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The Bible talks about Jesus ascending into the sky (and
Ascension Day is May 1st). The actual words
are: “He was taken up before their very eyes, and a
cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking
intently up into the sky as he was going….” (Acts
1:10-11). But does that mean heaven is somewhere in a
vertical direction? When the USSR first started sending
up space shots they crowed that they hadn’t seen God up
there. They were not being serious – I hope – because
they will do one day!
The Bible uses metaphor and symbolism, and so do we. We
talk about the sun rising – which it doesn’t, rather the
earth spins. We talk about looking up at the stars, but,
of course, the stars aren’t just more or less vertically
above us. They’re all around us. In Australia we saw
beautiful parts of the night sky which are never visible
to us in Britain. They are, as it were, beneath our
feet. But from everywhere on earth the visible night
sky is above us.
Actually to think of heaven, with Jesus in it, as a
physical place tucked away “above the bright blue sky”
in some corner of the universe is a mistake. God is not
limited by time and space. When Jesus rose from the
dead, he had a physical body: people could touch him, he
could make and eat breakfast with his disciples. But it
was a “glorified” body. He could appear and disappear
wherever he wanted to, and he could pass through solid
objects.
Modern scientific theories can make our minds boggle. We
are familiar with three dimensions – height, width and
depth - but scientists tell us that time is a fourth
dimension, and some of them talk about there being 5,10
or more dimensions. Some also think there are many
universes. We can’t begin to imagine this. I suppose we
could think of heaven as another (spiritual) dimension
intersecting with our universe, but even that is a human
simplification.
But let’s keep it simple. How can we picture the
ascension of Jesus in the light of what we know about
the universe today? He did indeed go up from the earth
and he did that because it would help his disciples to
understand and imagine that he was going to be crowned
king of the universe.
The known universe is 90 billion trillion miles or 90,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles across! And just as
there was never a time when Jesus was not, there is no
place where he is not. That is partly what the
Ascension of Jesus means to me. He is Lord of the whole
universe. More than that, he is Lord of infinity.
If you thought you could get away from Jesus, think
again! If you ever feel forsaken by him, that is purely
a feeling, however distressing, it is not factually
correct.
Remember also what the angels present at his Ascension
said to the disciples: “Men of Galilee, 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.”
One day this ascended Jesus will return visibly and
physically to this earth, not this time the babe of
Bethlehem, but rather the Lord of glory. Are you ready
to meet him?
Tony Higton
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Do
We Believe in 3 Gods?
