![]() ![]() There the prophet sees the Glory of God depart from the temple to the east, stopping on a mountain to the east of the Temple before ascending to heaven (11:22-23). I think that the pattern Luke has in mind here is drawn from Ezekiel 10 and 11. The departure of Jesus anticipates the way he will return, as the angelic messages state in Acts 1:11. ![]() The Ascension is also important for Luke’s view of the future. This person is “like a star” and he will shall take away all darkness from under heaven, and there shall be peace in all the earth.” As Keener points out, this event is anticipated as early as Luke 9:51 (an allusion to his being “taken up.” This is a rare word (ἀνάλημψις), only used here in the New Testament or the LXX, but it is used for a similar even in the Assumption of Moses and in Testament of Levi 18.3 to describe the rising of a “new priest” who will judge the Earth. With respect to theology, the Ascension is critically important for Luke’s Christology. With respect to the narrative development of the book, the message that Jesus is the Messiah will be preached in the next chapter, starting in Jerusalem, but ultimately the message will go to “the ends of the world.” Acts 28 concludes the book with Paul in a synagogue in Rome, still giving witness to the fact that Jesus was the Messiah. The Ascension functions in the story of Luke-Acts the climax of everything Jesus taught about himself and his role as messiah, but also as an anticipation of the direction of the narrative plot of Acts, but also the theology of Acts. The last few verses of Luke mention the Ascension in anticipation of the longer telling of the story in Acts 1. It is a bit of a surprise to find out that the Ascension is not found in Matthew or John and only appears in the longer ending of Mark. There is an “Ascension Sunday” in liturgical calendars, but most Protestant churches do not make too much of the Ascension in our post-Easter worship. We do a great job on the death and resurrection of Jesus, especially around Easter, but rarely do we reflect much on the Ascension. The Ascension of Jesus strikes me as an undervalued event in the teaching of the Protestant church. ![]()
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