To Bethany – See the notes at Mar 16:19. Bethany was on the eastern declivity of the Mount of Olives, from which our Lord was taken up to heaven, Act 1:12. Bethany was a favored place. It was the abode of Martha, and Mary, and Lazarus, and our Saviour delighted to be there. From this place, also, he ascended to his Father and our Father, and to his God and our God.

While he blessed them – While he commanded his benediction to rest upon them; while he assured them of his favor, and commended them to the protection and guidance of God, in the dangers, trials, and conflicts which they were to meet in a sinful and miserable world.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Luk 24:50-53

While He blessed them He was parted from them

The ascension

I.

CONSIDER THE ASCENSION AS THE CROWNING FACT OF CHRISTS LIFE. It was the consummation of all His glorious work for man, and henceforth man through Him becomes a conqueror too. He led captivity captive, He received gifts for men. And with the baptism of these we are conquerors, in our temptations over the devil, in our gardens of agony over sorrow, and in the end over death and the grave, when we shall ascend to be with Him in glory.

II. CONSIDER HIS ASCENSION AS HIS ENTHRONEMENT AS KING OVER ALL. Unseen but ever present. Ruling from His throne in heaven over all the affairs of the world till His enemies become His footstool.

III. CONSIDER HIS ASCENSION IN RELATION TO HIS COMING AGAIN Act 1:11). (R. Davey.)

Our Lords ascension

I. NOTICE THE PLACE FROM WHICH OUR LORD ASCENDED. Near Gethsemane. Near Bethany. A familiar haunt.

II. NOTICE THE WITNESSES OF OUR LORDS ASCENSION. His faithful apostles.

III. NOTICE THE LAST ACT OF OUR LORD BEFORE HIS ASCENSION. Blessing.

IV. THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST HELPS OUR THOUGHTS, AND GIVES DEFINITENESS TO OUR CONCEPTIONS OF THE FUTURE LIFE OF THE REDEEMED.

V. CHRISTS ASCENSION IS THE PLEDGE OF THE HEAVENLY LIFE OF THE REDEEMED.

VI. WHEN OUR LORD ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN HE GAINED FOR US A GREAT AND UNSPEAKABLE BLESSING, THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. (W. Bull, B. A.)

The ascension

In this quiet and unostentatious manner did our Saviour take His departure from this world. His exit was as noiseless–as little attended with pomp–as His entrance. He has finished the redemption of a world–He has vanquished the powers of hell–He has triumphed over death and the grave.

1. From His ascension, therefore, we may learn that heaven has been opened for us. He became our brother. He stood as our representative. There is not only comfort for us in the assurance of admission, but in the thought, that when admitted we shall find One so closely related to us occupying such an exalted place.

2. Our Saviours ascension in the nature He wore while on earth may teach us that, though He be so highly exalted, He has sympathy with us still; though far removed from us as regards His bodily presence, the brotherly tie which united us has not been severed.

3. The presence in heaven–the exaltation to the throne of universal dominion of One so closely related to us, and having such sympathy with us, should give confidence to our prayers, leading us to desire and expect great blessings at His hands.

4. Finally. Let us be thankful for the privilege we enjoy in the exaltation of One who bears our nature. (W. Landels.)

On the ascension of Christ

First, let us consider the TIME of the occurrence-of this event. This interval, also, was sufficient in order to afford Him an opportunity of detailing much that to them would be highly interesting, in relation to His kingdom, to the preaching of His gospel, and to the establishment of His empire through the world. Once more, He continued a sufficient period of time on earth in order to afford the strongest evidence of the love He bore to His Church and people; that He would not even take possession of the promised crown, nor enter upon the joy set before Him, till He had ordered all things relating to His kingdom. We notice, in the second place, the SITE OR SPOT at which this occurrence took place. He led them out as far as to Bethany. I pass on, in the third place, to consider the MANNER in which the ascent of our Lord Jesus Christ took place. You will observe, first, that it was while He prayed–as He blessed them. Observe, again, that it was while they werelistening to the interesting communications which our Lord had to impart. It belongs to this part of the subject to observe their solemn adoration of Him after that they saw Him no more. He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven: and they worshipped Him. I hasten to the last point of our discourse–to consider THE GREAT ENDS AND OBJECTS OF THIS MOST IMPORTANT TRANSACTION. Christ has left our world–He is gone–He has gone to the mansions of heavenly glory; and for what purposes has He taken His departure. First, in order that He might celebrate a signal triumph over all His enemies. He has gone, secondly, to take possession of the well-earned reward, the stipulated recompense, to which His obedience and His suffering have so well entitled Him. Thirdly, He has gone to receive and to communicate that fulness which the Father had entrusted into His hands; and especially the gift of the Holy Ghost, which he bestows upon the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. Fourthly, He has gone to ensure and prepare a place for all His believing followers. I only add that He has gone thus to heaven in order to give an example and specimen of the manner in which He will come again in the clouds of Heaven. And is He gone? and have the heavens received Him? Then, first, let us send our hearts after Him. Secondly, in the absence of our Lord, let us abide closely in the fellowship of His Church. Like the disciples, let us resort to the temple; like the disciples, let us keep together. Let us not be scattered and disunited. Thirdly, this subject should lead us to cherish a cheerful confidence with respect to our entrance into eternity. And let this soothe our spirits when we are mourning over our dead. (G. Clayton, M. A.)

The Lords farewell

I. THE LAST ACTS OF THE REDEEMER ON EARTH.

1. He selects a suitable place from which to take His departure.

2. He solemnly blesses His disciples.

3. He ascends up to heaven.

4. It came to pass, while He blessed them, He was taken up. Did His ascension, then, interrupt and cut short the blessing? No; He still continued to bless as He went up. No–nor is the blessing yet at an end: for this is that Christ who, as St. Paul says, is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

II. THE FIRST ACTS OF THE REDEEMED AFTER HIS DEPARTURE.

1. They worshipped Him. Remember that! The appointed teachers of the Christian religion worshipped Christ; it was their very first act after they had ceased to behold Him.

2. They were filled with joy–great joy.

Now therefore they rejoiced–

1. On their Lords account. If ye love Me, He had said, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go to the Father. And this their joy is now fulfilled.

2. On their own account. All was now plain in the system of that redemption, concerning which they had long formed such erroneous expectations.

3. In the use of appointed means they sought and expected His gifts of grace. In Jerusalem were they to receive the promise of the Father; therefore they at once returned thither. On their arrival, behold them continually in the temple, praising and blessing God! continually–that is, at every appointed service. (J. Jowett, M. A.)

Our Lords attitude in ascending

I. HIS HANDS WERE UPLIFTED TO BLESS.

1. This blessing was no unusual thing. To stretch out His hands in benediction was His customary attitude. In that attitude He departed, with a benediction still proceeding from His lips.

2. This blessing was with authority. He blessed them while His Father acknowledged Him by receiving Him to heaven.

3. This blessing was so full that, as it were, He emptied His hands. They saw those dear hands thus unladen of their benedictions.

4. The blessing was for those beneath Him, and beyond the sound of His voice; He scattered benedictions upon them all.

5. The blessing was the fit finis of His sojourn here; nothing fitter, nothing better, could have been thought of.

II. THOSE HANDS WERE PIERCED. This could be seen by them all as they gazed upward.

1. Thus they knew that they were Christs hands.

2. Thus they saw the price of the blessing. His crucifixion has purchased continual blessing for all His redeemed.

3. Thus they saw the way of the blessing; it comes from those human hands, through those sacrificial wounds.

4. A sight of those hands is in itself a blessing. By that sight we see pardon and eternal life.

5. The entire action is an epitome of the gospel. This is the substance of the matter–hands pierced distribute benedictions. Jesus, through suffering and death, has power to bless us out of the highest heaven. This is the last that was seen of our Lord. He has not changed His attitude of benediction, He will not change it till He shall descend in His glory.

III. THOSE HANDS SWAY THE SCEPTRE. His hands are omnipotent. Those very hands, which blessed His disciples, now hold, on their behalf, the sceptre–

1. Of providence: both in small affairs and greater matters.

2. Of the spiritual kingdom: the Church and all its work.

3. Of the future judgment and the eternal reign. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Saviours hand

That wonderful hand of Christ! It was the same hand which had been so quickly stretched out to rescue Peter when sinking in Galilees waves. It was that same hand which had been held in the sight of the questioning disciples on the third evening after they had seen it laid lifeless in the tomb. It was that same hand which incredulous Thomas must see before he would believe its risen power; it was that same hand which was extended to him not only to see, but to touch the nail-prints in its palm. It was that same hand which the disciples last saw uplifted in a parting blessing when the cloud parted Him from them. It was only after ten days that they realized the fulness of blessing which came from that extended, pierced hand of Christ. Peter at Pentecost must have preached with that last sight of it fresh in his memory, when he said, God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. That hand, with its nail-prints, knocks at the hearts door for entrance. That hand, with its deep marks of love, beckons on the weary runner in the heavenly way. (F. B. Pullan.)

Lessons from the ascension

The ascension was the appropriate bloom and culmination of the resurrection.

I. SINCE OUR LORD HAS ASCENDED, WE ARE NEVER TO THINK OF HIM AS DEAD, He has rounded the black and inscrutable Cape of Storms, and changed it for us henceforth into the Cape of Good Hope. It follows that all the great offices pertaining to His exaltation are in active exercise.

1. He stands in heaven to-day the Living Head of His redeemed Church.

2. He stands in heaven to-day our Priestly Advocate.

3. He stands in heaven to-day as the Controller of all things in Gods providential government.

II. SINCE OUR LORD HAS ASCENDED, WE ARE NEVER TO THINK OF HIM AS DISTANT. Contact of spirit with spirit–nothing can be nearer, more intimate. Christs inner presence by the Holy Ghost is the special boon and issue of His ascension.

III. SINCE OUR LORD HAS ASCENDED, WE ARE NEVER TO THINK OF HIM AS DIFFERENT. He has not laid aside His brotherhood with us. To our Brothers heart prayer must find its way; from Him to us a perfect sympathy must ever flow. (W. Hoyt, D. D.)

On the ascension of Christ

I. In the first place, BY OUR SAVIOURS ASCENSION INTO HEAVEN IT WAS MADE TO APPEAR THAT THE GREAT DESIGN FOR WHICH HE DESCENDED TO THE EARTH WAS COMPLETELY FULFILLED. A solemn attestation was thus given by God to the virtue and efficacy of that great sacrifice which He offered by His death for the sins of the world. The ascension of Christ was the signal of His triumph over all the powers of darkness.

II. It is, in the next place, to be viewed by us WITH RESPECT TO CHRIST HIMSELF, AS A MERITED RESTORATION TO HIS ORIGINAL FELICITY. As the Son of God, all glory belonged to Him for ever.

III. In the third place, Christ ascended into heaven THAT HE MIGHT ACT THERE, IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD, AS OUR HIGH PRIEST AND INTERCESSOR. (H. Blair, D. D.)

The ascension of Christ

1. This event had been foretold and typified in the Old Testament. See especially Psa 68:1-35; Psa 110:1-7. Moses, ascending the mount to receive the law, may be a type of Christ ascending to receive spiritual blessings for men. Elijah, taken up into heaven, and imparting a double portion of his spirit to his successor, was probably typical of Christ ascending and imparting the Pentecostal gift of the Holy Ghost. And the Jewish high priest, in passing from the holy place, which represented earth, to the most holy, which figured heaven, also foreshadowed the ascension of our Lord.

2. These predictions and types were now to be fulfilled.

3. To the top of this mountain our Saviour led His disciples, purposing to ascend visibly from thence. He might have taken His departure unseen by them, but He ascended openly, to confirm their faith in Him as the promised Messiah, to assure them of the certainty of the life in the world to come, and of their own exaltation to the place whither He had gone before.

4. The manner in which Christ was taken up from the midst of His disciples, as described in our text, was most interesting, and is worthy of our attention. In the very act of blessing them He was taken away. Oh, what a delightful consistency and loveliness of character we have in Jesus from the beginning of His mission to its close! The first assurance of His birth was accompanied by the cry of peace on earth and good-will to men; and here, He goes from the world with hands outstretched in benedictions upon those He left below. Surely if any man love not such a Saviour he deserves to be Anathema, Maranatha.

5. But what feelings must have possessed the hearts of the disciples when they witnessed these things.

6. And where was He from whom they had been separated? His place on the eternal throne of glory had been resumed, and He sat there now not as God merely, but God-man, the great mediatorial king.

7. Such ware the leading circumstances attending the ascension of our Lord. (W. H. Lewis, D. D.)

The ascension of Jesus

I. THE WITNESSES OF THE ASCENSION. Only friends. Only the small band of the eleven apostles.

II. THE PLACE. In the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, which had been the scene of many of our Lords great miracles, where His most violent enemies resided, and where He had suffered death in the most public manner. Also near Bethany, a spot sufficiently retired to permit the assemblage of the eleven without exciting the vigilance of enemies.

III. THE MANNER of Christs ascension. The ascension seems to have been slow and gentle. The apostles could therefore view it distinctly and deliberately, so that they might be assured of its reality, and be able to describe it to others. No chariot nor horses of fire were seen like those which wafted the prophet Elijah to heaven; no violent whirlwind agitated the air, no blaze of glory dazzled the eyes, or overpowered the feelings of the anxious spectators. Every part of the scene accorded with the character of the mild and benevolent Jesus. Though a parting scene, there was nothing in it to terrify or depress the minds of the apostles. They were indeed surprised and filled with astonishment, but it was an astonishment which expanded, elevated, and delighted them; for we are told they returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

IV. Let us next inquire WHAT REASONS CAN BE ASSIGNED FOR THE ASCENSION OF JESUS,

1. First, then, it was necessary to complete the proof of His exalted rank and Divine mission.

2. The ascension was necessary in order that the Lord Jesus should complete His mediatorial functions.

3. It was necessary that Jesus should ascend to heaven, to receive the approbation and honour from His heavenly Father, which were to be given to Him as the Mediator and Redeemer of man.

V. THE BENEFITS WHICH WE MAY DERIVE FROM THE ASCENSION OF JESUS.

1. It tends to complete our faith in Him. His miracles proved His Divine power; and His prophecies, His Divine knowledge. His death proved His own declaration, that He had power to lay down His life; His resurrection, that He had power to take it again. In addition, His ascension showed that all the purposes of His coming to this world were finished, that He was going to return to the glory which He had with the Father before the world was; nay, that the glory of His human nature was to be increased in a high degree. Hereby, then, is our faith in Him enlarged, strengthened, and completed, for we have full assurance of the dignity and perfection of Jesus, and that the grit and benevolent purposes for which He visited this world were fully accomplished.

2. We are assured, also, as connected with the ascension of Jesus, of another event resembling it in manner, namely, the second coming of the Lord Jesus.

3. By the ascension of Jesus His promises to the righteous are fully ratified. (J. Thomson, D. D.)

Tile Lords ascension

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF OUR LORDS ASCENSION.

1. The time. Not until after He had appeared to His disciples frequently, and conversed with them freely. He tarried with them forty days, to convince them of His resurrection, to instruct them in the knowledge of the truth, and to encourage them to stedfastness in the cause of the gospel.

2. The place of His ascension. Mount Olivet. This was a place to which He frequently resorted for secret prayer. So, also, the bed of sickness, though the believer may endure much agony there, is generally the spot whence his soul, released from trouble, ascends to the joys of heaven.

3. The ascension of Christ took place in the presence of numerous witnesses. There was no necessity for any persons being present when our Lord rose from the dead, because His appearing after His resurrection to those who knew Him before His crucifixion was a sufficient proof of His resurrection.

4. Another circumstance of which we are informed is, that this event took place while our Lord was employed in blessing the disciples. By this action He showed the strength and the duration of His affection for His disciples.

5. We are told, in Act 1:9, that a cloud received Him out of their sight. Clouds are frequently mentioned in Scripture as a medium through which the Lord in some degree manifested Himself to men.

6. The last circumstance we have to notice is, that our Lords ascension was attended by angels.

II. ITS ENDS, or the chief purposes for which He ascended.

1. Christ ascended in order to send down the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

2. Jesus Christ ascended into heaven in order to make intercession for His people.

3. Jesus Christ ascended in order that He might receive infinite power, happiness, and glory, as the reward of His humiliation. He is set down on His throne of glory to exercise dominion over the universe, but especially over His Church.

4. Our Lord ascended into heaven that He might prepare a place for His followers, and bring them home to Himself.

III. Having considered the chief circumstances and ends of our Lords ascension, we now come to consider, in the last place, THE PRACTICAL EFFECTS WHICH THE CONSIDERATION OF THE EVENT SHOULD PRODUCE ON US.

1. It should lead us to pay the Redeemer that Divine homage which is so justly due to His name.

2. It becomes us to rejoice on account of our Lords ascension.

3. Our Lords ascension should lead us unhesitatingly to trust in Him for salvation.

4. Christs ascension should encourage us to engage with liveliness in religious exercises.

5. The consideration of our Lords ascension should raise our thoughts and affections to heaven.

6. Our Lords ascension should carry forward our thoughts to His second coming. (James Foote, M. A.)

From home to heaven

It seems natural to wish to pass away from this world from the place which we call our home. How many persons–when they are in search of health in the mountains of Switzerland or by the lake side, in the watering places, or bright sunny spots, where they seek to fan the dying embers of life–when they find that their end is approaching, desire to go home to die. Those who go out to India in the Civil Service have this hope before them, that they shall spend their last days in England and die at home. So it was natural that our Saviour should choose to pass away from the familiar slope of Olivet, within sight of Bethany, the nearest place to a home that the Son of Man knew during His public ministry, that from this oft-frequented haunt He should ascend to His Father and our Father, to His God and our God. (W. Bull, B. A.)

The parting blessing

He departed from them in the act of blessing; He was still blessing when the cloud received Him out of their sight. And what was this but the natural climax of all our Lords precedent life? That life had been one of continual blessing. And before we turn from this subject of connection, does it not see m as though heaven and earth are here represented as connected with blessing? The lark, soaring up on high, seems nevertheless to connect the skies and earth by her train of song; thus binds Christ the heaven and the earth now. There is no sight; but from the height above drops blessing–blessing for all who will take it; no less blessing on His part because it may be refused by us; blessing which shall fall upon all believers now; and which shall soak into the thirsty bosom of the millenial earth when He is owned as King of all its kings and Lord of all its lords. And with this thought of connection comes that of activity also. We have not presented before us any careful thoughts of Christ about His own glory; the activity of His mind–yea, even of His body–was all being put forth on behalf of others. We can easily imagine how comforting thoughts flowed in upon the disciples when they remembered this. He ascended into the heavens while blessing them; and, if so, what but blessing could they look for from that other world? Those who knew Him not might look up with fear and trembling, and see the Judge upon His throne. The heavens contained nothing but woe for them; but Jesus, by entering heaven in the very act of blessing, taught His people how to look up, what there to see, and what thence to expect. There is yet one more thought which presses upon our minds in connection with this parting aspect of Christ. What He dropped on them they in turn were to drop upon the world. The last impression of their Lord was to exercise its peculiar power upon their after lives; and we may be well assured that so it did. Activity in blessing marked Jesus career to the very last; He was unwearied in well-doing. He has carried His energy with Him into heaven. Remembering, then, that all good things are given to us for others as well as for ourselves, let us use for others this word while, in whatever teaching it conveys to our souls. Good things most truly perform their mission to us when they pass on through us to perform a ministry to others also. We never know the power of a good thing–how really good it is–until we begin to use it, to put it in the way of evolving its fragrance. (P. B. Power, M. A.)

