End of the Earth Discipleship

Sermon: End of the Earth Discipleship

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (NBLH) pero recibirán poder cuando el Espíritu Santo venga sobre ustedes; y serán Mis testigos en Jerusalén, en toda Judea y Samaria, y hasta los confines de la tierra.” (RVR) pero recibiréis poder, cuando haya venido sobre vosotros el Espíritu Santo, y me seréis testigos en Jerusalén, en toda Judea, en Samaria, y hasta lo último de la tierra. (VP) pero cuando el Espíritu Santo venga sobre ustedes, recibirán poder y saldrán a dar testimonio de mí, en Jerusalén, en toda la región de Judea y de Samaria, y hasta en las partes más lejanas de la tierra.

BUT / pero – corrects their misconceptions about God’s timing, God’s Kingdom, etc

What are some of my “Christian” misconceptions that Jesus needs to clarify for me?

Acts 1:3-9 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

YOU WILL RECEIVE / RECIBIRAN – a promise……fulfilled 10 days later on Pentecost.

Passive agents as a result of waiting like God commanded v.4

Promised by the Father v.4-5 ((Luke 11:13; 24:49; John 7:39; 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7)

EXAMPLE: Like parents who promise their kids a birthday or Christmas present but they have to wait till the appointed day

POWER / DUNAMIS (spiritual dynamite), the power of God himself  

Acts 10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him

WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT

What did they know about the Holy Spirit up to that point?

(o3xOT – Ps.51:11, Isa.63:10,11) plus 11 references by Jesus

What do you know/understand about the Holy Spirit?

COMES ON YOU / cuando venga sobre ustedes, cuando haya venido sobre ustedes

Baptism of Holy Spirit (Mt.3:11; Mk.1:8; Lk.3:16; Jn.1:33; Act 2:1-11; 1Cor.12:13) 1X event

Filling of Holy Spirit (Act 4:8,31) repeated event, a command to be obeyed (Eph.5:18)

and YOU WILL BE MY WITNESSESS

Witness = testify to what you saw or heard or experienced

Witness = martyr 3x (Steven, Antipas, Jesus)

Witnessing = is a fruit (result) of being filled with the Holy Spirit

MY HEART -

1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. NBLH sino santifiquen [honren] a Cristo como Señor en sus corazones

Romans 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

MY HOME –

Joshua 24:15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” NBLH - “Y si no les parece bien servir al Señor, escojan hoy a quién han de servir: si a los dioses que sirvieron sus padres, que estaban al otro lado del río, o a los dioses de los Amorreos en cuya tierra habitan. Pero yo y mi casa, serviremos al Señor.”

Acts 16:31-33 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. (NBLH) Ellos respondieron: “Cree en el Señor Jesús, y serás salvo, tú y toda tu casa.” 32 Y le hablaron la palabra del Señor a él y a todos los que estaban en su casa. 33 El carcelero los tomó en aquella misma hora de la noche y les lavó las heridas, y enseguida fue bautizado con todos los suyos.

Acts 18:8 Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized. (VP) Y Crispo, el jefe de la sinagoga, con toda su familia, creyó en el Señor. Y también muchos de los de Corinto, al oir el mensaje, creyeron y fueron bautizados.

1 Cor 16:15 You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. I urge you, brothers, (VP) Hermanos, ustedes saben que la familia de Estéfanas fue la primera que en la región de Acaya se convirtió al evangelio, y que ellos se han dedicado a servir a los hermanos en la fe

JERUSALEM –

Beginning of the Church

Acts 2:1-4 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Acts 2:41-47 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Persecution Begins

Acts 4:3 They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.

Acts 5:18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 33 When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 40 His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

Acts 6:12-13 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.

Acts 7:57-58 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Acts 8:1-3 And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.

Eph.1:22; 5:23; Col.1:18 Christ is the head of the church

All JUDEA –

North of Jerusalem, was Judea, then Samaria, (then Galilee though its not mentioned)

Success in Judea before coming to the more difficult field of Samaria!!

Matthew 2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem

Matthew 3:1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea

John 7:1 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life.

Acts 8:1 And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

Acts 9:31 Then the church thru out Judea, Galilee & Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened & encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord

1 Thessalonians 2:14 For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews,

And SAMARIA -

Reaching out to those that are NOT like you….that you DO NOT LIKE….

When the nation of Israel split politically after Solomon’s rule, King Omri named the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel "Samaria" (1 Kin. 16:24). The name eventually referred to the entire district and sometimes to the entire northern kingdom, which had been taken captive (capital, Samaria) by Assyria in 722 b.c. (2 Kin. 17:1–6). While Assyria led most of the populace of the 10 northern tribes away (into the region which today is northern Iraq), it left a sizable population of Jews in the northern Samaritan region and transported many non-Jews into Samaria. These groups intermingled to form a mixed race through intermarriage. Eventually tension developed between the Jews who returned from captivity and the Samaritans. The Samaritans withdrew from the worship of Yahweh at Jerusalem and established their worship at Mt. Gerizim in Samaria (vv. 20–22). Samaritans regarded only the Pentateuch as authoritative. As a result of this history, Jews repudiated Samaritans and considered them heretical. Intense ethnic and cultural tensions raged historically between the two groups so that both avoided contact as much as possible (v. 9; Ezra 4:1–24; Neh. 4:1–6; Luke 10:25–37). See 2 Kin. 17:24

Luke 17:11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 

John 4:4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 

Acts 8:1 And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 

Acts 8:5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. 

Acts 8:9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 

Acts 8:14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 

Acts 9:31Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened & encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord

Acts 15:3 The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the brothers very glad. 

And TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH -

By end of Book of Acts they are in Rome (more than 1,400 miles, as the crow flies)

Ps 2:8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. 

Ps 22:27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, 

Ps 48:10 Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with righteousness. 

Ps 59:13 consume them in wrath, consume them till they are no more. Then it will be known to the ends of the earth that God rules over Jacob. Selah 

Ps 65:5 You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, 

Ps 67:7 God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him. 

Ps 72:8 He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Ps 98:3 He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 

Isa 5:26 He lifts up a banner for the distant nations, he whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily! 

Isa 24:16 From the ends of the earth we hear singing: “Glory to the Righteous One.” But I said, “I waste away, I waste away! Woe to me! The treacherous betray! With treachery the treacherous betray!” 

Isa 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 

Isa 41:5 The islands have seen it and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach & come forward

Isa 41:9 I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. 

Isa 42:10 Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them. 

Isa 43:6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— 

Isa 45:22 “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other

Isa 48:20  Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians! Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.” 

Isa 49:6 he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” 

Isa 52:10 The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. 

Isa 62:11 The Lord has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: “Say to the Daughter of Zion, See, your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him

Jer 31:8 See I will bring them from the land of the No. & gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind & the lame, expectant mothers & women in labor; a great throng will return

Micah 5:4 He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. 

Zech 9:10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Mark 13:27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. 

