The two men in white apparel that stood by gently rebuked the gazers
for gazing into heaven. They would not have rebuked them for gazing,
if they could have seen Him, but to look into the empty heaven was
useless. And they added the reason why the heavens need not be
looked at, as long as there is the earth to stand on: 'For this same
Jesus whom ye have seen go into heaven shall so come in like manner
as ye have seen Him go.' Note the emphatic declaration of identity;
'this _same_ Jesus.' Note the use of the simple human name;
'this same _Jesus_,' and recall the thoughts that cluster round
it, of the ascended humanity, and the perpetual humanity of the
ascended Lord, 'the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever,' Note
also the strong assertion, of visible, corporeal return: 'Shall so
come in _like_ manner as ye have seen Him go.' That return is
no metaphor, no mere piece of rhetoric, it is not to be eviscerated
of its contents by being taken as a synonym for the diffusion of His
influence all over a regenerated race, but it points to the return
of the Man Jesus locally, corporeally, visibly. 'We believe that
Thou shalt come to be our Judge'; we believe that Thou wilt come to
take Thy servants home.
The world has not seen the last of Jesus Christ. Such an Ascension,
after such a life, cannot be the end of Him. 'As it is appointed
unto all men once to die, and after death the Judgment, so Christ
also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall
appear the second time, without sin unto salvation.' As inevitably
as for sinful human nature judgment follows death, so inevitably for
the sinless Man, who is the sacrifice for the world's sins, His
judicial return will follow His atoning work, and He will come
again, having received the Kingdom, to take account of His servants,
and to perfect their possession of the salvation which by His
Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension, He wrought for
the world.
Therefore, brethren, one sweet face, and one great fact--the face of
the Christ, the fact of the Cross--should fill the past. One sweet
face, one great fact--the face of the Christ, the fact of His
Presence with us all the days--should fill the present. One regal
face, one great hope, should fill the future; the face of the King
that sitteth upon the throne, the hope that He will come again, and
'so we shall be ever with the Lord.'