Christ departs while blessing

Oh, what a fitting close to such a life as that of the Redeemer! He had come to bless the world, and He spent His every moment on earth in communicating blessings; and now, as though He were going within the veil to carry on the same gracious purpose, He quits the earth with extended hands, and the last words that He utters in mortal hearing are words of Divine benediction. What could be more worthy of His character? what more likely to assure and comfort His followers? It was not, you observe, when He had finished His benediction, but while He was pronouncing it, that Christ commenced His ascent; so that His departure may be said to have interrupted the blessing. And we are disposed to think that there was something in this which was designed to be pre-eminently significant. At all events, we are certain that the fact may be interpreted into lessons of general application and of no common merit. It was no proof, you see, that Christ did not love His disciples, and that He was not consulting their good, that He withdrew Himself from them. On the contrary, He was blessing them in leaving them. If there had been nothing in the departure itself from which to argue a blessing, there might have been place for suspicion; but the mode of departure irresistibly proves that Christ went away not in anger, but in tenderness. And though when anything analogous to His departure occurs it may not be possible to assure ourselves that the departing One has left us in the act of blessing us, it cannot be unreasonable to regard the history before us as in some measure a parable, and argue from it something general. When, for example, the spiritually-minded have enjoyed seasons of communion with the Saviour–seasons most blessed, which assuredly there are, though the cold and the worldly may think it merely enthusiasm to speak of the manifestations to the soul of the invisible Mediator–and when these seasons have been followed by others of less intimate fellowship, how apt are Christians to be troubled and cast down, as though it must have been in wrath that the Redeemer withdrew the tokens of His presence! But they should rather go in thought to the Mount of Olives, and behold how Christ parts from His disciples. Oh, it is not necessarily in displeasure that the Saviour withdraws Himself. If you could see Him depart, it may be that you would behold those extended arms, and hear the lingering benediction, and thus learn that He went away only because it was expedient for you–because He could bless you better and more effectually by temporal removal than through unbroken continuance amongst you. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

The ascension and exaltation of Christ

I. THE PREPARATION FOR THE ASCENSION. The small procession of Christ and the eleven apostles gradually increases till it consists of five hundred persons. They reach and climb the Mount of Olives. Then the arms which not long before had been stretched out upon the accursed tree are uplifted in prayer. A last smile He leaves for a legacy behind Him ere He quits the world–a smile involving whole oceans of meaning; and who can venture to fill up the outline, or clothe in words that blessing which He gives to His little flock whom He is leaving alone in the world? All He has to leave them is a blessing, and yet a blessing which is felt to be a shield of defence and a security in trial to them all. And, lo! while He is thus employed in blessing, the cloud that has been approaching on the breath of the gentle breeze rests on Christs head and conceals His face, and obliterates His smile, and gathers around His uplifted arms, and surrounds His whole form and hides it from view.

II. LET US FOLLOW CHRIST UPWARDS WITH THE WING OF FAITH. AS through a veil, though the disciples may not see Him, He sees them, and counts their tears. He sees, too, Jerusalem itself, and perhaps weeps over it again. But night has come over the landscape. The land below fades away from His view. Olivet, the Moabite mountains, the loftiest peak of all the Sinaitic range, have disappeared, and the cloud chariot plunges amidst the stars. Orion on the south, and the Great Bear on the norris, are left behind. The moon becomes Christs footstool, and is then spurned away as He mounts higher still. Through the milky way, as through the multitudinous laughter of an oceans billows, He pursues His course. The last star which, like a giant sentinel, keeps its solitary watch, and treads its enormous round on the verge of the universe, ceases to be seen, and the hollow and blank space which lies beyond is found to be peopled with an innumerable company of angels, who have come out to meet and to welcome their King and their Lord. And then the gates of the heavenly city appear, flaming with diamond and gold as with the lustre of ten thousand suns. From the angelic cavalcade the cry arises, Open, ye everlasting gates, that the King of glory may enter in; and it is met by the challenge from the walls, Who is this King of glory? and the reply comes, The Lord of hosts, that is also the Man of Nazareth, the mighty in battle, He is the King of glory. And, lo! the gates fly open, and the everlasting doors are unbarred, and thus the King of glory enters in, and the Man of Nazareth, amidst the acclamation of ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, takes His seat upon the right hand of the Majesty on high.

III. CONSIDER THE SPIRITUAL SENSE IN WHICH CHRIST MAY BE SAID TO HAVE ASCENDED TO BE EXALTED.

1. Christ is in the ascendant as the highest example of moral excellence.

(1) No character, confessedly, can be named beside His in richness and depth, in pureness and simplicity, in dignity and truthfulness and affection.

(2) No death, in grand unconsciousness, in profound submission, in absolute renunciation of self, in the spirit of forgiveness which pervades it, in its meekness, gentleness, and patience, can be named with that of Calvary. Truly said Rousseau, If the life and death of Socrates were those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus were those of a God.

2. Jesus is the best specimen of the risen man. No other risen man has got beyond the lowest step in the stage leading up to the footstool of the throne on which the Man of Galilee is thus exalted.

3. Christ is one the history of whose faith is the most wonderful of all histories.

4. The moral and spiritual principles which were the teaching and the glory of Christ are those on which the happiness of the world present and the prospects of the world future are felt to be dependent.

In conclusion:

1. What a cheering doctrine is that of Christs exaltation. God has recognized His principles as the laws of universal government.

2. Let us seek to ascend. Excelsior. (G. Gilfillan.)

Great joy

A strange joy, yet explicable

They had parted from their beloved Master; they had to face a trying life now, without having Him near to counsel or to help; they would never see Him again, till they died. And yet they were glad. From the place of that last earthly parting they went away, not stricken to the earth, not stunned and stupefied, as we are after the like heart-breaking wrench, but in high spirits, cheerful and elate. They returned to Jerusalem with great joy! Well, it is very strange. Perhaps the disciples, coming back to Jerusalem, could not easily have sorted out and explained to other people the reasons of their great joy. First, there was something very cheering about all the surroundings of Christs departure. It was to be, the disciples knew; and the whole event was so different from what such a parting might have been. For one thing, it was so triumphant, so glorious, so miraculous, that it was proof irresistible that the work which brought the Redeemer to this world was finished successfully. And it was blessing His servants that the Redeemer left them. Sometimes, while here, He had spoken severely, and that not to His enemies only, but to His friends–to the great apostle Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan; but all that was gone, and there was only kindness in the departing heart and voice. Now, as a second reason for this strange joy, let us remember that there was one great definite gain which was to come of Christs going; and upon the enjoyment of that gain His Church was soon to enter now. The blessed Spirit, the Holy Ghost, could not come till the Saviour went; and He Himself had declared strongly that it would be gain for His disciples to lose Him if thus they received the blessed Spirit in His stead. They hardly understood, perhaps, the disciples, on the day Christ went–they did not understand, as we do now, all that the Holy Ghost would be, of light, strength, wisdom, joy, peace, strong consolation. It needed experience of His sympathy, His faithfulness, His patience, His almighty power, to make Christian people know what He is. But the disciples knew enough to make them anticipate His coming with joyful expectation; and for this reason, doubtless, among others, even from the spot where they had seen their Saviour for the last time in this life, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. We can think of a third reason for this joy on that parting day. It was a parting quite by itself. He went away, in visible form. It was better for His Church that He should; but, after all, He never left it. He went away, as concerns the material presence, which must be here or there. He abode yet in that Divine, real though unseen presence, which can be everywhere. Even as He departed from sight and sense, He uttered the sure and hopeful promise, Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world. He could be with the disciples He left, He can be with us day by day, as God is with us; present that is, to faith, not to sense, but as really, substantially, influentially present, as any thing or person we can touch or see. Beyond these spiritual consolations which might cheer under the departure of their Saviour, the disciples had yet another hope, which some might esteem as having something more substantial in it. Master and servants were to meet again. This same Jesus, now gone, is to come again in glory; and since that day, the Church is waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. That will be the consummation of all things. Then, all will be well at last. (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.)

Joy in working for Christ

In a recent great European war, the soldiers of both countries, when they were ordered to the seat of war, received the order enthusiastically, and marched to the front with waving of banners and singing. The joy of the disciples when called to win the world for Christ, seem to have been similar (Luk 24:52-53). If a father entrusts his son with a difficult piece of work, the boy does it joyfully and proudly. Should we have less joy in performing a great work entrusted to us by Christ?

The counterbalance

This statement is of more interest and importance to us than appears at first sight. It embodies a great principle; and that, one which enters continually into the Christians life. The inward counterbalancing the outward–this is the great idea brought before us; and it will unfold itself, as we proceed to examine the circumstances under which the apostles were placed, when they thus returned to Jerusalem with great joy. At the first glance, we should have supposed joy to have been the very last emotion, which, at this particular time, would have swayed the apostles minds. We shall find no cause for it in anything outward. Nature seemed to indicate everything but joy. We should not have been surprised, had we been reading merely an ordinary narrative, to have heard that terror instead of joy was the leading feeling in the apostles minds. Another class of feelings, also, was calculated to arise within their breasts; and whatever emotions these were likely to be productive of, they were certainly not those of joy. The feelings which nature would have engendered under these circumstances were those of indignation and revenge. Then, there was the natural shrinking from sad associations. Were they to be affected by the outward only, almost every stone in Jerusalem would have a mournful voice for them, saying, Here He once was, but He is gone; and His place knoweth Him now no more. But there were other and higher influences at work; there must have been, for we read, not of resignation, but of joy; and not only of joy, but of great joy; and to produce this, there must have been a great counterbalancing principle within the heart. The actual feeling of the apostles was that of great joy; and whence this great joy came we can easily see. All doubts were now removed. Coldly and damply, unbelief, from time to time, had struck in upon them; but it was now dispelled for ever. The veils last fold was removed from their eyes; and they now stood forth upon firm ground, prepared to meet the world in the power of clear, inward light. Wherever there is full, clear, unclouded faith, and that in unhindered exercise–there, there is joy, and all the power that flows forth from a light and joyous heart. The disciples had seen also the exaltation of the One they loved. Moreover, they had now a union with the unseen. We can understand how a new light was now thrown on all old scenes; how a new destiny lay outstretched before the disciples eyes; how they felt that they had that which the world had not given, and which the world, therefore, could not take away; and, rich in all this, they turned from the place whence their Lord had ascended up on high, leading captivity captive, and re-sought the place where He had been bound, and led as a lamb to the slaughter; all tears now wiped from their eyes, and their hearts filled with great joy. Here, then, was the power of the inward to counterbalance the outward; and what says it to us as regards our own experiences? First of all it says: As with the disciples, so also with you; look not always for a change in the outward aspect of things, but look for the introduction of a new element therein, modifying, compensating, supporting, as the case may be. The outward remains unmoved; but it is met by the inward which pervades it, and puts forth its more than compensating power; there is, as the apostle says in 1Th 1:1-10., much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost. And now, with regard to ourselves. What is the power of the inward with us? In the first place, have we an inward living power within us which exercises an unmistakeable influence; and can compensate, energize, or support, as circumstances may require? It is surely impossible to have this without knowing it, there are so many circumstances which are calculated to call it into exercise, and in which, if it existed, it must have acted. Have we a felt and realized union with God, which influences us, so that we feel we have something which the would cannot see; and which, indeed, is not of the world at all? Our perceptions may be more or less vivid on these points, but have we a perception, so that there is as distinct an inward life as there is an outward? Moreover, are we conscious of how this inward has acted? Have we felt when disappointed of earthly things, or in them, that, after all, there was nothing unduly to depress us: for that we had something else of infinitely more importance, in which we could not be disappointed? When darkness closed in upon us in the outward world, have we had distinct inward light, in which we could move, and see, and rejoice? When called upon to sacrifice any of the outward, have we been enabled to do so because it was as nothing compared with the inward–the possession of which soothed and comforted us, and kept us from being down-trodden by poverty, and being made to feel ourselves miserably poor? Let the believer also never be a gloomy man. If ever any men on earth had cause for gloom the apostles had, when they returned to Jerusalem; but they returned with great joy. Let us not be gloomy in the world or to the world; let us show it that we have something more than it has. Perhaps men will believe that faith is a real power when they see if able to do something; when, acting from within, it can make us cheerful in times of sadness, and contented in times of reverse and poverty, and patient in times of weariness and pain, and ever hopeful for the future–our horizon being, not the valley of the shadow of death, but the glorious land which lies beyond. And who knows whether, thus looking beyond this earth, we may not lead others to ask whereon our eyes are fixed, and, it may be, that they also will look onward and upward and join us on our way. One Adrianus, in ancient times, seeing the martyrs suffer such grievous things in the cause of Christ, asked, What is that which enables them to bear such sufferings? Then he was told of the inward counterbalancing the outward; for one of them replied, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. And thus was Adrianus won not only to conversion, but to martyrdom also, for he laid down his life manfully for Christ. (P. B. Power, M. A.)

Continually in the temple, praising and blessing God

Christian worship

I. THE OBJECT OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP.

1. A human Christ.

2. A living Christ.

3. A glorified Christ.

4. A crucified Christ.

II. THE PLACE OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. The temple. Where two or three are met together in Christs name.

III. THE TIME OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. Continually. Every day. No opportunity of doing homage to the Saviour should be missed.

IV. THE FORM OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. Praising and blessing God. Magnifying His mercy, and speaking good of His name.

V. THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. With great joy. The Christian rejoices in the Saviours exaltation–

1. For Christs sake. Reward of redeeming work.

2. For his own sake. A pledge and guarantee of his acceptance and salvation.

3. For the worlds sake. (T. Whitelaw, M. A.)

Earnestness in using means of grace

Continually in the temple! Observe that! The disciples were now thoroughly assured that they had an Advocate in the heavenly temple, but this did not withdraw them from the earthly. On the contrary, they seem to have resorted with greater frequency to the courts of the Lords house, well convinced, by the circumstance of their Masters departure, that they had an Advocate with God, and we may be sure that there is something radically wrong when a sense of the privileges of Christianity produces listlessness, and does not produce earnestness in the use of Christian ordinances. He is not a strong Christian who feels that he can do without sermons and sacraments, any more than it is the appetite of an energetic man, when there is no relish for food. It is no sign of good faith or well-grounded hope that the Christian seems beyond needing the means of grace; as well might you think it a sign of knowledge and security against shipwreck that the mariner was above consulting his chart or making observations. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 50. He led them out as far as to Bethany] The difficulties in this verse, when collated with the accounts given by the other evangelists, are thus reconciled by Dr. Lightfoot.

“I. This very evangelist (Ac 1:12) tells us, that when the disciples came back from the place where our Lord had ascended, they returned from mount Olivet, distant from Jerusalem a Sabbath day’s journey. But now the town of Bethany was about fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem, Joh 11:18, and that is double a Sabbath day’s journey.

“II. Josephus tells us that mount Olivet was but five furlongs from the city, and a Sabbath day’s journey was seven furlongs and a half. Antiq. lib. 20, cap. 6. About that time there came to Jerusalem a certain Egyptian, pretending himself a prophet, and persuading the people that they should go out with him to the mount of Olives, , ; which, being situated on the front of the city, is distant five furlongs. These things are all true:

1. That the mount of Olives lay but five furlongs distant from Jerusalem.

2. That the town of Bethany was fifteen furlongs.

3. That the disciples were brought by Christ as far as Bethany.

4. That, when they returned from the mount of Olives, they travelled more than five furlongs. And,

5. Returning from Bethany, they travelled but a Sabbath day’s journey.

All which may be easily reconciled, if we would observe: – That the first space from the city was called Bethphage, which I have cleared elsewhere from Talmudic authors, the evangelists themselves also confirming it. That part of that mount was known by that name to the length of about a Sabbath day’s journey, till it came to that part which is called Bethany. For there was a Bethany, a tract of the mount, and the town of Bethany. The town was distant from the city about fifteen furlongs, i.e. about two miles, or a double Sabbath day’s journey: but the first border of this tract (which also bore the name of Bethany) was distant but one mile, or a single Sabbath day’s journey.

“Our Saviour led out his disciples, when he was about to ascend, to the very first region or tract of mount Olivet, which was called Bethany, and was distant from the city a Sabbath day’s journey. And so far from the city itself did that tract extend itself which was called Bethphage; and when he was come to that place where the bounds of Bethphage and Bethany met and touched one another, he then ascended; in that very place where he got upon the ass when he rode into Jerusalem, Mr 11:1. Whereas, therefore, Josephus saith that mount Olivet was but five furlongs from the city, he means the first brink and border of it. But our evangelist must be understood of the place where Christ ascended, where the name of Olivet began, as it was distinguished from Bethphage.”

Between the appearance of Christ to his apostles, mentioned in Lu 24:36, c., almost all the forty days had passed, before he led them out to Bethany. They went by his order into Galilee, Mt 26:32; Mt 28:10; Mr 14:28; Mr 16:7; and there he appeared to them, as is mentioned by Matthew, Mt 28:16, &c., and more particularly by John, Joh 21:1, &c. See Bishop PEARCE.

Lifted up his hands] Probably to lay them on their heads, for this was the ordinary way in which the paternal blessing was conveyed, See Ge 48:8-20.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

This must be understood to have happened forty days after our Saviours resurrection, for so Luke himself tells us, Act 1:3.

And he led them out as far as Bethany; not the village Bethany, but that part of the mount of Olives which belonged to Bethany. Our Saviour had been often there praying; from thence he now ascendeth into heaven.

And he lifted up his hands and blessed them: some think that by blessing here is meant praying, and the lifting up of his hands was accommodated to that religious action. Others think that blessing here signifieth a more authoritative act; and that his lifting up of his hands was a stretching out of his hands, as a sign of that effectual blessing of them.

While he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven; that is, he moved upward as if he had been carried, for it is certain that our Saviour ascended by his own power. Luke saith, Act 1:9, He was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. As Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind, 2Ki 2:11, so Christ went up in a cloud; but with this difference, Christ ascended by his own power, Elijah could not without the help of an angel.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

50-53. to Bethanynot to thevillage itself, but on the “descent” to it from MountOlivet.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And he led them out as far as Bethany,…. Not the town of Bethany; could that be thought, it might be supposed that he led his disciples thither, to pay a visit to his dear friends there, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, before his ascension; but the town of Bethany was fifteen furlongs, or near two miles distance from Jerusalem, Joh 11:18 whereas the place from whence Christ ascended was but a sabbath day’s journey from it, which was two thousand cubits, or about a mile, Ac 1:12. This Bethany, therefore, was a tract of land, so called from the town, which began at the Mount of Olives, where Bethphage ended; see Mr 11:1 and hither from Jerusalem Christ led his disciples, in order to ascend to heaven in their sight; and this was the spot of ground, where he began to ride in triumph to Jerusalem, and here he ascended in a triumphant manner to heaven; this was the place he frequently retired to for solemn, and solitary prayer, and where he had put up many a strong cry to God, and now from hence he ascended to him; this was the place whither he went after he had ate his last passover, where he was taken, and from whence he came to suffer and die for his people:

and he lift up his hands, and blessed them. The lifting up of his hands was not in order to put them upon his disciples; though the Ethiopic version adds, “and put them on”; nor was it used as a prayer gesture; nor was the blessing of them prayer wise, or by praying for a blessing on them; but as Aaron, his type, lift up his hands towards the people of Israel, and blessed them, when he had offered the offerings for them, Le 9:22 so Christ, as the great high priest, having offered himself a sacrifice for the sins of his people, lift up his hands towards his apostles, and blessed them in an authoritative way, by bestowing blessings upon them: he blessed them with a larger measure of the Spirit; for though they were to wait some few days longer for the extraordinary effusion of the Spirit, yet, in the mean while, they received from him more of it than they had formerly had; for he breathed upon them, and said, receive the Holy Ghost, Joh 20:22. He blessed them with larger measures of grace, and with more spiritual light, and understanding into the Scriptures of truth, and with much inward peace of mind, and with the fresh discoveries of pardoning love; and which seemed necessary, since by their conduct towards him, one by denying him, and the rest by forsaking him, the peace of their minds was broken, and they needed a fresh application of forgiving grace. The form of blessing the people used by Aaron, and his sons, the priests, who were types of Christ, is recorded in Nu 6:23 and though our Lord might not use the same form in blessing his disciples, yet it seems he used the same gesture, lifting up his hands, as they did. The Targumists say d, the blessing of the priests was done by stretching, or spreading out their hands; but other Jewish writers observe, it was by lifting them up: concerning which their rule is e;

“in the province, the priests lift up their hands, as high as their shoulders, but in the sanctuary, above their heads, except the high priest, who did not lift up his hands above the plate of gold on his forehead.”

