Acts 1:1-11 - My Paraphrase

Dear Theophilus, in my first book I wrote of all that Jesus began to teach and do until the day when, after he had charged the apostles through the Holy Spirit, he was taken up.

After his passion, Jesus demonstrated to them that he was alive by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over forty days and speaking to them of things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And while staying with them, Jesus charged them to not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” Jesus said, “is what you have heard from me; for while John baptized with water, in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

So when they had gathered together, the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, is now the time when you will restore again the kingdom to Israel?”

Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has placed under his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, even as they were still looking at him, he was raised up, and a cloud carried him upward out of their sight.

And while they continued to gaze intently into heaven, two men in white robes suddenly appeared and stood next to them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here, gazing into the heavens? For this Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come again in the same way as you have seen him leave.”