Acts 13:47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us: I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

Other “Judea” VV

Matthew 2:5 In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

Matthew 2:22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee,

Matthew 3:5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.

Matthew 4:25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him

Matthew 19:1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan.

Matthew 24:16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Mark 3:8 When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.

Mark 10:1Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.

Mark 13:14 When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Luke 1:5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron.

Luke 1:39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,

Luke 1:65 The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things.

Luke 2:4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.

Luke 3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene—

Luke 4:44 And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Luke 5:17 One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick.

Luke 6:17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon,

Luke 7:17 This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.

Luke 21:21Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city.

Luke 23:5 But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”

John 4:3 When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

John 4:47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

John 4:54 This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.

John 7:3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do.

John 11:7 Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

Acts 2:9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

Acts 10:37 You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—

Acts 11:1 The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.

Acts 11:29 The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea.

Acts 12:19 After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there a while.

Acts 15:1 Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Acts 21:10 After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

Acts 26:20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.

Acts 28:21 They replied, “We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you.

Romans 15:31 Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there,

2 Corinthians 1:16 I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea.

Galatians 1:22 I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.

Other end of the Earth VV

Deut 28:49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, 

Deut 28:64 Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. 

Deut 33:17 In majesty he is like a firstborn bull; his horns are the horns of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations, even those at the ends of the earth. Such are the ten thousands of Ephraim; such are the thousands of Manasseh.” 

1 Sam 2:10 those who oppose the Lord will be shattered. He will thunder against them from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” 

Job 28:24 for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. 

Job 37:3 He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth

Ps 46:9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. 

Ps 61:2 From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 

Ps 135:7 He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. 

Prov 17:24 A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth 

Prov 30:4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me if you know! 

Jer 6:22 This is what the Lord says: “Look, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth. 

Jer 10:13 When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. 

Jer 16:19 O Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good. 

Jer 25:31 The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth, for the Lord will bring charges against the nations; he will bring judgment on all mankind and put the wicked to the sword,’ ” declares the Lord. 

Jer 25:32 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Look! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth.” 

Jer 25:33 At that time those slain by the Lord will be everywhere—from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground

Jer 50:41 “Look! An army is coming from the north; a great nation and many kings are being stirred up from the ends of the earth. 

Jer 51:16 When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. 

Dan 4:11 The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth. 

Matt 12:42  The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. 

Luke 11:31 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. 

BKC This verse contrasts (alla, but) with verse 7. Instead of knowing the times or dates, the apostles were to be Christ’s witnesses to the ends of the earth. This they were to do after they had been supernaturally empowered by the Holy Spirit.The meaning of the clause you will be My witnesses is subject to question. Is this a command, or is it a simple statement of fact? Grammatically the words may be taken either way, but because of 10:42 (4:20) it is clearly an imperative in the future tense. Probably “the ends (sing., ­end¯ in the Gr. text) of the earth” looks to Rome, the proud center of world civilization in the Apostolic Age, a significant distance from Jerusalem (more than 1,400 miles, as the crow flies).

*The apostles’ mission of spreading the gospel was the major reason the Holy Spirit empowered them. This event dramatically altered world history, and the gospel message eventually reached all parts of the earth (Matt. 28:19, 20). receive power. The apostles had already experienced the Holy Spirit’s saving, guiding, teaching, and miracle-working power. Soon they would receive His indwelling presence and a new dimension of power for witness (2:4; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20; Eph. 3:16, 20). witnesses. People who tell the truth about Jesus Christ ( John 14:26; 1 Pet. 3:15). The Gr. word means “one who dies for his faith” because that was commonly the price of witnessing. Judea. The region in which Jerusalem was located. Samaria. The region immediately to the N of Judea (8:5).

*Instead of being concerned about the date of Christ’s return, the disciples’ job was to carry His message throughout the world. you shall receive power: This does not refer to personal power for godly living, as demonstrated in the lives of OT saints (Abraham in Gen. 22; Joseph in Gen. 39; Moses in Ex. 14; Daniel in Dan. 6). This was power for a new task—namely, to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Be witnesses is Christ’s command to His disciples to tell others about Him regardless of the consequences. Church tradition tells us that all but one of the eleven apostles who heard this promise became martyrs (John died in exile). God empowered His disciples to be faithful witnesses even when they faced the most vehement opposition. That same power for witnessing is available to us today. Our task is not to convince people, but to testify of the truth of the gospel.

*One of the most common excuses for not becoming a Christian is the fear of failure to live the Christian life. Besides overlooking the fact that people cannot be saved on the basis of good works (Titus 3:5), this objection neglects the truth that God provides the power to live the Christian life. Before Christ was crucified He promised the coming of the Holy Spirit to help believers (John 16:13, 14). The subsequent events of the Book of Acts supply ample evidence of the fulfillment of this prophecy (Acts 4:7, 33; 6:8).The power of the Holy Spirit was not designed solely for the first-century church. Rather, all Christians are indwelt by the Spirit and thus have His power available (1 Cor. 6:19). However, living the Christian life under the Spirit’s power must not be thought of as simply allowing the Spirit to take control while the believer does nothing. Believers still must live the Christian life, though they do it through the Spirit’s power. Rom. 8:13 says, “if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” It is you who are to put to death the sinful deeds of the body, but you are to do it through the Spirit’s power. Christians who struggle in their own strength to live the Christian life will fail. They must by faith appropriate daily the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:4, 5). Described practically, this means that believers trust the Spirit to empower them in specific instances such as sharing their faith with others, resisting temptation, being faithful, and so on. There is no secret formula that makes the Spirit’s power available. It is simply a reliance on the Spirit to help.

*The Acts themselves form the best commentary on these words, and the words themselves might be given as the best summary of the Acts.We have first the preaching of the gospel ‘in Jerusalem’ until the martyrdom of Stephen; then the dispersion throughout Judaea and Samaria, 8:1; Philip going down to Samaria, 8:5; and afterwards Peter and John, 8:14; then the conversion of Paul ‘the Apostle of the Gentiles’ and the vision of Peter; finally a full account of the missionary labours of Paul and others, culminating in the establishment of the gospel in the capital of the world. μάρτυρες] ‘witnesses’: Notice the first duty of an Apostle and cf. 4:33, 10:39, 13:31.

*The introduction to Acts contains two verses that are of special importance for anyone who wants to understand this book. In them is an outline for it. There are four geographical references in verse 8: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. In the New International Version the middle terms are combined by the verse’s punctuation so that there is a three-part progression: Jerusalem (comma), Judea and Samaria (comma), and the ends of the earth. This is because in the Greek text, “Samaria” does not have a definite article before it. The article occurs before “Judea,” which suggests that Judea and Samaria belong together, and this makes a three-part outline for the book. Acts 1–7 deals with the preaching of the gospel in Jerusalem. In Acts 8–12 the gospel expands beyond Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria. Acts 13–28 records the expansion of the gospel throughout the Roman world.  The Great Commission

But it is not chiefly for that reason that we need to study these key verses. They are also important because they give a plan for witnessing that has made Christianity a world religion.

