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The King is Welcomed Home
Let us back up a little, just for a while,
while we visualize Christ’s triumphal entry into to Heaven.
Christ spreads out His hands, and once more invokes a
blessing on His beloved disciples. Then slowly He rises from
the ground and floats upwards. The clouds gradually engulf
Him. Two angels come down and stand on either side of Christ.
They will escort Him back to His Heavenly Father.
Psalm 24: 7- “Lift up your
heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors;
and the King of glory shall come in.” The heavens
burst into singing as choir after choir of angels take up the
chorus.
“Who is this King of glory?”
sings an answering chorus within the heavenly realm.
A resounding echo comes back, “The Lord
strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Worthy is the
Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, and wisdom,
and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing, forever and
ever.”
Back and forth the heavenly choirs sing, thousands and
thousands of angels, as they welcome back the “King of
Heaven”. He has successfully accomplished His mission on
earth. Now He will resume His place at the right hand of His
Father, but it will be with added honor and glory. He has
brought salvation to mankind.
The Disciples Await The Promised
Comforter
Now back to the disciples, as they watch in awe Christ’s
disappearance from them: As they stand with their eyes upward,
the two angels who had accompanied Christ, appear to them,
giving them the message that Christ will return, as He
promised.
One by one the disciples lower their eyes to the earth.
Their Lord is gone from them. They leave the mount of Olivet
and head back to Jerusalem. Here they will wait and pray, as
Christ instructed them, until the promised Comforter comes.
Assembled together in the upper room are Peter, James,
John, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James and
Judas the sons of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes. And with them
are the faithful women, Mary Magdalene, the other Mary,
Salome, Cleopas’ wife, as well as Mary, the mother of Jesus,
and Jesus’ brothers. All in all, about one hundred and twenty
men and women are assembled, with a united purpose. Here they
all stay, praying and worshiping.
It may seem strange to those who do not understand God’s
forgiving power that it is Peter who is leading this
congregation. Peter, no longer a coward, Peter, no longer
impulsively jumping into things, but Peter, the Rock. It is
this Peter who stands up before the group and goes over the
happenings of the past days, reminding the group of David’s
prophecy concerning Judas, how he had been counted as part of
them, but how he had sold his Lord, then killed himself; he
reminded them of how the money was spent which he had thrown
down, to buy a field, which was labeled, “The field of
blood.”
Peter tells the group that a replacement for Judas must be
picked. Two men, Joseph Barsabas Justus, and Matthias are
chosen. The group spends much time praying over these two men,
and finally a decision is made as to which of them would be
counted in with the other eleven disciples. Lots are drawn.
Matthias is chosen as the twelfth disciple.
And here the groups of believers, headed by the twelve
Disciples of Christ, await the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
They await the day of Pentecost.
Acts 2: 1-4: “And when the day of
Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one
place....And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a
rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they
were sitting....and there appeared unto them cloven tongues
like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them....And they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
© Helen Dowd. All Rights Reserved
Sources:
All Scripture passages,
unless otherwise stated, are from King James Version and New
King James Version.
Poetry, unless otherwise stated, is my
own.
Historical data, as well as some of my information,
was gleaned (not copied) from
“The Chosen Word” -
copyright 1915, by “The John A. Hertel Co.” Entered at
Stationer’s Hall, London England. The End and The Beginning
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