Up Into the Clouds

A group of friends on a hillside, heads tipped back, staring at the sky. A moment ago Jesus was standing right here, speaking to them. Now a cloud has hidden him from sight. And they cannot stop looking up.

For forty days after he rose from the dead, Jesus kept appearing to his apostles. He showed them, again and again, that he was truly alive. He ate with them. And he talked with them about the kingdom of God. Now they are together near Jerusalem, and Jesus gives them an instruction. “Don’t leave Jerusalem. Wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”

The apostles have a question. It’s the question many of their people had been asking for generations. “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus doesn’t give them a date. “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority.” Then he tells them what they do need to know. And it is bigger than anything they asked for.

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Picture the map in their minds. Jerusalem, the city right around them. Judea, the land they know. Samaria, the neighbours they have always kept away from. And then, the ends of the earth. Places they have never seen, people who speak languages they have never heard. That is where the story of Jesus is going. And these ordinary men and women are the ones who will carry it.

And as they are watching, he is lifted up. A cloud takes him out of their sight. They stand there, gazing into the sky. Then suddenly two men in white clothing are standing beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they say, “why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go.” It is a promise and a nudge, both at once. He will return. And in the meantime, there is work to do. So they go back to Jerusalem, about a Sabbath day’s walk, to wait and to pray, just as he told them.

The book of Acts is part two of a two-volume work. Its opening line speaks of a former book, about all that Jesus began to do and teach. That book is the Gospel of Luke. Both volumes are addressed to the same person, someone called Theophilus, whose name means friend of God. We don’t know exactly who he was. But the way Acts begins tells us something important. Everything that follows is what Jesus continues to do through his people.

Up Into the Clouds. You’ll find it in Acts chapter 1, verses 1 to 11. Jesus went up, but he did not leave his friends empty-handed. He promised them power, gave them a mission, and promised to return. So here’s the question to carry with you. Where is your Jerusalem, the place right around you, where you could be a witness for Jesus this week?