GOING HOME

FIVE PLACES YOU’VE JUST GOT TO SEE

Luke 24: 50-53

GOING HOME

It has been so long ago that we begin this study that I called “5 places you’ve just got to see”, that I imagine you have forgotten the first 4 places.  Let me refresh your memory for just a moment.

·         First we visited Mount Olivet where Jesus told His disciples about the events of His second coming.  

·         Then we walked inside the city of Jerusalem and entered the Upper Room where Jesus gave the disciples something to remember Him by.

·         The third place we visited was a beautiful place which became a horrible place for Jesus, the Garden of Gethsemane.

·         We followed Jesus to the forth spot which was the Place of the Skull or Golgotha

It was while there on Golgotha that we kind of got side tracked and went into a study of the seven statements of Jesus from the cross.  For me that was not a bad side track.  I really learned a lot during that study.

But now we are back to the final spot on the list of our 5 places.  It is a spot near where we have visited before.  It is a part of the mountain range called the Mount of Olives.  It is east of the City of Jerusalem and the Bible tells us it is about a Sabbath Day’s journey from Jerusalem. 

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Let’s clarify that “Sabbaths Day journey” statement here because it is mentioned several times in the Bible and it will be good for us to understand exactly what is meant by that statement.

According to the original Mosaic Law, no Israelite was allowed to travel at all on the Sabbath Day. (EX. 16:29) But the religious powers that be often have a tendency to change the rules to fit their perceived needs.  This was the case here.  The rule was changed to say that an Israelite could travel up to 2000 cubits, (which was the distance the Hebrew people were to follow behind the Ark of the Covenant) as long as that distance was within the city boundaries. 

 

A cubit was about 18 inches,(which was actually measured as the distance between a man’s elbow and the tip of his finger. So you can see that measurement was a bit flexable).

Later the rule was changed again to allow you to place food or some other item 2000 cubits away and that would also be considered your place of abode, thus extending your journey again.

Another change was made which stated that if you walked 2000 cubits you should be allowed to walk 2000 cubits back, which made the Sabbath Day’s journey 4000 cubits or about 6000 feet or about a mile and a half. 

So by this time in history a Sabbath Day’s journey was about 1 ½ miles and that is about the distance that the Mount of Olives is from the Eastern gate of the City of Jerusalem and thought to be near the place where the little city of Bethany was located.

Jesus had visited this little city of Bethany many times.  If you will recall it was there that His friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived. We are told that He ate with them and visited with them there in their home. 

Bethany is a little spot, about 1 ½ miles East of Jerusalem, on the Southern slope of the Mount of Olives.  It is here that the resurrected Jesus led his little band of men.  It was 40 days after His resurrection.  It was a very special day.  It was the day of Jesus’ “home-going” or what we know as the ascension. 

Not only is this event mentioned in our text but we are also told more about it in the first chapter of Acts verses 1-12.  Jesus was in His resurrected body.  This body was very similar to His earthly body with a few exceptions. He could eat, He could be felt, you could touch Him, (remember His offer to Thomas?) He could speak and hear and see and He could walk around like other men.  He looked like Himself yet perhaps a little different because some failed to recognize Him.  Yet He could pass through solid objects and to use a “Star Trek” word He could “teleport” Himself to other locations.   

Let’s just stand here a moment and watch the events as they unfold. 

They have walked the 1 ½ miles from Jerusalem.  They must understand by now that Jesus is up to something.  Jesus was and is always up to something.  Jesus doesn’t just do things for “drills”.  He has a purpose and a plan for everything that He does, whether it seems good to us or bad to us or insignificant to us, Jesus has a purpose for it and He is up to something.  Wouldn’t it make your day go much better, wouldn’t it make your life go much better, if you knew that in all that happened to you that Jesus loved you and that He was up to something in your life? 

Somewhere along that walk Jesus realizes that this is the time and place when He can go home.  Have you ever been there?  Oh, I have several times.  I’ve been stationed in various places, lived in several places and been on assignments in many places and really didn’t want to be there.  I really would rather have been home.  There is just something about “home” that you can’t describe. Even if you know you are doing good, even if you know your time there is useful and purposeful, you just can’t wait to get home.

Many times it is a mixed feeling.  Sort of like “sweet and sour” sauce.  I have felt the sadness of leaving people I have grown to know and love.  I have felt the glum of knowing that I probably will not ever return to a certain place.  I have felt the finality that this time and place in my life is completed and the job is over. But along with those feelings I feel the anticipation of seeing my loved ones.  I can sense the eagerness of being in familiar surroundings.  I anticipate the experience of walking on ground that I know and returning to the loving arms of people who care for me and have missed me while we were separated.  (And just as a side bar, I believe that is the feelings we will have at death, what do you think?)

I’m sure Jesus felt those feelings too. Can’t you just feel the anticipation that Jesus had walking along that road knowing that in just a short time He would be back in Heaven with The Father?

Suddenly He stops. Can you see Him as He turns and looks into the eyes of His men?  Oh, how He loved those men.  Even though He wanted to go home, He hated to leave them.  He knew what they were going to have to go through.

Luke 24: 50 gives us this simple statement, “He lifted up His hands and He blessed them”.  These are simple words but what a great meaning and experience they hold. 

