Jesus looked for all the world like the guy who would change everything. He said the right things—mostly. He did the right things … well, the miracles. He sure knew the Bible, and he didn’t mind standing up to the authorities. Surely, he would usher in paradise.
Eric BlackThen he was arrested like a common criminal. He was dragged into a kangaroo court and condemned to death. He was beaten within an inch of his life. He was marched up a hill and hanged on a couple of pieces of timber. And he died.
It was ugly. It was disappointing. It was disillusioning. It was disheartening.
Well, so much for that. So much for Jesus fulfilling our wildest dreams.
So, they buried him, and that was that—until the women burst into the room, shouting something the men couldn’t understand. The men tried their best to calm the women down, but it was pretty hard. The women kept saying something about Jesus being alive. Crazy women!
Then Jesus appeared to the men, and the men glanced sideways at the women whose hands were on their hips, and the women looked back at the men with their eyes saying, “We’re crazy, huh?”
He was always saying strange things
It was just unbelievable—and so good. Jesus stayed with his followers for about a month. Then, one day while they were hanging out and Jesus was teaching them, he said something about them being baptized by the Holy Spirit. He was always saying strange things like that when he was alive—the first time.
So, they asked the only thing they knew to ask: “Lord, are you about to restore Israel? Are you going to make Israel great again?”
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Their dreams were dashed once already. Now that Jesus was alive again, well, surely this meant their dreams of greatness would come true—this time. Surely. But they were still cautious. “So, is now the time? Please?”
Consider what Jesus told his disciples in Acts 1:7-8: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus disappears
The verses that follow tell us: “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going.”
Can you imagine? Jesus didn’t let them down once. He did it twice! They planned on heaven opening up and swallowing the Romans and Israel being a great nation again. A few strange words about the Holy Spirit and Jesus disappearing in the clouds is not what they were looking for.
Just imagine, standing there watching the fulfillment of all your hopes and dreams disappearing in the clouds.
Can you relate? Can you relate to having all your hopes and dreams go up in smoke?
Willie Williams works in maintenance at our local school. Last year, Willie’s house burned down. He and his wife had just paid it off. Then it burned down. It was a total loss. And they didn’t have insurance.
What do you do when you lose everything? What do you do when your biggest dreams burn up in front of you, when all you’re left with is the ashes?
After all the fundraisers and outpourings for Willie and his family, he and I met at the school, and he told me he’s better off now than he was before. I thought, “Really? How?”
“Materially, I’m not,” he said. “But I thank God for the fire, because I have so much more now. I have new friends. I’ve seen the good in people. I’ve been so blessed. So, yeah, I have much more now than I did before the fire.”
Can you imagine?
Willie won me over
I couldn’t at first, but Willie won me over. He was seeing through the smoke. That smoke was thick, but it didn’t block Willie’s view of heaven.
Willie’s right, but it takes some faith to see it.
Heaven is on the other side of the smoke of burned up dreams, or in Jesus’ case, heaven is on the other side of the clouds. But it takes some faith to see it.
While the disciples stood looking up where they saw Jesus ascend, a couple of men in white appeared and asked: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Because heaven is on the other side of those clouds, because heaven is on the other side of the smoke of burned up dreams, we can trust we won’t be left with just the ashes. Because heaven is on the other side and our Lord is there, we can trust our Lord will be back to make all things right.
In the meantime:
• We’re going to need some faith to see the other side.
• We may have to adjust our hopes and dreams.
• We may have to go through another fire.
• The clouds between us and the promise may grow darker.
But no lack of faith; no letting go of one dream for another; no fire, no matter how hot; no clouds, no matter how dark; will change the fact that heaven is on the other side.
The gift of the Spirit
None of that will touch our Lord, who resides in heaven until he returns, and he will return. Oh, but in the meantime, while he is away, he gives us his Spirit—while we rely on faith, while we adjust our sights, while the fires burn and while the storm clouds roll.
Yes, in the meantime, we rest in his Spirit:
• Who gives us faith for the meantime
• Who transforms our hopes and dreams in the meantime
• Who walks with us through the fires of the meantime
• Who shelters us in the storms of the meantime.
So that in the meantime, we can go about the lives God gives us, confident in heaven on the other side.
Eric Black is pastor of First Baptist Church in Covington.
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