"Galilaeans, why stand looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into Heaven will come in just the same way as you have seen Him going into Heaven." Acts 1:11 (WNT)
Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, tells us that we are to fix our minds on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. It is interesting then that immediately after the ascension the disciples have an angelic visitation apparently telling them to do the opposite!
So which is it? Should we be focused on the heavenly realities where Christ is seated and with him our true identity and positioning, or on the earthly realities where there is still so much need for us to engage and continue the works that Jesus began.
To my mind, it is like asking which end of the battery most needs to be connected. The answer is of course both! You only get power when you have a connection between the two. So the most important one to focus on is the one that has come loose! We are not to be so taken up with the world and its activities that we forget our true identity and become no different, but neither are we to be so engaged with heaven that we forget we have been positioned down here for purpose!
Jesus told his disciples that he was going back to heaven to prepare a dwelling place for their coming. But that's not the end of the story, because after the resurrection they also learned that he was leaving them on earth to prepare a dwelling place for his coming!
If our eschatology is correct we will understand that these two events are actually one and the same! We are not waiting to be taken up to heaven, nor passively waiting for Jesus to return to earth. We are actively bringing forward the day when heaven and earth meet and the dwelling place of God and man becomes one.
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth... and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.'" Revelation 21:1,3
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