The reason of this was, because the name Jehovah was written upon it, and it was not proper his hands should be lifted up above that. The account Maimonides f gives of this affair is;

“how is the lifting up of hands? in the borders, at the time the messenger of the congregation comes to service, when he has said, who ever will, c. all the priests that stand in the synagogue, remove from their places, and go, and ascend the desk (or pulpit), and stand there with their faces to the temple, and their backs to the people, and their fingers closed within their hands, until the messenger of the congregation has finished the confession, or thanksgiving and then they turn their faces to the people, and stretch out their fingers, and lift up their hands to their shoulders and begin to bless, and the messenger of the congregation pronounces them (the blessings) word by word, c. How is the blessing of the priests in the sanctuary? the priests go up into the desk (or pulpit), after the priests have finished the morning daily service, and lift up their hands above, over their heads, except the high priest, who does not lift up his hands above the plate of gold, on his forehead and one pronounces them (the blessings) word for word, as they do in the borders (in the country), c.”

And as our Lord used this gesture in blessing, it is very likely he complied with another rule, by expressing it in the Hebrew tongue for the Jews say g, the blessing of the priests is not said in any place, but in the holy tongue.

d Targum Jon. in Num. vi. 23. & Targum in Cant. vii. 7. e Misn Sota, c. 7. sect. 6. Bemidbar Rabba sect. 11. fol. 203. 3. f Hilchot Tephilla, c. 14. sect. 3. 9. g Hilchot Tephilla, c. 14. sect. 11. Vid. Targum Jon. & Rabba, ut supra, & T. Bab. Sota, fol. 38. 1.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

      50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.   51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.   52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:   53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

      This evangelist omits the solemn meeting between Christ and his disciples in Galilee; but what he said to them there, and at other interviews, he subjoins to what he said to them at the first visit he made them on the evening of the day he rose; and has now nothing more to account for but his ascension into heaven, of which we have a very brief narrative in these verses, in which we are told,

      I. How solemnly Christ took leave of his disciples. Christ’s design being to reconcile heaven and earth, and to continue a days-man between them, it was necessary that he should lay his hands on them both, and, in order thereunto, that he should pass and repass. He had business to do in both worlds, and accordingly came from heaven to earth in his incarnation, to despatch his business here, and, having finished this, he returned to heaven, to reside there, and negotiate our affairs with the Father. Observe, 1. Whence he ascended: from Bethany, near Jerusalem, adjoining to the mount of Olives. There he had done eminent services for his Father’s glory, and there he entered upon his glory. There was the garden in which his sufferings began, there he was in his agony; and Bethany signifies the house of sorrow. Those that would go to heaven must ascend thither from the house of sufferings and sorrow, must go by agonies to their joys. The mount of Olives was pitched upon long since to be the place of Christ’s ascension: His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, Zech. xiv. 4. And here it was that awhile ago he began his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, ch. xix. 29. 2. Who were the witnesses of his ascension: He led out his disciples to see him. Probably, it was very early in the morning that he ascended, before people were stirring; for he never showed himself openly to all the people after his resurrection, but only to chosen witnesses. The disciples did not see him rise out of the grace, because his resurrection was capable of being proved by their seeing him alive afterwards; but they saw him ascend into heaven, because they could not otherwise have an ocular demonstration of his ascension. They were led out on purpose to see him ascend, had their eye upon him when he ascended, and were not looking another way. 3. What was the farewell he gave them: He lifted up his hands, and blessed them. He did not go away in displeasure, but in love; he left a blessing behind him; he lifted up his hands, as the high priest did when he blessed the people; see Lev. ix. 22. He blessed as one having authority, commanded the blessing which he had purchased; he blessed them as Jacob blessed his sons. The apostles were now as the representatives of the twelve tribes, so that in blessing them he blessed all his spiritual Israel, and put his Father’s name upon them. He blessed them as Jacob blessed his sons, and Moses the tribes, at parting, to show that, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. 4. How he left them: While he was blessing them, he was parted from them; not as if he were taken away before he had said all he had to say, but to intimate that his being parted from them did not put an end to his blessing them, for the intercession which he went to heaven to make for all his is a continuation of the blessing. He began to bless them on earth, but he went to heaven to go on with it. Christ was now sending his apostles to preach his gospel to the world, and he gives them his blessing, not for themselves only, but to be conferred in his name upon all that should believe on him through their word; for in him all the families of the earth were to be blessed. 5. How his ascension is described. (1.) He was parted from them, was taken from their head, as Elijah from Elisha’s. Note, The dearest friends must part. Those that love us, and pray for us, and instruct us, must be parted form us. The bodily presence of Christ himself was not to be expected always in this world; those that knew him after the flesh must now henceforth know him so no more. (2.) He was carried up into heaven; not by force, but by his own act and deed. As he arose, so he ascended, by his own power, yet attended by angels. There needed no chariot of fire, nor horses of fire; he knew the way, and, being the Lord from heaven, could go back himself. He ascended in a cloud, as the angel in the smoke of Manoah’s sacrifice, Judg. xiii. 20.

      II. How cheerfully his disciples continued their attendance on him, and on God through him, even now that he was parted from them. 1. They paid their homage to him at his going away, to signify that though he was going into a far country, yet they would continue his loyal subjects, that they were willing to have him reign over them: They worshipped him. v. 52. Note, Christ expects adoration from those that receive blessings from him. He blessed them, in token of gratitude for which they worshipped him. This fresh display of Christ’s glory drew from them fresh acknowledgments and adorations of it. They knew that though he was parted form them, yet he could, and did, take notice of their adorations of him; the cloud that received him out of their sight did not put them or their services out of his sight. 2. They returned to Jerusalem with great joy. There they were ordered to continue till the Spirit should be poured out upon them, and thither they went accordingly, though it was into the mouth of danger. Thither they went, and there they staid with great joy. This was a wonderful change, and an effect of the opening of their understandings. When Christ told them that he must leave them sorrow filled their hearts; yet now that they see him go they are filled with joy, being convinced at length that it was expedient for them and for the church that he should go away, to send the Comforter. Note, The glory of Christ is the joy, the exceeding joy, of all true believers, even while they are here in this world; much more will it be so when they go to the new Jerusalem, and find him there in his glory. 3. They abounded in acts of devotion while they were in expectation of the promise of the Father, v. 53. (1.) They attended the temple-service at the hours of prayer. God had not as yet quite forsaken it, and therefore they did not. They were continually in the temple, as their Master was when he was at Jerusalem. The Lord loves the gates of Zion, and so should we. Some think that they had their place of meeting, as disciples, in some of the chambers of the temple which belonged to some Levite that was well affected to them; but others think it is not likely that this either could be concealed from, or would be connived at by, the chief priests and rulers of the temple. (2.) Temple-sacrifices, they knew, were superseded by Christ’s sacrifice, but the temple-songs they joined in. Note, While we are waiting for God’s promises we must go forth to meet them with our praises. Praising and blessing God is work that is never out of season: and nothing better prepares the mind for the receiving of the Holy Ghost than holy joy and praise. Fears are silenced, sorrows sweetened and allayed, and hopes kept up.

      The amen that concludes seems to be added by the church and every believer to the reading of the gospel, signifying an assent to the truths of the gospel, and a hearty concurrence with all the disciples of Christ in praising and blessing God. Amen. Let him be continually praised and blessed.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Over against Bethany ( ). That is on Olivet. On this blessed spot near where he had delivered the great Eschatological Discourse he could see Bethany and Jerusalem.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

1) “And he led Them out as far as to Bethany,” (eksegagen de autous heos pros Bethanion) “Then he led them out and away until they had come to Bethany,” ten days before Pentecost, after He had met them in Galilee, Mat 28:16-20. He led them out on the east end of the Mount of Olives, about two miles from the Jerusalem temple, or at its summit, about one mile east, Act 1:12.

2) “And he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.” (kai eparas tas cheiras autou eulogesen) “And there he lifted up his hands and blessed them,” Gen 48:9; Gen 48:15; Gen 48:20; Num 6:22-27, in a special commemorative memorial blessing upon His church, His custodial new covenant fellowship that was to give glory to His Father and to Him, Eph 3:21; It was much as ancient Jewish fathers blessed their children before departing this life; It was a benediction prayer.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Luk 24:50

. And lifted up his hands, and blessed them; by which he showed that the office of blessing, which was enjoined on the priests under the law, belonged truly and properly to himself. When men bless one another it is nothing else than praying in behalf of their brethren; but with God it is otherwise, for he does not merely befriend us by wishes, but by a simple act of his will grants what is desirable for us. But while He is the only Author of all blessing, yet that men might obtain a familiar view of his grace, he chose that at first the priests should bless in his name as mediators. Thus Melchizedek blessed Abraham, (Gen 14:19,) and in Num 6:23, a perpetual law is laid down in reference to this matter. To this purport also is what we read in Psa 118:26, We bless you out of the house of the Lord In short, the apostle has told us that to bless others is a Mark of superiority; for the less, he says, is blessed by the greater, (Heb 7:7.) Now when Christ, the true Melchizedek and eternal Priest, was manifested, it was necessary that in him should be fulfilled what had been shadowed out by the figures of the law; as Paul also shows that we are blessed in him by God the Father, that we may be rich in all heavenly blessings, (Eph 1:3.) Openly and solemnly he once blessed the apostles, that believers may go direct to himself, if they desire to be partakers of his grace. In the lifting up of the hands is described an ancient ceremony which, we know:, was formerly used by the priests.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

Appleburys Comments

The Ascension of Jesus
Scripture

Luk. 24:50-53 And he led them out until they were over against Bethany: and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53 and were continually in the temple, blessing God.

Comments

And he led them out.He was soon to be taken from them, but He would continue to lead them through the Holy Spirit, He had promised the apostles that the Holy Spirit would guide them into all the truth (Joh. 16:13-14).

and blessed them.He had blessed them on other occasions; just before leaving them, He blessed them again. The memory of that blessing was to remain with them through their sufferings as they carried out the Great Commission, for He had promised to be with them always, even to the end of the age.

and was carried up into heaven.In his second letter to Theophilus, Luke says that Jesus was taken up from the disciples and a cloud received Him from their sight. Heavenly messengers stood beside them with the encouraging word, He will return again as you beheld Him taken up from you into heaven.

and they worshipped him.The resurrection had convinced them that He was both the Son of Man and the Son of God. As He departed from them, they worshipped Him. Indeed, from that time on, their lives were a living sacrifice of real worship to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Their joy knew no limit. They returned to Jerusalem to await the day, not far distant, when they would begin the proclamation of the gospel. They were continually in the temple praising God while waiting for the signal to begin their world-wide mission for Christ.

In a very real sense, the story does not end here. A great climax was reached on the Day of Pentecost as the apostles preached the first sermon in that campaign. The three thousand who reversed the decision they had made at the trial got themselves baptized in the name of Christ for the remission of sins. They continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers (Act. 2:38-42).

The story ends with the triumphant coming of Christ to receive His own unto Himself that they may be with Him always. Even so, Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints. Amen. Rev. 22:20-21.

Summary

Wicked men crucified Jesus at Calvary. There is abundant evidence that He actually died. There is equally positive proof that He arose from the dead.
The women found the tomb empty; the body of Jesus was not there. Angels announced that He was alive. With the startling news, the women hurried away to tell the apostles who thought it was idle talk. Peter. investigated and found the tomb empty just as the women had said.
During the period of forty days between the resurrection and ascension, Jesus appeared to the disciples by many certain proofs. They saw Him, they heard Him explain the Scriptures, they touched Him, and they saw Him eat a piece of broiled fish in their presence. Not only were the Emmaus disciples convinced that He was alive, but also all of the eleven. At one time, more than five-hundred had seen Him alive.
The Risen Lord summed up the Scriptures about the Christ by saying, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
Having fully demonstrated the fact of His resurrection, and having instructed the apostles as to their duties, He led them out until they were near Bethany. Then He lifted up His hands and blessed them and was carried up into heaven.
Heavenly messengers had announced the birth of the Christ; now angels told the apostles that He was coming again.

Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus, make you perfect in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Heb. 13:20-21).

Questions

1.

On what day did the resurrection occur?

2.

What precautions had the Jews taken to prevent anything happening to the body until after the third day? Why?

3.

What did the women find when they came to the tomb?

4.

What did angels tell them?

5.

Who were some of the women at the tomb?

6.

What did the apostles think of their report?

7.

Why did Peter investigate it?

8.

What evidential value is there in the fact that the enemies remembered Jesus predictions of His resurrection while the disciples did not?

9.

What evidence did Peter discover at the tomb?

10.

Where was Emmaus?

11.

What were the two disciples talking about?

12.

Why didnt they recognize Jesus when He joined them?

13.

What had they hoped for in Jesus?

14.

What did Jesus say to them?

15.

Why did they ask Him to abide with them?

16.

How was He made known to them?

17.

What did they mean by saying that their heart burned as He had spoken to them?

18.

What did they do immediately after He was revealed to them?

19.

What are some of the other appearances not recorded by Luke?

20.

How did Luke summarize his report of the proofs of the resurrection?

21.

Under what circumstances did He appear to the eleven?

22.

What was their reaction? Why?

23.

How did they become convinced that Jesus had actually been raised from the dead?

24.

How did He help them to understand the Scriptures?

25.

Why did He order them to begin their ministry in Jerusalem?

26.

What is meant by the promise of the Father?

27.

Where did the ascension take place?

28.

What did the heavenly messengers say to the wondering disciples?

29.

What did the disciples do at the time of the ascension?

30.

Where did they await the fulfillment of the promise of the Father?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(50) And he led them out as far as to Bethany.It must be admitted that this narrative, taken by itself, would leave the impression that the Ascension followed with not more than a days interval on the Resurrection. We must remember, however, that even the coincidences between the close of St. Lukes first book and the beginning of his second, show that he was already looking forward to resuming his work, and that the interval of forty days is distinctly recognised in Act. 1:3, though there also, as here, there is no mention of any return to Galilee in the interval. Is it a conceivable solution of the problem that the devout women, who were St. Lukes informants, remained at Jerusalem in almost entire seclusion, and hardly knew of what had passed outside the walls of their house from the day of the Resurrection onwards to that of the Ascension? To them, as to others who look back upon periods in which intense sorrow and intense joy have followed one on the other, all may have seemed, when they looked back upon it in after years, as a dream, the memory of which was in one sense, as to its outcome, indelible, but in which the sequence of details could no longer be traced with clearness. If we may distinguish between two words often used as synonymous, it was with them, not recollection, but memory. On the brief narrative that follows, see Notes on Act. 1:9-11.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

156. JESUS’S ASCENSION, Luk 24:50-53 .

Mar 16:19-20; Act 1:9-12.

Inasmuch as Luke alone of the Evangelists explicitly describes the visible and bodily ascension of Jesus, adverse criticism has questioned the reality of the fact. The New Testament, they admit, does plentifully assume that Christ is in heaven; but, perhaps, his soul only. (Mat 26:64; Joh 20:17; Act 2:33; Eph 4:10 ; 1Pe 3:22.) But, 1. Since the body of Jesus rose, in possession of supernatural qualities belonging to a resurrection body, either he must have passed through another death, and that a death of a resurrection body, or he must have gone corporeally to heaven. 2. The representation of his bodily return at the Judgment Advent (Mat 25:31) necessarily implied a bodily ascension. 3. The unanimous and intense faith of the Church in his ascension can be no otherwise explained than upon the ground that his ascension was visibly witnessed. 4. The explicit and circumstantial narrative of one Evangelist would be sufficient, without either of the preceding reasons; with them, we hold any doubt to be superfluous and foolish. All assume the fact, but he supplies the mode.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

50. Led them out From Jerusalem, where, doubtless, they tarried after their return from Galilee.

As far as to Bethany , as far as into. That is, to the point where the into commenced; to the entrance, but not into Bethany. Luke implies in Act 1:12, that the ascension took place from the Mount of Olives, which agrees with the present passage; for Bethany is upon the eastern slope of that mountain. Barclay, in his “City of the Great King,” identifies a hillock overhanging the margin of Bethany as clearly the true place. The summit of the Mount, where now stands the Church of the Ascension, certainly could not have been the spot.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And he led them out until they were over against Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.’

Then having prepared them and opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and having promised them the power that was coming to enable them for their future responsibility, He led them out to the Mount of Olives in the direction of Bethany, and their He lifted up His hands and blessed them. But Luke does not mention the Mount of Olives, for he has already shown that to be the place of suffering and judgment (Luk 22:39).

Here Jesus is probably acting as a father to His children, although it is always possible that He was acting as a greater Moses, leading them out and preparing them to face battle (Exo 17:12), or a greater Elijah, about to be taken up to Heaven, and responding to a plea for the Spirit of God (2Ki 2:9), or possibly both (compare Luk 9:30). If there is the comparison there was no danger of His arms tiring, nor was there any doubt about the coming of the Spirit on His own, for He blessed them there.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Ascension of Jesus ( Mar 16:19-20 , Act 1:9-11 ) In Luk 24:50-53 we have the eye-witness account of Jesus’ ascension into Heaven after instructing His disciples.

Luk 24:50 Comments When Jesus lifted His hands to bless the disciples in Luk 24:50, everyone could see the nail-scarred hands. This is the only recorded time that Jesus prayed with lifted hands.

According to Luk 1:22, the people were anticipating Zacharias to speak to them. The Jewish Tamid (7.2) instructs the priest to offer a blessing over the people according to Num 6:24-26 on the steps that ascended to the Sanctuary after the daily sacrifice. [315] Some scholars suggests the possibility that Jesus’ final blessing in Luk 24:50 fulfilled the priestly blessing that Zecharias was not able to perform because the angel struck him with dumbness in the opening passage of Luke’s Gospel (Luk 1:21-22). [316] This blessing would make an appropriate closing to the Gospel, and it alludes the fact that Jesus Christ is now our Great High Priest.