Each version of the Great Commission has its own emphasis.

Like Acts, John’s version speaks of Christians being sent into the world, but his emphasis is on the nature of the Christian’s witness: “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18). That is, the disciples were sent into the world as Jesus was sent into it. He was to be the model for their ministry.

Matthew stresses the authority of Jesus on the basis of which they were to make disciples of all nations: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18). They were to call all people to Christ because the Son of God had authorized them to do so.

When we turn to the seventh and eighth verses of Acts 1, we find the emphasis on two other things.

First, the disciples were to be empowered for their task by the Holy Spirit.

Second, they were to be agents of a world-wide geographical expansion of Christianity. The two go together. Jesus said they would receive power from the Holy Spirit and that when that happened they were to go into the entire world with the gospel. That is, their witness was to begin at Jerusalem; then it was to expand outward like ripples on a pond, embracing Judea and Samaria, and then overflowing beyond those known communities to the farthest reaches of the Roman Empire.

I do not sense that Christians today are always fully aware of how thoroughly that plan was carried out by the first generation of the church. The entire pagan world acknowledged as fact the early Christian apologists’ claim that Christianity had permeated everywhere. Tertullian, who wrote around the year 200, declared in his Apology, “We are but of yesterday, and we have filled every place among you—cities, islands, fortresses, towns, market places, the very camp, tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum—we have left nothing to you but the temples of your gods.”

Historians have asked how this first generation of Christians, who for the most part were unlearned men and women, could have propagated the gospel so rapidly. Adolf Harnack, a German church historian of the nineteenth century, knew how. He said, “We cannot hesitate to believe that the great mission of Christianity was in reality accomplished by means of informal missionaries.” That was the secret. Every Christian—not just a formal order of missionaries supplied by the Christians at home—considered it his or her obligation to bear witness.

A Profound Misunderstanding Acts 1:7–8 also corrects a misconception of the Lord’s plan by the disciples. Jesus told them that they would be empowered by the Holy Spirit, but the disciples were not thinking about spiritual things at this time. As we learned in chapter 1 of this study, they were thinking about earthly kingdoms. Jesus had taught them differently, of course. He taught that his kingdom was spiritual, saying, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). They did not understand that. What kind of a kingdom were they looking for?

1. They were looking for a political kingdom. They betrayed this by their use of the verb “restore.” The disciples could have thought ahead to a new and different kind of kingdom, a kingdom that up to then had never existed on earth. But that is not what they had in mind. They wanted the restoration of something they had already known. If you had asked them, they would have said, “We want the Davidic kingdom. We want it to be like it was when David was on the throne and Israel experienced her greatest glory.”

2. They were looking for an ethnically restricted kingdom. We know this because of the way they asked their question. They did not ask merely, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom?” They asked, “Are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (v. 6, italics mine). They meant “to us Jews.” They were not interested in a gentile kingdom. They despised the Gentiles. Of course, they would have granted that Gentiles are welcome: “God has all kinds of people that serve him. They are welcome if they wish to join our kingdom.” But it was still a Jewish kingdom that they had in mind.

3. They were looking for a geographically restricted kingdom. If you had asked them where this kingdom was to be located, they would have answered, “There can be no question about that. This kingdom is to be in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is God’s city. That is where David and Solomon reigned. That is where the Messiah will reign, too.”What about the Greeks? What about the Romans? “They are welcome to come to Jerusalem any time they want to.”When Jesus answered them he did not say, as we might have expected, “Really now, have we come to this point and you still don’t understand the nature of this kingdom? Don’t you understand that there’s not going to be an earthly kingdom?” I notice that Jesus did not say, “There will never be an earthly kingdom.” He simply said that it would be in the future, in a time not known to them, though certainly known to God. He added, in effect, “In the meantime, there is another task for you.” People may disagree with me here, but that is the equivalent, it seems to me, of saying that one day God will establish an earthly kingdom. Our present task is to go out into the world and proclaim a kingdom that Jesus established by his death and resurrection.

