Encounters with the Risen Savior: Now What?

This is last of our Thursday series on the encounters with the Risen Savior that are shared in the four gospels. Today’s encounter is the last one that the disciples shared with Jesus on the earth. It is when they saw him ascend to heaven. This encounter is shared with us by Luke. It starts in his gospel and is continued in the book of Acts.

Luke ends his gospel in chapter 24 verses 50-52 saying:

And He led them out as far Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising God.


While this encounter is very different than the other encounters with the Risen Savior that we have taken a look at in recent weeks, one similarity strikes me: worship. Consistently throughout each of these encounters we have seen that the response to seeing Jesus is to worship. We must never lose sight of that principle. When we really see Jesus for who He is, worship, and praising Him, should be our natural response.


When Luke began the book of Acts, he started with a bit of an introduction shedding a little more light on this final encounter before the ascension. In Acts chapter 1, verses 1-11, it says:


“The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, ‘Which,’ He said, ‘you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.’ 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. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. The also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.’”


Okay, I’ve just got to say it. The question of the two men in white clothing always makes me laugh a little. “Why do you stand looking into the sky?” Ummm…they just saw Jesus “lifted up” and “received” by cloud. That’s not a sight you see everyday, or EVER. I’m pretty sure I’d be doing exactly what the disciples were doing: staring into the sky to see what’s going to happen next. They’d seen Jesus heal people. They’d seen Him resurrect people. They’d seen Him die and rise again. They’d been seeing Him, the Risen Savior, off and on for 40 days at this point. They might have thought that nothing could surprise them anymore, but then He ascends to Heaven. Again, I’m pretty sure if I were them I’d definitely be wondering “Now what? What’s He going to do now?”


But they were essentially told to stop staring in the sky because He’d be back. Fortunately for them, and us, He’d already answered the “now what” question before it ever even crossed their minds. The “now what” was given to them in the encounter on the mountain in Galilee when Jesus gave them the Great Commission. He even reinforced those instructions in His parting words to the disciples when he said:


“It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will received power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”


And like the Great Commission, these instructions weren’t just for those disciples standing there that day. They are for each of us who call ourselves followers or disciples of Jesus. We are called to be His witnesses throughout the earth through the power of the Holy Spirit.


So when you find yourself taken by surprise, in a good way or from a loss or unexpected situation, and you’re asking “Now what?” remember that He answered before we even asked. “Now what” starts with worship and continues with following His instructions to be a witness for Him and make disciples.   ​

While this encounter is very different that the other encounters with the Risen Savior that we have taken a look at in recent weeks, one similarity strikes me: worship. Consistently throughout each of these encounters we have seen that the response to seeing Jesus is to worship. We must never lose sight of that principle. When we really see Jesus for who He is, worship, and praising Him, should be our natural response.

When Luke began the book of Acts, he started with a bit of an introduction shedding a little more light on this final encounter before the ascension. In Acts chapter 1, verses 1-11, it says:

The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, ‘Which,’ He said, ‘you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.’ 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. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. The also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.’

Okay, I’ve just got to say it. The question of the two men in white clothing always makes me laugh a little. “Why do you stand looking into the sky?” Ummm…they just saw Jesus “lifted up” and “received” by cloud. That’s not a sight you see everyday, or EVER. I’m pretty sure I’d be doing exactly what the disciples were doing: staring into the sky to see what’s going to happen next. They’d seen Jesus heal people. They’d seen Him resurrect people. They’d seen Him die and rise again. They’d been seeing Him, the Risen Savior, off and on for 40 days at this point. They might have thought that nothing could surprise them anymore, but then He ascends to Heaven. Again, I’m pretty sure if I were them I’d definitely be wondering “Now what? What’s He going to do now?”

But they were essentially told to stop staring in the sky because He’d be back. Fortunately for them, and us, He’d already answered the “now what” question before it ever even crossed their minds. The “now what” was given to them in the encounter on the mountain in Galilee when Jesus gave them the Great Commission. He even reinforced those instructions in His parting words to the disciples when he said:

“It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will received power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

And like the Great Commission, these instructions weren’t just for those disciples standing there that day. They are for each of us who call ourselves followers or disciples of Jesus. We are called to be His witnesses throughout the earth through the power of the Holy Spirit.

So when you find yourself taken by surprise, in a good way or from a loss or unexpected situation, and you’re asking “Now what?” remember that He answered before we even asked. “Now what” starts with worship and continues with following His instructions to be a witness for Him and make disciples.   ​​​