[315] Esther G. Chazon, Ruth A. Clements, and Avital Pinnick, eds, Liturgical Perspectives: Prayer and Poetry in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls; Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature (Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill, 2003), 122.

[316] David L. Allen, “Class Lecture,” Doctor of Ministry Seminar, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 25 July to 5 August 2011; John Nolland, Luke 1:1-9:20 , in Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 35A (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), comments on Luke 1:22.

Luk 1:21-22, “And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless.”

Num 6:23-27, “Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The ascension:

v. 50. And He led them out as far as to Bethany. And He lifted up His hands and blessed them.

v. 51. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.

v. 52. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy;

v. 53. and were continually in the Temple, praising and blessing God. Amen. Luke here, in concluding his gospel, summarizes, giving a brief account of the ascension which took place forty days later.

On that day the Lord, having assembled His disciples for the last time, led them out to Mount Olivet, until they were over against, in plain view of, Bethany. The place of the ascension was probably near the summit of the mount, on the southeastern slope. Here, for the last time in visible form, the Lord lifted up His hands over His disciples to bless them. But while He was still in the act of blessing them, He was separated from them, slowly rising up into the air before their astonished gaze. Thus He ascended to heaven. But the disciples did not grieve on account of the removal of His visible presence from their midst. Having worshiped Him as their Lord and God, they returned to Jerusalem full of joy, the joy of men convinced that their Lord was truly risen from the dead and had been taken up into glory. And therefore they were continually, so long as the Temple was open for worshipers, in some part of that great building, probably in some of the halls, praising and blessing God for all the manifestations of His mercy and love which they had experienced, and knowing that great events were impending in connection with the promise of the Spirit. Thus the believers in Christ, by placing their trust in the promises of their Master, are able at all times to have hearts filled with a joy that surpasses the understanding of the children of this world. The visible presence of the Lord is removed, but He is still present with them that are His with His good gifts in the Word and with His Spirit, Mat 18:20; Mat 28:20.

Summary. The resurrection of Jesus, testified to by the open grave and by the word of angels, is not believed by the apostles, but Jesus appears to the Emmaus disciples and then to the eleven apostles, convincing them of His having risen from the dead, commissioning them to be His ministers for the preaching of the Gospel, and finally ascending before them from the Mount of Olives.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Luk 24:50. He led them out as far as to Bethany; The town of Bethany was about fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem; Joh 11:18 whereas the place from which our Lord ascended on mount Olivet, was but a sabbath-day’s journey, or about half that distance from Jerusalem; Act 1:12. So that to reconcile what St. Luke here tells us in his gospel, with the account that he gives of our Lord’s ascension in the Acts, we must conclude, that he conducted his disciples only to the boundaries of Bethany, which came much nearer to Jerusalem, and took in part of the mount of Olives. See on Mat 21:1. It is indeed possible that our Lord might make his last visit on earth to Lazarus and his pious sisters; but it is manifest that he did not ascend from the town of Bethany, where many others must have seen him; but from the mount of Olives, where none beheld him but his own disciples;nor is there any intimation in the words of the evangelists that he came from Bethany to the mount of Olives on the day of his ascension; but rather that he went directly from Jerusalem thither. Lifting up the hands was an attitude of blessing, as well as of prayer. See Gen 19:23; Gen 48:14-15; Gen 48:22. It has been observed, that it was much more proper that our Lord should ascend to heaven in the sight of his apostles, than that he should arise from the dead in their sight; for his resurrection was abundantly proved to them, when they saw him alive after his passion; but they could not see him in heaven while they continued upon earth, unless in vision.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Luk 24:50 . . . .] namely, from Jerusalem (Luk 24:33 ; Luk 24:49 ), and that after the scene just related (Luk 24:36-49 ). Observe in respect of this (1) that this . . . . does not agree with Act 10:40-41 , because Jesus had openly showed Himself. (2) The immediate linking on by , and therein the absence of any other specification of time, excludes (compare also the similar circumstance in Mar 16:19-20 ) decisively the forty days , and makes the ascension appear as if it had occurred on the day of the resurrection. Comp.Zeller, Apostelgesch . p. 77 f.; Schleiermacher, L. J. p. 463. The usual naive assumption is nothing else than an arbitrary attempt at harmonizing: , Euthymius Zigabenus. Comp. Theophylact, Kuinoel, Ebrard, and many others, including Gebhardt, Auferst. Chr . p. 51 f. Luke himself could neither wish to leave the reader to guess this, nor could the reader guess it. That Luke also in other places goes on with without any definite connection (in discourses: Luk 16:1 , Luk 17:1 , Luk 18:1 , Luk 20:41 ; in events: Luk 20:27 ; Luk 20:41 ; Luk 20:45 , Luk 21:1 ; de Wette, comp. Ebrard) in such an extension as this (according to de Wette, he forgot in Luk 24:50 to specify the late date), is an entirely erroneous supposition. There remains nothing else than the exegetic result that a twofold tradition had grown up to wit (1) that Jesus, even on the day of the resurrection , ascended into heaven (Mar 16 , Luke in the Gospel); and (2) that after His resurrection He abode still for a series of days (according to the Acts of the Apostles, forty days) upon the earth (Matthew, John). Luke in the Gospel followed the former tradition, but in the Acts the latter . Hence we may infer in regard to the latter account, either that he did not learn it until after the compiling of his Gospel, or, which is more probable, that he adopted it as the correct account. As to the variation in the traditions regarding the locality of the appearances of the risen Lord, see on Mat 28:10 .

] with verbs compounded with ; see Lobeck, ad Aj . p. 334, ad Phryn . p. 10; Bornemann, Schol . p. 166.

.] as far as to Bethany , not necessarily into the village itself, but (comp. Mat 21:1 ) as far as to the part of the Mount of Olives where it enters into Bethany. Comp. Act 1:12 .

. ] the gesture of blessing, Lev 9:22 .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1593
THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST

Luk 24:50-53. And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

AMIDST the various proofs given by our Lord to his Disciples respecting his Messiahship, there was one of pre-eminent authority, namely, the ascending up to heaven in their immediate presence. He had not risen in their presence, because his frequent appearances to them for the space of forty days after his resurrection would be a sufficient evidence to them that he had risen: but if, in his ascent to heaven, he had withdrawn privately, they would not have known whither he was gone; since they could not go up thither to obtain a personal interview with him, or to ascertain the truth of his ascension. Hence our blessed Lord, having accomplished all that was necessary to be done on earth, led them out to Mount Olivet, and went up from the midst of them to heaven, giving them ocular demonstration that his removal from them was such as he had taught them to expect: I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father [Note: Joh 16:28.].

In the account here given us by St. Luke, we notice two things;

I.

Our Lords departure from his Disciples

Having loved his own, he loved them to the end; and expressed his love to them most particularly in the very instant of his departure: He lifted up his hands, and blessed them: and it was in this very act that he was taken up from them; While he blessed them, he was parted from them. Now his removal in the midst of this act ought not to be passed over as a mere accidental and uninteresting occurrence; it surely may be considered as intimating to us,

1.

What was his object in coming into the world

[We are told by St. Peter, that God sent him to bless us [Note: Act 3:26.]. Man was cursed, as a transgressor of Gods law: nor could he, by any means, remove the curse or obtain any blessing whatever. Sin interposed an insurmountable obstacle in his way. But Jesus undertook to remove this obstacle: to expiate the guilt of sin by the sacrifice of himself, and thus to open a way for mans reconciliation with his offended God. This sacrifice he had now offered, and had finished the work which God had given him to do. Now therefore he authoritatively pronounced his Disciples blessed: blessed, as believing in his name; blessed, as interested in his death; blessed, as committed to his protection; and blessed, as fellow-heirs of his glory. Just as the high-priest, after offering his sacrifice, was to bless the people [Note: Lev 9:22.], so now Jesus intimated that the end of his incarnation was accomplished, and that, as our Great High-priest, he was empowered to bless his people with all spiritual and eternal blessings [Note: Gen 14:18-20.].]

2.

What should be his occupation when he was departed from it

[He was not now going to relinquish their concerns: on the contrary, he would still be as mindful of them as ever. He was going to heaven upon their business; as their forerunner, to prepare places for them; to make continual intercession for them; to take on himself the management of the universe for them; and to receive a fulness of all gifts and graces for them, that they might receive out of it according to their several necessities. His removal, though it interrupted the sight of his person, and the hearing of his voice, should not interrupt the communication of his blessings: He would still load his Disciples with the richest blessings, and not them only, but also all who should believe in him through their word: and, if we now look to him with the eye of faith, we may behold him, as it were, at this very instant occupied as he was at the moment of his departure from the world: he is still blessing, blessing, blessing his believing people: having received gifts for men, he is daily and hourly bestowing them, even on the most rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell among them [Note: Psa 68:18.]: yea, he will yet further extend his favours to the remotest corners of the earth: for in him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed [Note: Gen 12:3. Psa 72:17.].]

If we look only to the past history, we shall be surprised at,

II.

The effect it produced upon them

When our Lord had told them of his intended departure, they were filled with sorrow; but now that he was really gone, they were altogether as full of joy: but they were now better instructed in the nature of his kingdom than they had been before. Indeed even to the last they retained some expectation of a temporal kingdom [Note: Act 1:6-7.]: but his departure from them effectually dissipated that delusion; and taught them to look up to him for far higher blessings.

Now the effect which was produced in them by the sight of his ascension, ought equally to be wrought in us by the recollection of it; and I shall have addressed you to no purpose, if you do not depart from this place with a measure of those very feelings with which the Apostles were impressed on this occasion. I call upon you therefore now,

1.

To adore him

[He is worthy of all adoration: nor can we doubt but that the worship paid to him by his Disciples, was such as they paid to Jehovah himself. The prayer which they almost immediately afterwards offered up to heaven for the appointment of a successor to Judas, was addressed to Him [Note: Act 1:24.], just as Stephens afterwards was, at the very time that he beheld the Father himself sitting on his throne [Note: Act 7:59-60.]. Let us then adore Him as our incarnate God: and remember that, in so doing, we most truly and acceptably serve our heavenly Father [Note: Joh 5:22-23. Php 2:9-14.].]

2.

To rejoice in him

[Who can contemplate Him seated on his throne of glory, and constituted Head over all things to his Church, and not rejoice in him? We are commanded to rejoice in him always [Note: Php 4:4.]: such joy is the characteristic mark of all his people [Note: Php 3:3.]: and it ought to he as elevated and as fervent, as our feeble nature will admit of [Note: 1Pe 1:8.]. If the Apostles, notwithstanding they were bereft of his bodily presence, and were as yet but partially acquainted with the benefits that were to result from his ascension, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, much more should we, to whom the full extent of those benefits is opened, rejoice with exceeding great joy. Let Israel then rejoice in him that made him and redeemed him; let the children of Zion be joyful in their King [Note: Psa 149:2.].]

3.

To consecrate ourselves to him

[The Apostles from this time appear to have given themselves up wholly to the exercises of devotion. This was right in their peculiar circumstances; but was not intended as a precedent for us. We have civil and social duties that call for our attention, and which must on no account be neglected. Yet, as far as relates to the affections of the soul, we must consecrate ourselves as entirely to God as they. We should be sanctified wholly to the Lord, in body, soul, and spirit [Note: 1Th 5:23.]. He has bought us with a price; therefore we should glorify him with our bodies and our spirits, which are his [Note: 1Co 6:20.]. Let us then serve him in his temple at the appointed seasons of public worship; and let us serve him in our closets, where no eye seeth us but his.]

4.

To wait for the accomplishment of all his promises

[Our Lord had promised to his Disciples, that they should in the space of a few days be baptized with the Holy Ghost; and had told them to wait at Jerusalem for that gift [Note: ver. 49 and Act 1:4-5.]. At Jerusalem therefore they waited in expectation of the promised blessing. And have we no promises to be fulfilled to us? Has he not given us exceeding great and precious promises, comprehending every thing that we can desire for body or for soul, for time or for eternity? Let us then wait for the accomplishment of them to our souls. In due time Jesus will come again from heaven in like manner as he went to heaven: and then will that last promise be fulfilled, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. O that in the mean time he may find us with our loins girt, and our lamps trimmed, and ourselves as those who wait for the coming of their Lord!]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

“And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. (51) And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. (52) And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: (53) And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.”

The Evangelist hath made a long step, from this first day of Christ’s resurrection, to the day of his ascension, which this paragraph relates. Luke himself, who was the writer of this Gospel; was the writer also of the Acts of the Apostles. And in the opening of the records there, he speaks of Jesus having shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Act 1:3 . But the Evangelist takes no notice in his Gospel of any further appearance of Christ during those forty days after his resurrection, beside those we have gone through, but at once proceeds to record the particulars of his ascension.

He led them as far as Bethany. If the town of Bethany, where Lazarus and his sisters dwelt, be meant, that place was very memorable to Jesus; and numberless instances of past events were upon Jesus’s mind. And if, as some have thought, there was a little mount so called close to the Mount of Olives, the garden of Gethsemane was at the foot of it, and still more interesting scenes then opened to the Lord. See Mar 11:1 . I do not venture to decide, but I merely direct the Reader to that memorable prophecy of Zechariah, Zec 14:4 . whether this prediction referred to this great event? I think it might. But I also think, there may be a day yet to be seen, when it will be more fully realized. Job 19:25 .

I have only in the close of Luke’s Gospel, and in this most interesting scene of our Lord’s ascension, to beg the Reader to observe the several sweet and precious things here recorded. The farewell of Jesus! How affectionate and how tender! He was now going to his Church above, The Abrahams, and the Isaacs, and the Jacobs, waited and longed for his coming. But amidst all this, Jesus’s heart was still with his redeemed below. He said himself, I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. Joh 14:18 . Precious Lord! Sure I am from this proof, if there were no other, (and there are thousands,) thy Church on earth is as dear to thee as thy Church in heaven.

There is somewhat very gracious, that Jesus, while in the act of blessing his Church, should be parted from them, and carried up into heaven. Yes! this was not without significancy. The blessing of Jesus is continued. It is one great whole. There is no interruption. The Jewish High Priest typified Christ in the lifting up of his hands. He, however, prayed for it. Jesus commanded it. Our Great High Priest ascended therefore, while blessing, as if to say that his blessing is forever. And, as in the instance of Manoah, Christ ascended in the fragrancy of his own incense. Jdg 13:20 .

The joy of the Apostles forms a blessed conclusion to this most precious Gospel of Luke. They worshipped him as God. They had now sweet and precious views, since Jesus opened their understanding, to the apprehension of the Person, Work, Offices, Character, and Relation of the Lord, Jesus; and were now only waiting the Ordination of God the Holy Ghost, as promised, to send them forth in the ministry. They waited therefore daily in the temple for this blessing, praising and adoring the Lord. And the Evangelist hath put an Amen to the whore, as one of the precious names of Jesus, in confirmation of the glorious record. Amen. Reader! can You and I, from a conscious interest in the saving truths, put to it our Amen, as our Jesus? Isa 65:16 ; Rev 3:14 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

Ver. 50. As far as to Bethany ] Where his three dear friends dwelt, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. From hence he went to his cross, and from hence he would go to his crown.

He lift up his hands ] As a good householder; or rather as the high priest of the New Testament: benedixit, id est, valedixit, he blessed them, and so bade them farewell.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

50. ] The Ascension appears to be related as taking place after the above words were spoken but there is an uncertainty and want of specification about the narrative, which forbids us to conclude that it is intended as following immediately upon them. This however can only be said as taking the other Gospels and Act 1 into account: if we had none but the Gospel of Luke we should certainly say that the Lord ascended after the appearance to the Apostles and others on the evening of the day of His resurrection .

. [ ], i.e. probably, after the words just occurring, outside Jerusalem , as in ref. Mark: but the might only apply to the house in which they were, see the other reff., and Mat 26:75 .

. ] Not quite to the village itself, but over the brow of the Mount of Olives where it descends on Bethany: see Act 1:12 . (The synonymousness of these two expressions may shew that the same is meant, when, Mar 11:11 , our Lord is said to have gone out at night to Bethany , and, Luk 21:37 , to the Mount of Olives .)

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Luk 24:50-53 . Farewell ! ( cf. Mar 16:19-20 , Act 1:9-12 ).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Luk 24:50 . : does this imply that Jesus walked through the streets of Jerusalem towards Bethany visible to all? Assuming that it does, some ( e.g. , Holtz. in H. C.) find here a contradiction of the statement in Act 10:41 that Jesus was manifested after His resurrection only to chosen witnesses. : the best MSS. leave this out, and it seems superfluous after .; but such repetitions of the preposition are by no means uncommon in Greek (examples in Bornemann). ( T.R.): this reading adopted by the revisers they render: “until they were over against,” which brings the indication of place into harmony with that in Act 1:12 . Possibly harmonistic considerations influenced transcription, leading, e.g. , to the adoption of instead of (in [208] [209] [210] , etc.). Bethany lay on the eastern slope of Olivet, about a mile beyond the summit.

[208] Codex Alexandrinus of the fifth century, a chief representative of the “Syrian” text, that is, the revised text formed by judicious eclectic use of all existing texts, and meant to be the authoritative New Testament.

[209] Codex Ephraemi

[210] cod. Monacensis. 9th or 10th century (fragments of all the Gospels).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Luke

THE TRIUMPHANT END

THE ASCENSION

Luk 24:50 – Luk 24:51 . – Act 1:9 .

Two of the four Evangelists, viz., Matthew and John, have no record of the Ascension. But the argument which infers ignorance from silence, which is always rash, is entirely discredited in this case. It is impossible to believe that Matthew, who wrote as the last word of his gospel the great words, ‘All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth . . . lo! I am with you alway. . ..’ was ignorant of the fact which alone makes these words credible. And it is equally impossible to believe that the Evangelist who recorded the tender saying to Mary, ‘Go to My brethren, and say unto them I ascend to My Father, and your Father,’ was ignorant of its fulfilment. The explanation of the silence is to be sought in a quite different direction. It comes from the fact that to the Evangelists, rightly, the Ascension was but the prolongation and the culmination of the Resurrection. That being recorded, there was no need for the definite record of this.

There is another singular point about these records, viz., that Luke has two accounts, one in the end of his gospel, one in the beginning of Acts; and that these two accounts are obviously different. The differences have been laid hold of as a weapon with which to attack the veracity of both accounts. But there again a little consideration clears the path. The very places in which they respectively occur might have solved the difficulty, for the one is at the end of a book, and the other is at the beginning of a book; and so, naturally, the one regards the Ascension as the end of the earthly life, and the other as the beginning of the heavenly. The one is all suffused with evening light; the other is radiant with the promise of a new day. The one is the record of a tender farewell, in the other the sense of parting has almost been absorbed in the forward look to the new phase of relationship which is to begin. If Luke had been a secular biographer, the critics would have been full of admiration at the delicacy of his touch, and the fineness of keeping in the two narratives, the picture being the same in both, and the scheme of colouring being different. But as he is only an Evangelist, they fall foul of him for his ‘discrepancies.’ It is worth our while to take both his points of view.

But there is another thing to be remembered, that, as the appendix of his account of the Ascension in the book of the Acts, Luke tells us of the angel’s message;-’This same Jesus . . . shall . . . return.’ So there are three points of view which have to be combined in order to get the whole significance of that mighty fact: the Ascension as an end; the Ascension as a beginning; the Ascension as the pledge of the return. Now take these three points.

