John 20:19-23
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. ”22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Acts 1:1-11
Jesus Taken Up to Heaven After Returning to Earth After His Resurrection
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 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.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “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.”
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
Jesus Returns to Five Hundred People After His Death
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
These are the forty very important days when Jesus returned to life after His death...They are forty of our most important days in earth's history...When Jesus died He resurrected from death and came back to life, and returned to earth...He returned to earth, because God wanted Him to return to earth...And this returning to earth is a very important fact...And He returned to earth in His physical and bodily form...Jesus returning to earth for the forty days is very important for us...God did not have to send Jesus back to us and back to earth...Jesus could have just resurrected and returned to His Father in heaven, right after His death...He did not have to return to earth for us...But God chose to send Him back earth and to us...And being more specific, He returned to see us and to further teach His Disciples for forty days...His Disciples were lost right after His death...Their future seemed to be in danger as they were fearing and hid behind closed doors and not understanding the events that had just happened to their Master...Their Teacher was a tried and convicted criminal...But with His resurrection and His return, the Disciples would better understand He was the Savior of the world...And had He not returned Christianity might be a little different or much different...It might also have had a different timeline for coming into being... Christianity might be different without His resurrection and His important return to earth...But the fact remains and would remain, Jesus would still be Jesus and done what He done and said what He said and He would not have changed, regardless of His returning to earth...
With Jesus' return to earth, we are given more hope...Jesus returns to earth, because the world still needed more understanding...He returns to further teach His Disciples and strengthen their faith, so Christianity would more quickly come to pass and the gospel would be spread to the ends of the world...His dying on the cross was not the completed Plan...We needed forty more days to see Him and to hear about Him...Jesus needed to resurrect and come back to us, to give us the faith, hope, and LOVE we further needed...We need His incarnation and His resurrection, but also His return to earth -where we could actually see Him...The world still existed as a world that needed saving after His death on the cross and His Disciples needed the forty days of His further teaching, so they could go out and spread the good news, with the confidence of now knowing without any question, He is Divine...And He gave them the convincing proof they needed...
Jesus' return to earth was necessary so Jesus' Disciples and His other early Apostles, like Paul, could and would spread the good news...Jesus could have went back to the comforts of heaven and His Spiritual World, but He would choose to return to us and return to earth to teach us more, and return so that we could see Him....A resurrected Man, who had died and yet somehow lives again...After He resurrected, Jesus began to teach until the day He was taken up to heaven...He gave His instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen...So they were regular witnesses He had died and came back to life and earth for forty days...After His suffering on the cross, He presented Himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive...He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God...On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about...For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”...
By Jesus returning to earth, we now see that their is life after death...These forty days give us more insight on life after death than any other event...There is Another World beyond this one...Many things about death, if not everything about death, changes for His Disciples and the five hundred people who saw Him after His death...They would view death differently from now on (and so should and do all His followers)...The Disciples would no doubt much better understand the Spiritual World better after He gave them His convincing proofs that He was still alive and even ate in front of them a couple of times...After all how can a Spirit, or dead man eat broiled fish?...The Disciples and His Early Apostles would know be assured He is Divine and still alive...Their eyes would no long be blind to the fact, that there is only this one natural world in which we live, but there is Another World, a Spiritual World, a Heavenly World where He ascended and still lives...These forty days of teaching would never be forgotten by His Disciples...The forty days would never be forgotten by this world...There has never been a forty days like these days when Jesus returned to earth for us...