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Ascension Day
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And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And
while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said,
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so
come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Acts 1:9-11 |
Ascension Day commemorates the last appearance of Jesus to His disciples and His ascension into heaven forty days after His
resurrection on Easter Sunday in 30 A.D. In the forty days between His resurrection and His ascension
into heaven, He spent time with His apostles and
disciples. Tradition says that this day was first celebrated in
68 A.D., but there is no written record until 385 A.D. Since the date that Easter falls on is based on the Jewish Passover, the
celebration of the ascension is never the same year to year.
Christ's ascension into heaven is great hope for the believer because in I Thessalonians 4:17 the Apostle Paul says:
"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and
so shall we ever be with the Lord."
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