I. We have the aspect of the Ascension as an end.

The narrative in Luke’s gospel, in its very brevity, does yet distinctly suggest that retrospective and valedictory tone. Note how, for instance, we are told the locality-’He led them out as far as Bethany.’ The name at once strikes a chord of remembrance. What memories clustered round it, and how natural it was that the parting should take place there, not merely because the crest of the Mount of Olives hid the place from the gaze of the crowded city; but because it was within earshot almost of the home where so much of the sweet earthly fellowship, that was now to end, had passed. The same note of regarding the scene as being the termination of those blessed years of dear and familiar intercourse is struck in the fact, so human, so natural, so utterly inartificial, that He lifted His hands to bless them, moved by the same impulse with which so often we have wrung a hand at parting, and stammered, ‘God bless you!’ And the same valedictory hue is further deepened by the fact that what Luke puts first is not the Ascension, but the parting. ‘He was parted from them,’ that is the main fact; ‘and He was carried up into heaven,’ comes almost as a subordinate one. At all events it is regarded mainly as being the medium by which the parting was effected.

So the aspect of the Ascension thus presented is that of a tender farewell; the pathetic conclusion of three long, blessed years. And yet that is not all, for the Evangelist adds a very enigmatic word: ‘They returned to Jerusalem with great joy.’ Glad because He had gone? No. Glad merely because He had gone up? No. The saying is a riddle, left at the end of the book, for readers to ponder, and is a subtle link of connection with what is to be written in the next volume, when the aspect of the Ascension as an end is subordinate, and its aspect as a beginning is prominent. So regarded, it filled the disciples with joy. Thus you see, I think, that without any illegitimate straining of the expressions of the text, we do come to the point of view from which, to begin with, this great event must be looked at. We have to take the same view, and to regard that Ascension not only as the end of an epoch of sweet friendship, but as the solemn close and culmination of the whole earthly life. I have no time to dwell upon the thoughts that come crowding into one’s mind when we take that point of view. But let me suggest, in the briefest way, one or two of them.

Here is an end which circles round to, and is of a piece with, the beginning. ‘I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father.’ The Ascension corresponds with, and meets the miracle of, the Incarnation. And as the Word who became flesh, came by the natural path of human birth, and entered in through the gate by which we all enter, and yet came as none else has come, by His own will, in the miracle of His Incarnation, so at the end, He passed out from life through the gate by which we all pass, and ‘was obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross,’ and yet He passed likewise on a path which none but Himself has trod, and ascended up to heaven, whence He had descended to earth. He came into the world, not as leaving the Father, for He is ‘the Son of Man which is in heaven,’ and He ascended up on high, not as leaving us, for He is ‘with us alway, even to the end of the world.’ Thus the Incarnation and the Ascension support each other.

But let me remind you how, in this connection, we have the very same combination of lowliness and gentleness with majesty and power which runs through the whole of the story of the earthly life of Jesus Christ. Born in a stable, and waited on by angels, the subject of all the humiliations of humanity, and flashing forth through them all the power of divinity, He ascends on high at last, and yet with no pomp nor visible splendour to the world, but only in the presence of a handful of loving hearts, choosing some dimple of the hill where its folds hid them from the city. As He came quietly and silently into the world, so quietly and silently He passed thence. In this connection there is more than the picturesque contrast between the rapture of Elijah, with its whirlwind, and chariot of fire and horses of fire, and the calm, slow rising, by no external medium raised, of the Christ. It was fit that the mortal should be swept up into the unfamiliar heaven by the pomp of angels and the chariot of fire. It was fit that when Jesus ascended to His ‘own calm home, His habitation from eternity,’ there should be nothing visible but His own slowly rising form, with the hands uplifted, to shed benediction on the heads of the gazers beneath.

In like manner, regarding the Ascension as an end, may we not say that it is the seal of heaven impressed on the sacrifice of the Cross? ‘Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name, which is above every name; that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow.’ We find in that intimate connection between the Cross and the Ascension, the key to the deep saying which carries references to both in itself, when the Lord spoke of Himself as being lifted up and drawing all men unto Him. The original primary reference no doubt was to His elevation on the Cross, ‘as Moses lifted up the serpent.’ But the final, and at the time of its being spoken, the mysterious, reference was to the fact that in descending to the depth of humiliation He was rising to the height of glory. The zenith of the Ascension is the rebound from the nadir of the Cross. The lowliness of the stoop measures the loftiness of the elevation, and the Son of Man was glorified at the moment when the Son of Man was most profoundly abased. The Cross and the Ascension, if I might use so violent a figure, are like the twin stars, of which the heavens present some examples, one dark and lustreless, one flashing with radiancy of light, but knit together by an invisible vinculum, and revolving round a common centre. When He ‘parted from them, and was carried up into heaven,’ He ended the humiliation which caused the elevation.

And then, again, I might suggest that, regarded in its aspect as an end, this Ascension is also the culmination and the natural conclusion of the Resurrection. As I have said, the Scripture point of view with reference to these two is not that they are two, but that the one is the starting point of the line of which the other is the goal. The process which began when He rose from the dead, whatever view we may take of the condition of His earthly life during the forty days of parenthesis, could have no rational and intelligible ending, except the Ascension. Thus we should think of it not only as the end of a sweet friendship, but as the end of the gracious manifestation of the earthly life, the counterpart of the Incarnation and descent to earth, the end of the Cross and the culmination of the Resurrection. The Son of Man, the same that also descended into the lowest parts of the earth, ascended up where He was before.

Now let us turn to the other aspect which the Evangelist gives, when He ceases to be an Evangelist, and becomes a Church Historian. Then he considers

II. The Ascension as a beginning.

The place which it holds in the Acts of the Apostles explains the point of view from which it is to be regarded. It is the foundation of everything that the writer has afterwards to say. It is the basis of the Church. It is the ground of all the activity which Christ’s servants put forth. Not only its place explains this aspect of it, but the very first words of the book itself do the same. ‘The former treatise have I made . . . of all that Jesus began both to do and teach’-and now I am to tell you of an Ascension, and of all that Jesus continued to do and teach. So that the book is the history of the work of the Lord, who was able to do that work, just because He had ascended up on high. The same impression is produced if we ponder the conversation which precedes the account of the Ascension in the book of Acts, which, though it touches the same topics as are touched by the words that precede the account in the Gospel, yet presents them in a different aspect, and suggests the endowments with which the Christian community is to be invested, and the work which therefore it is to do, in consequence of the Ascension of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter had caught that thought when, on the day of Pentecost, he said, ‘He, being exalted to the right hand of the Father, hath shed forth this which ye see and hear,’ and throughout the whole book the same point of view is kept up. ‘The work that is done upon earth He doeth it all Himself.’

So there is in this narrative nothing about parting, there is nothing about blessing. There is simply the ascending up and the significant addition of the reception into the cloud, which, whilst He was yet plainly visible, and not dwindled by distance into a speck, received Him out of their sight. The cloud was the symbol of the Divine Presence, which had hung over the Tabernacle, which had sat between the cherubim, which had wrapped the shepherds and the angels on the hillside, which had come down in its brightness on the Mount of Transfiguration, and which now, as the symbol of the Divine Presence, received the ascending Lord, in token to the men that stood gazing up into heaven, that He had passed to the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Thus we have to think of that Ascension as being the groundwork and foundation of all the world-wide and age-long energy which the living Christ is exercising to-day. As one of the other Evangelists, or at least, the appendix to his gospel, puts it, He ascended up on high, and ‘they went everywhere preaching the word, the Lord also working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.’ It is the ascended Christ who sends the Spirit upon men; it is the ascended Christ who opens men’s hearts to hear; it is the ascended Christ who sends forth His messengers to the Gentiles; it is the ascended Christ who, to-day, is the energy of all the Church’s powers, the whiteness of all the Church’s purity, the vitality of all the Church’s life. He lives, and therefore, there is a Christian community on the face of the earth. He lives, and therefore it will never die.

So we, too, have to look to that risen Lord as being the power by which alone any of us can do either great or small work in His Church. That Ascension is symbolically put as being to ‘the right hand of God.’ What is the right hand of God? The divine omnipotence. Where is it? Everywhere. What does sitting at the right hand of God mean? Wielding the powers of omnipotence. And so He says, ‘All power is given unto Me’; and He is working a work to-day, wider in its aspects than, though it be the application and consequence of, the work upon the Cross. He cried there, ‘It is finished!’ but ‘the work of the ascended Jesus’ will never be finished until ‘the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ.’

There are other aspects of His work in heaven which space will not allow me to dwell upon, though I cannot but mention them. By the Ascension Christ begins to prepare a place for us. How could any of us stand in the presence of that eternal Light if He were not there? We should be like some savage or rustic swept up suddenly and put down in the middle of the glittering ring of courtiers round a throne, unless we could lift our eyes and recognise a known and loving face there. Where Christ is, I can be. He has taken one human nature up into the Glory, and other human natures will therefore find in it a home.

The ascended Christ, to use the symbolism which one of the New Testament writers employs for illustration of a thought far greater than the symbol-has like a High Priest passed within the veil, ‘there to appear in the presence of God for us.’ And the intercession which is far more than petition, and is the whole action of that dear Lord who identifies as with Himself, and whose mighty work is ever present before the divine mind as an element in His dealings, that intercession is being carried on for ever for us all. So, ‘set your affection on things above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.’ So, expect His help in your work, and do the work which He has left you to carry on here. So, face death and the dim kingdoms beyond, without quiver and without doubt, assured that where the treasure is, there the heart will be also; and that where the Master is, there the servants who follow in His steps will be also at last.

And now there is the third aspect here of

III. The Ascension as being the pledge of the return.

The two men in white apparel that stood by gently rebuked the gazers for gazing into heaven. They would not have rebuked them for gazing, if they could have seen Him, but to look into the empty heaven was useless. And they added the reason why the heavens need not be looked at, as long as there is the earth to stand on: ‘For this same Jesus whom ye have seen go into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go.’ Note the emphatic declaration of identity; ‘this same Jesus.’ Note the use of the simple human name; ‘this same Jesus ,’ and recall the thoughts that cluster round it, of the ascended humanity, and the perpetual humanity of the ascended Lord, ‘the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever,’ Note also the strong assertion, of visible, corporeal return: ‘Shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go.’ That return is no metaphor, no mere piece of rhetoric, it is not to be eviscerated of its contents by being taken as a synonym for the diffusion of His influence all over a regenerated race, but it points to the return of the Man Jesus locally, corporeally, visibly. ‘We believe that Thou shalt come to be our Judge’; we believe that Thou wilt come to take Thy servants home.

The world has not seen the last of Jesus Christ. Such an Ascension, after such a life, cannot be the end of Him. ‘As it is appointed unto all men once to die, and after death the Judgment, so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear the second time, without sin unto salvation.’ As inevitably as for sinful human nature judgment follows death, so inevitably for the sinless Man, who is the sacrifice for the world’s sins, His judicial return will follow His atoning work, and He will come again, having received the Kingdom, to take account of His servants, and to perfect their possession of the salvation which by His Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension, He wrought for the world.

Therefore, brethren, one sweet face, and one great fact-the face of the Christ, the fact of the Cross-should fill the past. One sweet face, one great fact-the face of the Christ, the fact of His Presence with us all the days-should fill the present. One regal face, one great hope, should fill the future; the face of the King that sitteth upon the throne, the hope that He will come again, and ‘so we shall be ever with the Lord.’

END OF VOL. II.

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 24:50-53

50And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53and were continually in the temple praising God.

Luk 24:50 “Bethany” Lazarus’ home was about one and one half miles from Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives which was the extension of the same ridge.

“lifted up His hands” This was the normal position of Jewish prayer, but here it is probably a priestly gesture (cf. Lev 9:22).

“blessed them” The prayer is not recorded (but Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17 is).

Luk 24:51 “was carried up into heaven” The other Gospels tell us “in a cloud,” which was the transportation of deity (cf. Dan 7:13).

This phrase is omitted in MSS *, D, and some Old Latin and Syrian versions. However, the phrase which mentions the ascension is referred to in Act 1:2. It is present in P75, cf8 i2, A, B, D, K, L, W, and X. The UBS4 ranks its inclusion as “B” (almost certain).

Jesus’ ascension is His return to pre-existent glory (cf. Joh 17:5). He is honored for His accomplished task. See Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, 2nd ed., pp. 796-797. See SPECIAL TOPIC: THE ASCENSION at Luk 9:51.

Luk 24:52 “after worshiping Him” This is another phrase present in all of the ancient Greek texts except D and some Old Latin manuscripts. This chapter has the largest number of these so-called “Western non-interpolations” by Westcott and Hort (Luke 24:24:3,6,9,12,36,40,52,53). These textual critics believed that the Alexandrian family of Greek manuscripts (i.e., MSS P46,66,72,75, , B, A, C, Q, T, 0220) was closer to the original than the other families of manuscripts except in twenty-seven shorter readings found in the Western family (i.e., MSS P37,38,48,69, 0171, O).

“with great joy” Luke’s Gospel emphasizes “joy” (cf. Luk 1:14; Luk 2:10; Luk 8:13; Luk 10:17; Luk 15:7; Luk 15:10; Luk 24:41; Luk 24:52). This is so different from their reaction in Luk 24:37-38.

Luk 24:53 “in the temple” These were still Jewish people. Their meeting place was not place large enough to accommodate the believing disciples.

The liturgical “Amen” is added by MSS A, B, C2, but is not present in MSS P75, , C*, D, L, W. The UBS4 gives its exclusion an “A” rating (certain).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

He led, &c. At the end of the forty days (Act 1:3-12).

as far as to. Until they were at, or opposite to.

Bethany. Now el’Azariyeh.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

50.] The Ascension appears to be related as taking place after the above words were spoken-but there is an uncertainty and want of specification about the narrative, which forbids us to conclude that it is intended as following immediately upon them. This however can only be said as taking the other Gospels and Acts 1 into account:-if we had none but the Gospel of Luke we should certainly say that the Lord ascended after the appearance to the Apostles and others on the evening of the day of His resurrection.

. [], i.e. probably, after the words just occurring, outside Jerusalem, as in ref. Mark: but the might only apply to the house in which they were, see the other reff., and Mat 26:75.

.] Not quite to the village itself, but over the brow of the Mount of Olives where it descends on Bethany: see Act 1:12. (The synonymousness of these two expressions may shew that the same is meant, when, Mar 11:11, our Lord is said to have gone out at night to Bethany, and, Luk 21:37, to the Mount of Olives.)

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Luk 24:50. [ , and He led them forth) Mark and Luke make express mention of the Ascension in its own proper place; John (ch. Joh 20:17), as also Matthew (ch. Mat 28:18; Mat 28:20), only in passing. He who believes the Resurrection of Christ, must, as a consequence, believe all things that follow upon it. Therefore the Gospel History strictly reaches in its extent up to the Resurrection: Act 1:22 (Beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day that He was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of His resurrection); Rom 10:9 [If thou-shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved].-Harm., p. 613.]-, out) to that place, where He suffered. [A remarkable place was the Mount of Olives, Act 1:12, and Bethany especially so, in respect of all those things which are recorded in Joh 11:1, et seqq. (as to the raising of Lazarus), Luk 12:1, et seqq. (the anointing at Bethany); Luk 19:29, et seqq. (the royal entry into Jerusalem from Bethany); Mat 21:17 (His lodging at Bethany during Passion week), Luk 24:3 (His prophecy on the Mount of Olives as to the end of Jerusalem and of the world): Luk 22:39 (His agony in Gethsemane, which is at the side of Olivet). Comp. Zec 14:4.[275]-Harm., p. 612.]-) towards.-, having lifted up) The gesture of one in the act of praying or pronouncing a blessing. He did not now any more lay on them His hands. Comp. Joh 20:22, note. [After His resurrection He did not touch mortals, although He allowed Himself to be handled by His disciples. He breathed on them.]-, He blessed, them) This benediction appertains to all believers; for the Eleven, and those who were with them, were at the time the representatives of these.

[275] His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives. From which it appears the same mount is to be the scene of His return, as of His Ascension. Comp. Act 1:11.-E. and T.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Luk 24:50-53

5. THE ASCENSION

Luke 24:50-53

50 And he led them out until-The risen Lord “led his disciples out” until they came to a point on the Mount of Olives which was over against or opposite Bethany Bethany was in sight. He “led” them by going before them and their following him; he had frequently visited this place with them; he was now on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. He had recalled Lazarus to life near this place it was here that the prophet of old had seen him coming. (Zec 14:4.) Mar 16:19-20 gives a parallel record of this event Luke relates more fully here and in Act 1:9-12 what Mark briefly states. Here Luke takes no account of the forty days through which the risen Lord met frequently his disciples and spoke to them many things concerning the kingdom of God. Luke passes over the appearances of Jesus to the eleven, when Thomas was present (Joh 20:24-29); also his appearance in Galilee to seven of his disciples (Joh 21:1-24), and again to above five hundred (Mat 28:16-20; 1Co 15:6), the appearance to James (1Co 15:7), and then to all the apostles (Act 1:3-8). As he lifted up his hands he “blessed” his disciples; and as he was in the act of blessing them, he disappeared out of their sight. The last vision that they get of him is as he is in the act of blessing them; he came to earth to save man, and he leaves the earth as he blesses his followers.

51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them,-While the risen Lord was blessing his little faithful group of disciples, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. The simplicity and dignity with which Luke describes this great event are impressive; there is no speculation about how the body of Jesus could go up;lie simply says that “he parted from them.” “He parted from them” and was seen rising till a cloud received him from the view of their strained eyes; they can think of him henceforth only as having gone into the heavens.

“Lift up your heads, O ye gates;

And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors

And the King of glory will come in.

Who is the King of glory?

Jehovah strong and mighty,

Jehovah mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates;

Yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors

And the King of glory will come in.

Who is the King of glory?

Jehovah of hosts,

He is the King of glory.”

(Psalm 24:7-10.)

52, 53 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem -The risen Lord remained on earth “by the space of forty days” (Act 1:3), after his resurrection, before he ascended. His repeated appearances during the forty days had comforted his disciples, cleared this spiritual vision, reestablished and confirmed their faith, corrected their former views of his kingdom, and gave them an understanding of the scriptures pertaining to his mission to earth. Later Peter wrote: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1Pe 1:3.) This apostles now saw in the crucified but risen and ascended Lord, the Christ, the long-expected Messiah; hence they worhiped him and returned to Jerusalem in obedience to his command ,and waited for further developments. This is the first formal act of adoration which we ever read of the disciples’ paying to our Lord; their knowledge of his Messiahship and divinity was now clear and distinct; hence, the “great joy” which they had as they returned to Jerusalem. The darkness was past and the true light was now shining upon them. (1Jn 2:8.) Their worship continued; they went to the temple as was the custom and there blessed God. The temple was a place for all pious Jews in Jerusalem; in its spacious courts all sorts of worshipers met daily without interruption, or interference with one another. Even later, when the church was established, “every day, in the temple and at home, they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus as the Christ.” (Act 5:42.) It seems to have been such an established custom for all pious Jews to assemble in the temple that the apostles could even preach the gospel there.

