The Ascension of Christ
W. H. Lewis, D. D. Luke 24:50-53 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.… 1. This event had been foretold and typified in the Old Testament. See especially Psalm 68, and 110. Moses, ascending the mount to receive the law, may be a type of Christ ascending to receive spiritual blessings for men. Elijah, taken up into heaven, and imparting a double portion of his spirit to his successor, was probably typical of Christ ascending and imparting the Pentecostal gift of the Holy Ghost. And the Jewish high priest, in passing from the holy place, which represented earth, to the most holy, which figured heaven, also foreshadowed the ascension of our Lord. 2. These predictions and types were now to be fulfilled. 3. To the top of this mountain our Saviour led His disciples, purposing to ascend visibly from thence. He might have taken His departure unseen by them, but He ascended openly, to confirm their faith in Him as the promised Messiah, to assure them of the certainty of the life in the world to come, and of their own exaltation to the place whither He had gone before. 4. The manner in which Christ was taken up from the midst of His disciples, as described in our text, was most interesting, and is worthy of our attention. In the very act of blessing them He was taken away. Oh, what a delightful consistency and loveliness of character we have in Jesus from the beginning of His mission to its close i The first assurance of His birth was accompanied by the cry of peace on earth and good-will to men; and here, He goes from the world with hands outstretched in benedictions upon those He left below. Surely if any man love not such a Saviour he deserves to be "Anathema, Maranatha." 5. But what feelings must have possessed the hearts of the disciples when they witnessed these things. 6. And where was He from whom they had been separated? His place on the eternal throne of glory had been resumed, and He sat there now not as God merely, but God-man, the great mediatorial king. 7. Such ware the leading circumstances attending the ascension of our Lord. (W. H. Lewis, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. WEB: He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.