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                                    to obey everything I have commanded you. Surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.%u2019%u201d (Matthew 28:18-20).%u201cHe said to them, %u2018Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.%u2019%u201d (Mark 16:15-17).%u201cIn my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: %u2018Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.%u2019 So, when they met together, they asked him, %u2018Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?%u2019%u201d %u201cHe said to them: %u2018It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.%u2019 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.%u201d %u201cThey were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. %u2018Men of Galilee,%u2019 they said, %u2018why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.%u2019 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.%u201d (Acts 1:1-14).Compiler%u2019s Comment: For the first time following the sin of Adam and Eve, man would soon have a way opened for them to be reconciled to God. End Comment.Even though it is in the Bible that Jesus is revealed, there is considerable evidence outside the Bible confirming that Jesus is a historical person, just as the Bible presents him. These external writings by ancient historians corroborate what the Bible tells about him and are from Edward C. Wharton in his book %u201cChristianity: A Clear Case of History.%u201dThallus, a Samaritan-born historian who lived and worked in Rome about A.D. 52, was quoted by Julius Africanus, a Christian chronographer of the late second century. \
                                
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