Luke began his account of the earthly life of Jesus by describing a scene in the temple when Zacharias had his vision and now he leaves us in his narrative in the temple with the disciples worshiping God-so he ends his narrative as he begins it by a scene in the temple at Jerusalem.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Chapter 63

His Nail Pierced Hands

Once every year, on the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament, the high priest would lay aside his glorious apparel and put on a common white robe and linen trousers, identifying himself with the common people. He would take the lamb appointed for sacrifice and slay it. He would go alone into the holy of holies with the blood of the lamb. There he would sprinkle the sacrificial blood upon the mercy-seat, which covered the ark of the covenant.

That atoning sacrifice God required once every year for propitiation, so that the sins of the nation might be covered. Then, the high priest would put on his gorgeous garments again, the robes of fine linen, scarlet, and blue, with the sweet-sounding bells and pomegranates. He would put on his glittering breastplate and place the mitre on his head.

He would come out in that gorgeous apparel as Gods high priest, lift up his hands, and bless the people of God in words like these The Lord bless thee and keep thee: the Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace (Num 6:24-26).

Type Fulfilled

That elaborate ceremony was ordained of God to typify the work of Christ, that One who was to come who would be both the true Sacrifice and the true High Priest over the household of faith. We see that type beautifully fulfilled in Luk 24:50-53.

Here we see the Lord Jesus Christ lifting up his hands as our glorious High Priest and blessing his people. Our Saviour had for a while laid aside his robe of glory and splendour, and veiled himself in human flesh. He offered himself, body, soul, and spirit, as a propitiatory, sin-atoning sacrifice to God. By his own blood he entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us (Heb 9:12). And now our great High Priest, just as he was ascending into heaven, lifted up his hands to bless his people. And he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. Let us now, as we conclude our study of Lukes Gospel, focus our minds and our hearts on his nail pierced hands.

Having spoiled the grave, our Lord proved his power over things that are under the earth. Tarrying for forty days among men after his resurrection, he claimed his power over the earth itself. Then he ascended up through the air to show that the dominion of the prince of the power of the air was broken. Finally, the Son of God entered again into the heaven of heavens, claiming his throne of total and universal sovereignty as our blessed God-man Mediator. From the lowest depths of the grave to the highest realms of glory, Jesus Christ reigns supreme over the vast domains, King of kings and Lord of lords.

His Reasons

Our Lord Jesus might have gone straight to heaven on the morning of his resurrection; but he had reasons for tarrying on the earth for forty days. I want to briefly point out some of the reasons why our Lord remained here for forty days after his resurrection. In the days of Noah the waters of Gods judgment overflowed the earth for forty days. Our Saviour was in the wilderness for forty days, where he was tempted of the devil. And now the victorious Christ tarries for forty days of triumph in the very place where he had fought the battle and won the victory. But why did he tarry here for those forty days?

Those forty days were sufficient to prove to all mankind that he had truly risen from the dead. He came forth from the grave, not as some sort of phantom or ghost, but as a real man of flesh and bones. During this time, our Lord removed every lingering doubt from the minds of his disciples. He said, Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have (Luk 24:39).

Again, he tarried here those forty days, because those instructions he had given to his disciples before his death needed a few finishing touches. He had yet many things to tell them, which they could not have understood before his death and resurrection. But, primarily, our Lord Jesus tarried here for forty days so that he might issue the commission his church must follow so long as the world stands.

He said to Peter, Feed my sheep Feed my lambs. He commanded them all saying, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. He would not make his departure from the world until his final orders had been given. The mighty Captain of our salvation marshalled his troops, set them in their ranks, and gave them their marching orders. He commanded them to march forward into battle, and onward to victory, with this word of promise Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

Then, just as he was leaving his troops upon the earth, and going up to assume his throne, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. Can you picture the scene? There is the Son of God with his apostles and disciples gathered around him. They have come out of Jerusalem to the Mount Olivet. Behind them was Jerusalem, the city left desolate and awaiting destruction, and the place called Calvary, where forty-three days earlier he had suffered, bled, and died as our Substitute. Just ahead were Bethany, the little village where he had performed the mighty miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, and the home into which he had been so often received as a welcome Guest, the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. And just below them was the Garden of Gethsemane, where for our sakes he had wrestled with death and hell, sweating blood.

We are not told all that took place that day; but it seems reasonable to me to suppose that our Lord must have sung a hymn with his beloved disciples. I imagine that there were some final, personal words to each of the disciples. He must have assured Peter, comforted James, inspired John, and encouraged Thomas. At any rate, he gave them his farewell message. Then, he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

While he was blessing them, he broke the law of gravity and began to rise. The disciples must have been astonished. He began to rise up to heaven, slowly, majestically, until he was almost out of sight. Then, the astonished disciples saw a cloud between them and their Saviour, and the Lords body was gone. A cloud received him out of their sight. Who knows what happened beyond that cloud? It was too glorious for human eyes to see, or for human ears to hear. But I think the angels of God must have begun to sing, Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in! One cried, Who is the King of glory? Another replied, The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. And now the ascended Christ sits as a King and a Priest upon his throne.

Lifted To Bless

As he ascended, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. The hands of our Lord were lifted up to bless. Every blessing of divine grace flows to us freely from the nail pierced hands of the Son of God. Standing there upon the Mount of Olives, anticipating that glory which lay immediately before him, our Lord Jesus wanted to bless his disciples. He had opened his ministry with a proclamation of grace; and now his last act upon the earth is a benediction of grace.

These uplifted hands are the hands of our Lord and Redeemer. He said to his troubled, fearful disciples, Behold my hands. When he had showed them his hands, their hearts were comforted and filled with joy. These are the hands of our sovereign Creator, our eternal Surety, and our blessed Saviour. These hands blessed the little children, stilled the tempest, saved perishing Peter, and raised the widows son. These hands assured doubting Thomas and comforted the troubled disciples. Are you in need? Are you in trouble? Is your heart anxious, burdened, and pressed down with care? Your Saviour says, Behold my hands! His hands are lifted up to bless.

This blessing was not at all unusual. The hands of our Lord were always blessing hands. Throughout his earthly life, blessings flowed from them continually. During his earthly ministry, thousands received multiplied blessings from his hands. The four gospels are full of examples of blessings, which fell from the hands of Christ. He went about doing good. His hands scattered blessings like a farmer scatters his seed.

When our Lord lifted up his hands to bless his disciples, as he was leaving them, he was just doing what he had always done. The richest blessings we ever get from the hands of Christ are not unusual things at all, but just a continuation of his old ways. If this day the Son of God lifts up his hands to bless you, it will only be another link in the golden chain of his mercy. He has blessed us. He is blessing us. And he will continue to bless us. He is still the same.

But now Christ blessed his disciples in a somewhat different manner. He blessed them with a new authority. Before he had prayed for blessings upon them. Now he pronounces the blessing! His work of sacrifice was done. The atonement was complete. And the blessings had been purchased. Before our Saviour had looked up to heaven and asked for the blessings. Now, he looks down, as it were, from heaven and bestows the blessing, as one whose right and power it is to bless.

No one except the Lord Jesus Christ has the right, authority, and power to bless us. All who pretend to be priests (or priestly preachers) with power to bless are deceivers of mens souls. As our Saviour lifts up his hands, he seems to be saying, Look here, my children, all blessings are in these hands. These are the hands of our Daysman, the God-man Mediator.

Another thing that strikes me is the fact that the blessing of our Lords hands was a full and complete blessing. Did you notice what our Saviour said as he blessed them? Luke does not tell us that he said a word. He seems to have simply looked the blessing upon them. I can almost picture him. He stretched his arms upward and opened his hands wide, and waved them over the people. In that gesture he seems to be saying, Look, my ransomed flock, all that I have is for you. All is yours. All that you need now, and all that you ever shall need is in these hands.

Once more, the blessing of our Lords hands was a special, peculiar blessing. He lifted up his hands and blessed them. This was a special, distinguishing blessing. It was not for the world, but for his own people. The teaching of common grace is a common delusion. The blessings of Gods grace and goodness are special, family blessings reserved for the Lords chosen. Yes, our God and Saviour sends the sunshine and the rain upon the reprobate, and they receive the temporal benefit of such; but even the sunshine and the rain descend upon the earth for Gods elect. The blessings of God are for his own (Rom 8:28). Those things that men refer to as the blessings of common grace will only add to the condemnation of the wicked. Gods elect are blessed in all things (Deu 28:1-14); but the wicked and unbelieving are cursed in all things (Deu 28:15-46). Let all men know that in all things, the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel (Exo 11:7). In all things he is particularly and distinguishingly gracious to his own elect. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. He laid down his life for his sheep. Here he blessed his redeemed ones. He could not and would not withhold one blessing from those for whom he had poured out his lifes blood. As our High Priest, he had been discriminating in his prayer; and he is discriminating in his blessing (Joh 17:9; Joh 17:20).

Are we now blessed in Christ? If so, it is because we always were blessed in him (Eph 1:3-14). And we shall yet be blessed by those dear hands. There is no power in heaven, in earth, or in hell which can reverse the blessings of our Lord. He who has ascended up to heaven left us a legacy of blessings from his hands. His hands will bless us while we live, bless us when we die, and will bless us in the judgment. His hands shall wave away his enemies into everlasting fire. And his hands will beckon us to glory, saying, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Christ lifted up his hands to bless us, and we are blessed indeed!

Nail Pierced Hands

Look again at those hands of our Lord by which we are blessed. They are nail pierced hands. Can you, with your minds eye, see him rising up into heaven? I do not know what the disciples saw last. Probably each one saw some distinguishing feature in the glorified Christ which they best remembered. But I am sure that they all beheld those distinguishing marks in his hands. Those hands bore the marks of the Crucified One. We cannot mistake him. This is the One who was nailed to the tree for us. What do these nail pierced hands tell us?

Those nail pierced hands identify our Lord. They tell us who he is. As the disciples beheld those blessed hands, with the nail holes still in them, they knew that it was indeed their Lord. And, when we see our Redeemer in glory, we shall know him by the prints of the nails in his hands. Yes, even in glory, our Lord bears the marks of his crucifixion. He appears in glory as a Lamb that had been slain. These are the hands that loose the seals and open the book of Gods decrees (Rev 5:5), and fulfil all that is written in the book (Rev 10:1-3).

For another thing, those nail pierced hands show us plainly the price of that blessing which Christ bestows. They tell us what he has done. Oh, he blesses us freely and bountifully; but who can tell what those blessings of grace have cost him?

Theres neer a gift his hand bestows,

But cost his heart a groan!

Yes, we are freely blessed; but every blessing we enjoy so freely is given to us by the nail pierced hands of our Redeemer. Had he not been nailed to that tree to die in our place, we could never have been saved. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. We get everything through those nail pierced hands of our Lord. Righteousness is in those pierced hands. Redemption is in those pierced hands. Pardon is in those pierced hands. Peace is in those pierced hands.

With the touch of his nail pierced hand, the Son of God heals the sin-sick soul. Sinners cannot get any good thing, except through those nail pierced hands. These hands are the ladder which Jacob saw reaching from earth to heaven and from heaven to earth. Those nail pierced hands hold the keys of life. Those nail pierced hands open the gates of heaven. Those nail pierced hands are the only Refuge for our souls.

It is a great blessing just to look at those nail pierced hands. We would care nothing about merely seeing those hands with the mortal eye of this flesh out of curiosity. But, oh, what a blessing it is to look upon the nail pierced hands of our Redeemer with the eye of faith! Looking upon those nail pierced hands we are made to weep and mourn because of our sin. It was our sin that pierced him. Beholding his nail pierced hands we know that he has carried away all our sins, that he finished our salvation, and that we shall never perish.

By lifting up those nail pierced hands to bless his disciples, our Lord Jesus epitomized the gospel. Those hands were pierced in crucifixion so that they might be lifted up in salvation. There is the sinners Substitute going up to heaven with those nail pierced hands; and as he goes he scatters the blessing of grace upon us. The blessings of salvation could not be ours in any other way than through the nail pierced hands of our Substitute. Fall down before him and ask him to stretch over you those nail pierced hands.

Sovereigns Hands

The nail pierced hands of our Lord Jesus Christ now hold the sceptre of total and sovereign dominion. They are the hands of him who alone is the Sovereign of the universe. We look back to Calvary and see those hands pierced in our redemption. We look back at Mount Olivet and see those nail pierced hands lifted up to bless us. Now, we look up to heaven and see those nail pierced hands, which bless us, are also ruling the world for us (Joh 17:1-2; Psa 68:17-18; Rom 14:9).

The nail pierced hands of our Christ hold the sceptre of universal providence. All things were made by him; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist (Col 1:16-17). All men are in his hands. All the demons of hell are in his hands. All events are in his hands.

Hes got the whole world in his hands,

Hes got the whole wide world in his hands!

King Jesus has power and control over all things, so that he might give eternal life to all those for whom his hands were pierced. Those nail pierced hands, which bless us, rule all things for the church he redeemed with his own precious blood (Rev 1:16; Eph 1:19-23). Our Lord says, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. And in those nail-prints the Son of God reads all the names of all his people. Those hands protect us. Those hands provide for us. Those hands preserve us. Those hands will present us faultless, unblameable, and unreproveable before the presence of his glory in heaven.

In the resurrection morning we shall see the nail pierced hands of our Redeemer. What a glorious sight that will be! When Rachel held Jacobs hands, they must have appeared most precious to her. They bore the marks of his fourteen years of loving toil for her. And when we see the nail-prints in the hands of our Redeemer, we shall see the marks of his loving toil by which he redeemed us.

The nail pierced hands of our Lord Jesus Christ hold the sceptre of righteous judgment, too. Those hands will slay all his enemies. And those hands will be held up as our only plea and our only defence in that great day. Have you seen Christ? Have you seen those hands pierced to redeem, lifted up to bless, exalted to save? Him hath God exalted with his own right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and the forgiveness of sins (Act 5:31). Those nail pierced hands are able to save. They are full of forgiveness. Those nail pierced hands should compel us to worship him. They should cause us to consecrate ourselves to the glory of our Saviour. Those nail pierced hands should fill us with comfort and joy. They should inspire us with patience. Those blessed hands, those nail pierced hands will accomplish Gods eternal purpose in all things. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. May it please the Lord now to lift up his nail pierced hands to bless you, today, tomorrow and forever.

Amen.

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

as far as

until they were opposite Bethany.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

as far: Mar 11:1, Act 1:12

he lifted: Gen 14:18-20, Gen 27:4, Gen 48:9, Gen 49:28, Num 6:23-27, Mar 10:16, Heb 7:5-7

Reciprocal: Lev 9:22 – his hand Deu 33:1 – the blessing Jos 22:6 – General 1Ki 8:14 – blessed all 1Ch 16:2 – he blessed 2Ch 6:3 – blessed Mar 16:19 – he was Luk 19:29 – Bethany Joh 12:1 – Bethany Act 1:9 – when 1Co 15:7 – then Heb 7:7 – the less

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE ASCENSION

And He led them out as far as to Bethany, and He lifted up His hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.

Luk 24:50-51

Witnesses were not necessary to the act of Resurrection, but they were necessary to the act of Ascension. Why? Because, though there were no human witnesses to the act of resurrection, there were many witnesses who saw Him after He had risen from the dead. Suppose there had been no witnesses to the act of Ascension, we might have supposed Him to be still on earth. Who were the privileged ones to see Him go? His own beloved people. The Master did not show Himself at all after His Resurrection to His enemies, but to His own dear friends. In addition to this earthly witness, there were witnesses from the home to which He has gone. Let us thank God that we have such a twofold witness to the Ascension of our Lord.

I. The conduct of our Lord at the time of His Ascension harmonises with all that is written of Him before that time.While He blessed them. That was His work. He was like Himself to the end. Nothing had changed or embittered Him.

II. The Ascension is connected with the carrying out of his own work.Eph 4:8-13. He ascended that He might fill the whole world with His influence. He has left behind Him the spirit of His life. He has shed forth the power of the Holy Ghost.

III. The Ascension inspired the noblest feelings in the hearts of the Apostles (Luk 24:52).Worship, i.e., reverence, admiration, transcendent wonder. Religion more than knowledge, faith, awe, hope. How many of us content to live without the enthusiasm of love?

IV. The Ascension of Christ teaches that virtuous sufferings lead to and end in glory.The end of His suffering the beginning of His glory. Shall it not be so with his saints? Death an ascent into glorious life, rather than a descent into the grave (2Ti 2:11-12).

Illustration

In the Mosque of St. Sophia at Constantinople, in the half-dome of the apse, may be seen worked in mosaic a figure of majestic size crowned with a halo of glory and with arms uplifted as if to bless. It is the figure of the Lord Jesus Christ, for that Mosque was once a Christian Church. And that is just the picture of Ascension Day. For the service for Ascension Day is an uplifting service. It is the triumph of the Crucified. It lifts our thoughts above the dust and din and tears and blood of this world.

(SECOND OUTLINE)

GIFTS AND GRACES OF THE ASCENDED LORD

What conclusion shall we derive from a survey of the testimony of the New Testament writers to the Ascension? Two things at least seem to be clear.

I. We see that the alleged scantiness of evidence resolves itself into this, that the Church of the Apostles, like the Church of all succeeding ages, had her thoughts fixed on the gifts and graces which flow from her Ascended Lord rather than on the historical moment of His Ascension. The phenomena of Lukes Gospel may not permit us all to concur in the judgment that the Ascension did not lie within the proper scope of the Gospels, as seen in their genuine texts; but at all events we begin to perceive how profound is the observation of Dr. Hort that the true place of the Ascension record was at the head of the Acts of the Apostles, as the preparation for the Day of Pentecost, and thus the beginning of the history of the Church.

II. In the second place, the Ascension is not represented in the New Testament as an evidential marvel, whose purpose is to confound and refute the unbeliever, but as a fact of faith whose inner meaning is gradually revealed to the faithful. A historical fact, indeed, it is; the beliefs of Christians do not rest on myth or legend. But it is a historical fact whose guarantee is found at last in its relation to the whole economy of redemption, and in the response of the Christian heart to its message.

III. The veil which divides earth from heaven is only lifted for the faithful and patient soul.The evidence for the Ascension may seem insufficient, the need for a Feast of the Ascension but imaginary, because we have lost the piercing insight into the spiritual world which the first disciples had caught from their Master. The Ascension was only witnessed by Christians at the first; still it is only by Christians that it can be greeted with joy, for it is in the end a fact of faith. None the less real for that; the witness of a musician to the harmonies of a great sonata is none the less real because the dull ear of the undisciplined multitude can catch only a medley of sounds. According to the measure of our powers, the same voices may be to us a Babel of confusion or a Pentecost of harmonious rejoicing.

Dean J. H. Bernard.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

0

Mathew says nothing about the ascension; Mark merely mentions it, and our passage precedes it with the name of the location, which was Bethany, the home town of Lazarus and his sisters (Joh 11:1).

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

[As far as Bethany.] How many difficulties arise here!

I. This very evangelist (Act 1:12) tells us, that when the disciples came back from the place where our Lord ascended, “they returned from mount Olivet, distant from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey.” But now the town of Bethany was about fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem, Joh 11:18; that is, double a sabbath day’s journey.

