According to the New Testament, Jesus remained with his disciples for forty days after the resurrection before the ascension.
Acts 1 states that Jesus presented himself alive to the apostles over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. The same chapter then describes his ascension from the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem. This account forms the transition between the Gospel story and the early Christian movement described in Acts.
The number forty has strong biblical associations. The Israelites are described as spending forty years in the wilderness, Moses spends forty days on Mount Sinai, and Jesus fasts for forty days in the wilderness. The New Testament’s forty-day period therefore fits a wider biblical pattern of preparation and transition.
The Gospel of Luke ends with Jesus’s ascension, while Acts begins with a fuller account. The texts do not present the ascension as a secret event but as a defining moment witnessed by the apostles.