‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven?’ Acts 1:11

There are only two people in the Bible who went to heaven without dying.  The first is Enoch, a simple verse in Genesis describing the descendants of Adam states:

‘Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.’ Gen 5:22-24

All the others are said to have lived so many years and then died…

The second person is Elija who ascends to heaven in a chariot of fire leaving Elisha to literally carry his mantle as the prophet to the Israelites.

^‘As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.’ 2 Kings 2:11

We must presume everyone else died.[1]  We would also assume, that even though Lazarus was raised from the dead by Jesus shortly before he entered Jerusalem, Lazarus did later die a natural death.

‘he suffered death and was buried. 
On the third day he rose again 
in accordance with the Scriptures; ‘ Nicene Creed

He ascended into heaven… Jesus’ resurrection was not the same as merely being raised from the dead.  Jesus appeared to the disciples through locked doors in the upper room, appeared to disciples on the road to Emmaus and then disappeared, veiled his appearance to Mary outside the tomb… He was not a ghost, as he proved when he ate fish both in the upper room and at the sea of Galilee, and when he offered his hands and side for Thomas to touch him.  He was really alive and present.

Jesus in His resurrection perfectly inhabited both the physical and the spiritual realms.  He was able to breathe onto the disciples the Holy Spirit.  In the words of one author he was able to appear in the Upper room not because he was a phantom but because he was more real and solid than the room itself.[2]  He could appear and disappear at will. Of course eventually he ascended up in the sky, finally vanishing through the clouds into heaven.

It is no wonder that the disciples were left open mouthed, transfixed in shock, and had to be nudged by the angels to jolt them back to their new normality, and to do what Jesus had just commanded them to do. 

Why, though, do we have the imagery of heaven as somehow above and hell below?  Could Jesus really, as a child questioned at a recent Easter event, ‘fly?’

On the ceiling of the ‘Heaven closet’ at Bolsover is, in my opinion, one of the finest paintings of the Ascension, painted for William Cavendish in 1619.  Many images of the Ascension have a cartoon unreality about them, but owing to the perspective and the foreshortening of the trompe-l’oeil effect this painting places you the viewer exactly as the disciples are described – looking straight up and seeing Jesus disappear above your head. 

William Cavendish’s second wife Margaret wrote many books, one of which ‘The Blazing World’ was published in 1666.  This novel, the first science fiction novel ever written, addressed various scientific and philosophical questions including the nature of the physical and spiritual realms.  Perhaps she was looking at this ceiling when she wrote:

‘She asked… whether the Spirits had not ascending and descending motions, as well as other creatures? They answered, ‘That properly there was no ascension or descension in Infinite Nature….for there can be no motion without body…’

For Jesus to ascend to heaven, or appear one moment and not the next, may be explained by him inhabiting both the physical and the spiritual world perfectly at the same time.

Modern physicists speculate about further dimensions.  In one description of what a fourth dimension would look like, an example was given of a character who inhabits a two-dimensional world seeing a three-dimensional sphere moving through their dimensional plane.  Of course it would appear to them like a circle appearing and then growing bigger and smaller.  To someone who inhabits a three-dimensional world to encounter something in four dimensions, it would seem like an object appearing and disappearing at will.  

I am not saying that either of those explanations perfectly capture Jesus’ supernatural nature, however they point to the reality of Jesus leaving our physical world and ascending to his heavenly realm which he describes as ‘close’.  For Heaven is not a future but a ‘now and not yet’ reality. That’s how the Bible describes it. 

The disciples were empowered when Jesus breathed upon them the Holy Spirit in the upper room, then they were given instructions by Jesus on the mountain before his ascension. Once they had been nudged by the angels, they went straight into action doing exactly what Jesus commanded them.  Going back to Jerusalem they received the full power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, preached and made thousands of disciples before dispersing off in every direction to proclaim Christ to the very ends of the earth.

When the disciples first meet Jesus on the mountain they asked him the question ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ Clearly, they still had not yet grasped the magnitude of God’s plan for the restoration of the whole world, once for all for ever.  They were thinking with too narrow a vision.  ‘Stop just standing there and get on with the job at hand’ could be a paraphrase of the angels admonition.

There are times in all of our lives, no matter how close to God we are, when we need a bit of encouragement to become unstuck and do what we are called to do. 

The spiritual realm is all around us, all the time. It’s not somewhere up there, distant. We only use this analogy because we can understand it and it feels convenient, but Heaven is now and not yet – it’s all around us, in everything.

Jesus gave the disciples the Holy Spirit’s power to go out and make more disciples – to go to Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, to the end of the earth.  And he gives the same Spirit to each one of us.  He ascended, so He could send us His spirit – we can all receive the Holy Spirit and we can have that same ability to access the heavenly realm.

I suppose, the question is; are we waiting for the tap on the shoulder from the angel to kick us out there and do something about it? Or are we willing to listen and go out ourselves, to the ends of the earth, and tell people about God’s love?  Are we able to live fruitfully in this his kingdom?

As we go out, as we pray, we will see the Holy Spirit.  We will do what God wants us to do – make disciples and make Him known. 

Sometimes we must accept the supernatural and let God be God even when it He surpasses our wildest expectations!

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[1] Whilst the Catholic church believes in the ascension of Mary this is not recorded in the Bible. Of course, believing in a supernatural God, this could have happened, even though Jesus asked John to look after her when he was on the cross.

[2] Forgive me, but I can’t remember which author wrote this. If you recognise the quote, please leave a comment – thank you.