SCALA/Art Resource, New York. With His ascension we have certainty of His promises. As He left the earth ascending into heaven He left behind some things. After Jesus’ ascension the 11 Apostles met in the upper room where they were staying and cast lots to decide between two disciples, Matthias and Joseph called Barsabus, who was surnamed Justus. Christ’s work is to continue through His obedient church. Before Christ ascended into heaven, he appointed the apostles to continue his ministry, to extend his kingdom from Jerusalem to the very ends of the earth through the gospel. They took seriously Jesus’ command to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15). Earlier in this lesson we saw that Acts chapter 1 verse 8 describes the vital … There are, however, an awful lot of pages left after His resurrection. In our text passage for today I want to point out 7 things that Jesus left behind when He ascended to heaven. Preceding Events. Jesus’ 12 disciples (with the exception of Judas, who betrayed Him and then took his own life) not only continued to believe in Him, but they spent the rest of their lives telling others about Him. He did this through His life and deeds and through His teaching of God’s Word. Jesus calls Himself Son of man because they are looking at Jesus as just a man. Between the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus there were 40 days in which Christ continued to minister. It is after this command, on which much of the Christian emphasis on sharing the gospel is based, that Jesus is "taken up into heaven". After Jesus was raised from the dead, He continued to teach His disciples and prepare them for the work they would carry out after He was gone. His followers believe that three days after his death Jesus rose from the dead and after telling his followers to continue spreading his message he ascended into heaven. Before Jesus was taken up into heaven, He gave orders to His apostles. People tend to think or act like the Bible simply comes to a stop after Jesus is raised from the dead. His ascension was His leaving the disciples and going into Heaven, as He told them He would do. Jesus was always focused on the task of reconciling sinful men with the holy God. Jesus is saying “Would you believe, if I ascended into heaven in front of you?" It tells us about the work of Jesus’ disciples and their obedience in teaching Jesus’ commandments. The most important figure in Christian history, after Jesus, was the apostle Paul. However, with His resurrection they regained their hope in Jesus Christ. Jesus' ministry did not end with his death, but continued through his resurrection and into the days before his ascension into heaven. Jesus taught and worked with His disciples “until the day in which he was taken up.” That day he ascended into Heaven. 2. He says “If you believe I am Joseph's son, then you won't believe that I came from heaven, or that I will go back to heaven." They were obviously disappointed and discouraged after the death of our Lord. Jesus said in John 19:30, “...it is finished...” He was saying that the atonement for sin was finished. Matthias replaced Judas Iscariot to bring the Apostles number back to 12; was one of the 72 and preached in Jerusalem; died and was buried there. The coming Kingdom continued to be the focus of the apostles’ ministry even after Christ ascended into heaven.