Which also said, ye men of Galilee
And which was said by them, not to reproach them with their
country, but partly to let them know that they knew them, who
they were, and from whence they came; and partly to observe the
rich and distinguishing grace of God in choosing such mean and
contemptible persons to be the apostles of Christ, and
eyewitnesses of his majesty:
why stand ye gazing up into heaven?
reproving them for their curiosity in looking after Christ with
their bodily eyes, who was no more in common to be seen this way,
but with an eye of faith; and for their desire after his
corporeal presence, which they were not to look for; and as if
they expected he would return again immediately, whereas his
return will not be till the end of the world: and besides, they
were not to remain on that spot, or stand gazing there; they were
to go to Jerusalem, and abide there, as Christ had ordered, till
they should receive the Holy Spirit in an extraordinary way; and
then they were to preach a crucified Christ, and declare that he
was risen from the dead, and was gone to heaven, and was ordained
to be the Judge of quick and dead.
This same Jesus;
and not another; the same in person, in body and soul:
which is taken up from you into heaven;
who was taken up in a cloud out of their sight, and received into
heaven, where he will be till the times of the restitution of all
things; and which might be matter of grief to them, because of
the loss of his bodily presence; though it should have been
rather joyful to them, since he was gone to the Father, and as
their forerunner, to prepare a place, and make intercession for
them:
shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into
heaven;
he shall come in the same flesh, in the same human nature; he
shall come in the clouds of heaven, and shall be attended with
his mighty angels, as he now was; he shall descend himself in
person, as he now ascended in person; and as he went up with a
shout, and with the sound of a trumpet, see ( Psalms 47:5 ) so he
shall descend with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
the trump of God; and, it may be, he shall descend upon the very
spot from whence he ascended; see ( Zechariah
14:4 ) and it is a notion of the Jews, that the resurrection
of the Israelites will be there: they say F13, that
``when the dead shall live, the Mount of Olives shall be cleaved asunder, and all the dead of Israel shall come out from under it; yea, even the righteous which die in captivity shall pass through a subterranean cavern, and come out from under the Mount of Olives.''