return "in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." Verse 8 [Jesus says:] "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Before Jesus left, he charged the disciples with the task of acting as 'witnesses' to him, in the locations that can be read as a 'geographical program' for the whole book of Acts: The first 7 chapters set in Jerusalem Chapter 8—11 record the spread of the gospel to the surrounding areas within Syria-Palestine ('Judea and Samaria') Chapter 13 onwards following Paul's mission ever farther places. Luke chapter 24 tells how Jesus leads the eleven disciples "as far as" Bethany, a village on the Mount of Olives, where he instructs them to remain in Jerusalem until the coming of the Holy Spirit: "And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy" (). The Gospel of John has three references to ascension in Jesus' own words: "No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the son of man" (); "What if you (the disciples) were to see the son of man ascending where he was before?" (); and to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection, "Do not hold me, for I not yet ascended to my father..." (). Various epistles (, , , , 1 Timothy 3:16, and ) also refer to an ascension in relation to the post-resurrection "exaltation" of Jesus to the right hand of God. Gospel of Mark () contains the brief ascension account, but it is considered by a broad consensus among scholars to be a later addition to the original version of that gospel. Verse 12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. "The hill called the Mount of Olives" (ESV: "the mount called Olivet"): This geographical site is mentioned by Luke alone in the narrative of Jesus' last entry into Jerusalem () and as a place to rest during Jesus' final ministry of teaching (). names Bethany as the site of ascension, which is identified in as a location at the Mount of Olives. "A Sabbath