Acts 1:2,4-11

Isaac has the sign up sheet for Sunday’s anniversary dinner with him.

2

Acts 1:2 “until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.”

The gospel of Luke ends, as we just read, with the ascension of Jesus back to heaven to be at the Fathers right hand to make intercession for all that are his. The last command that Jesus gives his apostles in Luke is that they are to remain in the city “until you are clothed with power from on high”. The word translated power from this verse in Luke is dynamis, which is where we derive the word dynamite from, it means a deed of power or supernatural power.

2,4-5

Acts 1:2 “until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.”

Acts 1:4–5 “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.””

From Luke 24:49 “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”” and continuing from verse 2, Jesus commanded his apostles to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father, which is the baptizing of them with the Holy Spirit. Why does Jesus command them to wait to carry out what he also commanded them to do? Wait to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth? Because without the Holy Spirit with us, in us, and guiding us, all of man’s work is useless as far as spiritual matters are concerned. This also isn’t just a New Testament promise, in the Old Testament God make us this promise, God’s promise for all who come into the New Covenant, Ezekiel 36:25–27 “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” God will cause us to walk in his statutes and obey his rules through the Holy Spirit in is. Jesus also does not let them be waiting for very long, as he promises them, “not many days from now”. We will get much deeper into this in chapter 2 but just ten days later at the day of Pentecost this promise of the Holy Spirit comes, Acts 2:1–4 “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Right after this we get the record of Peter’s powerful, Spirit filled sermon to all the men of Judea and Jerusalem. And after that the rest of the Acts of the apostles starts to flourish and bloom, the Holy Spirt has come, and with the promised power that Luke wrote about in Luke 24:49

6

Acts 1:6 “So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?””

Once again the Apostles were looking for Jesus to rule and set up an earthly kingdom immediately, remember the mother of James and John asking for her son’s to sit at his right hand and left in Christ’s kingdom. This time when they asked they also could have been thinking of Ezekiel 36 and Joel 2 which linked the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the coming of the kingdom, which Jesus just told them that they were going to be baptized into.

Ezekiel 36:26–28 “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

Ezekiel 36:33–35 ““Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’”

Joel 2:28–32 ““And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.”

One commentator said that they, the apostles were hoping to receive their wages, the kingdom, without doing the work, evangelizing and spreading the gospel, or getting the spoils of the victory without the battle. Also see that they were asking specifically for the kingdom to be restored to Israel and not all of God’s called people which include Jews and Gentiles.

But as we see in verses 7 and 8 Jesus does not harshly rebuke them or deny that the kingdom will come but corrects the two parts of the question in verse 6, establish the kingdom now, “at this time”, and to Israel alone.

7

Acts 1:7 “He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.”

In verse 7 Jesus corrects the apostles question on the timing of the coming of the kingdom by telling them it is not for man or anyone but the Father to know the timing of His sovereign actions, including when the kingdom will be fully accomplished. The phrase times or seasons encompasses both when and features on how the kingdom will look and operate. The apostles were looking for this kingdom to be set and established now but Jesus tells them it will be at the Fathers schedule and according to his will, plan, and design.

Mark 13:32 ““But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

This is absolutely one of the secret things of God mentioned in Deuteronomy 29:29 ““The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

And since the timing of the coming of the kingdom is a secret thing only know to the Father, we must always be ready, 1 Thessalonians 5:2 “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

Mark 13:33 “Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.”

8

Acts 1:8 “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.””

Verse 8 not only stands as another correction and answer to the apostles question in verse 6 but it can also be seen as the synopsis and outline of the whole book of Acts. The apostles ask about the kingdom being restored to Israel but Jesus says here that the kingdom will not only be for the chosen out of Israel but all of the earth. There will be chosen from the Jews yes, Jerusalem and all Judea, but also Samaria, which the Jews hated. A quote from an article from The Masters University on the Samaritans:

“Jewish people regarded the Samaritans as apostate people who had sold their spiritual birthright. After all, the Samaritans had actively participated in the defilement of the land; they had polluted the bloodline; and they were guilty of idolatry. As far as the Jews were concerned, the Samaritans’ very existence was evil fruit that stemmed from the “sins of Jeroboam” 1 Kings 14:16 “And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin.”” and 2 Kings 17:22 “The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them,” Like Jeroboam, the Samaritans ultimately built a temple of their own, with counterfeit priests and unlawful sacrifices. By the Jews’ reckoning, they were worse than rank pagans because of the subtlety with which they had polluted their religion.”

The gospel was to be taken to them.

The gospel was also to be given to the end of the earth, meaning all the world, all the peoples, Jews and Gentiles will be part of the kingdom of God.

Verse 8 is also the synopsis of what Acts is about, the back cover quote on the book of Acts if you will, Acts 1:8 “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.”” Spreading the good news with power from the Holy Spirit by the Apostles in the early church age from Jerusalem outward to the whole world is the what the book of Acts tells.

The order of what Jesus says in this verse also is the outline of Acts:

The witness to Jerusalem in chapters 1-8

The witness to Judea and Samaria in chapters 8-12

The witness to the ends of the earth in chapters 13-28

Also the Greek word translated here as witness is martys, from which we get martyr because so many Christians were killed for being a witness to Christ.

The second part of verse 8 is also a description of the church age “and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth”, the church age begins here and continues on to this day. Not only the apostles were to be witnesses to the whole world but every faithful Christian should take the words of Jesus here as their personal charge as well.

9

Acts 1:9 “And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”

The risen Christ, in His perfected, resurrected, bodily form was taken to heaven to be at the right hand of the Father, which is where he still is right now and will be until the appointed time, known only by the Father, to return again at the end of the age. Jesus was lifted up on a cloud, the Shekinah glory of God. Numerous places in the Old Testament contain this cloud image in reference to God. Exodus 13:21 “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.” Isaiah 19:1 “An oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.” Daniel 7:13 ““I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.” The glory of God took Jesus to heaven to be with the Father to intercede for all of the elect.

10-11

Acts 1:10–11 “And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.””

Were the apostles amazed? In awe? Confused? Sad, as they gazed up into heaven where Jesus just went? Probably all of the above. They were with Jesus being taught that he would be crucified and rise again after three days, but not understanding what Jesus was telling them. Then just as Jesus said, he was crucified and the apostles fled and were distraught. Then, just as Jesus said, he rose from the tomb on the third day and was with them again for forty days. He also said that he was going back to the Father and the helper, or Holy Spirit would come, but they did not understand that either as they were just asking Jesus about restoring the kingdom to Israel. Now Jesus is carried away up into heaven and they stand there staring into the sky. Can you imagine what they are feeling and thinking?

Then two angels appear there with them, there is no debate or confusion if these two men in white robes are angels. Angels appeared in human male form in Genesis when they went to get Lot out of Sodom, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell of angles in white at the empty tomb of Jesus and many other places. These angels now appear to the apostles and gently tell them that they need not marvel or be sad. They tell them this Jesus, the same resurrected God-Man Jesus that they know and have been with will be returning in the same way he left, he will come with the glory of God. Jesus is coming back, but we do not know when, and anyone who says that they know the time of the end of days and when Jesus will return is at best mistaken and at worse a false prophet and trying to lead anyone who will listen astray.