Empowered by The Holy Spirit (Acts 1)
Notes
Transcript
This is the second book written by Luke. The first was the Gospel of Luke. Luke was a Gentile believer in Jesus, who worked closely with the apostle Paul. He was writing to a certain Theophilus, whose identity remains a mystery till this day. This name means either lover or friend of God. So, it can be a proper name of a high ranking Roman official or a nickname for a person or a group that was interested or already believed. Or it can even be a general nickname for any Christian reader. No matter who Theophilus was, it is certain that Luke wrote after Paul was imprisoned in Rome. Perhaps this was written during the time that Paul was waiting for trial by Caesar, or it could be a little later. If Theophilus was a high ranking Roman official, Luke may have written to convince him that this Jesus movement was truly a move of God to bless all people and was not a threat to the Roman empire.
Strong emphasis on the Holy Spirit
Strong emphasis on the Holy Spirit
Luke 4:18–19 (ESV)
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Luke started both his books with a strong focus on the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was mentioned 17x in the Gospel of Luke, out of which 13x was in the first 4 introductory chapters, Jesus’s birth and ministry was prophesied about by the Holy Spirit, he was conceived by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit descended on him in baptism, was led by the Spirit to be tempted, overcame and returned in the power of the Spirit. Jesus’s life and ministry was presented as conceived and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Then, Jesus started his ministry with this quote, Luke 4:18-19. The Gospel of Luke is about the acts of the savior as prophesied and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
In Acts, the Holy Spirit was mentioned 57x. He was mentioned throughout the whole book from the first chapter till the last. He was behind every miracle, every testimony, and every significant decision or event in the book. The Acts of the Apostles is really about the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the apostles.
until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
Jesus’s command was given through the Holy Spirit. What command? Two of the commands were highlighted in this chapter.
And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Jesus was resurrected from the dead. The gospel message was waiting to be proclaimed to the nations. It was an exciting time for the apostles. It would have been intuitive to get going immediately to start going out for ministry. But the the apostles were commanded to wait. What were they supposed to wait for? A baptism of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus compared it to John’s water baptism, Jesus meant that the Holy Spirit would cover the disciples. It also reminds of Jesus’s baptism when the Holy Spirit came like a dove upon him.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
While the apostles were still fixated on the idea of establishing a physical kingdom of Israel, Jesus pointed them to a different direction. They were to be witnesses, not rulers or generals of a kingdom of Israel. Continuing the idea of the Holy Spirit coming upon the disciples, Jesus now gave the purpose. The Holy Spirit was to be given to empower the disciples to be witnesses of Jesus, from Jerusalem, where the temple physically represented the presence of God on earth, to the rest of the earth. The Spirit of God, instead of dwelling in the temple of God, was going to all people through human vessels.
“Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.
Peter had a revelation that the Holy Spirit had prophesied through David about their current situation. That the role of being a witness to Jesus must be filled. They then proceeded to put forth their own criteria for being a witness and selected a replacement apostle. The criteria they put forth seems reasonable. Since it is about being a witness to Jesus, then it made perfect sense that they wanted a candidate who were present with them from the beginning and saw everything that happened. However, it seems like the replacement they choose was not according to God’s intention. Firstly, if Jesus wanted a replacement among them, he could have selected one during the 40 days between his resurrection to the day of ascension. But, he didn’t. Secondly, Matthias who was chosen, was never mentioned again. Thirdly, Acts 1:8 emphasized that the Holy Spirit will empower them to be witnesses. Given the importance of the office of the apostles, one would expect that there will be some record of the Holy Spirit working through Matthias, proving that he was indeed chosen as a witness. But, there was no such evidence. Instead, as we will see in the later chapters, another person was clearly shown as called by Jesus personally, and empowered by the Holy Spirit in a manner that his ministry mirrors that of Peter. That person is Paul.
The work of being a witness to Jesus is to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.
The work of being a witness to Jesus is to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.
The work of being a witness to Jesus is to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is not meant to be something we can do on our own. It is not to be accomplished with our good ideas, good intention, or natural abilities. It is the Holy Spirit of God reaching out to people through His human vessels. We need to be willing vessels who will wait for and receive his empowerment to be his witness. When empowered, the Holy Spirit will confirm our words with His own works. Meanwhile, we should study and know the Bible as that we can share about Jesus even without special works of the Holy Spirit operating in our lives, like how Apollo could share Christ before receiving empowerment of the Holy Spirit.