Coming and Going and Coming Again (Acts 1:1-11, Luke 24:50)

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40 days after Jesus had returned to life—to sunlight and air and gravity. 40 days after Resurrection Sunday. Those 40 days Jesus had been spending with His disciples, His friends. Life for the brand new Church, probably about 120 strong, was centred on that upper room. Jesus had come and gone, sometimes spending time one-on-one, sometimes with large groups, teaching them, loving them, encouraging them, binding them together into a unity.  

On this day, Jesus beckoned the remaining 11 original apostles. 

“Come with me. We have somewhere to be.” 

All together they walked, probably single file, down those outside stairs to the street. 

They walked through the city, navigating against the volume and the flow of kids at play, women at work, men on their way to wherever they needed to be. It was a lot less busy now than it had been during Passover, but it was still a busy city.  

They walked on out through the great gate and into the open space outside the city walls, where there was room to breathe, and you could hear yourself think.  

They walked together, down into the Kidron Valley and across the streambed of the Kidron Brook. 40 days ago, at Passover, that brook had been flowing and full of the spring rain run-off. Now summer had come, and the streambed was dry. 

They walked on past, probably within a stone’s throw, the olive tree grove that people called “The Oil Pot:” Gethsemane. 

They walked on, up the Mount of Olives, a place in Israel's history that fueled the hope, and filled the imaginations of generations. 

They climbed on up, out of the valley shade and into the light: 

• The great city behind them to the west.  
• The Jordan River in front and below them to the east  
• The open sky above and before them. 

It was good to be out of the house. It was a precious and safe place. A home away from home, filled with the bustle of life and joy. A family coming and going. Shelter and warmth.  

But today... Here they were, out on the road. Chatting and laughing and being brothers, almost like the old days. Except now with 11 instead of 12, but still (again!) with Jesus—Jesus who knew where He was going, and the rest just keeping up. It almost felt ‘back to normal.’ 

When they reached the top of the mountain, Jesus stopped. They all stopped behind Him. He turned to face them, and over their shoulders He could see the outline of the city: Jerusalem. The look on His face in that moment; I wonder, was it joy? Was it expectation? Was it satisfaction? Was it sadness? I'm sure it was definitely love.  

The men fell into silence. Waiting. Sensing that something was in the air. Something was about to happen. Something was about to change. In their faithful Jewish hearts, they couldn't help but wonder: “Could this be it?” 

Could this be the moment prophesied by Zechariah 500 years ago?  

Then the LORD will go out to fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half the mountain moving to the north and half to the south. You will flee by my mountain valley. Zechariah 14:3-5 

Here they stood, the Messiah and His lieutenants, on the Mount of Olives. The place where the Messiah would stand: the place where the Messiah was standing. They remembered Passover, and the way that God—centuries before—had split the sea to make a way to safety and escape from the armies of Egypt.  

Here they stood, where the hand of God was going to do the same thing to the earth itself.  

Here they stood, face to face with the Man who they knew now was, somehow, God. Who had defeated death. Who had already done the impossible over and over and over again. Here they stood... face to face with Him, as He faced Jerusalem.  

How could they not shiver, and wake up, and ask: 

“Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1:6

Jesus pulled His focus away from the city and back to His beloved friends. He looked at each of their faces. He smiled.  

‘You don't need to worry about when. When is not your problem. The answer to that question is in good hands. But you still have work to do. Remember I told you to wait in Jerusalem? Remember I told you to wait for the gift that the Father had promised? Remember, I told you about the gift to come, of a Comforter and an Advocate? Well, just wait a few days more...’  

...You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses ... Acts 1:8

• (He pointed to the city) “...In Jerusalem... 
• (He raised His arms, sweeping the air out to the west beyond the city toward the Mediterranean Sea) “...In all Judea...   
• (He spread His arms to include the north) “...In all of Samaria, 
• (He spun in a circle, arms wide open) “...And to the ends of the earth.”  

He turned back to face them, and lifted His hands to bless them.  

He offered a priestly blessing: hands outstretched, palms down as though resting on their shoulders. Fingers splayed out to form the shape of the letter shin, the first letter in the word Shaddai, a name of God that means All Sufficient, Almighty, God of the Mountain. 

He spoke the 1st and greatest priestly blessing over His friends.  

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26 

And while He was still speaking, a cloud appeared, wrapping itself around him. Not simply a rain cloud, driven by the wind. Not a cloud of fog rising up from the ground, cold and wet on the skin.

This was the cloud of heavenly glory. The weight and reality of God's actual presence.  

 

The cloud that, in the years following that ancient Passover, had led the generation through the wilderness, the presence of God showing His people their path and saying, “I am here and I will never leave you.” 

The cloud that Peter, James, and John had seen when they witnessed the glory of heaven breaking through to earth: an experience that left them dumbstruck and insensible. 

 

And 40 days after Jesus had been taken from them in death, then returned to them from the grave, these eleven men watched as Jesus was enveloped in the cloud of the glory of God... and was taken. And was gone.

Again.  

 

They were left staring at the empty space where Jesus had just been. There was nothing left to see but His footprints in the dust.  

 

Suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? [Don’t you have work to do?] This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way...” Acts 1:10-11 

And they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. Luke 24:52

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Just as it is appointed for people to die once, and after this judgment, so also the Messiah having been offered once to bear the sins for many will appear a second time. Not this time to take sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. Hebrews 9:27-28  

I have to be honest, you know, Jesus’ return is not something that enters my mind most days. I very seldom at any point in any given day, think, “Oh, I wonder if this is the day that Jesus is going to return.” It's in the background of my faith. It's bedrock. It's wallpaper. 

But when I do cast my mind in that direction and consider that Jesus is going to come back... that puts a smile on my face. 

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