The Nature of the Kingdom Against that background, notice what Jesus Christ taught about the nature of the kingdom. A Spiritual Kingdom Jesus emphasized the coming of the Holy Spirit because the kingdom is spiritual. He did this earlier in verse 5: “John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Now he does it in the context of the Great Commission itself: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses.…”I do not know what your reaction is when you hear someone talk about a spiritual kingdom. I suspect that many, if not all, have a reaction that says, “Oh, I see, a spiritual kingdom. Who cares about a spiritual kingdom?” We think a spiritual kingdom is not really important because no one can see it. We do not want to put a spiritual kingdom down. It may be nice that Jesus is in the business of establishing a spiritual kingdom. But we are formed by our culture, and our culture thinks that something invisible is not really that important. If we think that way, we should notice that when Jesus spoke of the spiritual nature of his kingdom, he did not use the word “spiritual,” though he could have. He could have said, It is a spiritual kingdom I have in mind. What he actually said was, The kingdom I have in mind is one that is going to be established by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Godhead, so Jesus was actually saying that this was going to be God’s kingdom. What does “spiritual” mean? We use it to refer to somebody who is not in touch with life, to a person living in the clouds. Actually, “spiritual” has to do with God the Holy Spirit. What is spiritual is what the Holy Spirit does. Christians believe in things that are invisible. We believe in God; God is not visible. We believe in eternal life; eternal life is not visible either. We talk about redemption, regeneration, justification. None of those are visible. Yet we believe in these things. We are committed to them. In the same way, we must be committed to the invisible spiritual kingdom that, although it is invisible, is eternal and will never pass away. A Powerful Kingdom The word Jesus used in verse 8 is significant. It is dynamis, translated “power.” In some versions of this text “power” occurs twice, once in verse 7 (“It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power” [kjv]) and once in verse 8 (“But ye shall receive power” [kjv). This is misleading, because in Greek these are two entirely different words. The NIV translates the first word as “authority” (“It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority”, which is right, and the second word as “power” (“But you will receive power), as most of the other versions do. Actually, it is only in the second instance that the text speaks of “power” as we understand that term. The Greek word dynamis entered the English language when the Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833–96) made the discovery that became his fortune. He discovered a power stronger than anything the world had known up to that time. He asked a friend of his who was a Greek scholar what the word for “explosive power” was in Greek. His friend answered, “Dynamis.”Nobel said, “Well, I am going to call my discovery by that name.” So he called his explosive power “dynamite.”That is the word here. And it refers not to the power one has by intrinsic or even by a delegated authority, though these are also important kinds of power, but to the explosive, life-changing dynamic of the Holy Spirit operating through the proclamation of the gospel. This is not political power. Political power is what the disciples wanted. They asked Jesus if he was going to set up a political machine. They could understand that kind of power, but that was not the power Jesus was talking about. He was talking about power that flows from God. What is it that really changes the world? If I were speaking in secular terms to a secular audience, I could say, quite rightly, that it is always the power of an idea. It is not armies that change the world. Not really! They just put different people in charge of the problems. It is not money that changes the world. Not even laws change the world. Americans should understand that very well, because we passed a law prohibiting the sale of alcohol and it did not eliminate drinking. As a matter of fact, it did the opposite, which is what Paul said laws tend to do. It encouraged people to drink, so that there was actually more traffic in liquor in those days than had existed beforehand. Laws do not change things. Only ideas change things. Changes occur when ideas possess people’s minds. In the spiritual realm, real changes come when the Holy Spirit uses the gospel to regenerate fallen men and women, causing them to repent of their sin, seek righteousness, and live for Jesus Christ. Changes follow in a big way when that happens. Then you have reformation. A Kingdom of Truth When Jesus stood before Pilate to be tried by him, the Lord described his kingdom with the word truth. He had been accused of setting himself up as a king. Pilate asked if he was a king, and Jesus answered: “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place” (John 18:36). Pilate did not understand what this meant. So he said, no doubt in a questioning tone, “You are a king, then!” This time Jesus answered in words Pilate could understand: “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (v. 37). Pilate understood that, of course, but he wasn’t interested. He dismissed the notion of truth entirely.This is what Jesus was talking about in Acts before his ascension to heaven, telling the disciples that they were to be his witnesses. Our English word witness comes from an old English word we do not use very much anymore but was used in Elizabethan times and afterwards. It is the word wit. “To wit” means “to know.” A “wit” is “a knowledgeable person.” So a “witness” is one who knows something and testifies to it. In the case of the disciples, these men were to be witnesses to who Jesus was and what he had done. Above all, they were to be witnesses to the truth of the resurrection. They were to advance Christ’s kingdom not by coercion, but by testimony to the truth. In the evangelical church we often think that we can advance the kingdom just by raising money. Of course, we live in a world where money generally is a necessity. I am not against money. In fact, one of the blessings promised to the people of God in the Old Testament in a general sense—not always on a personal basis, but generally—is material blessing. The problems come when we think that raising money is the way spiritual work must be done. We think if we are able to raise $100,000 for an evangelical cause one year that we can do twice as well the next year if we can only raise $200,000. When we think that way, we are falling into a trap. In fact, the more we think this way, the more dangerous our situation is. I have always said that one reason God does not give more of us more money is that he cannot trust us with it. He knows that if he gave us more, it would ruin us. The second mistake we make is to think that we can advance the gospel by law, which ultimately comes down to advancing it by force (see p. 24). I am not against trying to change the country’s laws as part of the political process. If we have bad laws, we should certainly attempt to change them for better laws. I think there are examples of where that might be done in our country right now. But changing laws does not in itself advance the kingdom. Rather it is the other way around. Where the kingdom advances, good laws follow. Why is it like this? God has made it like this because “law” always means force. Get a country to change its laws, and then what? Then the power of the state, which boils down to the power of the policeman with a gun, forces compliance. But even then it is only an external compliance that is achieved. Christians know, or should know, that spiritual changes, above all, can only be effected spiritually and not by force of arms. There is another error into which some are falling today, and this is the error of thinking that the kingdom of God is advanced by the “miraculous” or by what those who argue for it sometimes call “signs and wonders.” The argument is that where the Holy Spirit is active, signs and wonders follow. According to exponents of this view, we should seek healings and miraculous demonstrations of God’s power in the church today. If that is what we are looking for, we are in error, because that is not what Jesus taught. Jesus taught that when we receive the power of the Holy Spirit, the result will not be miracles, signs, or healings, but witnessing. Some years ago I studied all occurrences of the phrase “filled with the Holy Spirit” in the Book of Acts. There are fourteen of them, ten of which refer to the present era. I looked at the circumstances in which these phrases occurred, and I discovered that in each case in which a person or a group of persons was filled with the Holy Spirit the people involved immediately began to witness powerfully for Jesus Christ. The one sure evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit in people’s lives is that they testify to Jesus. Revelation 12:11 speaks of the victory of the saints over the devil. This is how victory comes: “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” Do you want to be Spirit-filled? Do you want to experience the power of the Holy Spirit? Testify to Jesus Christ. You say, “But I stammer.” It doesn’t matter. The Holy Spirit doesn’t stammer. He will speak clearly. You say, “But I make mistakes.” That is all right. The Holy Spirit does not make mistakes, and he will cause them to forget your errors. You say, “But I don’t know my Bible well enough.” Work at it. But in the meantime, testify to the portions you know. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you understand the gospel at least, because if you did not understand it, you would not believe it. Testify to that. You say, “But I am afraid it won’t work.” Really? It worked with you. Besides, how can you say it won’t work when Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit will work through your testimony?A Worldwide Kingdom The final point is that the kingdom is worldwide. The kingdom of God must embrace all the nations and regions of this world and it is doing it.The wonderful thing about this commission is that the disciples really understood what Jesus was talking about. They were like us, of course, awfully thick. Even after having been with Jesus for three years they still did not have the point quite in mind. Yet in the end they got it. We know because their error in Acts 1 is the last flicker of their earthbound misunderstanding. We never read about them making this mistake again. When they understood, they actually carried out the Great Commission. What they did is what the Book of Acts is all about. Prophecy or Command? When Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses,” were those words a prophecy (You are going to be my witnesses) or a command (Be my witnesses)? The answer, surely, is both. They are a prophecy, because the disciples were going to be Christ’s witnesses. God had ordained it. They were going to take the gospel into all the world. The world would hear. But at the same time these words were also a command, because Jesus was telling his followers what they had to do. They were to carry the gospel everywhere. The Great Commission is something every generation of Christians must obey. The early church obeyed it. They took the gospel to the farthest reaches of their world. We must do exactly as they did. There have been times in the history of the church when God’s people have heard his voice and have taken this commission seriously. In those times the gospel has flowed far and wide, and God has blessed it. Unfortunately there have been other times when the mandate has been forgotten and suppressed. Christians have been content and preoccupied with the world’s way of doing things, and they have suffered for their disobedience. You and I must tell others who Jesus is and what the gospel of salvation by his death means for them. We must not think that this is unimportant. It is the most important thing in the world.

