MPV Commentary

Ascension.

1-2. The former treatise was Luke's Gospel. Theophilus is mentioned again (see Luke 1:3). Jesus began to do and teach, marking a significant division in His work on earth and from heaven. This distinction highlights the continuity of Christ's ministry, with its beginning recorded in the Gospels and its continuation through the apostles' labors under His authority.

2. After He gave commandments through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-18; Luke 24:44-49), Jesus instructed the disciples to remain in Jerusalem, as the Spirit would glorify the existing economy by descending on them at its metropolitan seat and during a major festival after His ascension.

3-5. The apostles' preaching centered on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, which was supported by repeated and undeniable manifestations of Himself in the body to the assembled disciples. These appearances were crucial evidence for the fact that He had been seen alive after His passion (or suffering), a term nobly consecrated in Christian phraseology.

4. The disciples should not depart from Jerusalem because the Spirit would glorify the existing economy by descending on them at its metropolitan seat and during a major festival after Jesus' ascension, as prophesied in Isaiah 2:3 and Luke 24:49.

5. They would be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence (ten days later, as indicated by Leviticus 23:15-16), but this was expressed indefinitely to exercise their faith.

6-8. The disciples asked if Jesus would restore the kingdom to Israel at that time, likely reflecting their carnal views of Messiah's kingdom. However, they were neither rebuked nor contradicted on this point.

7. It was not for them to know the times or dates, implying that this question was irrelevant to their present business and future work.

8. They would receive power (see Luke 24:49) and be witnesses of Jesus in Jerusalem, Judea, and all the way to the uttermost parts of the earth. This order of apostolic preaching and success provides the key to understanding the plan of Acts, which first relates the progress of the Gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria (chapters 1-9) and then to the entire world (chapters 10-28).

9-11. As they watched, Jesus was taken up into heaven (see Luke 24:50-53). To clarify that He did not disappear while they were looking away, it is stated that "while they looked on, He was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight." This event was similar to Elijah's ascension (2 Kings 2:10) and Elisha's observation of it (Acts 1:12).

10. The disciples gazed steadfastly toward heaven as Jesus departed, following Him with their eager eyes in rapt amazement.

11. Two men in white apparel appeared, likely angels in human form (Luke 24:4). They addressed the disciples, saying, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus who has been taken from you will come again in the same way as you saw Him go."