By Pastor Dave Holland
When He had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. — Luke 24:50–52
What do these verses tell us about Jesus?
They tell us He is alive—and still at work.
Forty days after His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus leads His disciples to a hillside near Bethany. There, He speaks His final words and ascends into heaven, disappearing into the clouds.
What a dramatic exit!
Over five hundred people saw Christ alive after His resurrection and testified to this astonishing reality. In fact, there is more historical and legal evidence supporting Jesus’ death and resurrection than for any other figure in ancient history.
Yet what strikes me most is not how Jesus leaves—it is what He does while leaving. As He ascends, He lifts His hands and blesses His followers.
That is who He is.
That is what He does.
And He is still doing it today.
To bless someone is to release God’s favor upon them. Where the Mosaic Law exposes shortcomings and failures, Christ’s blessing announces God’s goodness—overflowing, unearned, and freely given. His final earthly act was not instruction, correction, or warning. It was a blessing.
Cursing, of course, is the opposite of blessing.
When I was a boy in grammar school, the other kids taught me how to swear—and I became very good at it. I was angry. My father had left us a few years earlier, and all that unprocessed hurt needed somewhere to go. Swearing became my outlet.
I remember a volunteer recess monitor named Mrs. Miller. She supervised us while we played kickball and basketball. Fights would break out from time to time, and I was often in the middle of them. One day, when Mrs. Miller stepped in to break things up, I unleashed a stream of curses at her. The principal, Mrs. Pauley, called me into her office and gave me a firm swat from her big paddle for that one.
Looking back now, I can see it clearly: my words were not merely misbehavior—they were woundedness crying out. Cursing was the language of a heart that had never learned how to process hurt and anger.
So how did the disciples respond to Christ’s blessing? They worshiped Him—with great joy.
Luke’s Gospel closes with the Ascension, but it also serves as a bridge to its sequel, The Acts of the Apostles, which opens with this same event. In Acts, we learn the Ascension did not occur on Easter morning but forty days later:
“After His suffering, He presented Himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3)
Jesus appeared not only to the apostles, but to over five hundred disciples.
The Ascension unfolds like a priestly benediction. Jesus lifts His hands—like an Old Testament priest—and begins blessing them. As He continues blessing, He continues rising. Luke’s use of the imperfect tense suggests a gradual ascent, as though Christ were being taken up slowly, raining down blessing the entire time.
Jesus ascended back to His Father—the same God who had spoken from the cloud on the Mount of Transfiguration, “This is My beloved Son.” The Father received the Son back into the fullness of divine glory, to reign forever.
I once experienced something that helped me understand God’s blessing deeply, personally.
I was in Bible college, exhausted. My early-morning evangelism class met at 7:15 a.m., and I had worked the night before until 3:00 a.m. When the professor opened the class in prayer, he stopped and said, “I believe the Lord wants us all to pray quietly this morning.”
I thought, Great. Now I can sleep.
I kneeled at my chapel chair, closed my eyes, and drifted off. I dreamed of a little boy running—happy, light, and free. His hair was neatly slicked with a bit of Vaseline, like he had just come from the barber. He was chewing bubble gum—the kind barbers give you if you sit still for your haircut.
As the boy ran faster, the wind blew through his hair. Ahead of him stood a massive white cloud. Without fear, he ran straight toward it, leaping inside. Instantly, the cloud enveloped the boy into the presence of God the Father.
Pure love wrapped its arms around him. Warmth—liquid, cleansing goodness—washed over him, dissolving the anger, the cursing, and the wounds he had carried for so long.
Then I woke up with a quiet realization: I am that little boy. But I was changed.
Renewed.
Free.
Cleansed.
Blessed.
Christ has risen.
A new day of blessing has dawned.
