Luke 24:52

‘And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, blessing God.'

Luke's closing words set us in expectancy for what is to follow. They now fully recognised Him for Who and What He was, and they worshipped Him. Luke almost certainly intends us to take that literally in the highest sense. Like Thomas they say, ‘My Lord and My God' (John 20:28).

Then they returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy, the joy with which Luke has made us so familiar. The glad tidings of great joy promised by the angels had come to fruition. And they spent their time continually in the Temple praising and blessing God. This would be their headquarters for the first part of Acts. There is an echo here of Anna the prophetess (Luke 2:37). The one has become the many. But we are probably not intended to see this as signifying that they never left the Temple. Rather we are to see that they made it their centre for worship and praise each day, looking to God and ready for what He would do next. These were the days of joy and blessing which God sometimes allows to His people. But it is always in order that we might be prepared for what lies ahead. As the Apostles would discover. You cannot live your whole life on the mountain top.

We will end this chapter as we began it by considering the connection between Luke and Acts for it caps of the end of Luke's Gospel.

a ‘And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them' (Luke 24:33), after which Jesus appears to all His Apostles.

b ‘And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem' (Luke 24:47), which is to be the consequence of Messiah's suffering and resurrection.

c ‘And, behold, I send the promise of my Father on you, but tarry you in the city (of Jerusalem), until you be endued with power from on high' (Luke 24:49).

d ‘And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God' (Luke 24:52).

c ‘And, being assembled together with them, He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, says He, you have heard of me' (Acts 1:4).

b ‘But you will receive power, when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth' (Acts 1:8).

a ‘Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey' (Acts 1:12).