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In this eye-opening episode, Jimmy Akin tackles the big questions: Did Jesus rocket into space? How does it square with our 93-billion-light-year universe? He masterfully decodes biblical symbolism—from the rising cloud to Daniel’s Son of Man—revealing Jesus’ divine exaltation as the “Visible Yahweh.” Bridging ancient faith and modern science, Jimmy shows why God presented the Ascension this way and what it means for us today. Don’t miss this thrilling deep dive!
TRANSCRIPT:
Coming Up
This week, we’re celebrating Ascension Thursday—the day that Jesus ascended back to heaven.
So . . . what actually happened here? Did Jesus go into the upper atmosphere? Did he fly off into outer space?
Let’s get into it!
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Howdy, folks!
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What Happened at the Ascension?
The New Testament contains two accounts of the Ascension of Christ.
The first is at the end of Luke, where it says:
Luke 24:50-51
[Jesus] led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
The second account is found at the beginning of Acts, where we read:
Acts 1:9-11
And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
These passages would have been understood by ancient readers as recording a miracle. The Latin word Miraculum means A Wonder, something that incites wonder—and wonder certainly would have filled the original witnesses of the Ascension.
Modern people also recognize that these passages record a miracle, but they can struggle with this event in a way the ancients didn’t. This is because our knowledge of the dimensions of the cosmos is different than theirs.
The Ancient Cosmos
There were a number of models of the cosmos in the ancient world, but one of the things that they all agreed on is that it was small (at least, by our standards).
The most common model held that the earth was at the center of the universe, and around it was a set of nested, transparent spheres.
Directly or indirectly attached to each sphere was one of the seven classical planets:
- Sun
- Moon
- Mercury
- Venus
- Mars
- Jupiter
- Saturn
The Sun and the Moon counted as planets because any light in the sky that didn’t maintain a fixed position relative to the stars was considered a wandering star, so the Sun and the Moon counted as “Wanderers” or = Planétai.
The Sun and the Moon definitely change position against the background stars.
That’s why people have different “Sun Signs” in astrology. Sometimes the Sun is located in the constellation Leo, sometimes in Virgo, sometimes in Libra, and so forth.
The Moon and the rest of the planets also wander around against the background stars.
But these background stars always maintain fixed positions with respect to each other, giving us the constellations.
And these “Fixed Stars” were assumed to be attached to their own sphere, which was just outside the orbit of Saturn.
The sphere of the fixed stars was regarded as the ultimate boundary of our universe, and since it was just beyond Saturn, you can see that the universe wasn’t very big.
Even the Greek philosopher Archimedes, who believed in a larger universe, thought that it was only two light years across.
He wrote about this in a book called The Sand Reckoner, in which he estimated how many grains of sand it would take to fill the universe.
In case you’re curious, he concluded it would take 8 x 10^63 grains to fill the universe.
For Christians, the realm beyond the fixed stars would be the realm of God—the ultimate heaven. It was known as the Empyrean Heaven.
And given the small size the universe was believed to have, it would not be difficult to imagine that when Jesus ascended, he quickly reached the ultimate heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
As Hebrews says:
Hebrews 1:3
[Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
The Modern Cosmos
Things are more complicated for us. By 1919, many astronomers thought the universe was 300,000 light years across and that it contained only the Milky Way galaxy.
We could see distant galaxies, but they had long been thought to be just spiral-shaped nebulas that were within the Milky Way. So what we call the Andromeda galaxy used to be known as the Andromeda nebula.
However, by 1929, Edwin Hubble had realized that the “spiral nebulae” were not part of the Milky Way but were, in fact, distant galaxies outside of ours, making the universe at least 280 million light years across.
Today we know that the visible universe is 93 billion light years in diameter, and that’s just the part we can see.
We have evidence that it’s actually at least 250 times larger than that.
A Modern Difficulty
This creates a difficulty for moderns. Even if Jesus left the earth and began traveling at the speed of light, he would still be well within the Milky Way galaxy, he might not even have gotten as far as the star Deneb (alpha Cygni), and he wouldn’t leave the visible universe for another 93 billion years.
A skeptic thus might mock this situation and point out that the Second Coming should occur long before then, so Jesus would have to leave earth and then turn around in space—without having reached God—to come back.
Of course, any such mocking would be premature, because on the Christian view, it was God who wrote the laws of nature, and so he’s not bound by the light speed limit.
He can have Jesus move at any speed he chooses, and he can even have Jesus instantly move (or teleport) to wherever he wants him to be, including heaven.
Many people think of heaven as a spiritual realm rather than a physical one, and it’s certainly not part of our physical universe.
You couldn’t fly there in a starship, no matter how much faster than light it could move.
But heaven must be physical in one sense: It must be capable of at least receiving bodies, because Jesus and a few select others have their bodies with them in heaven.
These bodies may not be extended in three dimensions the way objects are here on earth, but heaven must be capable of receiving them in some way, even if it’s unimaginable to us.
Given that God is omnipotent—and thus able to bring about any state of affairs that doesn’t involve a logical contradiction—we don’t need to worry about the physical limits that we are subject to or precisely how Jesus got to heaven.
That’s something we can leave to God.
The Ascension Teaches God’s Message
But how are we supposed to understand what happened at the Ascension itself? Why did Jesus rise from the earth and then disappear behind a cloud? Why didn’t he just disappear in a burst of light or something?
