“This same Jesus…has been taken from you into heaven…”

It had been 40 days.  Something was different.  Jesus had a look on his face that wasn’t discernible.  What was he thinking?  We were all gathered around him on the mount.  It was always great being with him, beyond words.  After we recovered from his resurrection it was sort of like old times again, before he died.  But now … now none of us could tell what was up.  We thought he would “restore the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1:6).  After all, if death couldn’t stop him, how could the Romans?  “But,” he told us, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (v. 8).  Witnesses of what?  The coming kingdom of Israel?  Witnesses to whom?  He didn’t exactly say.  And before any of us could ask him, he lifted right up off the ground, continued to rise up through the clouds and returned to heaven…just like that!  It shocked us all.  We didn’t know what to think.

He returned to heaven.  When someone returns to a place, that makes him a returnee.  I first came across this word many years ago in a cross-cultural workshop at a conference.  A colleague of mine was teaching about the needs of international students and scholars as they returned home.  They are different when they return than when they left.  They have certain needs that were not there before they left.  It is similar with Christ.  He returned to heaven with a glorified body, as the only “mediator between God and man” (1 Tim. 2:5) to sit “down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (Hebrews 1:3) to begin his intercession for “those who come to God through him” (Hebrews 7:25).  Thus things were different when he returned too.

To return to heaven required that he ascend from the earth.  That’s what the apostles witnessed firsthand, shocked as they were.  It took two angels—“two men dressed in white”—to put a wrap on the event and help pull their attention back to more immediate matters.  But Jesus knew he would be ascending.  He said so in his conversation with Nicodemus in John 3.  Countering the claims of some in Israel that they knew what heaven was like, he said in verse 13, “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.”  Jesus’ words are clear:  to gain access or entry into heaven, one must be a native; heaven must be his home.  Who among earth dwellers can make such a claim?  None, period.  Only the one who left it of his own accord—Satan and his minions were kicked out (Rev. 12:1-4)—could return at will.  Heaven is home for him; it is where he belongs.

Paul spoke of the same thing in Ephesians 4.  He quotes Psalm 68 to describe the way Christ gave gifts of his grace.  Paralleling the way victorious generals would return and parade the spoils of war, he says in verse 8, “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.”  When the general would ascend the steps to Caesar, prisoners were in chains, wealth and riches and assets were displayed, and then gifts were given to many.  Christ, too, ascended to heaven to the Father, leading those former prisoners in paradise, or “Abraham’s side” (Luke 16:22), and gave gifts to those members of his church.  But what we want to see is what he says next:  “(What does ‘he ascended’ mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions?  He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens…” (v. 9).  In other words, you can’t begin on the assumption that a person is going to ascend to heaven unless he has first come to earth, those “lower, earthly regions.”  It only works one way; the return trip is necessary to get up there.  If you need proof, just try to find the first person with a credible story who’s been to heaven.  UFO watchers need not apply, especially those from Roswell, New Mexico!

But Paul finishes verse 10 telling us why Christ’s return was momentous:  “in order to fill the whole universe.)”  More literally, “fill all things.”  To make something full is to complete its purpose.  Twice before Paul mentioned this filling (1:23, 3:19).  The purpose of filling all things in the universe is possible only because Christ returned to heaven.  This Returnee is the one who graciously gives gifts to his people to accomplish his will, bringing glory to himself.  No wonder he said, “If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father…” (John 14:28).  Have you thanked him for returning to the Father?  Are you using your gifts and fulfilling the Father’s will?  Can others see the impact of the Returnee in you?