Note: (CL) = Controling Lesson (OT) = Old Testament (OTA) = Old Testament Alternative (NT) = New Testament (NTA) = New Testament Alternative (G) = Gospel (GA) = Gospel Alternative (Ps) = Psalm; one of these will follow all lessons for the week.

Note: Please be sure to look at previous posts because some of the week may have already been posted.


Friday, September 23, 2011

Proper 21 (NTA)


Acts 1:6-11
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Ac 1:6-11). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Jesus ascends the ladder back to heaven. Jacob put his head down upon a rock and sees this ladder into heaven. He sees Angels ascending and descending upon the ladder. Jesus was incarnate and humbled himself to become man. He even humbled himself to the point of dying on a cross as the sacrifice for all mankind. Christ was raised from the dead. He now returns to his Father.

Is it time for the Kingdom of Israel to be restored? It is not for us to understand. John the Baptist said the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. Jesus preached concerning the Kingdom of Heaven. Is this the Kingdom of Israel? Jesus has been crowned King. He enters Jerusalem as a King humbled and riding on a donkey. He ascends into heaven as the Lion of Judah and King.

He has restored his Kingdom but this Kingdom advances into people's hearts and minds as you go forth and preach the word to nations. Start here and move on until you reach the ends of the earth. But God still has to send his Angels down the ladder to tell the Disciples, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."
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