Why Jesus Returned to Heaven

Jesus spoke to His disciples about the events that were soon to unfold, before His crucifixion (read John 16). He told them that He would leave them for a short while, and then He would be back. And after that He would go to the Father. He told them all of this so that they would be prepared. But they didn’t understand it fully, and their hearts were heavy.

John 16:6-7 (WEBBE): ⁶But because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart.
⁷Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counsellor won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

Here we see the outcome of the divine plan that was being put into action. Jesus would defeat death, and after that He could go to the Father to ask that the Holy Spirit would be sent to us.

Jesus was, when He walked on Earth in a human body, only one man. He did many wondrous things during His earthly ministry, but that is only the start of His plan. He wanted to reach the whole world. And so, before He went to Heaven, He left his followers (that means us today too!) some last instructions.

Mark 16:15-18 (WEBBE): ¹⁵He said to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation. ¹⁶He who believes and is baptised will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned. ¹⁷These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages; ¹⁸they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

That is no small task, I think you would agree. But Jesus had said that believers will do greater works than He did Himself. How? Because He goes to the Father. And as we have already seen, that means that the Holy Spirit would be sent to be our Helper.

John 14:12 (WEBBE): ¹²Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father.

Just before Jesus was taken up into Heaven in Acts 1, He emphasized again that the Holy Spirit would come. And with it the power to fulfill the great commission.

Acts 1:8 (WEBBE): ⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

And so we see that Pentecost is the most significant event that has happened so far in God’s divine plan. The Holy Spirit lives in us and wants very much to work with us in every moment. But it is our choice – to deny the power that we have, or to live out the power and love of the Kingdom of God.