The dispensationalists claim that the emphasis of
Acts 1:9-11 is a visible bodily return of Jesus. This is simply not true. By comparing
Acts 1:9-11 with it's parallel "ascension text" in
Luke 24:49-51 and Paul's words in
1 Timothy 3:16, we are able to discern some "common elements" which help us to understand the emphasis of
Acts 1:11. Jesus left in a "cloud", was taken into "heaven", received into "glory", while "blessing" his disciples. The emphasis of
Acts 1:9-11 is not a physical body. The emphasis is on heaven, the cloud, the glory, and blessing. As we shall see, these elements are common to several "second coming prophecies" which place the return of Jesus not in the future, not in a body, but in the first century. As he left, so he would return, in that generation.