Acts 1:9-11 (NIV)
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Jesus stayed with the disciples long enough to give His final instruction to them. Then, suddenly, He rose up into the air and disappeared into a cloud high above them.
The disciples were so stunned at this that they all stood there, heads craned back, staring at where He had gone into the cloud. They didn’t even notice the two men clothed in white that were standing right next to them until they spoke.
The point of their speech was that Jesus was gone, and that they had been given an assignment to do: to go back to Jerusalem and wait until they had received the promised Holy Spirit. Jesus would return, visibly and from the sky, just as they had seen Him go. But it would be a while, and their continual staring into the sky would not make Him come back sooner. Obedience was what was now required.
Even today, many are preoccupied with Jesus’ return, searching the skies for any sign of His return. But now, as then, this focus is not productive. It will not speed His return, nor will it prepare a person for that return when it does happen.
Instead, now as then, the correct focus is obedience. We are to listen to God’s commands, allow Him to fill us with the Holy Spirit so that we are cleansed and empowered, and then go and bear witness to Jesus’ life, His ministry, and His death and resurrection, so that the number of those who become His disciples continues to increase, and multitudes will be ready for Him when He does return.
Father, it is so easy for us to fall prey to the temptation to watch for signs of Jesus’ return, or to try to determine the day and the hour, in direct contradiction to His command (Matthew 24:36, Acts 1:7). Help us instead, Lord, to keep our focus on remaining open and completely obedient to Your every command, so that we are found actively at the work that Jesus left for us when He does return. Amen.
If you are enjoying my blog, I invite you to check out my book, When We Listen, A Devotional Commentary on the Gospel of Mark. Just follow this url: http://eagerpress.webstarts.com/ Thanks, and God bless you all!