If you are planning to travel somewhere you have never been before, what are some things you would like to learn about where you are going? You may want to know what the weather is like there; does it have a hot or cold climate? Does it rain a lot there, like in the Amazon Jungle, or never, like in the desert of Africa? You may decide to pull up a web site that would give information and pictures showing what your destination looks like.

There is probably a better way to find the answers to your questions. Simply ask someone who has been there, or someone who presently lives there, provided you have access to a phone number or an address to contact them.

Have you ever wondered what our future home in heaven is like? When there is a Bible study on the conditions of heaven, usually there are many questions about what it is like; even some questions about how to get there. We have a blessing in the month of May this year. We will celebrate the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven on May 17^th. On that fortieth day after His Resurrection, our Lord Jesus left the earth with His visible presence and said before He went:

“I am going to [My Father’s House] to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14: 2-3)

Jesus is in Heaven and He is very willing to tell us the conditions of that place and how to get there. He even tells us how long we can stay when we get there. He is very well equipped to tell us those things for He has been there for all eternity. He, as the very Son of God, was “begotten of the Father from eternity.” He is “Very God of very God, of the same substance as the Father,” as the Nicene Creed informs us. He was willing to leave that wonderful place and come to earth for thirty-plus years, to live among us in the God-Man person of Jesus Christ. He lived for us and died for us that we might be made righteous before God, enabling us to join Him in that wonderful place. Jesus saw to it that His information about Heaven and how to get there was recorded in the Bible, so that we would become eager to see the new place. If you’d like a glimpse of how wonderful that place will be, read Revelation chapter 20 & 21. Also you might want to read Revelation chapter 7. It is a place of bounty, abundant provision and perfect protection in the loving Father’s care. It will also be a place of daily intimate communion with the eternal Father who will call us by our name and keep us by His side forever.

Our Explanation to Luther’s Small Catechism that we use to instruct and review the teachings of the Bible has two very pointed questions and direct answers about the meaning of the Ascension:

1. What does the Bible teach about Jesus’ ascension into heaven?

The Bible teaches that forty days after His resurrection Jesus left the earth with His visible presence and went to His Father in order to prepare a place for me in the heavenly home.

1. What does the ascension of Christ teach you?

The ascension of Christ teaches me that I should be heavenly-minded and have a desire to depart and be with Him.

It is even more comforting to know that this Jesus, who came here to live among us for all those years, died and rose again, and has returned to be with His Father in Heaven. While there, He intercedes for us with our Father in Heaven to answer our prayers for forgiveness and salvation. Through faith, we will be with Him when He finally returns and takes us to our permanent “home”.

Wayne Halvorson is pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Albert Lea, Minnesota.