Acts 1:10-11

Behold two men, &c.— Two angels in human form. As Christ's resurrection had been honoured with the appearance of angels, it is natural to expect that his ascension into heaven would be so likewise. The angels spake of our Lord's coming to judgethe world at the last day, a description of which he himself had given in his life-time: For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels. Matthew 16:27. Wherefore the cloud whereon our Lord now ascended, being the same with that in which he is to come again, was more bright and pure than the clearest lambent flame; for it was the glory of God, that is, the Shechinah, or visible symbol of the divine presence, which appeared to the patriarchs in antient times, which filled the temple at its dedication, 2 Chronicles 7:3 and which cannot be beheld in its greater splendour by mortal eyes. As our Lord ascended up into the skies, the flaming cloud which surrounded him, leaving a large track of light behind it, marked his passage through the air, but gradually lost its magnitude in the eyes of those who stood below, till, soaring high, he and it vanished out of their sight. In this illustrious manner did our Saviour depart, after having finished the grand work which he came down upon earth to execute; a work which God himself, in the remotest eternity, contemplated with pleasure, which angels antiently with joy described as to happen, and which, through all eternity to come, shall, at periods the most immensely distant from the time of its execution, be looked back upon with inexpressible delight by every inhabitant of heaven: for, though the little affairs of time may vanish altogether and be lost, when they are removed far back by the endless progression of duration, this object is such, that no distance, however great, can lessen it.The kingdom of God is erected upon the incarnation and sufferings of the Son of God,—the kingdom and city of God, comprehending all the holy and faithful beings that have been, or ever shall be, in the universe, made happy by goodness and love; and therefore none of them can ever forget the foundation on which their happiness stands firmly established. In particular, the faithful of the human species, recovered by this labour of the Son of God, will view their Deliverer, and look back on his stupendous undertaking, with high ravishment, while they are feasting without interruption on its sweet fruits, ever growing more delicious. The other holy and faithful members of this city of God will likewise contemplate it with perpetual pleasure, as the happy means of recovering their faithful kindred who were lost, and as a grand confirmation of the whole rational and divine system, in their subjection to him who liveth and reigneth for ever, and whose favour is better than life.