Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’ s journey.
After He was taken up out of their sight in a cloud, His followers went back to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, a short Sabbath day's journey from the city. They returned in obedience to His command not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for the promised baptism of the Holy Spirit and power to witness to the ends of the earth. In the city they gathered in the upper room, about one hundred and twenty including the eleven and the women and Mary and His brethren, and continued with one accord in earnest prayer and heart-searching for ten days until Pentecost. They went back with great joy rather than sorrow or defeat, because He had promised to prepare a place and come again and to send the Spirit, a promise the angels on Olivet confirmed. He ascended from among them to His Father's throne as a divine conqueror escorted by angels with triumph and song, and upon that same Mount of Olives His feet will rest when He comes again as glorious King.
Setting and Return Journey
After Jesus was taken up in a cloud out of sight, the disciples returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is a Sabbath day's journey from the city. Their return followed His commission given on that mountain.
Olivet was the setting He chose for His final display of glory and His ascent to the Father. He went there with the eleven after giving them sacred instruction, and they accompanied Him unaware that this was their last time with Him. On the way toward Olivet they crossed the Kidron and neared Gethsemane, where He recalled His teaching about the vine as a symbol of His church's union with Him and the Father. Their journey back through Jerusalem's gates came only a few weeks after His condemnation and crucifixion there.
Olivet was hallowed by His presence and consecrated by His prayers and tears. It was the place where He found rest overlooking Jerusalem with yearning for the city. Its steeps had echoed the triumphant shouts proclaiming Him king, and on its descent He had found a home with Lazarus at Bethany. At its foot in Gethsemane He had prayed and agonized alone and shed blood.
Not Mount Zion nor Mount Moriah was honored for the ascension, because there He had been mocked and rejected and mercy beaten back by hard hearts. As the holy Shekinah in departing from the first temple stood upon the eastern mountain loth to forsake the city, so Christ stood upon Olivet.
Prayerful Waiting for Pentecost
Their return to Jerusalem was obedience to His command not to depart from the city but to remain and wait for the promise of the Father, to be baptized with the Holy Ghost and to receive power to be witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. On returning they went up into the upper room and continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with His brethren, including Peter and James and John and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon Zelotes and Judas the brother of James. About 120 persons were assembled there, united in prayer as they awaited the Holy Spirit.
Their return began ten days devoted to most earnest prayer, communion, heart-searching and self-examination in preparation for the promised gift and for their gospel witness and mission ahead. They gathered together and prayed humbly with one accord in the upper room and the upper chamber before Pentecost, after the parting scene and the angel's promise. Jerusalem was a Sabbath day's journey from the mount, and their time there led into days of prayer and communion before the power and glory of Pentecost and the Spirit's outpouring.
They searched their own hearts to put away everything that would hinder fulfillment, setting aside differences, confessing and putting away sins, and drawing together in holy fellowship and humble unity. They spent ten days in supplication and in earnest seeking of God, devoting themselves to united prayer for the descent of the Holy Spirit. Until the day of Pentecost they waited while Christ in heaven added His intercession at His ascension and inauguration, a jubilee where having ascended on high leading captivity captive He claimed the gift of the Spirit to pour out upon His disciples. It was then given as promised like a rushing mighty wind falling upon those assembled and filling the whole house, coming with a fullness and power as if restrained for ages but now poured forth upon the church to be communicated to the world, and devout men from every nation heard them speak the wonderful works of God in their own tongues. Jerusalem was a great center of influence where light from heaven was to shine in its most powerful rays upon His witnesses who were to bear the gospel message.
Ascension Glory and Promised Return
From among them on Olivet the heavens received Him as He ascended to His Father's throne as divine conqueror, as the King of saints, as God come in humanity returning in exalted character, as covenant-making Redeemer going not for His own interest but for His believing sons and daughters made His through faith in His name, and as one mighty in battle leading captivity captive. He ascended in a cloud of angels who triumphantly escorted Him to the city of God amid acclamations of praise and celestial song. At His ascent the escorting angels challenged the everlasting gates to lift up for the King of glory, the Lord strong and mighty in battle, the Lord of hosts, gone up with a shout and the sound of a trumpet.
