Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/316

 history of the ascension. When that phenomenon was about to be accomplished, the Lord, though then personally visible to His disciples, was not living in the ordinary plane of nature, nor did they see Him with their natural sight: remembering those facts, we turn to the narrative. "When they therefore were come together, they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Hence it is evident that the disciples were not in their normal condition when they witnessed this event. They saw the Lord, which men in their ordinary condition could not do; they were steadfastly looking towards heaven, thus not into the sky, but to the dwelling-place of angels, and this is not the privilege of man's natural state; they also saw angels, for this is the admitted meaning of the two men in white apparel, and for this sight their spiritual eyes must have been opened; they heard the angel speak, and for this their spiritual faculty of hearing must have been awakened. It is therefore certain that the scene of the ascension could not have been upon the plane of the natural world; the Lord, after His resurrection, was in the world of spirits,