Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them.  While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.  And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

(When it says, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth?  He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.)

Jesus shattered a hole through the back side of death's tomb at his resurrection.  The front side was opened by man's sin in the garden.  Just as Jesus created the resurrection (indeed is the Resurrection), at his ascension he created a bridge to heaven as he rose there.  One did not exist before.  "See, I am making all things new," Christ said. (Revelation 21.5)  There is, therefore, no other way to get to heaven besides the only bridge which was created to get there, since no other ever ascended with their glorified body.  "No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man." (John 3.13)  Truly then does Christ say "I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14.6)

Of this creative, bridging quality of Christ's ascension the Word says "He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill the whole universe, from the lowest to the highest." (Ephesians 4.10, parts from NIV & Amplified translations)