As He went His parting promise to be with them always even to the end of the world came back to them. With gladness and triumph rather than sorrow, confusion, or defeat they returned because their hopes were no longer disappointed and His promise remained with them after they had seen the risen Savior. They returned with great joy because He had promised to go to prepare a place and to come again and that the Holy Spirit would come upon them, and they were to remain in Jerusalem until the Spirit came. The angels' message agreed with and renewed that promise of His personal return, and their joyful, patient, united expectation as they met together awaiting its fulfillment is an example.
Upon Olivet's summit His feet will rest when He comes again, not as a man of sorrows but as a glorious and triumphant king, while Hebrew hallelujahs mingle with Gentile hosannas and the redeemed as a mighty host swell the acclamation, Crown Him Lord of all. Angels there promised He would return, and His later descent is upon the Mount of Olives. At the end of the thousand years He as King of glory will descend from the holy city upon that same mount clothed with brightness like lightning, and when His feet touch it the mountain will part asunder and become a very great plain prepared for the reception of the holy city in which is the paradise of God.
The verse belongs with His final words, commission, promise of the Spirit, and the angels' message given to the waiting disciples. Linked with the word, Let not your heart be troubled, it teaches the necessity of being educated to believe the Word of God and to show faith by works in practical godliness. It gives the knowledge Christ gave about His second appearing, calling for searching the Scriptures, getting ready as wickedness increases, and doing the work God has appointed to be done. The record of the apostles' experience here refreshes the mind and instructs in the truth when carefully studied, showing an experience God's people in the present day must pass through in similar form. It calls believers of every country and speech in the last days to gain an intelligent knowledge of present truth and do an intelligent work for God among people of all languages, since a mighty power is at work in the world and heaven cooperates with those who do the work of the Lord.
Their example shows that united, earnest, humble prayer for the Holy Ghost must come before action on solemn and far-reaching principles and before a weighty decision. That need is greater now than then, requiring even more extended earnest seeking and nothing less than the descent of the Holy Ghost before venturing to write out a decision for the people, after their pattern of devoting ten days to earnest seeking of God in one place in Jerusalem. Coming to God in simple faith, true humility, firm dependence, and full surrender of self is the condition for Him to cooperate fully with believers as He desires, and when it is met He works as each case requires.
After He was taken up out of their sight in a cloud, His followers went back to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, a short Sabbath day's journey from the city. They returned in obedience to His command not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for the promised baptism of the Holy Spirit and power to witness to the ends of the earth. In the city they gathered in the upper room, about one hundred and twenty including the eleven and the women and Mary and His brethren, and continued with one accord in earnest prayer and heart-searching for ten days until Pentecost. They went back with great joy rather than sorrow or defeat, because He had promised to prepare a place and come again and to send the Spirit, a promise the angels on Olivet confirmed. He ascended from among them to His Father's throne as a divine conqueror escorted by angels with triumph and song, and upon that same Mount of Olives His feet will rest when He comes again as glorious King.
Setting and Return Journey
After Jesus was taken up in a cloud out of sight, the disciples returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is a Sabbath day's journey from the city. Their return followed His commission given on that mountain.
Olivet was the setting He chose for His final display of glory and His ascent to the Father. He went there with the eleven after giving them sacred instruction, and they accompanied Him unaware that this was their last time with Him. On the way toward Olivet they crossed the Kidron and neared Gethsemane, where He recalled His teaching about the vine as a symbol of His church's union with Him and the Father. Their journey back through Jerusalem's gates came only a few weeks after His condemnation and crucifixion there.
Olivet was hallowed by His presence and consecrated by His prayers and tears. It was the place where He found rest overlooking Jerusalem with yearning for the city. Its steeps had echoed the triumphant shouts proclaiming Him king, and on its descent He had found a home with Lazarus at Bethany. At its foot in Gethsemane He had prayed and agonized alone and shed blood.
Not Mount Zion nor Mount Moriah was honored for the ascension, because there He had been mocked and rejected and mercy beaten back by hard hearts. As the holy Shekinah in departing from the first temple stood upon the eastern mountain loth to forsake the city, so Christ stood upon Olivet.
Prayerful Waiting for Pentecost
Their return to Jerusalem was obedience to His command not to depart from the city but to remain and wait for the promise of the Father, to be baptized with the Holy Ghost and to receive power to be witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. On returning they went up into the upper room and continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with His brethren, including Peter and James and John and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon Zelotes and Judas the brother of James. About 120 persons were assembled there, united in prayer as they awaited the Holy Spirit.