II. Josephus tells us that the mount of Olives was but five furlongs from the city; and a sabbath day’s journey was seven furlongs and a half. “About that time there came to Jerusalem a certain Egyptian, pretending himself a prophet, and persuading the people that they would go out with him to the mount of Olives, which, being situated on the front of the city, is distant five furlongs.” These things are all true: 1. That the mount of Olives lay but five furlongs’ distance from Jerusalem. 2. That the town of Bethany was fifteen furlongs. 3. That the disciples were brought by Christ as far as Bethany. 4. That when they returned form the mount of Olives they travelled more than five furlongs. And, 5. Returning from Bethany; they travelled but a sabbath day’s journey. All which may be easily reconciled, if we would observe that the first space from the city towards this mount was called Bethphage; which I have cleared elsewhere from Talmudic authors, the evangelists themselves also confirming it. That part of that mount was known by that name to the length of about a sabbath day’s journey, till it came to that part which was called Bethany. For there was Bethany; a tract of the mount, and the town of Bethany. The town was distance from the city about fifteen furlongs, i.e., two miles, or a double sabbath day’s journey: but the first border of this tract (which also bore the name of Bethany) was distant but one mile, or a single sabbath day’s journey only.

Our Saviour led out his disciples, when he was about to ascend, to the very first brink of that region or tract of mount Olivet which was called Bethany; and was distant from the city a sabbath day’s journey. And so far from the city itself did that tract extend which was called Bethphage; and when he was come to that place where the bounds of Bethphage and Bethany met and touched one another, he there ascended; in that very place where he got upon the ass when he rode into Jerusalem, Mar 11:1. Whereas, therefore, Josephus saith that mount Olivet was but five furlongs from the city, he means the first brink and border of it: but our evangelist must be understood of the place where Christ ascended, where the name of Olivet began, as it was distinguished from Bethphage.

And since we have so frequent mention of a sabbath day’s journey, and it is not very foreign from our present purpose to observe something concerning it, let me take notice of these few things:

I. The space of a sabbath day’s bound was two thousand cubits. “Naomi and to Ruth, ‘We are commanded to observe the sabbaths, and the feasts, but we are not to go beyond two thousand cubits.’ ” “It is ordained by the scribes, that no man go out of the city beyond two thousands cubits.” Instances of this kind are endless. But it is disputed upon what foundation this constitution of theirs is built. “Whence comes it to be thus ordained concerning the two thousand cubits? It is founded upon this, ‘Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day,’ ” Exo 16:29. “Where are these two thousand cubits mentioned? They have their tradition from hence, Abide ye every man in his place; Exo 16:29. These are four cubits. Let no man go out of his place: these are two thousand cubits.” It is true, indeed, we cannot gain so much as one cubit out of any of these Scriptures, much less two thousand; however, we may learn from hence the pleasant art they have of working any thing out of any thing.

“Asai Ben Akibah saith, ‘They are fetched from hence,’ in that it is said, Place, place. Here place is said [Let no man go out of his place]. And it is said elsewhere, I will appoint thee a place; Exo 21:13. As the place that is said elsewhere is two thousand cubits, so the place that is spoken of here is two thousand cubits.” But how do they prove that the place mentioned elsewhere is two thousand cubits? “I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee that kills a man unawares: this teaches us that the Israelites in the wilderness” (i.e. those that had slain any one) “betook themselves to a place of refuge. And whither did they flee? To the camp of the Levites.”

Now, therefore, when the Israelites’ camp in the wilderness was distant from the tabernacle and from the Levites’ camp that was pitched about the tabernacle, two thousand cubits, which thing they gather from Jos 3:4; and whereas it was lawful for them at that distance to approach the tabernacle on the sabbath day; hence they argue for the two thousand cubits as the sabbath day’s journey, which we are now inquiring into. But, by the way, let us take notice of the “four cubits,” which they gathered from those words, “Abide ye every man in his place.” Which must be thus understood: “If any person through ignorance, or by any accident, had gone beyond the limits of the sabbath, and afterward came to know his transgression, he was confined within four cubits, so that he must not stir beyond them till the sabbath was done and over.”

They further instance in another foundation for the two thousand cubits: “‘Ye shall measure from without the city on the east side two thousand cubits,’ Num 35:5. But another Scripture saith, ‘From the wall of the city and outward ye shall measure a thousand cubits’: the thousand cubits are the suburbs of the city, and the two thousand cubits are the sabbatical limits.” Maimonides very largely discourseth in what manner and by what lines they measured these two thousand cubits from each city: but it makes very little to our purpose. Only let me add this one thing; that if any one was overtaken in his journeying in the fields or wilderness by the night, when the sabbath was coming in, and did not exactly know the space of two thousand cubits, then he might walk “two thousand ordinary paces; and these were accounted the sabbatical bounds.”

So far from the city was that place of mount Olivet, where Christ ascended; viz., that part of the mount where Bethphage ended and Bethany began. Perhaps the very same place mentioned 2Sa 15:32; or certainly not far off, where David in his flight taking leave of the ark and sanctuary, looked back and worshipped God. Where if any one would be at the pains to inquire why the Greek interpreters retain the word Ros; both here and in 2Sa 16:1; and David came unto Ros; and and David passed on a little way from Ros; he will find a knot not easy to be untied. The Talmudists would have it a place of idolatry, but by a reason very far-fetched indeed. The Jewish commentators, with a little more probability, conceive that it was a place from whence David, when he went towards Jerusalem, looking towards the place where the tabernacle was seated, was wont to worship God.

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

THESE verses are the winding up of Luke’s history of our Lord’s ministry. They form a suitable conclusion to a Gospel, which in touching tenderness and full exhibition of Christ’s grace, stands first among the four records of the things which Jesus did and taught. (Act 1:1.)

Let us notice, firstly, in this passage, the remarkable manner in which our Lord left His disciples. We read that “He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them.” In one word, He left them when in the very act of blessing.

We cannot for a moment doubt that there was a meaning in this circumstance. It was intended to remind the disciples of all that Jesus had brought with Him when He came into the world. It was intended to assure them of what He would yet do, after He left the world. He came on earth to bless and not to curse, and blessing He departed.-He came in love and not in anger, and in love He went away.-He came not as a condemning judge, but as a compassionate Friend, and as a Friend He returned to His Father.-He had been a Savior full of blessings to His little flock while He had been with them. He would be a Savior full of blessings to them, He would have them know, even after He was taken away.

For ever let our souls lean on the gracious heart of Christ, if we know anything of true religion. We shall never find a heart more tender, more loving, more patient, more compassionate, and more kind. To talk of Mary as being more compassionate than Christ is a proof of miserable ignorance. To flee to the saints for comfort, when we may flee to Christ, is an act of mingled stupidity and blasphemy, and a robbery of Christ’s crown. Gracious was our Lord Jesus while He lived among His weak disciples,-gracious in the very season of His agony on the cross,-gracious when He rose again and gathered His scattered sheep around Him,-gracious in the manner of His departure from this world. It was a departure in the very act of blessing! Gracious, we may be assured He is at the right hand of God. He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,-a Savior ever ready to bless, abounding in blessings.

Let us notice, secondly, in this passage, the place to which our Lord went when He left the world. We read that “He was carried up into heaven.”

The full meaning of these words we cannot of course comprehend. It would be easy to ask questions about the exact residence of Christ’s glorified body, which the wisest theologian could never answer. We must not waste our time in unedifying speculations, or “intrude into things unseen.” (Col 2:18.) Let it suffice us to know that our Lord Jesus Christ is gone into the presence of God on behalf of all who believe on Him, as a Forerunner and a High Priest. (Heb 6:20. Joh 14:2.)

As a Forerunner, Jesus has gone into heaven to prepare a place for all His members. Our great Head has taken possession of a glorious inheritance in behalf of His mystical body, and holds it as an elder brother and trustee, until the day comes when His body shall be perfected.-As a High Priest, Jesus has gone into heaven to intercede for all who believe on Him. There in the holy of holies He presents on their behalf the merit of His own sacrifice, and obtains for them daily supplies of mercy and grace. The grand secret of the perseverance of saints is Christ’s appearance for them in heaven. They have an everlasting Advocate with the Father, and therefore they are never cast away. (Heb 9:24. 1Jn 2:1.)

A day will come when Jesus shall return from heaven, in like manner as He went. He will not always abide within the holy of holies. He will come forth, like the Jewish high priest, to bless the people, to gather His saints together, and to restore all things. (Lev 9:23. Act 3:21.) For that day let us wait, and long, and pray. Christ dying on the cross for sinners,-Christ living in heaven to intercede,-Christ coming again in glory, are three great objects which ought to stand out prominently before the eyes of every true Christian.

Let us notice, lastly, in this passage, the feelings of our Lord’s disciples when He finally left them and was carried up into heaven. We read that “they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.”

How shall we account for these joyful feelings? How shall we explain the singular fact, that this little company of weak disciples, left, for the first time, like orphans, in the midst of an angry world, was not cast down, but was full of joy?-The answer to these questions is short and simple. The disciples rejoiced, because now for the first time they saw all things clearly about their Master. The veil was removed from their eyes. The darkness had at length passed away. The meaning of Christ’s humiliation and low estate,-the meaning of His mysterious agony, and cross, and passion,-the meaning of His being Messiah and yet a sufferer,-the meaning of His being crucified, and yet being Son of God,-all, all was at length unraveled and made plain. They saw it all. They understood it all. Their doubts were removed. Their stumbling-blocks were taken away. Now at last they possessed clear knowledge, and possessing clear knowledge felt unmingled joy.

Let it be a settled principle with us, that the little degree of joy which many believers feel arises often from want of knowledge. Weak faith and inconsistent practice are doubtless two great reasons why many of God’s children enjoy so little peace. But it may well be suspected that dim and indistinct views of the Gospel are the true cause of many a believer’s discomfort. When the Lord Jesus is not clearly known and understood, it must needs follow that there is little “joy in the Lord.”

Let us leave the Gospel of Luke with a settled purpose of heart to seek more spiritual knowledge every year we live. Let us search the Scriptures more deeply and pray over them more heartily. Too many believers only scratch the surface of Scripture, and know nothing of digging down into its hid treasures. Let the word dwell in us more richly. Let us read our Bibles more diligently. So doing we shall taste more of joy and peace in believing, and shall know what it is to be “continually praising and blessing God.”

==================

Notes-

v50.-[Led them out as far as to Bethany.] There is something very touching in the fact that our Lord’s ascension took place close to Bethany. It was a small village bordering on the mount of Olives, where Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus dwelt. It is probable that they all were present when our Lord left the earth.

[Lifted up his hands and blessed them.] This circumstance is full of meaning. The blessing was significant. It showed the spirit in which our Lord parted from His church on earth, and was an earnest of what He would do for them in heaven. It typified His full assumption of His priestly office, and gave assurance of what He will yet do when He comes again.

Gill remarks, “This lifting up of the hands was not in order to put them on His disciples, nor was it used as a prayer-gesture, nor was the blessing of them prayerwise, or by praying for a blessing on them. As Aaron, His type, lifted up his hands towards the people of Israel, and blessed them when he first offered the offerings for them, (Lev 9:22,) so Christ as the great High Priest, having offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of His people, lifted up His hands towards them and blessed them in an authoritative way.”

v51.-[He was parted from them.] The Greek word so rendered is somewhat remarkable. It signifies literally, “stood apart.” A German commentator thinks it means, “He went a little distance from them previous to His ascension.” The more common opinion is that the word is only a part of the same incident which is described when it says He was “carried up into heaven.”

[Carried up into heaven.] Where our Lord’s body went when so carried up, is an unprofitable speculation. Let it be enough for us, to remember that He went into the presence of God for us, and that He will come again exactly in like manner as He went. (Act 1:11.)

Burgon remarks, “These beautiful words denote that Jesus was rather taken away from the men He loved, than that by an act of His own He left them. For His passion, it is said, that He was impatient; (Luk 12:50.)-for His ascension, not so. He did not leave His disciples, but was parted from them.”

v52.-[They worshipped Him.] This is the first formal act of adoration which we ever read of the disciples paying to our Lord. Their knowledge of His Messiahship and divinity was now clear and distinct. Hence came the “joy” which the verse mentions that they felt. All things were now clear and plain to them concerning their Master. The darkness was past, and the true light shone. (1Jn 2:8.)

v53.-[Continually in the temple.] This expression does not necessarily mean that the disciples were never anywhere else except in the temple. It only means that they made a daily, regular habit of attending the temple services and assembling in the temple courts, and specially at the times of prayer. (Act 3:1.) It is the same Greek word used about Cornelius, where it says, that “he prayed to God alway.” (Act 10:2.)

The temple, be it remembered, was a place of resort for all pious Jews in Jerusalem, and in its spacious courts all sorts of worshippers met daily without interruption, or interference with one another. Even of the apostles it is said, that “daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” (Act 5:42.) It seems to have been such an established custom for all religious-minded persons to assemble in the temple, that the apostles could even preach the Gospel there.

Maldonatus remarks, “that it is a striking fact that Luke’s Gospel begins by describing a scene in the temple, when Zacharias had his vision, and also leaves us in the temple, when it concludes.”

Burgon says, “They repaired to the temple, and so the temple service became henceforth filled with new meaning. The song of Moses has become to them the song of the Lamb. For them the Psalms speak henceforth another language, for they speak to them only of Christ. Well may they have been henceforth ‘continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.’ “

———

In leaving the Gospel of Luke, it may prove useful to some readers to give the following list of the principal circumstances which are recorded by Luke alone, and are not mentioned by Matthew, Mark, and John. They are fifty-eight in number.

1.-The vision of Zacharias, and conception of Elisabeth; Luk 1:5-25.

2.-The salutation of Mary; Luk 1:26-38.

3.-Mary’s visit to Elisabeth; Luk 1:39-56.

4.-The birth of John the Baptist, and hymn of Zacharias; Luk 1:57-80.

5.-The decree of Csar Augustus; Luk 2:1-3.

6.-The birth of Christ at Bethlehem; Luk 2:4-7.

7.-The appearance of angels to the shepherds; Luk 2:8-20.

8.-The circumcision of Christ; Luk 2:21.

9.-The presentation of Christ in the temple; Luk 2:22-24.

10.-The account of Simeon and Anna; Luk 2:25-38.

11.-Christ found among the doctors; Luk 2:41-52.

12.-Date of beginning of John’s ministry; Luk 3:1-2.

13.-Success of John’s ministry; Luk 3:10-15.

14.-Genealogy of Mary; Luk 3:23-38.

15.-Christ preaching and rejected at Nazareth; Luk 4:15-30.

16.-Particulars in the call of Simon, James and John; Luk 5:1-10.

17.-Christ’s discourse in the plain; Luk 6:17-49.

18.-Raising of the widow’s son at Nain; Luk 7:11-17.

19.-Woman in Simon’s house; Luk 7:36-50.

20.-Women who ministered to Christ; Luk 8:1-3.

21.-James and John desiring fire to come down; Luk 9:51-56.

22.-Mission of seventy disciples; Luk 10:1-16.

23.-Return of seventy disciples; Luk 10:17-24.

24.-Parable of the good Samaritan; Luk 10:25-37.

25.-Christ in the house of Martha and Mary; Luk 10:38-42.

26.-Parable of friend at midnight; Luk 11:5-8.

27.-Christ dining in a Pharisee’s house; Luk 11:37-54.

28.-Discourse to an innumerable multitude; Luk 12:1-53.

29.-Murder of the Galileans; Luk 13:1-5.

30.-Parable of the barren fig tree; Luk 13:6-9.

31.-Case of the woman diseased 18 years; Luk 13:10-20.

32.-Question on the few that be saved; Luk 13:22-30.

33.-Reply to the Pharisees’ warning about Herod; Luk 13:31-33.

34.-Case of a dropsical man; Luk 14:1-6.

35.-Parable of the lowest room; Luk 14:7-14.

36.-Parable of the great supper; Luk 14:15-24.

37.-Difficulties of Christ’s service; Luk 14:25-35.

38.-Parable of the lost sheep and piece of money; Luk 15:1-10.

39.-Parable of the prodigal son; Luk 15:11-22.

40.-Parable of the unjust steward; Luk 16:1-18.

41.-Parable of the rich man and Lazarus; Luk 16:19-31.

42.-Instruction to disciples; Luk 17:1-10.

43.-Healing of ten lepers; Luk 17:12-19.

44.-Question and answer about coming of God’s kingdom; Luk 17:20-37.

45.-Parable of the importunate widow; Luk 18:1-8.

46.-Parable of the Pharisee and Publican; Luk 18:9-14.

47.-Calling of Zacchus; Luk 19:2-10.

48.-Parable of the pounds; Luk 19:11-28.

49.-Christ weeping over Jerusalem; Luk 19:41-44.

50.-Special warning to Peter; Luk 22:31-32.

51.-Direction to buy sword; Luk 22:35-38.

52.-Appearance of an angel, and bloody sweat in garden; Luk 22:43-44.

53.-Pilate sends Christ to Herod; Luk 23:6-16.

54.-Women deplore Christ’s sufferings; Luk 23:27-32.

55.-The penitent thief; Luk 23:39-43.

56.-The appearance of Christ to two disciples going to Emmaus; Luk 24:13-35.

57.-Circumstances attending Christ’s appearance to the eleven; Luk 24:37-49.

58.-Christ’s departure in the act of blessing; Luk 24:50-53.

Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Luk 24:50. Led them out. Out of the city, which has just been mentioned (Luk 24:49).

As far as towards Bethany. Probably over the brow of the Mount of Olives to the descent towards Bethany. In Acts 1, Luke says nothing of their going out to the Mount of Olives, but takes for granted this previous statement. Bethany lies on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives and is invisible from Jerusalem. The traditional site of the ascension (now in possession of the Mohammedans) is on the summit of the Mount, in full sight of Jerusalem and too far from Bethany to satisfy the narrative. (See Robinson and Stanley.)

He lifted up his hands. The gesture of blessing. Lev 9:22.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Luk 24:50-53. And he led them out as far as Bethany Not the town, but the district: namely, to the mount of Olives, which was within the boundaries of Bethany. And he lifted up his hands In a most solemn and devout manner; and blessed them As one that had authority, not only to desire, but to command a blessing upon them. And while he blessed Or was blessing them, and while they beheld, (Act 1:9,) by which it appears that this event took place in the day-time; he was parted from them Miraculously and unexpectedly; and carried up into heaven Not suddenly, but leisurely, that they might behold him departing, till a cloud received him out of their sight, Act 1:9. It was much more proper that our Lord should ascend into heaven, than that he should rise from the dead, in the sight of the apostles. For his resurrection was proved when they saw him alive after his passion; but they could not see him in heaven while they continued on earth. And they worshipped him Not only prostrated themselves before him, as the word , here used, often means; but, being fully satisfied of his divine power and glory, they worshipped him in the strictest sense of the word, or paid him divine honours, though now become invisible to them; which it is certain they continued to do during the whole course of their ministry; confiding in him in all their dangers and trials; loving him and living to him; and making him, together with the Father, the great object of their prayers, praises, and obedience. And returned to Jerusalem with great joy On account of the glorious discoveries which he had made to them, the glorious work to which he had called them, the extraordinary qualifications with which he had promised to endue them, and the great success which he had engaged to give them therein; especially for the full proof they had now received, that he was indeed the true Messiah, their Saviour, and their Lord; and that they had not been deceived in attaching themselves to him as his disciples, but had been guided by the truth and grace of God. And were continually in the temple That is, constantly attended there at the hours of service; praising and blessing God As for all his other benefits, so in particular for sending the Messiah for the redemption and salvation of mankind, for raising him from the dead, after he had been unjustly and cruelly crucified by a cabal of wicked men; for his glorious ascension into heaven in their sight, and the promise made them of his return; and for performing such wonders to confirm and perfect their faith in him. Amen May he be continually praised and blessed!

