Luke 24:49-53
49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”50 When He had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, He lifted up His hands and blessed them.51 While He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up into heaven.52 Then they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
Luke 24:50-53 JESUS HAS GONE BEFORE US
Springford Baptist Church: April 30, 2023.
There are preparations to be made for any trip aren’t there? Whether we are going a short distance or further from home, we need to know where we are going and how to get there.
That seems like basic planning doesn’t it?
Some friends and I had plans to celebrate our friend’s birthday in Niagara on the Lake and Niagara Falls. So we had a destination, but we still needed to know how to get there. One of our friends offered to drive, but we still needed to know how to get there.
Imagine if you and some companions had decided to travel together and had a destination in mind, but none of you had any idea how to get there. That could result in long distances traversed and no assurance that you would ever arrive where you hoped.
Our faith in Jesus makes our experience very different doesn’t it? We do have a destination and that eternal destination is heaven. Scripture tells us that Jesus has gone to get a place ready for us there (John 14:1-6).
Still, we need to know how to get there. We do not want to spend our whole lives wandering aimlessly with no idea of how to get to heaven.
Here in this brief Scripture from Luke 24:49-53 we can gain understanding of how Jesus leads the way.
He has already told His followers that they are witnesses to the miracle of His resurrection and that they are to convey this to others and to proclaim that Jesus is the One to provide forgiveness for sins. (Luke 24:48)
It is likely that the disciples response is similar to what our response would be. “How are we going to do that”?
There are things we do not fully understand and we wonder how we could be equipped to help others to discover what Jesus has to offer.
Jesus has words of reassurance for His followers and we can receive reassurance from Jesus’ words as well. When it comes to sharing the truth of our faith, we are not expected to do it alone. God Himself equips us. Jesus says, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)
The disciples were not expected to carry out the task of spreading the good news of Jesus our Saviour by themselves. That would be like someone trying to help others get to a destination but having no idea how.
God has that covered. What the Father has promised is the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who will guide these first disciples of Jesus to assist others in finding their way to heaven. It is God’s Holy Spirit Who will help us today to find our way to heaven and to assure others of how to get there. We could not do this crucial work on our own. We too need to be “clothed with power from on high.”
When Jesus was in these final moments with His disciples before He ascended to heaven, He “led them out to the vicinity of Bethany.” (Luke 24:50)
Jesus’ followers had so much to take in with all that had been happening. They would have been listening intently trying to hold on to what Jesus was telling them. Probably they did not realize that He was now about to leave them for heaven. If they were writing the script, they would have wanted Him to stay longer and to show them what to do. We can understand that. There are times that we long for Jesus to reveal Himself to us and to guide us in what to do, which way to turn.
While Jesus is still with them in physical form, He leads them to the place where He will ascend to heaven. How remarkable to have Jesus lead to a specific place. With Jesus leading, all they had to do was trust Him and follow.
Now when we are trying to determine what to do next in our lives and which direction to turn, we too can trust Jesus to guide us. The promised Holy Spirit is like our Divine GPS to help us find our way.
The fact that Jesus rises up to heaven right before the eyes of His disciples gives them a demonstration of where they can expect to go. Jesus goes before them and Jesus has gone before us.
Remember when you were a child and you would want a parent to go ahead of you into a dark room because you felt afraid. When they had turned on a light and you could see your surroundings, you felt safe.
Jesus has gone before us to heaven to light the way. We can feel safe as He guides us to our final destination.
Jesus ascended, but it was not yet time for His followers to ascend to heaven. They still had work to do. And so do we.
We’re told that after Jesus had been taken up into heaven, they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.”
They were filled with great joy because they knew where Jesus had gone and where they would one day go because Jesus had arranged for their way there.
For a time, “they stayed continually at the temple praising God” (Luke 24:53). This was only for a time then they would need to go to do the work Jesus had given them to do. This work is to help others to find their way to heaven through Jesus Who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
We are encouraged when we come to church and praise God together, but neither are we intended to stay here. We must go into the world to tell others about Jesus and how only He is the way to heaven!