When it comes to the end-times sequence of events… we are in that split-second-moment where the walls of a drag racer’s tires ripple because the sheer power of the engine is too much too fast. Any moment now the rubber’s going to grip the road and we’ll be at ludicrous speed.
REPENT, PRAY, LOVE YOUR FAMILIES and point others toward Jesus Christ. God Bless.
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8
"The great day of the Lord is near— near and coming quickly. The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter; the Mighty Warrior shouts his battle cry." Zephaniah 1:14
"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. " Revelation 1:7
So with the whole context included, it paints the picture that Jesus did just literally go up and past a literal cloud that hid Jesus from their literal sight, and as He was going "up into heaven", two men dressed in white stood beside them and said what they said. It was an actual event. Jesus entered heaven physically by going up in a way that they could see Him going. It says it right there.
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But 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.”
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
It says it. That's not the problem. The problem is your literal interpretation.
Imagine if you interpreted everything said to you as literal.
Question: Do you really think that Jesus was a pyromaniac, who wanted to set everything around him literally on fire? Surely not. So, in that case, does "fire" mean literal fire? I mean, it says so, right? Or is it s symbolic expression?
The description in Acts is a description of what was observed and experienced. It was described in the way they observed it. If you have never had a vision, perhaps you cannot understand it, but visions are real, and they are spiritual manifestations.
I understand that it can be hard to reconcile understanding every aspect of the scripture in a literal way with empirical truth, but doing that takes GREATER faith and understanding. Paul tells us that "we will know fully in the future". That time is now, when we must rise above superstitious faith and reconcile the truth of the scripture with the truth of the material world that was NOT available at the time of Paul. Doing so resolves many of the innumerable contradictions that the atheists constantly harp on to attack the faith of the faithful.
So, what would be the difference between having a vision (seeing with their spiritual senses) of Jesus rising up and then being hidden by a cloud, and observing a literally material phenomenon? None, from the experience of the observer.
But consider: do you really believe that Heaven is somewhere above the clouds? Which layer of the atmosphere is it, then? Do higher flying jet aircraft pass through heaven when they travel from one side of the planet to another? Do space shuttles pass through Heaven on their way to outer space, or the the moon? Did Voyager pass through Heaven on its way to the outer reaches of the solar system?
No, "Heaven" is a spiritual realm, not a material realm. However, when we live in Heaven in the spirit while alive on Earth, then the Kingdom of God will manifest: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven."
The problem with not understanding this point occurs because some people read the scripture and interpret everything as literal, when it isn't. Visions are not literal.
"In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions..."
Seeing visions is one of the ways the Holy Spirit manifests, and has been used since the start as a means of communicating important information from the Father to people. A vision is experienced when one's spiritual senses are opened by the power of the Spirit. After the resurrection, the disciples and many people constantly experienced and outpouring of the spirit and had many, many visions.
They recorded these, as they experienced them, but without understanding the nature of the the spiritual sense, they are liable to be misunderstood.
The reason people historically have done this is (without putting too fine a point on it) due to ignorance of the relationship between the material world and the spiritual world, and how each of them functions.
I'm not denying the event. I'm saying they experience a spiritual vision.
Are there clear examples of what was written as a description being taken literally, that later proved NOT to be the case? There is a rock solid example of that in the scripture.
Read about how Elijah the prophet "ascended into Heaven" (as observed by Elisha) in Kings. Then, find in the gospel where and how Elijah the prophet returns. Reconcile.
A blessing on your day.
The story of the men watching Jesus physically ascend is not half literal and half allegory. Either the whole thing is allegory or it was all a real event. You do understand that at least?
Er, careful. Your prejudice is showing!
No, I agree that it is not half literal and half allegory. It's an important point, and thank you for making it.
Some of the content in scripture IS allegory, some is Symbolic and metaphor.
The tricky thing is that spiritual realities are OFTEN expressed - and experienced - through symbols and metaphor.
I believe the event itself was a real event, but what was observed was a spiritual realization, not a material event.
As such, it is not allegorical. In my view, the men actually stood there, they had a spiritual vision that they accepted and perhaps even perceived as a material event, and which then the author recorded without any distinction between spiritual and material phenomena.
It's not allegorical in the sense that its a parable. However, Jesus rising up into the sky is how the spiritual reality of his ascension to the highest realm together with the Father manifested and appeared to the observers, who were observing with their spiritual eyes, as in a vision, not viewing a material reality.
I hope that clarifies the point.
Just another point: You wrote: "men watching Jesus physically ascend".
Do you recognize that this is YOUR interpretation and (in fact) your own insertion, based on your interpretation and understanding? That's important to recognize, in my view. It does not serve God well for us to assert our own interpretation and understanding as if it is fact. It's important to recognize that any time we engage with scripture, we are dealing with ONE what scripture itself says, and TWO, what we THINK scripture means.
It does not say in scripture that he physically ascended. It lays out a description of what the men saw and reported, but does NOT overtly state this was a physical phenomenon. They saw Jesus form rising, but was this a vision? Or did Jesus actually float up behind clouds? If so, then where did he go after that?
Many reading this throughout history have simply assumed it must be a material phenomenon because they did not understand the relationship between spirit and flesh. A clearer understanding of the relationship between spirit and flesh is, in my opinion, part of what Paul was referring to when he wrote:
We constantly live in both realms, but due to the effects of sin, our spiritual senses are greatly, greatly diminished, almost to the point where most people do not even know that they have spiritual senses. When we die, our spirit is separated from our flesh, and our flesh decays, its job having been done. our spirit is eternal, and lives on in the spirit world eternally. But whether we live in eternal hell, or eternal heaven, this depends on our relationship with God and Christ.
Another point here: If you read Acts, it talks about how MANY saints were 'raised from the tombs' after the resurrection of Jesus. But if so, then where are they now? How long did they last?
The much more logical and consistent explanation is that following Jesus resurrection and the advent of the holy spirit, the spiritual sense of many believers and people in jerusalem were temporarily open and they observed the spirits of the saints who had previous passed to the spirit world. 'Rising from the tombs' is a metaphor that explains that because of Jesus resurrection, the spirit of these saints of the old Testament were resurrection to a new level, aka paradise, whereas the spiritual realm of even good people who died prior to the coming of Jesus is linked to a 'tomb' - spiritual dark and dank.
"You do understand that at least?" Yeah, sorry about that. I was being an ass, and it was unnecessary. I should have simply said, "Can we agree on that point?" I interpret the story as literal, and that's okay. You interpret it as a possible vision being described. That is also okay. The details of this and most other things argued over are unimportant. The gospel is simple or else simpletons like me would be in trouble eh? I thank God for that.
Ps. Did you bother to look up about how Elijah ascended and how he returned? It's really very important, although traditional theology (seeing in a mirror dimly) has failed to even look at this point, even though it is there in plain sight.