Joshua EdgrenINTRODUCTION
The first verse of Acts contained the formal introduction to the book, but the following verses fill it out a bit more. These verses refer to the Lord’s resurrection appearances, and the proofs He gave His disciples that He was in fact alive. Second, He taught them about the kingdom, and told them to wait in Jerusalem until they had been given kingdom power. When that power had descended upon them, they would be ambassadors of that kingdom out to the ends of the earth. And then last, the angels promised that Christ would at some point return in the same way that He left, meaning that He would descend from the sky.
THE TEXT
“THE former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
Luke begins volume two of his history by referring to volume one. The former book, also addressed to Theophilus, recorded all that Jesus started to do (v. 1), up to the point of His ascension (v. 2). Before He ascended, He delivered commandments to His chosen apostles (v. 2). Over the course of forty days, He appeared to them alive and provided many proofs of His resurrection, and taught them about the kingdom of God (v. 3). Gathering together with them, He required them to remain in Jerusalem until the promise of the Father came, which He had told them about (v. 4). John baptized with water, but in a very few days, they would be baptized by the Holy Spirit (v. 5). On one of their gatherings, they asked Him if this would be the moment when the kingdom was restored to Israel (v. 6). He replied that this was not for them to know, as the Father had it put under His authority (v. 7). But when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, they would be imbued with power, and would be made witnesses of Christ—in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the far reaches of the earth (v. 8).
After saying this, while they were watching, He ascended into the sky and disappeared into a cloud (v. 9). They were staring as He went, and suddenly two men, clearly angels, clad in white, appeared next to them (v. 10). You men of Galilee, they said, why are you staring? He will return in exactly the same way that He left (v. 11).
OUR TABLE OF CONTENTS
The eighth verse provides us with a fine overview of the entire book of Acts. It almost serves as a table of contents. They would be witnesses in Jerusalem (Acts 1:4), Judea (Acts 2:14), Samaria (Acts 8:5), and the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 13:4ff). Imagine a rock thrown into a pond, and the place where the rock entered was Jerusalem. The concentric ripples going out from that place were Judea (the province where Jerusalem was), then Samaria, just to the north, and then out to the rest of the world. Infallible Proofs
What does it mean to prove something? The Lord appeared to His disciples and provided them with convincing proofs. To prove something means that what you have done is created a moral obligation to believe. A person might be stubborn, and continue to say nuh uh for a while, but if he is sinning by doing so, then this means that the thing was proven to him. The existence of proof is not dependent upon whether or not the person you are talking to is continuing to hold out. The issue is whether he is sinning by continuing to hold out.
What we are told here is that the resurrected Lord met with His disciples over the course of almost a month and a half, during which time He convinced them that He had risen from the dead bodily. The proofs therefore ruled out dreams, hallucinations, wish fulfillment, or anything else like that. He offered His wounds to Thomas (John 20:27). He asked if they had anything to eat in the fridge—ghosts don’t eat (Luke 24:42-43). He had angels add their testimony (Luke 24:23). He conducted Bible studies, showing how it had to go this way (Luke 24:27). And since that time, because the Holy Spirit was poured out in power, the resurrection of Jesus is not so much an historical fact to be proven as it is an historical proof of two other great doctrines—first, that Christ is in fact the Son of God (Rom. 1:4), and second, that He is going to judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31).
REASONING ON FIRE
When the Holy Spirit is given, as we will see in the next chapter, He comes down upon the disciples in the form of fire. They were given convincing proofs in the first verses of Acts. But it is quite striking that these proofs were insufficient. You have the proofs, Jesus said, but you must still wait in Jerusalem. So their proofs just sat there waiting, like so much tinder and kindling. Wait, Jesus said. Your syllogisms will not be worth anything unless the Spirit sets them on fire first. Some Christians just want to stack and organize the wood, and also conduct conferences, seminars, and lectures about the wood. Other Christians just want the fire—and because it is just a massive Kleenex fire, their talks devolve into mere harangues. Why not both? The Scriptures are a vast forest, with wood enough and to spare. How long will this fire burn? We are stocked with enough wood to burn until the second promise of these verses comes to pass, and Jesus Christ returns. The first promise of the Father was the outpoured Spirit. The second promise of the Father is the return of the Son. Maranatha, come Lord Jesus.
Grace Sensing