The Ascension

c. AD 30 Traditional dating

Forty days after the resurrection, Jesus leads his disciples out to the Mount of Olives near Bethany, blesses them, and is taken up into heaven before their eyes.

The event

Luke, who alone among the Gospel writers narrates the ascension in detail (and picks the story back up at the start of Acts), records Jesus leading his disciples out as far as Bethany, on the slope of the Mount of Olives, after forty days of appearances confirming his resurrection "by many proofs." There he gives a final charge — that they are witnesses of these things and should wait in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit before beginning the worldwide mission he had just commissioned them to.

Lifting up his hands, Jesus blesses them, and even as he is blessing them, he is "lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight." Two men in white — clearly angelic messengers — appear and ask why the disciples are staring into the sky, promising that "this Jesus... will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." The disciples return to Jerusalem, Luke says, "with great joy," worshiping him and waiting, as instructed, for the Spirit's coming at Pentecost.

The ascension marks the close of Jesus's earthly ministry and the beginning of his present reign at the Father's right hand, from where the New Testament says he continues to intercede for his people and will one day return in the same visible, bodily way he departed.

Dating

Forty days after the resurrection (Acts 1:3), c. AD 30.

Scripture references

Luke 24:50-53
Acts 1:6-11

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