The Ascension of Jesus

For forty days after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples many times, proving beyond doubt that He was truly alive. He taught them about the Kingdom of God and told them to wait in Jerusalem for the gift His Father had promised — the Holy Spirit.

Then He led them out to the Mount of Olives near Bethany. He lifted up His hands and blessed them. As He was blessing them, He was taken up into heaven, and a cloud received Him from their sight. They stood there staring up into the sky. Two men in white robes appeared and said, "Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go."

The disciples returned to Jerusalem with great joy. They gathered together constantly in prayer. Jesus had promised them the Holy Spirit and told them to be His witnesses "in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." The Coptic Church celebrates the Ascension as a feast of victory — our human nature, in the person of Jesus, has now been taken up to sit at the right hand of the Father in glory. Where Jesus has gone, we are called to follow.