Acts Series

Acts 1:9–26 CSB

After he had said this, he was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem—a Sabbath day’s journey away. When they arrived, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. They all were continually united in prayer, along with the women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. In those days Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters—the number of people who were together was about a hundred twenty—and said, “Brothers and sisters, it was necessary that the Scripture be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David foretold about Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was one of our number and shared in this ministry.” Now this man acquired a field with his unrighteous wages. He fell headfirst, his body burst open and his intestines spilled out. This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that in their own language that field is called Hakeldama (that is, Field of Blood). “For it is written in the Book of Psalms: Let his dwelling become desolate; let no one live in it; and Let someone else take his position. “Therefore, from among the men who have accompanied us during the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us—beginning from the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us—from among these, it is necessary that one become a witness with us of his resurrection.” So they proposed two: Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed, “You, Lord, know everyone’s hearts; show which of these two you have chosen to take the place in this apostolic ministry that Judas left to go where he belongs.” Then they cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias and he was added to the eleven apostles.

So the first thing we see is that in verse 9 Jesus is being taken up into heaven by cloud. Notice that it's not saying he's writing a cloud or in the cloud it says that the cloud is taking Jesus to heaven. The cloud all throughout the Bible is depicted as the presence of God the father. So think of the cloud is God the father, the presence of God coming and taking Jesus into heaven putting him at the right hand of the father, God the father himself said son thank you for a job well done and now come to the Kingdom that you have established and sit at the right hand of the father. Thank of the cloud and the fire that led the children of Israel through the desert, think of the voice that came from the cloud when Jesus was baptized, think of the cloud the descended on Mount Sinai with Thunder and lightning, think of the cloud that spoke at the mount of transfiguration reaffirming his pleasure in the work that his son was doing. So we see here that Jesus has told them to wait for the Holy Spirit because it is coming and then God the father gets his son and they go back to heaven together. One of the central Old Testament promises for the early Christians was in Daniel 7, where ‘one like a son of man’ is brought up, on the clouds of heaven, to the ‘Ancient of Days’, and is presented before him and given kingly power over the nations, and particularly over the ‘beasts’, the monsters representing the forces of evil and chaos. For someone who had long pondered that passage—and there are plenty of signs that the early Christians did just that—the story of Jesus’ ascension would indicate that Daniel 7 had been fulfilled in a dramatic and unexpected way, with the human figure who had suffered at the hands of the evil powers of the world now being exalted into the very presence of God himself, there to receive kingly power

See This is why i tell you guys over and over how amazing the Bible is . if you didn't study a little deeper you would never know that Daniel had prophesied about this in the book of Daniel in Chapter 7 you would just think that it was the story of Jesus going up into the clouds and it is well but it's so much more than that the cloud is the presence of God coming to pick him up and take him back and set him on his throne that he is now established it is so much more than just a simple story it is a prophecy of what God had showed Daniel so many years earlier and it's so clear that the Bible is always telling one story and that one story is all about the son of God Jesus Christ. So moving on to verse 10 and eleven we see that two angels appear and they asked the disciples why are you gazing up into heaven didn't the Lord just give you some work to do kinda is the feeling that you get here like hey he's coming back just as he told you he would be but until then, until Jesus comes back we've got work to do so stop gazing into heaven and get to work because the same Jesus that you just watch go up into heaven is coming back.

John 20:7 CSB

The wrapping that had been on his head was not lying with the linen cloths but was folded up in a separate place by itself.

