Ascension of Jesus

The story of Jesus’ ascension to heaven makes it clear that after his resurrection, Jesus is exalted by God as Lord and Judge. This story thus underlines the believer’s understanding that the risen Lord has been glorified by God.

There are just two places in the Bible where Jesus’ ascension to heaven is described: at the end of the Gospel according to Luke (Luke 24:50-53) and at the beginning of the book of Acts (Acts 1:1-11). The story of Jesus’ ascension is not found in the other books of the New Testament. In these books we read only that Jesus is raised to the Father (John 20:17), that the risen Lord is seated at the right hand of God (Romans 8:34), and that he will come back from there to administer justice on the living and the dead (1 Peter 4:5).
In these texts there is no conception of a heaven in space somewhere above our heads. Figurative language is used to describe the content of the resurrection belief. The resurrection means that as risen Lord, Jesus has entered into a totally new reality: that of God’s glory.

Luke is the only one who tells the story of the ascension, and who presents the ascension as a physical event. He describes the ascension of Jesus in two places, laying different emphases in each case.
At the end of his Gospel, Luke tells us that Jesus goes up to heaven in the late evening or the night of the resurrection itself (Luke 24:13). At the beginning of the book of Acts, Luke writes that initially Jesus remains with the disciples for a while. It is only after 40 days that is he taken up to heaven from the Mount of Olives. According to Acts 1:9 this occurs during the daytime.
The two descriptions of the ascension have different functions:

The ascension of Jesus as described by Luke gives very concrete form to the believer’s understanding that Jesus is glorified by God after his resurrection. The ascension shows that Jesus has been exalted by God as Lord and Judge. By this means, God confirms that Jesus is the promised Messiah.