*“In all Judea.” Here Christ showed, first, that they must not think their work will take up only one day; he was assigning them the whole world in which to proclaim the Gospel. Also, he refuted their view of Israel. They thought that only Abraham’s physical descendants could be Israelites. But Christ said they must gather in all Samaria, a country that was geographically close but far distant in outlook. Also, profane people in all faraway places must be united with God’s holy people (Ephesians 2:14), so that his kingdom may be built everywhere. By naming “Judea” and “Jerusalem,” which the apostles had found to be full of the most deadly enemies, he warned them of the great difficulties waiting for them. This would keep them from anticipating imminent triumph. They must have been more than a little afraid at the prospect of rousing the fury of such cruel enemies. He gave first place to the Jews because they were the firstborn (Exodus 4:22). But he called all foreigners equally, all those who had previously been strangers to the hope of salvation (Ephesians 2:11–12). So we learn the Gospel was preached everywhere by the clear command of Christ, so that it might also come to us

*The Manifestation To these He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. (1:3) The apostles needed not only the proper message but also the confidence to proclaim that message even if it cost their lives. They could hardly have been enthusiastic about proclaiming and facing martyrdom for a dead Christ. They needed to know that He was alive and would fulfill His promise of the kingdom. To secure that necessary confidence, Jesus presented Himself alive, after His suffering, to them. He offered them many convincing proofs (John 20:30), such as entering a room where the doors were locked (John 20:19), showing them His crucifixion wounds (Luke 24:39), and eating and drinking with them (Luke 24:41–43). Most convincing, though, was His appearing to them over a period of forty days, beginning with the day of His resurrection. The Greek text actually reads “through forty days.” That affirms that though He was not with them continuously, He did appear in their presence at intervals. Although it is by no means exhaustive, the most extensive summary of those appearances is found in 1 Corinthians 15:5–8. The end result of these appearances was that the apostles became absolutely convinced of the reality of their Lord’s physical resurrection. That assurance gave them the boldness to preach the gospel to the very people who crucified Christ. The transformation of the apostles from fearful, cowering skeptics to bold, powerful witnesses is a potent proof of the resurrection. There have been many suggestions as to the content of the Lord’s teaching during the forty days. The mystical religionists held that He imparted to the apostles the secret knowledge that characterized gnosticism. Many in the early church believed He taught them concerning church order Luke, however, shuts down all such speculations when he reveals that during this time the Lord was speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. He taught them more truth related to the domain of divine rule over the hearts of believers. That theme, a frequent one during the Lord Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry (Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 10:7; 13:1ff.; Mark 1:15; Luke 4:43; 9:2; 17:20ff.; John 3:3ff.), offered further proof to the disciples that it was really He. The Lord wanted them to know that the crucifixion did not nullify the promised millennial kingdom (Isa. 2:2; 11:6–12; Dan. 2:44; Zech. 14:9). The apostles no doubt had difficulty believing in that kingdom after the death of the King. The resurrection changed all that, and from that time on they proclaimed Jesus Christ as the King over an invisible, spiritual kingdom (Acts 17:7; Col. 1:13; 1 Tim. 1:17; 6:15; 2 Tim. 4:1; 2 Peter 1:11; Rev. 11:15; 12:10; 17:14; 19:16). The kingdom will be manifested in its fullness at the second coming. At that point our Lord will personally reign on earth for a thousand years. The kingdom of God (The realm where God rules, or the sphere of salvation) encompasses much more than the millennial kingdom, however. It has two basic aspects: the universal kingdom, and the mediatorial kingdom. The universal kingdom refers to God’s sovereign rule over all of His creation. Psalm 103:19 reads, “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens; and His sovereignty rules over all.” Other passages that describe the universal kingdom include 1 Chronicles 29:11–12; Psalm 10:16; 29:10; 45:6; 59:13; 145:13; Daniel 4:34; 6:26 (cf. Rom. 13:1–7). The mediatorial kingdom refers to God’s spiritual rule and authority over His people on earth through divinely chosen mediators. Through Adam, then the patriarchs, Moses, Joshua, the judges, prophets, and the kings of Israel and Judah, God revealed His will and mediated His authority to His people. With the end of Israel’s monarchy began the times of the Gentiles. During that period, which will last until the second coming of Christ, God mediates His spiritual rule over the hearts of believers through the church (Acts 20:25; Rom. 14:17; Col. 1:13). He does so by means of the Word and the living Christ (Gal. 2:20). The final phase of the mediatorial, spiritual kingdom will dominate the earth in the form of the millennial kingdom, to be set up following Christ’s return. During that thousand year period, the Lord Jesus Christ will personally reign on earth, exercising sovereign control over the creation and all men. At the end of the Millennium, with the destruction of all rebels, the spiritual kingdom will be merged with the universal kingdom (1 Cor. 15:24), and they will become the same. During the church age, then, God mediates His kingdom rule through believers indwelt by the Holy Spirit and obedient to the Word. That is why Peter calls believers “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9). Today, Jesus Christ does not manifest Himself physically and visibly to believers. Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:29), while Peter wrote, “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8). His manifestation to us is no less real, however (cf. Col. 1:29). Such personal communion with the resurrected and exalted Savior is essential for finishing His unfinished work of ministry. The Might And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now…” but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; (1:4–5, 8a) Having received the message, and witnessed the manifestation of the risen Christ, the apostles may have been tempted to assume they were ready to minister in their own strength. To prevent that error Jesus, after gathering them together, commanded them not to leave Jerusalem (Luke 24:49). To the apostles, who were no doubt fired with enthusiasm and eager to begin, that must have seemed a strange command. Yet, it illustrates an important point: All the preparation and training that knowledge and experience can bring are useless without the proper might. Power had to accompany truth. To make certain the apostles were not only motivated but also supernaturally empowered for their mission, Jesus commanded them to wait for what the Father had promised. That promise, made repeatedly during the Lord’s earthly ministry (cf. Luke 11:13; 24:49; John 7:39; 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7; 20:22), was that the Holy Spirit would be sent (cf. Acts 2:33). God’s pledge was to be fulfilled just ten days later on the Day of Pentecost. The apostles, like all believers of all dispensations, knew of and had tasted the working of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus sent them out on a preaching tour, He told them, “It is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you” (Matt. 10:20; Luke 12:12). In John 14:17, Jesus told the apostles the Holy Spirit “abides with you, and will be in you.” Like the other believers in the old economy, they experienced the Spirit’s power for salvation and life, as well as for special occasions of ministry. In the new economy, inaugurated at Pentecost, the Spirit would permanently indwell and empower them in a way that was unique. While this promise of power was primarily for the apostles (As was the promise of revelation and inspiration in John 14:26), it also secondarily forecast the enabling power the Spirit would give to all believers (cf. Acts 8:14–16; 10:44–48; 19:1–7). The general promise was at the heart of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the New Covenant. Ezekiel 36:25–27 records God’s promise for all who come into the New Covenant: “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit 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.” There was to come a fullness of the Spirit in some way unique to the New Covenant and for all believers. But there was also a special anointing for the apostles. A magnificent comparison to this sense of the promise is the baptism of Jesus Christ. Our Lord was obviously in perfect accord and fellowship with the Holy Spirit, yet at the moment of His baptism, Scripture says, “heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove” (Luke 3:21–22). This was emblematic of the fullness of power He would receive from the Spirit to do His earthly work. One chapter later, Luke records that Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit” (4:1). When He spoke in the Nazareth synagogue He began by giving testimony to the unusual enabling of the Spirit by saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18–19). Luke 5:17 suggests the same source for His healing power. Others received such anointing for unusual service, such as Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, who by that power prophesied (Luke 1:67–79). In all of those cases, the Holy Spirit came in special fullness to enable unusually powerful ministry to take place. Jesus further defines the promise of the Father for them as what you heard of from Me (cf. John 14:16–21; 15:26; 20:22). Our Lord’s next words, for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now, are reminiscent of John the Baptist’s statement in John 1:33: “He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ ” The promise was to be fulfilled, and the disciples would be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now—ten to be exact. Jesus promised that after He departed, He would send the Spirit (John 16:7). Despite the claims of many, the apostles’ and early disciples’ experience is not the norm for believers today. They were given unique enabling of the Holy Spirit for their special duties. They also received the general and common baptism with the Holy Spirit in an uncommon way, subsequent to conversion. All believers since the church began are commanded to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18) and to walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:25). Yet these early apostles and believers were told to wait, showing the change that came in the church age. They were in the transitional period associated with the birth of the church. In the present age, baptism by Christ through the agency of the Holy Spirit takes place for all believers at conversion. At that moment, every believer is placed into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). At that point the Spirit also takes up His permanent residency in the converted person’s soul, so there is no such thing as a Christian who does not yet have the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9; cf. 