The Time and Place of the Ascension

DEFENSE

Neither is a contradiction.

First, let’s look at the texts involved in the place of the Ascension:

Then he led them out as far as Bethany . . . and was carried up into heaven (Luke 24:50–51).

He was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. . . . Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet (Acts 1:9, 12).

This solution simply requires a little knowledge of the geography around Jerusalem: Bethany was on the Mount of Olives (aka Mount Olivet). The “most frequently mentioned town of this name [is] located on the [East] slopes of the Mount of Olives” (Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, s.v., “Bethany (Place)”).

You can tell this simply by reading Luke. Just before the Triumphal Entry, we read: “When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples (Luke 19:29, emphasis added).”

Second, regarding the time of the Ascension, Luke’s Gospel records events taking place on the day of the Resurrection (Luke 24:1ff) and then advances to the Ascension without mentioning the gap of time between them.

Luke merely says “Then he led them out as far as Bethany,” without specifying how much time transpired before the word “then”—a term that merely means the Ascension took place at some point after the events that preceded it. This is the kind of chronological approximation expected in ancient literature (see Day 258).

It so happens that in Acts Luke clarifies the matter and indicates how long after the Resurrection the Ascension took place (Acts 1:3). He also expected his Gospel to be read in light of Acts. That’s why he referred Theophilus back to the Gospel, calling it “the first book” (Acts 1:1). The fact that both books were written by the same author and intended as companion works means they should be read in light of each other.

There is no contradiction here. The objection simply expects more chronological detail than the ancient audience did.