The Alpha

The Ascension of our Lord

The Feast of the Ascension of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christis celebrated each year on the fortieth day after The Feast of the Resurrection. Since the date of Resurrection changes each year, the date of the Feast of the Ascension changes. The Feast is always celebrated on a Thursday, as Resurrection is always on a Sunday.
The story of the Ascension of our Lord, celebrated as one of the Seven Great Feasts of the Church, is found in the book of the Acts 1:3-11. It is also mentioned in the Gospels of St. Mark (16:19) and St. Luke (24:50-53). The moment of the Ascension is told in one sentence: “Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” (Acts 1:9).
The Ascension feast is where our Lord Jesus Christ ascended by His own divine power into heaven. He ascended in the flesh in a glorified manner to the highest heaven and sat on the right hand of the Father—at the right hand of the power of God.
After His Resurrection from the dead and until the 39th day, our Lord Jesus Christ prepared His disciples for the ministry and the path they were about to take. They were taught the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven and were prepared to preach His life, works, doctrine, death, resurrection and to call out for the life of repentance and the coming of the Kingdom.
Christ made His last appearance on earth, forty days after His Resurrection from the dead. The Book of Acts states that the disciples were in Jerusalem. Jesus appeared before them and commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the "Promise of the Father". He stated, "You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:5).
After Jesus gave these instructions, He led the disciples to the Mount of Olives. Here, He commissioned them to be His witnesses "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). It is also at this time that the disciples were directed by Christ to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). Jesus also told them that He would be with them always, "even to the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20).