So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Comment: This is good easy English and it takes but a second to read. But its content is staggering! The living, breathing, alive, resurrected Jesus ascends as a human into the sky, heavens, the other world, whatever we like to call it. But even more startling is the statement that his body isn’t going to decay, because ‘and in the same way come down again’. And here we have the beginnings of two great doctrines of the Christian Faith – we have a Man who is perfect, but understands our weakness, in heaven. (Not here but in many places elsewhere in the Bible, e.g. in Hebrews, we are told that He is there as our Mediator and Advocate!) And secondly we are told of His promised second coming. Jesus spoke much about this Himself!
Prayer: Help my mind and faith to get around these fantastic mysteries.
As I read it! 