1 Cor. 6:19–20). The baptism with the Holy Spirit is not a special privilege for some believers, nor are believers challenged and exhorted in Scripture to seek it. It is not even their responsibility to prepare for it by praying, pleading, tarrying, or any other means. The passive voice of the verb translated be baptized indicates the baptism by Jesus Christ with the Spirit is entirely a divine activity. It comes, like salvation itself, through grace, not human effort. Titus 3:5–6 says, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” God sovereignly pours out the Holy Spirit on those He saves. The Spirit’s presence, leading, and might were absolutely essential if the apostles were to be effective in continuing the Lord’s unfinished work. They had already experienced His saving, guiding, teaching, and miracle-working power. Soon they would receive the power they needed for ministry after the Holy Spirit fell on them. Power translates dunamis, from which the English word “dynamite” derives. All believers have in them spiritual dynamite for use of gifts, service, fellowship, and witness. They need to experience the release of that power in their lives through not grieving the Spirit by sin (Eph. 4:30), and being continually filled and controlled by the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). The latter takes place as believers yield moment by moment control of their lives to Him, and is the same as yielding their minds to the Word (Col. 3:16). The result of being filled with the Spirit is expressed by Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:16, 20 “that [God] would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man. … Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us…” The Mystery And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;” (1:6–7) A paradoxical component of the resources for continuing the Lord’s ministry was something believers don’t know and can’t find out. The apostles shared the fervent hope of their nation that Messiah would come and take up His earthly kingdom. Often Jesus had taught them prophetically about the future (Matt. 13:40–50; 24, 25; Luke 12:36–40; 17:20–37; 21:5–36). The enthusiastic question they were asking Him, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” is thus perfectly understandable. After all, here was the resurrected Messiah speaking with them about His kingdom. They knew of no reason the earthly form of the kingdom could not be set up immediately, since the messianic work signaling the end of the age had arrived. It must be remembered that the interval between the two comings of Messiah was not explicitly taught in the Old Testament. The disciples on the road to Emmaus were greatly disappointed that Jesus had not redeemed Israel and set up the kingdom (Luke 24:21). Further, the apostles knew that Ezekiel 36 and Joel 2 connected the coming of the kingdom with the outpouring of the Spirit Jesus had just promised. It is understandable that they hoped the arrival of the kingdom was imminent. Surely it was for this kingdom they had hoped since they first joined Jesus. They had experienced a roller coaster ride of hope and doubt which they now felt might be over. Jesus, however, quickly brings them back to reality. It was not for them to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. The Scriptures teach many things about the earthly and glorious reign of Jesus Christ in His kingdom, but not the precise time of its establishment. Times (kairos) refers to features, characteristics of eras, and events. God, by His own authority, has determined all the aspects of the future and the kingdom. But as far as men are concerned, that remains one of “the secret things” that “belong to the Lord our God” (Deut. 29:29). All that believers can know is that the kingdom will be established at the second coming (Matt. 25:21–34). The time of the second coming, however, remains unrevealed (Mark 13:32). That Jesus does not deny their expectation of a literal, earthly kingdom involving Israel is highly significant. It shows that their understanding of the promised kingdom was correct, except for the time of its coming. If they were mistaken about such a crucial point in His kingdom teaching, His failure to correct them is mystifying and deceptive. A far more likely explanation is that the apostles’ expectation of a literal, earthly kingdom mirrored the Lord’s own teaching and the plan of God clearly revealed in the Old Testament. Since the season of His coming cannot be known, and the Lord could return at any moment in the rapture of the church (cf. 1 Thess. 5:2), believers must be continually ready. All must remember the Lord’s solemn warning in Mark 13:33–37: Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time is. It is like a man, away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert. Therefore, be on the alert—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, at cockcrowing, or in the morning—lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all, “Be on the alert!” Such continual vigilance and anticipation, through all generations of believers who were looking for Jesus to return, has served as true incentive to live with urgency and minister with passion. The Mission “you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (1:8b) Rather than engage in useless speculation over the time for the coming of the kingdom, the apostles were to focus on the work at hand. Witnesses are those who see something and tell others about it. I once witnessed an attempted murder. 1 John 1:1–2, where John writes, “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life … we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you.” A witness for Jesus Christ is simply someone who tells the truth about Him. The apostles, as Peter points out, “were eyewitnesses of His majesty” (2 Peter 1:16). This was the foremost purpose for which the empowering of the Holy Spirit came. And the early church was so effective that they “upset the world” (Acts 17:6). Jesus commands all believers to be His witness in the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19–20). So many Christians sealed their witness to Christ with their blood that marturēs (witnesses) came to mean “martyrs.” Their blood, as the second-century theologian Tertullian stated, became the seed of the church. Many were drawn to faith in Christ by observing how calmly and joyously Christians met their deaths. There is a sense in which believers do not even choose whether or not to be witnesses. They are witnesses, and the only question is how effective their witness is. If the church is to reach the lost world with the good news of the gospel, believers must “sanctify Christ as Lord in [their] hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks [them] to give an account for the hope that is in [them]” (1 Peter 3:15). Titus 2 indicates that how Christians live their lives lays the platform of integrity and believability on which effective personal witness is built. In that text, Paul writes that we are to so live “that the word of God may not be dishonored” (v. 5), “that the opponent [of the Christian faith] may be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us” (v. 8), and “that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect” (v. 10), so that we may make it possible that the saving gospel comes winsomely to all. Beginning in Jerusalem, the apostles carried out the Lord’s mandate. Their witness spread beyond there to all Judea and Samaria (The neighboring area), and finally even to the remotest part of the earth. Verse 8 provides the general outline for the book of Acts. Following that outline, Luke chronicles the irresistible march of Christianity from Jerusalem, into Samaria and then through the Roman world. As the book unfolds, we will move through those three sections of the expansion of the church. This beginning was to dramatically alter the course of history, and the spread of the gospel message has continued past Acts to reach all the earth. Today, believers continue to have the responsibility for being Christ’s witnesses throughout this world. The sphere for witnessing is as extensive as the kingdom—all the world. That was and is the mission for the church until Jesus comes. The Motive And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them; and they also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (1:9–11) The Lord Jesus Christ was about to depart for heaven to return to His former glory (cf. John 17:1–6). Before doing that, He left the apostles with a final, dramatic moment which provided powerful motivation for carrying on His work. To their amazement, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight (cf. vv. 2, 11, 22). Jesus, in His glorious resurrection body, left this world for the realm of heaven to take His place on the throne at God’s right hand. Back on the Mount of Olives (Luke 24:50), the shocked apostles were gazing intently into the sky while He was departing. To their further consternation, angels, described as two men in white clothing, suddenly appeared and stood beside them. Such angelic appearances were not unusual (Gen. 18:2; Josh. 5:13–15; Mark 16:5). Two of them confirm the promise of Christ’s return as true (cf. John 8:17). These angels asked the bewildered apostles, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?” They are called men of Galilee since all the apostles (With the exception of the dead traitor Judas) were from that region. The angels’ question, “why do you stand looking into the sky?” indicates more than curiosity at the miracle. The word translated looking indicates a long gaze, in this case a transfixed look as if losing someone. The question, then, is a mild rebuke to the apostles. They were not losing Jesus, as they feared. Maybe some of them remembered the vision of Ezekiel, who saw the glory of God depart to heaven from Israel (Ezek. 10:18–19) and feared it was happening again. The angels went on to say, “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” The promise of Zechariah 14:4 will come to pass, namely that the Messiah will return to the Mount of Olives. The angels stressed that this same Jesus whom they had watched ascend would one day return in just the same way as they had watched Him go into heaven. He will return in His glorified body, accompanied with clouds (cf. Dan. 7:13; Matt. 24:30; 26:64; Rev. 1:7; 14:14), just as at His ascension. This becomes a compelling motive. No one knows when He will come, but everyone must live in anticipation that it could be in their lifetime (cf. Rom. 13:12–14; 2 Peter 3:14–18). The truth that Christ will return provides a powerful motive to serve Him. Paul writes, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). In Revelation 22:12 the Lord Jesus Christ said, “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.” Believers must serve Christ faithfully in light of His imminent return. In Revelation 16:15 Jesus warned, “Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments, lest he walk about naked and men see his shame” (cf. 1 John 2:28). The task of finishing the work that Jesus began, the duty of evangelizing the lost world, is a daunting one. But the Lord in His mercy from the start has provided all the spiritual resources necessary to accomplish that task. It is up to each believer to appropriate those resources and put them to use. “We must work the works of Him who sent [Jesus Christ], as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work” (John 9:4).

