page_title: Life of Jesus in the New Testament
section_title: Ascension
hierarchical_section_title: Life of Jesus in the New Testament / Resurrection and Ascension / Ascension
context_page_description: The life of Jesus in the New Testament is primarily outlined in the four canonical gospels, which includes his genealogy and nativity, public ministry, passion, prophecy, resurrection and ascension. Other parts of the New Testament – such as the Pauline epistles which were likely written within 20–30 years of each other, and which include references to key episodes in Jesus' life, such as the Last Supper, and the Acts of the Apostles, which includes more references to the Ascension episode than the canonical gospels - also expound upon the life of Jesus. In addition to these biblical texts, there are extra-biblical texts that Christians believe make reference to certain events in the life of Jesus, such as Josephus on Jesus and Tacitus on Christ.
  In the gospels, the ministry of Jesus starts with his Baptism by John the Baptist. Jesus came to the Jordan River where he was baptized by John the Baptist, after which he fasted for forty days and nights in the Judaean Desert. This early period also includes the first miracle of Jesus in the Marriage at Cana.
context_section_description: The Ascension of Jesus (anglicized from the Vulgate Latin Acts 1:9-11 section title: Ascensio Iesu) is the Christian teaching found in the New Testament that the resurrected Jesus was taken up to heaven in his resurrected body, in the presence of eleven of his apostles, occurring 40 days after the resurrection. In the biblical narrative, an angel tells the watching disciples that Jesus' second coming will take place in the same manner as his ascension.
  The canonical gospels include two brief descriptions of the Ascension of Jesus in Luke 24:50–53 and Mark 16:19, in which it takes place on Easter Sunday. A more detailed account of Jesus' bodily Ascension into the clouds is given in the Acts of the Apostles (1:9–11) where the narrative starts with the account of Jesus' appearances after his resurrection and describes the event as taking place forty days later.
  Acts 1:9–12 specifies the location of the Ascension as the "mount called Olivet" near Jerusalem. Acts 1:3 states that Jesus: :"showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God". After giving a number of instructions to the apostles 
  Acts 1:9 describes the Ascension as follows:"And when he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight." Following this two men clothed in white appear and tell the apostles that Jesus will return in the same manner as he was taken, and the apostles return to Jerusalem.
  In Acts 2:30–33, Ephesians 4:8–10 and 1 Timothy 3:16 (where Jesus as taken up in glory) the Ascension is spoken of as an accepted fact, while Hebrews 10:12  describes Jesus as seated in heaven.
caption: Ascension of Christ by Garofalo 1520
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