 Pronouncing blessing on children, loved ones or people in general is something that we have left by the wayside but something that was quite common in those days.  To express a blessing or to bless someone is like bestowing a wish on someone.  You are stating that he/she will experience a specific favor of God.

Probably one of the most familiar blessings comes from Numbers 6:24-26.  This blessing is said in many churches as the minister completes his sermon and dismisses the people.  It is called the Priestly Blessing.

 May the Lord bless thee, and keep thee;

 The Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious to thee;

 The Lord lift His countenance upon thee and give thee peace..

There are many places in the Bible where men gave and received blessings.  We won’t take the time here to go over them but that would be a good personal Bible study to research the blessings of the Bible. 

Even today in many Jewish families the father will bless his children on a regular basis.  Sometimes it will be at birthdays, or weddings or special occasions and in some families the father will bless his children as they gather every Friday evening. 

Can you imagine how it would feel to have your father place his hands on you and “bless” you, calling on God to give you some special gift or grace?  Can you see the importance of doing the same for your children?  I’m sure it might feel awkward at first but I think it is something I’d like to experience.  I sort of wish we would reinstate this tradition in our society today. 

Can you see the risen Lord raising His hands in a symbolic act of wrapping His arms around His beloved men and pronouncing God’s blessing on them?  Wow, what a moment that must have been. 

Now look what’s happening!  While Jesus is blessing His disciples, He is separated from them, He is carried up into the heavens and while they watched He went up into the clouds.  Jesus has left the building.

By now I would have been completely blown away.  But the show is not over.  Luke tells us in Acts chapter one that while they stood there (he doesn’t say it but I think it fits here, DUMBFOUNDED) “behold two men stood by them in white apparel”.

I want us to look at 4 things that Jesus left for us when He went home.

First, when Jesus left HE LEFT A PROMISE

“Ye men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking up into the heavens?  THIS SAME JESUS, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall come back in like manner as you have seen Him go”

Notice what the angels said.  THIS SAME JESUS.

·         This same Jesus.  The Jesus born to Mary, born in a dirty old cow pen. 

·        This same Jesus. The Jesus who had so much compassion on the hurting folk of His day and worked so many miracles for them

·     This same Jesus.  The 33 year old Galilean who clawed the ground and sweat blood for me in Gethsemane.

·         This same Jesus.  The young man who was beaten and tortured on Calvary for my sins.

·         This same Jesus.  The man who would rather to go to hell for me than to go to heaven without me.

·        This same Jesus.  Who fulfilled all prophesies spoken about Him and was thus able to cry Tetelestai from the cross. 

·         This same Jesus.  Look for Him folks.  Don’t be mistaken.  Don’t let other things distract you.  Don’t become too tied up with all of your affairs because “this same Jesus is coming back in like manner”. 

And notice something else here.  When He left they saw Him in physical form.  When He returns we will not see a ghost or spirit, we will see a man.

When He left they saw Him with amazement.  When He returns we will be blown out of our boots by His splendor.

When He left they worshiped Him. When He returns we will worship Him forever more. . 

“Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that “this same Jesus” is King of Kings and Lord of Lords”.   He left us with a promise that He will return. 

“I go to prepare a place for you and if I go, I will come again to receive you unto myself that where I am, ye may be also.  John 14: 3. 

 WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE!

Before I get too carried away let me tell you some of the other things that He left behind when He went home that day.

 HE LEFT HIS SPIRIT.  Verse 49 “I send you the promise of my Father upon you”:  Jesus had been WITH them, now He would be IN them. 

I’ve often heard people say that they longed to see Jesus.  Often we long to just sit at His feet and listen to Him talk to us and teach us and comfort us.  But don’t miss what He has given us.  He gave us Himself, His Spirit, His Holy Spirit, to comfort us, to teach us, to be our guide.

John 14: 26-27.  “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send In My name (Did you get that?  The Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost) He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said.  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you”.

That is the promise of the Holy Spirit.  That is the Spirit that He promised when He said, “If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, HOW MUCH MORE, shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him”? 

HE LEFT A JOB.  Matthew 28:19-20.  Go, teach, baptize.  Spread the Word.

Luke 24: 47:  “…that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem”. 

I’ve said it a million times.  I know you are tired of hearing it by now.  God did not leave you here to sit on the curb and wait for your chariot.  He left you with a job to do.  We are not here to wait.  We are here to work.  We must be about our Father’s business. 

HE LEFT A GROUP.  In Acts 1:13 we are told that when the disciples returned from that little mountain outside of Jerusalem that they went back to the Upper Room and waited, together,120 of them and joined forces, “In one mind and one accord”. 

It wasn’t people who developed “the church” or the “body of Christ”, it was Jesus.  The church wasn’t the idea of some Pope or prophet but the initiative and inspiration of the Holy Son of God. 

Man has tried to “tweak” it and caused it to stray far away, I’m afraid, from its original purpose but it’s still the church and it’s still His plan for accomplishing the Job that He left for us to do.

It makes me sort of proud to be a part, a continuation of such a wonderful heavenly plan. 

So, to finish up, we are told that Jesus went home.  And now He sits on the right hand of God and “intercedes” for us.  That word means:  Intervenes, pleads, negotiates and acts as a mediator for us. 

What a job He did while here on earth.  What preparations He made for us. What do we have waiting on us there in His home?  We can only imagine.