Baker - 8. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In this text, Luke presents the theme for the entire book. This text contains the promise of Pentecost and the mandate to witness for Jesus in the following geographical areas: Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the world. a. Promise. We see a distinct parallel between Jesus and his disciples when they are about to begin their respective ministries. When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon him and strengthened him to oppose the power of Satan (see Matt. 3:16). Before the apostles are able to assume the tremendous responsibility of building the church of Jesus Christ and to conquer the strongholds of Satan, they receive the power of the Holy Spirit. In the upper room on Easter Sunday, Jesus breathed on the apostles and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). But immediately before this he told them, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” (v. 21). The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. For instance, Jesus informs the disciples in his farewell discourse, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me” (John 15:26). The Holy Spirit, therefore, is not an inanimate power but the third person of the Trinity. And the promise of the Spirit originates with the Father: “I will bestow on you the promise of my Father” (Luke 24:49a). b. Mandate. Only through the indwelling person and power of the Holy Spirit are the disciples able to witness for Jesus Christ. Not only the disciples receive the gift of the Spirit, but, as Luke shows in Acts, numerous persons are filled with the Holy Spirit and become Christ’s witnesses. “Effective witness can only be borne where the Spirit is, and where the Spirit is, effective witness will always follow.” Jesus’ word, “You will receive power,” applies first to the twelve apostles and then to all believers who witness effectively for Jesus Christ. “You will be my witnesses.” In Acts, the term witness has a twofold meaning. First, it relates to the person who has observed an act or event. Next, it refers to the person who presents a testimony by which he defends and promotes a cause. Accordingly, the apostles choose Matthias to succeed Judas Iscariot because as an eyewitness he has followed Jesus from the time of John’s baptism to the moment of Jesus’ ascension. Further, Jesus commands Matthias to proclaim the message of his resurrection (1:21–22). In the strict sense of the word, the expression witness does not apply to Paul and Barnabas, who during their first missionary journey proclaimed the message of Jesus’ resurrection to the people in Pisidian Antioch (13:31). Paul and Barnabas state that they are not witnesses; they tell the Good News. Jesus sends forth the twelve apostles on the day of Pentecost as true witnesses of all that he said and did. These twelve have seen and heard Jesus and now tell others about him (compare I John 1:1). Filled with the Holy Spirit, they begin to proclaim the Good News in Jerusalem (see Luke 24:47). Then they preach the gospel in the Judean and Samarian countryside, and eventually they take it to Rome. Rome was the imperial capital from which all roads extended, like spokes in a wheel, to the ends of the then-known world (Isa. 5:26, “the ends of the earth”). In the third Gospel, Luke directs attention to Jerusalem, where Jesus suffers, dies, rises from the dead, and ascends. In Acts, he focuses on Rome as the destination of Christ’s gospel. From Rome the Good News reaches the entire world.

*1:8 This is the key verse of the book, serving as an inspired outline of its contents. This passage sets forth briefly and carefully the agenda for Christians of all times. It is what all believers are commissioned to do until Jesus comes again. During the dawning of the Christian era, God poured out the Holy Spirit upon the church collectively, thereby giving formal confirmation that the church was the entity chosen by the Lord to spread the Good News through all the world. This gave formal recognition that the Holy Spirit was the Guide and Teacher who would help the church to implement the Great Commission (v. 8). This outpouring of the Spirit occurred for each of the three segments of the Great Commission: (1) The phrase “in Jerusalem” indicates where the Holy Spirit fell upon the church collectively on the Day of Pentecost, thereby establishing quite early the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the church. This phenomenon inaugurated the global mission of the church. (2) For the second segment of the Great Commission, “in all Judea and Samaria,” there were two outpourings of the Spirit upon these new believers collectively: (a) One occurred after the successful evangelism of Philip in Samaria. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the Samaritans had received the Word of God, apparently without the outpouring of the Spirit upon the believers collectively, Peter and John went down, “laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit” (8:17). (b) The other occurred in the house of Cornelius, where the Holy Spirit fell upon all gathered there as Peter spoke (10:44). (3) The outpouring connected with the third segment of the Great Commission took place in Ephesus during the second missionary journey of Paul, thereby placing divine approval upon this third segment of the missionary enterprise to the far corners of the earth. To implement the commission of Christ in Matt. 28:19 and accomplish this prediction of world evangelization here in 1:8 requires: (1) the authority of Christ, (2) the presence of Christ, (3) the power of the Spirit, and (4) obedient and available saints. It is not a command; it is a prediction. When believers are Spirit-filled, they are witnesses with power from on high. The record of their worldwide witnessing comprises the contents of the Book of Acts. Luke showed that disciples filled with the Spirit reached the “end” of the then-civilized world in one generation, or approximately 35 years. Nevertheless, in terms of the gospel reaching all peoples of the earth, the commission remains a very present mandate for every generation until the Lord returns. 1:9–11 Only Luke records the ascension of Christ (Luke 24:49–53). Where his Gospel ends, his history of the church begins.

