Ascension Day

Today--forty days after Easter, the holiday of Christ's resurrection--the Church celebrates His ascension into Heaven.

The Lord Jesus ascended
to His Father;
He sat down at the right hand
of the Mighty One.
From there He will return in glory
to judge the living and the dead,
and there will be no end to His reign.

"Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, 'Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.'

"Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.'"
--Acts 1:6-11 (NKJV)