DEVOTION
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING
TO LUKE
GOING UP
Luke 24:50-53
50 When he had led them out to
the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he
was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they
worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed
continually at the temple, praising God.
NIV
Now this is the last thing in the
record that Luke left for us. Next to the cross where all our sins were taken
into account, and we have been forgiven and cleansed by the blood of Jesus so
that we do not have to pay the penalty for our sins. Jesus paid it all on that old
rugged cross. Then of course the fact that after he was in the grace those three
days, he was resurrected, which also means that we too will not stay in the grave
for we will also be resurrected. But then after we are raised from the dead what
then? If that is all then are we destined to just live again in the fallen
world? Do we have to continue to find a way to support ourselves? Surely because
of our death, all our assets would be gone, and we would no longer have any social
security, that would have stopped at our death. Praise God there is one more event
that we have to look forward to when we are resurrected or hopefully even
before we go through the valley of death. After Jesus had eaten that broiled
fish to prove he was still flesh and bone, and they went out near Bethany, he
lifted his hands and blessed them and at that very time, he was taken up, in bodily
form, into heaven. Sure, there is more to come, but the truth of the matter is
that because Jesus was taken up into heaven after we are resurrected, we too
will be taken up into heaven. Of course, we know just as Jesus was in paradise along with that one thief that day, they both took their last breath. This means the
day we take our last breath we will leave this body behind, and we will be in
paradise with Jesus. Certainly, that will be in a spiritual form, although we
do not know what that will look like. However, there will be a day that
whatever condition the body we left behind will be resurrected and we will
rejoin it so that we can rise into heaven in a bodily form, just as Jesus did.
Oh, the glory of it all. It does not matter what the condition of our
bodies will be, for eventually, it was dusk we were formed and to duck we will
be. Our bodies will decay to dusk, or we might have been cremated, but
none of that matters when it comes to the power of God. Our bodies will be reformed
as they are resurrected so we can follow Jesus into the air and on to our
heavenly home until we all come back to live in the new city of Jerusalem on
the new earth, an all-new creation by the power of God and prepared for us by
Jesus. Meanwhile, we live by faith and in the hope or anticipation of our resurrection
and ascension, as we will live a glorious eternal life in the presence of our
Lord. Yet, we wait for that word, “Going up!” Amen!
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