Luke 24:50 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Bible Comments

Ver. 50,51. This must be understood to have happened forty days after our Saviour's resurrection, for so Luke himself tells us, Acts 1:3. And he led them out as far as Bethany; not the village Bethany, but that part of the mount of Olives which belonged to Bethany. Our Saviour had been often there praying; from thence he now ascendeth into heaven. And he lifted up his hands and blessed them: some think that by blessing here is meant praying, and the lifting up of his hands was accommodated to that religious action. Others think that blessing here signifieth a more authoritative act; and that his lifting up of his hands was a stretching out of his hands, as a sign of that effectual blessing of them. While he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven; that is, he moved upward as if he had been carried, for it is certain that our Saviour ascended by his own power. Luke saith, Acts 1:9, He was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. As Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind, 2 Kings 2:11, so Christ went up in a cloud; but with this difference, Christ ascended by his own power, Elijah could not without the help of an angel.

Luke 24:50

50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.