The answer is that a dazzling burst of light wouldn’t have communicated what God wanted the witnesses to understand. Jesus had disappeared in front of the disciples before, like he did for the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Luke records that, as they were eating,
Luke 24:31
Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.
But this didn’t signal that the post-Resurrection appearances were over. In fact, the two disciples immediately returned to Jerusalem, and Jesus appeared to them again, right there.
So if Jesus had simply vanished instead of ascending, the disciples might have assumed that Jesus would keep appearing to them.
He had already been appearing to them for weeks. At the beginning of Acts, Luke records that
Acts 1:3
He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
So if Jesus just vanished the way he had on other occasions, the point might not be made that this was the end to the post-Resurrection appearances. Neither would it communicate that he was now enthroned in heaven.
And God wanted to make it clear that now things were different. Jesus was going to God and would not simply keep appearing in bodily form.
As the Catechism says,
Catechism of the Catholic Church 665
Christ’s ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus’ humanity into God’s heavenly domain, whence he will come again; this humanity in the meantime hides him from the eyes of men.
And the Ascension makes this clear in terms that the first disciples could understand.
Jesus rising above the surface of the earth communicated that he was going to heaven—which was pictured as being “up” from an earthly perspective—and thus a break with Jesus’ earthly existence.
The Cloud
The cloud is also an important element in the symbolism God was using, though many people today miss it.
Acts 1:9
And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
Acts 1:9 says two things about what happened: First, it says that “he was lifted up,” and second, it says that “a cloud took him out of their sight.”
The Greek word for “took” in this passage is Hupolambanó, which means “to cause to ascend, take up.”
Many modern translations ignore part of what this verb means to smooth the passage out into good English, but the thought is that he was lifted up and then a cloud took him up and out of their site.
This establishes Jesus as a cloud rider, which is an attribute of God. For example, in Psalm 68, we read:
Psalm 68:4, NAB
Sing to God, praise his name;
exalt the rider of the clouds.
Rejoice before him
whose name is the Lord.
This is just one of multiple passages that depicts God as riding on the clouds, and in Daniel, God shares that status with another figure. In Daniel 7, we read:
Daniel 7:9
As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.
So here Daniel sees God seated on his throne in heaven, up in the clouds, and then this happens:
Daniel 7:13-14
I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
So Daniel sees one like a son of man—literally meaning someone who looks human—also riding on a cloud, being presented to God, and then God gives him a universal kingdom over all peoples that will never be destroyed.
This triggered a lot of speculation about the Son of Man figure in Second Temple Jewish literature, and since he rides a cloud like God, is presented to God, and is given a universal kingdom like God, the Son of Man came to be regarded as a second divine figure.
This second figure came to be known as the “Lesser Yahweh” or the “Visible Yahweh,” and this complex of ideas became known as the “Two Powers in Heaven Doctrine.”
This is also the background to Jesus’ interaction with the Jewish high priest at his trial. In Mark 14, we read:
Mark 14:61-64
Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”
And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?”
Now claiming to be the Christ was not a blasphemy. God was expected to send the Christ or Messiah, so claiming to be that figure was not blasphemy or speaking against God.
Neither was claiming to be the Son of the Blessed—that is, the Son of God. The Jewish kings had long been regarded as adopted sons of God, as Psalm 2:7—one of the psalms about the Jewish king—says:
Psalm 2:7
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.”
As a Jewish king, the Messiah would also be an adopted son of God. That would not be blasphemy, either.
So why does the high priest accuse Jesus of blasphemy? It’s because Jesus invokes the Two Powers in Heaven doctrine, saying, “You will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
Jesus is saying, “You know the Lesser Yahweh figure? The Visible Yahweh? That’s who I am. I’m that guy.”
In other words, Jesus is claiming not just to be the Messiah and not just an adopted son of God. He’s claiming to be divine himself, and that’s why the high priest regards what he’s saying as blasphemy.
And this brings us back to the cloud that carries Jesus up at the Ascension.
The cloud makes it clear that Daniel’s prophecy is now happening: the Son of Man is being presented to God in heaven, where he will be given a universal kingdom and reign until his return.
The cloud also explains why the disciples are then told,
Acts 1:11
Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.
That is, he will return in his divine capacity, riding on a cloud.
Conclusion
All of this is why God used the symbolism he did in how Jesus departed from his earthly ministry.
Greater familiarity with the relevant biblical texts thus makes clear the symbolism God was using and what it was communicating to the disciples.
It’s asking the wrong question to say, “How far up did Jesus go when he ascended?”
God was not concerned with teaching the disciples about the structure of the universe. He’s interested in teaching them about what was happening with Jesus: Jesus would not continue among the disciples but was going to be exalted as a divine figure besides God until his Second Coming.
God thus drew on the symbolism that was resident in the disciples’ imaginations—and in the Jewish Scriptures and the teachings of Jesus—to make this clear.
What happened in physical terms after Jesus disappeared from their sight might be interesting for us to know.
I personally suspect that it was at this point—once he was out of the disciples’ sight—that he simply disappeared from our universe and then appeared in heaven in whatever way heaven receives physical bodies.
But this was not what God was interested in teaching, and so we must leave that matter to him.
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