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

6. The Ascension: Luk 24:50-53.

The resurrection restored humanity in that one of its members who, by His holy life and expiatory death, conquered our two enemiesthe law which condemned us because of sin, and death, which overtook us because of the condemnation of the law (1Co 15:56). As this humanity is restored in the person of Christ by the fact of His resurrection, the ascension raises it to its full height; it realizes its destination, which from the beginning was to serve as a free instrument for the operations of the infinite God.

Vers. 50-53. The Ascension.

Luke alone, in his Gospel and in the Acts, has given us a detailed view of the scene which is indicated by Paul, 1Co 15:7, and assumed throughout the whole N. T. Interpreters like Meyer think themselves obliged to limit the ascension of Jesus to a purely spiritual elevation, and to admit no external visible fact in which this elevation was manifested. Luke’s account was the production of a later tradition. We shall examine this hypothesis at the close.

The meaning of the , then He led them, is simply this: All these instructions finished, He led them… This expression says absolutely nothing as to the time when the event took place.

The term , having assembled, Act 1:4, proves that Jesus had specially convoked the apostles in order to take leave of them. (T. R.), and still more decidedly (Alex.), signifies, not as far as, but to about, in the direction and even to the neighbourhood of…There is thus no contradiction to Act 1:12. Like the high priest when, coming forth from the temple, he blessed the people, Jesus comes forth from the invisible world once more, before altogether shutting Himself up within it, and gives His own a last benediction. Then, in the act of performing this deed of love, He is withdrawn to a distance from them towards the top of the mountain, and His visible presence vanishes from their eyes. The words are omitted in the Sinat., the Cantab., and some copies of the Itala. Could this phrase be the gloss of a copyist? But a gloss would probably have been borrowed from the narrative of the Acts, and that book presents no analogous expression. Might not this omission rather be, like so many others, the result of negligence, perhaps of confounding the two ? We can hardly believe that Luke would have said so curtly, He was parted from them, without adding how. The imperfect , He was carried up, forms a picture. It reminds us of the , behold, Joh 6:62. The Cantab. and some MSS. of the Itala omit (Luk 24:52) the word , having worshipped Him, perhaps in consequence of confounding and . The verb , to prostrate oneself, in this context, can mean only the adoration which is paid to a divine being (Psa 2:12).

The joy of the disciples caused by this elevation of their Master, which is the pledge of the victory of His cause, fulfilled the word of Jesus: If ye loved me, ye would rejoice because I go to my Father (Joh 14:28). The point to be determined is, whether the more detailed account in Acts (the cloud, the two glorified men who appear) is an amplification of the scene due to the pen of Luke, or whether the account in the Gospel was only a sketch which he proposed to complete at the beginning of his second treatise, of which this scene was to form the starting-point. If our explanation of Luk 24:44-49 is well founded, we cannot but incline to the second view. And the more we recognise up to this point in Luke an author who writes conscientiously and from conviction, the more shall we feel obliged to reject the first alternative.

The numerous omissions, Luk 24:52-53, in the Cantab. and some MSS. of the Itala cannot well be explained, except by the haste which the copyists seem to have made as they approached the end of their work. Or should the preference be given, as Tischendorf gives it, to this abridged text, contrary to all the other authorities together? D a b, which read without ; . B. C. L., which read without , mutually condemn one another, and so confirm the received reading, praising and blessing God. Perhaps the omission in both cases arises from confounding the two . , to praise, refers to the person of God; , to bless, to His benefits. The disciples do here what was done at the beginning by the shepherds (Luk 2:20). But what a way traversed, what a series of glorious benefits between those two acts of homage! The last words, these in particular: They were continually in the temple, form the transition to the book of Acts.

On the Ascension.

At first the apostles regarded the ascension as only the last of those numerous disappearances which they had witnessed during the forty days ( , Luk 24:31). Jesus regarded it as the elevation of His person, in the character of Son of man, to that (Php 2:6), that divine state which He had renounced when He came under the conditions of human existence. Having reached the term of His earthly career, He had asked back His glory (Joh 17:5); the ascension was the answer to His prayer.

Modern criticism objects to the reality of the ascension as an external fact, on the ground of the Copernican system, which excludes the belief that heaven is a particular place situated above our heads and beyond the stars. Those who raise this objection labour under a very gross misunderstanding. According to the Biblical view, the ascension is not the exchange of one place for another; it is a change of state, and this change is precisely the emancipation from all confinement within the limits of space, exaltation to omnipresence. The cloud was, as it were, the veil which covered this transformation. The right hand of a God everywhere present cannot designate a particular place. Sitting at the right hand of God must also include omniscience, which is closely bound up with omnipresence, as well as omnipotence, of which the right hand of God is the natural symbol. The Apocalypse expresses in its figurative language the true meaning of the ascension, when it represents the glorified Son of man as the Lamb with seven horns (omnipotence) and seven eyes (omniscience). This divine mode of being does not exclude bodily existence in the case of Jesus. Comp., in Paul, the , bodily, Col 2:9, and the expression spiritual body applied to the second Adam, 1Co 15:44. We cannot, from experience, form an idea of this glorified bodily existence. But it may be conceived as a power of appearing sensibly and of external activity, operating at the pleasure of the will alone, and at every point of space.

Another objection is taken from the omission of this scene in the other Biblical documents.

But, 1. Paul expressly mentions an appearance to all the apostles, 1Co 15:7. Placed at the close of the whole series of previous appearances (among them that to the 500), and immediately before that which decided his own conversion, this appearance can only be the one at the ascension as related by Luke. This fact is decisive; for, according to Luk 24:3; Luk 24:11, it is the , the general tradition of the churches, proceeding from the apostles, which Paul sums up in this passage.

2. However Mark’s mutilated conclusion may be explained, the words: So then, after the Lord had thus spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God, suppose some sensible fact or other, which served as a basis for such expressions. The same holds of the innumerable declarations of the epistles (Paul, Peter, Hebrews, James), which speak of the heavenly glory of Jesus, and of His sitting at the right hand of God. Doctrines, with the apostles, are never more than the commentary on facts. Such expressions must have a historical substratum.

3. No doubt, John does not relate the ascension. But can it be said that he does not mention it, when this saying occurs in his Gospel (Higb6:62): What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before? The term , strictly to contemplate, and the pres. partic. , ascending, forbid us to think of an event of a purely spiritual nature (comp. Bumlein, ad. h. l.). Why, then, does he not relate the historical scene of the ascension? Because, as his starting-point was taken after the baptism, which on this account he does not relate, his conclusion is placed before the ascension, which for this reason he leaves unrelated. The idea of his book was the development of faith in the minds of the apostles from its birth to its consummation. Now their faith was born with the visit of John and Andrew, chap. 1, after the baptism; and it had received the seal of perfection in the profession of Thomas, chap. 20, before the ascension. That the evangelist did not think of relating all the appearances which he knew, is proved positively by that on the shores of the Lake of Gennesaret, which is related after the close of the book (Luk 20:30-31), and in an appendix (chap. 21) composed either by the author himself (at least as far as Luk 24:23) or based on a tradition emanating from him. He was therefore aware of this appearance, and he had not mentioned it in his Gospel, like Luke, who could not be ignorant of the appearance to the 500, and who has not mentioned it either in his Gospel or in Acts. What reserve should such facts impose on criticism, however little gifted with caution!

4. And the following must be very peculiarly borne in mind in judging of Matthew’s narrative. It is no doubt strange to find this evangelist relating (besides the appearance to the women, which is intended merely to prepare for that following by the message which is given them) only a single appearance, that which took place on the mountain of Galilee, where Jesus had appointed His disciples, as well as the women and all the faithful, to meet Him, and where He gives the Eleven their commission. This appearance cannot be any of those which Luke and John place in Judaea. It comes nearer by its locality to that which, according to John 21, took place in Galilee; but it cannot be identified with it, for the scene of the latter was the sea-shore. As we have seen, it can only be the appearance to the 500 mentioned by Paul. The meeting on a mountain is in perfect keeping with so numerous an assembly, though Matthew mentions none but the Eleven, because the grand aim is that mission of world-wide evangelization which Jesus gives them that day. Matthew’s intention was not, as we have already seen, to mention all the different appearances, either in Judaea or Galilee, by which Jesus had re-awakened the personal faith of the apostles, and concluded His earthly connection with them. His narrative had exclusively in view that solemn appearance in which Jesus declared Himself the Lord of the universe, the sovereign of the nations, and had given the apostles their mission to conquer for Him the ends of the earth. So true is it that his narrative must terminate in this supreme fact, that Jesus announced it before His death (Mat 26:32), and that, immediately after the resurrection, the angel and Jesus Himself spoke of it to the women (Mat 28:7-10). Indeed, this scene was, in the view of the author of the first Gospel, the real goal of the theocratic revelation, the climax of the ancient covenant. If the day of the ascension was the most important in respect of the personal development of Jesus (Luke), the day of His appearance on the mountain showed the accomplishment of the Messianic programme sketched Luk 1:1 : Jesus, the Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. It was the decisive day for the establishment of the kingdom of God, which is Matthew’s great thought. Criticism is on a false tack when it assumes that every evangelist has said all that he could have said. With oral tradition spread and received in the Church, the gospel historiography did not require to observe such an anxious gait as is supposed. It was not greatly concerned to relate an appearance more or less. The essential thing was to affirm the resurrection itself. The contrast between the detailed official enumeration of Paul, 1 Corinthians 15, and each of our four Gospels, proves this to a demonstration. Especially does it seem to us thoroughly illogical to doubt the fact of the ascension, as Meyer does, because of Matthew’s silence, and not to extend this doubt to all the appearances in Judaea, about which he is equally silent.

The following passage from the letter of Barnabas has sometimes been used in evidence: We celebrate with joy that eighth day on which Jesus rose from the dead and, after having manifested Himself, ascended to heaven. The author, it is said, like Luke, places the ascension and the resurrection on the same day. But it may be that in this expression he puts them, not on the same day taken absolutely, but on the same day of the week, the eighth, Sunday (which no doubt would involve an error as to the ascension). Or, indeed, this saying may signify, according to Joh 20:17, which in that case it would reproduce, that the ascending of Jesus to heaven began with the resurrection, and on that very day. In reality, from that time He was no more with His own, as He Himself says (Luk 24:44). He belonged to a higher sphere of existence. He only manifested Himself here below. He no longer lived here. He was ascending, to use His own expression. According to this view, His resurrection and the beginning of His elevation (-) therefore took place the same day. The expression: after having manifested Himself, would refer to the appearances which took place on the resurrection day, and after which He entered into the celestial sphere.

In any case, the resurrection once admitted as a real fact, the question is, how Jesus left the earth. By stealth, without saying a word? One fine day, without any warning whatever, He ceased to re-appear? Is this mode of acting compatible with His tender love for His own? Or, indeed, according to M. de Bunsen, His body, exhausted by the last effort which His resurrection had cost Him (Jesus, according to this writer, was the author of this event by the energy of His will), succumbed in a missionary journey to Phenicia, where He went to seek believers among the Gentiles (Joh 10:17-18; comp. with Luk 24:16); and having died there unknown, Jesus was likewise buried! But in this case, His body raised from the dead must have differed in no respect from the body which He had had during His life. And how are we to explain all the accounts, from which it appears that, between His resurrection and ascension, His body was already under peculiar conditions, and in course of glorification?

The reality of such a fact as that related by Luke in his account of the ascension is therefore indubitable, both from the special standpoint of faith in the resurrection, and from the standpoint of faith in general. The ascension is a postulate of faith.

The ascension perfects in the person of the Son of man God’s design in regard to humanity. To make of sanctified believers a family of children of God, perfectly like that only Son who is the prototype of the whole race,such is God’s plan, His eternal (Rom 8:28-29), with a view to which He created the universe. As the plant is the unconscious agent of the life of nature, man was intended to become the free and intelligent organ of the holy life of the personal God. Now, to realize this plan, God thought good () to accomplish it first in ONE; Eph 2:6 : He hath raised us up IN CHRIST, and made us sit IN HIM in the heavenly places; Luk 1:10 : According to the purpose which He had to gather together all things under ONE head, Christ; Heb 2:10 : Wishing to bring many sons to glory, He perfected THE CAPTAIN OF SALVATION. Such was, according to the divine plan, the first act of salvation. The second was to unite to this ONE individual believers, and thus to make them partakers of the divine state to which the Son of man had been raised (Rom 8:29). This assimilation of the faithful to His Son God accomplished by means of two things, which are the necessary complement of the facts of the Gospel history: Pentecost, whereby the Lord’s moral being becomes that of the believer; and the Parousia, whereby the external condition of the sanctified believer is raised to the same elevation as that of our glorified Lord. First holiness, then glory, for the body as for the head: the baptism of Jesus, which becomes ours by Pentecost; the ascension of Jesus, which becomes ours by the Parousia.

Thus it is that each Gospel, and not only that which we have just been explaining, has the Acts for its second volume, and for its third the Apocalypse.

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

CXLIV.

THE ASCENSION.

(Olivet, between Jerusalem and Bethany.)

bMARK XVI. 19, 20; cLUKE XXIV. 50-53; eACTS I. 9-12.

b19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken unto them, e9 And when he had said these things, che led them out until they were over against Bethany: and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he parted from them [it is significant that our Lord’s gesture, when last seen of men, was one of blessing], and eas they were looking, he was taken {ccarried breceived} cup into heaven. aand a cloud received him out of their sight. band [he] sat down at the right hand of God. c52 And they worshipped him, e10 And while they were looking stedfastly into heaven as he went, behold, two men [angels in human form] stood by them in white apparel; 11 who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven. [Thus the angels add their testimony to the sureness of our Lord’s promise that he will return.] 12 Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, cwith great joy; 53 and were continually in the temple, blessing God. b20 And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.

[FFG 766]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

THE ASCENSION

Luk 24:50-53. And He led them out even unto Bethany, and lifting up His hands, He blessed them. And it came to pass, while He was blessing them, He departed from them, and was borne up into heaven. His eleventh and last appearing was in Jerusalem, where He began His ministry and sealed it with His blood. You see that His ascension took place during His final benediction, while, with uplifted hands, pronouncing blessings on them, they saw Him rise up from the earth, ascending perpendicularly toward the apex of the blue dome of the firmament, eventually passing into a cloud of unutterable whiteness and splendor, and thus disappeared from their vision.

And saying these things, they gazing on Him, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him from their eyes. And while they were gazing up into heaven, He ascending, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who truly said, Ye Galilean men, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? The same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come, in the manner in which you saw Him going into heaven. (Act 1:9-12.)

These angels are called men by way of accommodation to human senses, because they had the form of men, though invested in apparel whiter than the snow and brighter than the light. Their testimony is unmistakable, assuring the disciples that the very same Jesus is coming back, and in the same manner that the glorified Man Jesus ascended. So rest assured the very same glorified human body will come back. He went up amid clouds of unutterable splendor, whiteness, beauty, grandeur, sublimity, and glory, accompanied by the angels. So, rest assured, He will return amid the clouds of His glory, accompanied by mighty hosts of angels. If you are not expecting the very same glorified Man Jesus who went up to come back, get on your knees, and ask God to forgive your unbelief, and give you grace to believe His precious Word; not because it suits your creed or your opinion, but for the simple reason that it is the Word of God, by which you are saved, sanctified, and will be judged in the last day.

Then they returned into Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, having a Sabbath-days journey. Luk 24:52 : And they, worshipping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were constantly in the temple, praising and blessing God. On the summit of Mount Olivet there is a church-edifice claiming to occupy the spot from which He ascended. There is also a stone tower, two hundred feet high, erected for the accommodation of pilgrims who desire to follow their Lord in His upward flight as far as possible. During both of my tours, I climbed it to its pinnacle.

You see in the above Scriptures that He led them out to Bethany, which is on the southeastern slope of Mount Olivet, and nearly a mile from the summit. However, a spur of the mountain runs down that way, jutting out over the village. The town was much larger in the days of Christ than now, and doubtless a portion of it was built on that mountain spur. Following the inspired history, stating that He led them to Bethany and ascended from Mount Olivet, I believe the above mentioned spur, hanging over the present village, to be the spot whence He ascended, rather than the summit of the mountain, which is pointed out to pilgrims as the place where the feet of our Lord last rested upon the earth. As Mount Olivet extends down to the bottom of the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which is very near the city i. e., under the wall the statement, A Sabbath-days journey, favors the conclusion of the more remote site of the ascension; i. e., at Bethany, which is one and seven-eighths miles, and just about the distance recognized as admissible for a Jew to travel on the Sabbath without desecrating it.

As to the statement of the disciples being constantly in the temple, praising and blessing God, you must remember that the Holy Campus, containing thirty-five acres of ground, with many great and valuable buildings besides the temple proper, and a vast open area for the congregating multitudes of Israel, was all designated the temple. Every Jew enjoyed free access to these holy grounds and many of the buildings, while the temple proper was used only by the priests.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Verse 50

And he led them out; not at this time, but on another occasion, a considerable time afterwards; for Jesus had interviews with his disciples in Galilee, and continued to meet them, from time to time, for the space of forty days after his resurrection. (Acts 1:3.)

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

24:50 {8} And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

(8) Christ ascends into heaven, and departing bodily from his disciples, fills their hearts with the Holy Spirit.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

J. The ascension of Jesus 24:50-53 (cf. Mark 16:19-20; Acts 1:9-12)

Jesus’ ascension was already in view in Luk 9:51. There Luke presented it as the ultimate goal of Jesus’ first advent ministry. Jesus’ ascension would have happened even if the Jews had accepted Him as their Messiah. Prophecies of His glorious return to the earth fill the Old Testament. We should not view Jesus’ ascension as an afterthought, therefore. It was rather the culmination of Jesus’ first advent. Luke is the only New Testament writer who described the Ascension, both in Luke and in Acts. Perhaps he did so to stress the significance of the resurrection. [Note: Bock, "A Theology . . .," p. 116.]

"With the ascension the Gospel reaches its climax. What began in the temple concludes in the temple with praise to God, and the path of Jesus now reaches its goal. The programme has been established for the second volume of Luke’s work in which the church will obey the command of the risen Jesus to take the gospel to all the nations." [Note: Marshall, The Gospel . . ., p. 908.]

"In Luke’s mind the Ascension of Christ has two aspects: in the Gospel it is the end of the story of Jesus, in Acts it is the beginning of the story of the Church, which will go on until Christ comes again. Thus for Luke, as Barrett says, ’the end of the story of Jesus is the Church, and the story of Jesus is the beginning of the Church’." [Note: William Neil, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 26.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Jesus continued to lead His disciples as their Lord. Bethany stood on Mt. Olivet just east of Jerusalem. As they were walking toward (Gr. pros) Bethany, Jesus stopped and prayed for God’s blessing on them. Lifting up the hands to do so traditionally symbolized a priestly transference of blessing from heaven to the recipients below (cf. Luk 1:22; Luk 1:42; Luk 1:64; Luk 1:68; Luk 2:28; Luk 2:34). Luke described Jesus’ ascension (Act 1:9-11) as a parting, not a permanent separation. Jesus’ ascension is reminiscent of Elijah’s (2Ki 2:11; cf. Act 1:2; Act 1:11). Thus Luke drew attention to Jesus’ role as a prophet as well as a priest. He will return as King. Jesus’ ascension took place 40 days after His resurrection (Act 1:3).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)