Hope and anticipation in the leaving and waiting

 Ascension Day Devotions - 21 May 2020

Today we call to remembrance the day Jesus ascended into heaven. It is also 10 days before Pentecost which will mark the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. All other people that was resurrected before Jesus (like Lazarus) had to die again because they were human and did not overcome death they were merely brought back to life by God. However, Jesus died and was resurrected but also overcame death and therefore he just simply ascended into heaven, death having absolutely no power over him anymore.

Before Jesus ascended, He gave these last instructions to His disciples with whom he was assembled:

• Stay in Jerusalem 
• Wait for the promise from the Father
• John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

In the midst of all the disciples have experienced and seen – their focus is still the earthly kingdom of Israel, upon which Jesus simply answers them “It is not for you to know the times and the season which the Father determined by His own Authority”. It was much more important to Him that they know and understand that:

“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit come upon you and the result of this power will be that you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8) This is the ultimate result, the outcome or purpose of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The primary fruit they could expect, was that they were going to be filled with power to be witnesses of hope to a lost world.

They would be changed from a people who were:

• Too scared to acknowledge that they know Him to a servant, to people who would fearlessly witness in the city for all to see and hear.
• From a man who flee naked when Jesus were arrested in Gethsemane to a man who would testify of His resurrection to the ends of the earth.
• From a Pharisee that had to visit him during the night for fear of being seen by the Sanhedrin to a man of faith that would give up his empire to carry out the word of God
• From a man who buried Jesus probably not expecting Him to be resurrected to a wealthy merchant and tin miner that would carry the message of hope as far as England
• From a group of fearful people who hid themselves after he was crucified to individuals who would travel the world and eventually die martyr’s deaths for their absolute knowledge that He was who He said He is – The Resurrected Christ. None of the disciples would ever recant or change their testimony about that – not even when they faced torture and death alone somewhere in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, or the ends of the earth.

In Acts 1:9-11 we read:

“Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

This undoubtedly would have reminded them of His words to them in John 14:1-3

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

They understood the customs of a wedding during that time. When the prospective Bridegroom has established the pre-nuptial contract and paid the dowry, he could go and prepare the place where the new couple would stay. This would usually be at the Bridegroom’s Father’s house. A new living quarters would either be built or added to the house of the Bridegroom’s Father. When the Bridegroom’s Father approved of it, He would give His consent that the Bridegroom may go fetch His Bride.

This was thus to become the time where Jesus as the Bridegroom were to go and prepare a place for His Bride and when the place is ready, and when the harvest has been fully reaped through the witnessing of the Holy Spirit filled disciples in this new season, His Father would give His consent – on His Authority and in the moment He sees fit, for the Bridegroom to come back and fetch His Bride.

Thomas’s question in verse 5 about what the way to the Father is would become clear for millions of souls who would come to understand that: 

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life,
no one comes to the Father except through Him. 

I want to invite you to the upper room in Jerusalem, to gather together in unity and in prayer in one accord, possibly with fasting and in which ever way the Holy Spirit may lead you to do this for the next 10 days, in anticipation of a fresh new outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. In expectation to be filled with power to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and into the ends of the world, and in celebration of the Bridegroom preparing a place and fetching His Bride when the Harvest is fully ready. 

Let It be on earth as it is in Heaven - Alisa Turner

Bibliography:

New King James Version of The Bible: Available: https://www.biblegateway.com

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