To elaborate a little on something that I have recently learned that during the time Jesus was alive that there were masters and servants it was pretty much common practice and when the servants would serve dinner they would wait patiently as the master ate and if the master for some reason had to get up and leave the table he would do one of two things he would either take his napkin and fold it and lay it across the plate folded or he would just crumble it up and throw it down on top of the plate when he crumbled it up and threw it on top of the plate it meant that he was not coming back he was done with the food but when he folded it and he laid it so gently over the plate it meant that he was coming back that he was not finished With his food so the beautiful thing about John chapter 20 verse 7 is this is exactly what it's saying, you would wonder why the Bible would go into great detail and explaining the rapping that had been on his head was not lying with the linen clause but was folded up in a separate place by itself. That seems like a relevant information but what it's really saying is that our master our creator Jesus Christ is coming back the same Jesus that the disciples had just watched go in to the Kingdom of heaven that he had worked so hard to establish is coming back for us and in the meantime we have the Great Commission that in the first few verses talks about Jesus giving the instructions that was the Great Commission and the power the power to do what to be witnesses that's our job church that's what Jesus came to establish the new covenant and in that new covenant we are to tell everybody about Jesus the one who is coming back the one who is coming back at a time that we don't know but we do know the place we just don't know the hour. In verse 12 we see that They returned to Jerusalem: This was notable obedience. Jesus told them to return to Jerusalem and wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4), and that is exactly what they did. They didn’t forget the sermon right after they heard it, and they actually did what Jesus told them to do, even though He was no longer physically present with them. Being a follower is always contingent on us being obedient. It's the very basics. That Jesus is our Lord and we are obedient to him. What do you think would have happened if the disciples in verse 12 had he gone back to Galilee and started telling people about what they had seen? It would have been a mess because they would not have had the Holy Spirit and we see that yes they needed the knowledge the three years of learning that Jesus had given them but they also needed the power and the guidance and the direction and the molding of the Holy Spirit living within them. Moving on to verse 14 it says they were all in one accord or they were all continually united in prayer along with the women including Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers. This is notable unity. When we saw the disciples in the Gospels, it seemed that they always fought and bickered. What had changed? Peter still had the history of denying the Lord; Matthew was still a tax collector; Simon was still a zealot. Their differences were still there, but the resurrected Jesus in their hearts was greater than any difference. I think this definitely continues to speak to us today because we have so many different denominations we have so many different ideas there's so many different thoughts just within one group of people and instead of coming to a place where we feel like we have to and need to agree on every single letter that is written in the word of God we have to come to a point to where we understand that God in Jesus Christ and the resurrection and salvation are of supreme importance over everything else in our lives and the Holy Spirit within us and the resurrected Jesus within us has got to be more important than anything else. They all came from different walks of life, we all come from different walks of life, and so this is such a example of how we can all come together when our eyes are focused on one mission and that is being the missional Church of Jesus Christ. e. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication: This was notable prayer. They all prayed, and they continued in prayer and supplication. The idea of supplication is a sense of desperation and earnestness in prayer. I would say that supplication is also another word for fervently they were passionately desperately earnestly praying together. Already, we see three important steps in making godly decisions:

The disciples were in obedience, they were in fellowship, and they were in prayer.

Those three points alone could most definitely be a 3 point sermon but you might want to just mark that down in your Bible somewhere or put it in your phone the very foundation of the beginning of the church in acts begins with the disciples being obedient to Jesus Christ being unified together for the cause and in fellowship and they were unified together in prayer and that is the catalyst that leads to being an effective church. Those three things continually show up throughout the rest of acts throughout the rest of the Bible and really they're all over the Bible but definitely we see these three things right here that are so important for us to notice and continue to do an our times right now. As we step into verse 15 we see then it tells us Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters and the number was about 120. So y'all have heard me teach and preach about the change of Peter the changes that he went through and as we're reading he's going through and we see here before he even has received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost he stands up and he stands up in a different light. : Peter’s words show wisdom we did not often see in him before. He began by noting that Judas didn’t spoil God’s plan, he fulfilled it (this Scripture had to be fulfilled). This is something that only wise and mature disciples can see in the aftermath of evil. We can learn from this the when we go through things and they just don't seem right God had a purpose in all of it God is always working together for the good of those who love him and so Peter being able to see that Judas wasn't spoiling God's plan wasn't a mistake in God's plan it was the fulfillment of God's plan it was the fulfillment of scripture that have been talked about and the scripture that Peter was about to quote. I often after reading this you used to think I wonder why they had to replace Judas? I mean everything was changing we were all about to become witnesses for Jesus Christ the 12 was now 120 in the upper room and 120 on the day of Pentecost was going to become 3120 and so I didn't quite understand why they were replacing Judas but as Peter is about to show us the fulfillment of scripture is why. I just want to reiterate the This is why I love scripture This is why we know without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ is the Messiah the son of God because he fulfilled so many scriptures and yes we're talking about Judas but it all revolved around Jesus and those scriptures were fulfilled because of Jesus. So Peters continues on in verse 20 and saysFor it is written: Peter, quoting from two separate Psalms, showed why God wanted them to choose another disciple to officially replace Judas. i. This was notable reliance on God’s Word. This wasn’t the wisdom of man at work, but a principle revealed in Scripture. Also, this is the first time in the New Testament we read that Peter quoted Scripture Peter quoted

let his dwelling become desolate let no one live in it and let someone else take his position this is psalms

69 verse 25 and also psalms 109 verse 8. This was notable desire for God’s will. Because of the principle of the quoted Scripture, they decided to replace Judas because they believe it is what Jesus wanted, not because it is what they wanted. You can add this to the three points from earlier that they were obedient they were fellowshipping together and they were unified in prayer and then #4 they had a desire to follow out what God wanted more than what they wanted. In verse 22 they let us know what the main qualification to the person that filled judas's spot was that they were witnesses of the resurrection. Now that Jesus had ascended to heaven, it was more important than ever to have a witness…of His resurrection. We also can be witnesses of His resurrection, both by trusting and proclaiming the apostolic testimony, and our own testimony that the risen Jesus lives in and through us. So they drew or cash lots to decide who was going to be the replacement for Judas. There's a lot of controversy and talk over this practice but it is the last time that we see lots being cast due to the fact that the Holy Spirit was on his way to live inside of us and thus leading and directing us on those decisions in the future.