Does Luke contradict himself regarding jesus ascension/

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Can you explain the apparent contraction that Luke has the ascension of Jesus happening the night he resurrected, but Acts has it happening forty days later?

Question:

Could you help me to understand this apparent contradiction? Did Jesus ascend to heaven Easter evening (Luke 24:13-52) or forty days later (Acts 1:3-9)? This is one of the apparent bible contradictions which has led many sceptics to say the Bible is not the word of God. But there must be a way to harmonize Luke and Acts about the time of the ascension.



Answer:

You should remember that Luke wrote both Luke and Acts, so if there were a contradiction (there definitely is not!), then it would be Luke contradicting himself!  This is not likely.  In Luke 24:50-52 we have a record of the ascension of Jesus in “the vicinity of Bethany,” which is very close to Jerusalem, not far from the Garden of Gethsemane.  

This was not “Easter evening.”  It was several weeks after Jesus was killed.  In the book of Luke, the author does not tell us how much time had elapsed between the resurrection, which happened at the beginning of chapter 24, and the ascension, which occurred toward the end.  

Several events intervened, such as the women meeting him on the road to Emmaus and the appearance of the disciples in 24:36-49.  John and Matthew record other events as well.  We are not told how long a time intervened before the events in Luke 24:50-52, but we can assume that Luke knew, as he supplied more information in Acts chapter 1.  

Here we learn that the ascension in Luke 24:50-52 happened a few weeks later, as it occurred reasonably close to the time of the Pentecost. We are not told the exact location of the ascension in Acts. Still, it is near Jerusalem, as in this account, Jesus told his apostles to wait in Jerusalem to receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4). 

 Luke did not tell us how much time intervened between the ascension in Acts 1 and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. Still, we get the impression that the ascension was closer to Pentecost than the ascension on the Day of First fruits, seven weeks before Pentecost.

There is no contradiction here.  As far as I can see, it is questionable to call it an “apparent contradiction.”

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