Ascension
One of the most important texts about the Ascension is in the Acts of the Apostles . According to the two-source hypothesis it is also the earliest. There Jesus is taken up bodily into heaven forty days after his resurrection. The text says that the apostles saw this happening. Before going into heaven, Jesus gave a speech called the Great Commission, in which he said that he would return. In the Gospel of Luke, the Ascension takes place on Easter Sunday evening. The Gospel of John (c. 90-100) talks about Jesus returning to the Father. In 1 Peter (c. 90-110), Jesus has ascended to heaven and is at God's right side. Ephesians (c. 90-100) refers to Jesus ascending higher than all the heavens. First Timothy (c. 90-140) describes Jesus as taken up in glory. The traditional ending in the Book of Mark (see Mark 16) includes a short version of what Luke had said about the resurrection. It describes Jesus as being taken up into heaven and sitting at God's right hand. The way that Christ's Ascension is described is similar to the general description of his welcome in heaven, a description that comes from Hebrew scripture. The picture of Jesus rising bodily into the heavens fits in with the old traditional idea that heaven was above the earth.