Acts 1:1-11 & Psalm 66:8-20
Over the centuries, theologians have created numerous intimidating
words to describe the characteristics of God: words like omniscient,
(all-knowing) omnipotent (all-powerful), and omnipresent (able to be
everywhere at once). Hard as those may be to understand, perhaps
the most mysterious is “immutable”. That word means that God does
NOT change.
In other words, God is eternally consistent. That theme is consistent in
Scripture. God says in Malachi 3:6 : “I the LORD do not change” – and
then He explains why that’s a good thing: “So you, the descendants of
Jacob, are not destroyed.”
God chose the Hebrew people as His own and – despite their chronic
rebellion – He never gave up on them, never destroyed them, never
banished them – until He exiled them to Babylon for 70 years. Even
then, after the 70 years, He brought them home.
And God is just as persistent in His love for those who follow Jesus.
Unchanging. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrew Christians put it
this way: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
That’s pretty all-encompassing, wouldn’t you say?
Or God’s voice declaring in Revelation 1: “I am the Alpha and the
Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come – the Almighty.”
In our reading today from Acts 1, Jesus has just been taken up into
heaven. We can imagine the grief and fear mixed with wonder as
He rises higher and higher in the sky – and then disappears from their
sight – His feet vanishing into the clouds.
What do we do now? Where do we go? Who’s in charge? How are
we going to tell this story? Can we even get the story right without
Jesus here with us?
In the midst of their hurricane of emotions – two men dressed in white
appeared beside them. “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here
looking at the sky?” That’s a logical question – which the disciples
would have had trouble answering, lest the two men think they were
crazy.
The two men – whom we assume were angels – tell the disciples that
“this same Jesus” will return "in the same way" they saw Him go. This
is the theological equivalent of the Law of Gravity:
“What goes up, must come down.”
However, we have to add a word: “Eventually”.
This isn't just about a physical return; it’s a reminder that the God who
acted then is the God who acts now and who will continue to act for all
eternity. Because God is so consistent – and that includes keeping
promises – those disciples and we disciples don’t have to keep looking
up into the sky. We can count on Jesus to return.
Why? Because He promised. In John 14 – which was our Gospel
reading last Lord’s Day. “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with
me – so that where I am, you will also be.” And Jesus always keeps
His promises.
And He promised to send the Comforter – the Holy Spirit – whose
coming at Pentecost we will celebrate next Lord’s Day. The Comforter
will help them to remember what Jesus taught them so can they
spread the Good News – and the Comforter will also empower them to
go and spread the Good News.
There is no need for them to watch the sky – vainly hoping that Jesus
will come right back. “Don’t worry, guys – I’ll only be gone a few days.
A few weeks. A few months. A few years. A few centuries. A few
millennia.” It already has been a couple of those – and who knows
when He’ll be back?
But while they were waiting, they were supposed to keep busy. And
while we are waiting, we are supposed to keep busy. There is a world
that needs to hear the Gospel – the Good News – and we are the ones
to tell it – in the same way that those disciples did.
We must remember that those eleven disciples who watched Jesus
rise into the sky until His feet disappeared into the clouds knew what
they had seen with their own eyes – and as eyewitnesses, they
confidently spread the Good News of the risen Christ.
However, we were not blessed to be eyewitnesses to that. Yet we can
share the Good News with confidence. After all, Jesus did tell the
disciples just before He left, “You will be my witnesses.” And that
promise is for us, as well. But how can we do that?
Next Lord’s Day, we will celebrate Pentecost – when the Holy Spirit
landed on Jesus’s disciples – giving them what they would need to do
just that. And the Spirit landed on countless others – empowering
them to believe the message of the disciples.
And the Spirit is still doing that work today – through people like you
and me. Even though we were not privileged to be eyewitnesses –
we can do it because we have the Holy Spirit and we know what the
Spirit can do. And we have Jesus’s promise to come back – and we
know that Jesus keeps His promises.
So we can say to others what the Psalmist called out in Psalm 66:
"Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what the
Lord has done for my soul."
The Jesus who healed the blind and fed the 5,000 is the same Jesus
who ascended and the same Jesus who is coming back. His nature
hasn't changed. And the God we serve refines us as He did the
patriarchs and the prophets and the disciples.
But we have to stop staring into the sky – longing for His return.
We also must stop listening to those who claim that they know when
He’ll do that.
We need to trust His promise that He will come back – and get busy
preparing the world to welcome Him.
Or as an old mentor of mine used to say, “Remember that we are on a
welcoming committee, not a planning committee.”
Amen! In Your good time, come, Lord Jesus!