Five promises were seemingly all those apostles, staring into the sky, had to go on. Five promises that were more than enough.

Caesar boasted: “I came. I saw. I conquered.” Christ can rightly say: “I came. I saved. I ascended.”

Just as the disciples on the road to Emmaus recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread, so we, through the working of the Holy Spirit, recognize our Lord in the Word and Sacraments.

We confess the ascension of Christ every Sunday in the words of the both the Apostles’ and the Nicene Creed.

Israel is all the people who believe in the LORD and gather at His throne. It is no longer a national distinction, it is one of faith.

We know God has a plan to bring forgiveness and salvation and healing to people, but we can’t see how it’s all going to work out.

In the middle of the spring, on a run-of-the-mill Thursday, the ascension interrupts the mundane to herald the extraordinary: Christ is in charge and is present on earth as he is in heaven, guiding history for the sake of his church.

In their last Q&A with Jesus, the disciples ask, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" I used to think that was a dumb question by confused disciples. I was wrong. In his response, Jesus teaches them--and us--what the restoration of Israel's kingdom really looks like.

When Christians die, heaven does not “get another angel.” We cannot become angels any more than we can become giraffes or ocean waves or stars. We are people and will remain so after this present life. God did not make a mistake when he made us human.

Because of the ascension, the manger has become the cosmos.

Forty days after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus ascended.

What Jesus did and gives on these two Thursdays encapsulates his whole life and mission.