---
title: "What is the Ascension, and where is Jesus now?"
url: "https://seekabove.com/answers/what-is-the-ascension"
description: "The Ascension is the moment, forty days after Easter, when the risen Jesus was taken up into heaven and entered fully into God’s glory in his human body. He is not gone or absent: he reigns with the…"
published: "2026-06-05"
updated: "2026-06-05"
category: "Jesus Christ"
scripture: ["Acts 1:9-11", "Luke 24:50-51", "Hebrews 7:25", "Colossians 3:1"]
catechism: "CCC 659, 661–665, 667"
---

# What is the Ascension, and where is Jesus now?

## Short answer

The Ascension is the moment, forty days after Easter, when the risen Jesus was
taken up into heaven and entered fully into God's glory in his human body. He is
not gone or absent: he reigns with the Father, intercedes for us, and remains
present to his Church — and his human nature has opened the way for us to follow.

## Full explanation

After rising from the dead, Jesus spent forty days appearing to his followers, and
then, the New Testament tells us, he was lifted up and a cloud took him from their
sight (Acts 1:9-11). The Ascension marks the end of his visible, walking-the-roads
presence and the beginning of a new way of being present. It is not Jesus
abandoning the world; it is Jesus entering a deeper and more powerful relationship
with it.

It helps to clear up what "heaven" means here. The Ascension does not mean Jesus
flew off to a place far up in the sky and now sits somewhere among the stars.
"Heaven" is not a location in our universe; it is the fullness of God's life and
presence. To say Jesus is "at the right hand of the Father" is not to give his map
coordinates but to say he shares the Father's authority and glory completely. The
human nature he took on in the Incarnation has now been raised into the very life
of God.

That last point is the heart of it. For the first time, a human being — body and
all — is fully glorified in God. Jesus did not leave his humanity behind when he
ascended; he carried it with him into heaven. Picture a door that no human had ever
been able to open, locked since the beginning. In rising and ascending, Jesus
walked through it in our own flesh and left it standing open. Where he has gone in
his humanity, those who belong to him are meant to follow.

So where is Jesus now? He reigns with the Father, fully alive and fully in charge,
and he is described as always living "to make intercession" for us (Hebrews 7:25).
He is not a retired hero remembered fondly; he is an active king and a present
high priest, continually bringing us before the Father. At the same time he has not
left the world untended — he pours out the Holy Spirit, who makes him present in
the Church, in the sacraments, and in the hearts of believers.

The Ascension also leaves us with a forward lean. The same passage that describes
him being taken up promises that he will return in the same way (Acts 1:11). So
Christians live in the in-between: their Lord is enthroned and present by his
Spirit, yet they wait for the day he will come again and the whole world will be
made new.

## Why this matters

The Ascension means a human being is already home in the heart of God — which is
exactly where Jesus intends to bring you. Your destiny is not a vague survival but
a share in his glory, body and soul. It also means you are never praying into empty
space: there is a man in heaven who knows your life from the inside and is
constantly speaking on your behalf. And because he sent his Spirit, his "leaving"
actually drew him nearer, not farther.

## Common misunderstanding

A common picture imagines the Ascension as Jesus simply leaving — going "up" and
away, so that now we are on our own until he comes back. But the New Testament
treats it as the opposite of absence. By ascending, Jesus stopped being present in
one place at one time and became present everywhere through the Holy Spirit. He did
not withdraw from us; he changed the way he is with us, so that he could be with us
all.

## Scripture connections

- **Acts 1:9-11** — Jesus is lifted up out of the disciples' sight, with the
  promise that he will return in the same way.
- **Luke 24:50-51** — while blessing his disciples, he is carried up into heaven.
- **Hebrews 7:25** — the risen Lord always lives to intercede for those who come to
  God through him.
- **Colossians 3:1** — because Christ is seated at God's right hand, believers are
  to seek the things that are above.

## Church teaching references

- CCC 659, 661, 662, 663, 664, 665, 667

## Reflection question

If a man who shares your humanity is already at home in God's glory and praying for
you right now, how might that change the way you carry your worries this week?