority of
Caesar as well. No matter how many times
Jesus said, “my kingdom is not of this world,”
the disciples didn’t get it. Time and
again He clearly painted the kingdom in terms of the spiritual and not the physical. It was Jesus who said, “the
For forty days the disciples were able to sit face to face
with the risen and powerful Lord. Now
more than ever they were enamored with the glory of it all. So what is topic
number one after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead? He
appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the
It is amazing to see this scene relive itself time and
again throughout the centuries as people continue to be obsessed with the
kingdom and the glory on earth. How many
thousands of people are anxiously looking and listening to the United Nations
and trying to decipher when “Uri the anti-christ”
will come rising forth just prior to the
Again, it leads back to the question – “what is the
How many people who are led by this theology find themselves staring at the skies waiting for Christ to come
to
II. Where is the Kingdom?
The
And so with these simple words and actions Jesus was
training the disciples and us about where the
This shows us that we can trust that the Holy Spirit
will be where Jesus tells us He is yet today.
It doesn’t have to be a flashy place.
It doesn’t have to be where everyone else is going. It simply needs to be where He tells us. And where does He say He will put the Holy
Spirit? Paul writes in Ephesians 6:17
to, “Take
the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” The Holy Spirit connects Himself to the Word
of God. This little book that we have
translated and copied throughout the centuries called the Bible – it is this
book through which the Holy Spirit ventures into the hearts of sinners. It is here where He gives us His power.
What is so powerful about the Word? It is only in the Word that the Holy Spirit
breaks through the clouds and reveals to us where this hidden Christ can still
be found. The Holy Spirit tells us to
stop staring at the sky and find Christ where He has put Himself. He tells us to peer under the flesh of that
baby who was lying in the manger. He points
our eyes up to the cross and see the Christ hanging
there and dying. He bids us venture into
the empty grave and see the place where He lay.
He tells us to envision a place beyond the stars and the heavens where
Jesus rules over the universe. Yet after
pointing our eyes beyond the skies, He once again points us back to simple
bread, wine, and water and tells us to find Jesus hidden under these earthly
elements where we can neither see Him, smell him, taste Him
or touch Him. He tells us that
Jesus is hiding in these things – because Jesus promises us that this is where
He is. This calls for faith.
So we come round
robin. Jesus tells us where to find the
Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit finds us where to find Jesus. This is a powerful thing that the Holy Spirit
does – revealing to us the hidden Christ – and showing us where he hides on
this earth. When Ben Stein asked well
known atheist Richard Dawkins what he would say to God if he were to face him
after death, Richard Dawkins said that he would ask God, “why did you
hide?” We have the answer. God had to hide because we couldn’t see Him
in His glory. We also have an answer to
the question, “where did you hide?” He
hides in a crib, cross, and in the skies.
He hides under the Word, bread, wine, and water. Although that answer seems powerless and weak
and unimpressive, it brings the
III. How is the Kingdom going to come?
With this vision of where to go in order for the kingdom to
come, what were the disciples to do? How
could they be involved? After they got
to
This is what the kingdom is about for us yet
today. It’s not about how big our
building is. It’s not about how big our
parking lot is or whether our grass is mowed.
It’s not about how many government officials we can win to our
side. It’s not about how flashy we can
be or how many miracles we can perform. We
don’t look for visions of Jesus or appearances of Christ behind hidden
doors. We don’t ask Jesus to peak his
head out from the clouds from time to time and say “hi.” When push comes to shove it is simply a
matter of spreading the word of Christ.
That’s it.
After telling the disciples the key to
spreading the kingdom, then what does Jesus do?
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud
hid him from their sight. They were
looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed
in white stood beside them. "Men of
One of my favorite pictures is the
castle Neuschwanstein in
It is so easy for us to think of the