Can I get Some Details!?

I like to read history. I’ve been on a recent kick, quite by accident, about incidents that occurred in the early 20th century. I recently read a book called “Thunderstruck”, by Erik Larsen, about the invention of the wireless telegraph by Marconi, and how it was used to catch a high-profile murderer named Dr. Harvey Crippen. I’ve read two books on exploration of the Amazon jungle. One was called “River of Doubt”, by Candice Millard. She chronicled Theodore Roosevelt’s voyage on an uncharted tributary of the Amazon River after he lost the 1912 presidential election in 1912. The adventure nearly killed him. The other book is called “The Lost City of Z”, by David Grann, a book about Percy Harrison Fawcett, an explorer who disappeared in the Amazon jungle in 1925 while searching for a fabled lost city of gold. I’m reading another book now about Winston Churchill’s escape from a POW camp in the Boer War in South Africa in 1900. Whenever I read history, I am always amazed by the author’s meticulous research, and the detail that they are able to unearth, and convey to the reader. 

 I mention all of this because today (May 21, 2020) is Ascension Day, 40 days since Easter Sunday, the day Jesus ascended to His Father in heaven. According to scholars, Luke was a first-rate historian and meticulous researcher. In Luke’s introduction to his gospel, he told Theophilus that he carefully researched all things before he wrote them down. His sequel to Luke was the book of Acts, in which he detailed the history of the 1st century church. In both books he referenced Jesus’ ascension. At the end of his gospel, he wrote, “50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.” (Luke 24:50-51). In the first chapter of Acts, Luke wrote, 9 And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight (Acts 1:9). That’s it! Other than a brief reference to the Ascension at the end of the gospel of Mark, that’s all the detail we have about Jesus’ ascension. My wife often says that she wishes the Bible was written by women because they give us details! I agree!

 I wish we knew more about the ascension. I wish we had eyewitness accounts from the disciples who were there. (Luke and Mark were not eyewitnesses.) Did Jesus slowly lift off the ground like a hot-air balloon, or did he ascend like a rocket and disappear from view? I want a detailed description of what happened. Well, on this side of heaven, we won’t know what the apostles saw. But we do know what the Ascension means. It means that Jesus is alive. It means that He is in heaven now, advocating on behalf of believers before the Father, and defending us against Satan’s claims (1 John 2:1). It means that He is preparing a place for us right now in heaven (John 14). It means that He is waiting for the time when He will fulfill all of the promises about His second coming (Rev. 19-21).

 Though we may not have all the historical detail we would like, we do have the promise that because He lives, we will live too. And that’s good enough for me! Happy Ascension Day!