Their return began ten days devoted to most earnest prayer, communion, heart-searching and self-examination in preparation for the promised gift and for their gospel witness and mission ahead. They gathered together and prayed humbly with one accord in the upper room and the upper chamber before Pentecost, after the parting scene and the angel's promise. Jerusalem was a Sabbath day's journey from the mount, and their time there led into days of prayer and communion before the power and glory of Pentecost and the Spirit's outpouring.
They searched their own hearts to put away everything that would hinder fulfillment, setting aside differences, confessing and putting away sins, and drawing together in holy fellowship and humble unity. They spent ten days in supplication and in earnest seeking of God, devoting themselves to united prayer for the descent of the Holy Spirit. Until the day of Pentecost they waited while Christ in heaven added His intercession at His ascension and inauguration, a jubilee where having ascended on high leading captivity captive He claimed the gift of the Spirit to pour out upon His disciples. It was then given as promised like a rushing mighty wind falling upon those assembled and filling the whole house, coming with a fullness and power as if restrained for ages but now poured forth upon the church to be communicated to the world, and devout men from every nation heard them speak the wonderful works of God in their own tongues. Jerusalem was a great center of influence where light from heaven was to shine in its most powerful rays upon His witnesses who were to bear the gospel message.
Ascension Glory and Promised Return
From among them on Olivet the heavens received Him as He ascended to His Father's throne as divine conqueror, as the King of saints, as God come in humanity returning in exalted character, as covenant-making Redeemer going not for His own interest but for His believing sons and daughters made His through faith in His name, and as one mighty in battle leading captivity captive. He ascended in a cloud of angels who triumphantly escorted Him to the city of God amid acclamations of praise and celestial song. At His ascent the escorting angels challenged the everlasting gates to lift up for the King of glory, the Lord strong and mighty in battle, the Lord of hosts, gone up with a shout and the sound of a trumpet.
As He went His parting promise to be with them always even to the end of the world came back to them. With gladness and triumph rather than sorrow, confusion, or defeat they returned because their hopes were no longer disappointed and His promise remained with them after they had seen the risen Savior. They returned with great joy because He had promised to go to prepare a place and to come again and that the Holy Spirit would come upon them, and they were to remain in Jerusalem until the Spirit came. The angels' message agreed with and renewed that promise of His personal return, and their joyful, patient, united expectation as they met together awaiting its fulfillment is an example.
Upon Olivet's summit His feet will rest when He comes again, not as a man of sorrows but as a glorious and triumphant king, while Hebrew hallelujahs mingle with Gentile hosannas and the redeemed as a mighty host swell the acclamation, Crown Him Lord of all. Angels there promised He would return, and His later descent is upon the Mount of Olives. At the end of the thousand years He as King of glory will descend from the holy city upon that same mount clothed with brightness like lightning, and when His feet touch it the mountain will part asunder and become a very great plain prepared for the reception of the holy city in which is the paradise of God.
The verse belongs with His final words, commission, promise of the Spirit, and the angels' message given to the waiting disciples. Linked with the word, Let not your heart be troubled, it teaches the necessity of being educated to believe the Word of God and to show faith by works in practical godliness. It gives the knowledge Christ gave about His second appearing, calling for searching the Scriptures, getting ready as wickedness increases, and doing the work God has appointed to be done. The record of the apostles' experience here refreshes the mind and instructs in the truth when carefully studied, showing an experience God's people in the present day must pass through in similar form. It calls believers of every country and speech in the last days to gain an intelligent knowledge of present truth and do an intelligent work for God among people of all languages, since a mighty power is at work in the world and heaven cooperates with those who do the work of the Lord.
Their example shows that united, earnest, humble prayer for the Holy Ghost must come before action on solemn and far-reaching principles and before a weighty decision. That need is greater now than then, requiring even more extended earnest seeking and nothing less than the descent of the Holy Ghost before venturing to write out a decision for the people, after their pattern of devoting ten days to earnest seeking of God in one place in Jerusalem. Coming to God in simple faith, true humility, firm dependence, and full surrender of self is the condition for Him to cooperate fully with believers as He desires, and when it is met He works as each case requires.