*Acts 1:8 is a key verse. To begin with, it explains that the power of the church comes from the Holy Spirit and not from man (see Zech. 4:6). God’s people experienced repeated fillings of the Spirit as they faced new opportunities and obstacles (Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 9:17; 13:9). Ordinary people were able to do extraordinary things because the Spirit of God was at work in their lives. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is not a luxury; it is an absolute necessity. “Witness” is a key word in the Book of Acts and is used twenty-nine times as either a verb or a noun. A witness is somebody who tells what he has seen and heard (Acts 4:19–20). When you are on the witness stand in court, the judge is not interested in your ideas or opinions; he only wants to hear what you know. Our English word martyr comes from the Greek word translated “witness,” and many of God’s people have sealed their witness by laying down their lives. We hear a great deal these days about “soul winning,” and the emphasis is a good one. However, while some of God’s people have a calling to evangelism (Eph. 4:11), all of God’s people are expected to be witnesses and tell the lost about the Saviour. Not every Christian can bring a sinner to the place of faith and decision (though most of us could do better), but every Christian can bear faithful witness to the Saviour. “A true witness delivereth souls” (Prov. 14:25). Acts 1:8 also gives us a general outline of the Book of Acts as it describes the geographical spread of the Gospel: from Jerusalem (Acts 1–7) to Judea and Samaria (Acts 8–9), and then to the Gentiles and to the ends of the earth (Acts 10–28). No matter where we live, as Christians we should begin our witness at home and then extend it “into all the world.” As Dr. Oswald J. Smith used to say, “The light that shines the farthest will shine the brightest at home.”

*“My witnesses” is what Jesus said they would be. With its background in the courtroom, “witness” (μαρτυρία, marturia) implies the act of testifying. They would serve as proclaimers of the earthly ministry, the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. As eyewitnesses they were in the perfect position to do so. The Old Testament prophet had called on Israel to be God’s witnesses in the world (Isa 43:10; 44:8). Their failure in this mission made the ministry of Jesus even more essential. If Israel would not become the “servant of the Lord,” then Jesus, and those whom he commissioned, must take up the task. The apostles were to become Christ’s witness-bearers. The extent of this witnessing would be worldwide. Beginning in Jerusalem they would proclaim the gospel in ever-widening geographical circles. It would be proclaimed also in “all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 thus becomes the theme of the entire book. Roughly speaking, Acts 1–7 describes the impact of the gospel in Jerusalem. Then, Acts 8–12 carries the account forward, depicting the effects of the gospel in several places in Judea (the region including Jerusalem) and Samaria (the region immediately north of Judea). Lastly, Acts 13–28 highlights the spread of the gospel to major cities of the whole Roman Empire, the ends of the civilized world. This commentary follows the progression indicated in this verse. Proclaiming the gospel on such a broad scale was an incredible undertaking. Sufferings and hardships would accompany the apostles on the way. Help from God was vital. Thus Jesus addressed the very real need of the apostles when he reminded them of what the Father had promised for them. They would receive power in the form of the Holy Spirit. Only then could they serve as witnesses. With this power (δύναμις, dynamis)—the very power which worked in the ministry of Christ on earth—the apostles would be propelled into the activity of witnessing. Such proclamation of the Christ would lead to a restored Israel in spiritual glory as the kingdom was advanced on a universal scale. Without the Spirit there could be no witnessing for Jesus. Yet without the focus of witnessing for Jesus the power of the Spirit has no purpose. Wherever disciples of Jesus become distracted from their witness for him the power is drained away.

*Acts 1:8 sets out clearly what the church is to be doing until Jesus returns. Through a command-promise, Jesus tells his disciples of the resources, content and scope of their primary task. The essential resource is God the Holy Spirit, who will come on them at Pentecost as he did on Mary at the incarnation (Lk 1:35). By this Spirit-baptism they will receive the supernatural ability to work miracles and preach effectively (Acts 4:7–10, 31, 33; 6:5, 8; 8:13). Their witness will be bold and will produce conviction leading to positive or negative decisions (2:37, 41; 4:8, 13, 31; 6:5, 10; 7:54–58). The whole church, and each member of it, must take up this task. All who receive the apostles’ teaching become witnesses (14:2–3; 22:15–18, 20). Richard Longenecker rightly concludes, “This commission lays an obligation on all Christians…. The Christian church, according to Acts, is a missionary church that responds obediently to Jesus’ commission” (1981:256). The mandate, expressed with a future-tense verb (will be), can be taken as both a command and a prophetic promise. Luke may well have intended that it be understood in both ways. Not only does he show the church obediently carrying out this mandate (2:47; 4:31, 33; 6:4, 7; 8:4; 11:19–20), but he also shows how God intervenes at strategic points to give impetus and direction for taking the mission across another cultural threshold or into a another geographical region (8:16–17, 26, 29; 10:9–16, 19–20; 11:20–21; 13:2; 16:9–10; 18:9–10; 23:11). God in his grace makes sure the mandate is completely fulfilled.And so today the call for the church to be a missionary church is still in force. In 1974, at the first Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, a gracious God refocused the churches’ attention on the world’s hidden people groups who have yet to hear the witness.Jesus says to be his witnesses. To be a witness (martys) is to speak from personal knowledge of facts and their significance. The apostles, as eyewitnesses of the saving events, were witnesses in a unique sense. But all those who will believe and appropriate the truth of their testimony also qualify as witnesses.The scope of the task is given in geographical terms. Acts presents the evangelization of the first two geographical regions (Jerusalem, 2:42–8:3; Judea and Samaria, 8:4–12:25). Luke probably has no particular place in mind when he uses the phrase to the ends of the earth. He is thinking of a mission that will reach throughout the whole earth in fulfillment of Isaiah 49:6 (Acts 13:47). Since the narrative concludes geographically in Rome—the empire’s center, from which roads reach to the limits of the then-known world—the mission is potentially complete but actually remains unfinished. When the scope of the task is viewed ethnically, however, we realize that by the time of the Jerusalem Council (15:1–35) “the gospel has already reached all possible manner of men” (Menoud 1978b:123). The gospel has been extended to Palestinian and Hellenistic Jews (2:5–13), Samaritans (8:4–13), a proselyte (8:26–40), a Gentile God-fearer (10:1–48) and pagan Gentiles (11:20–21; 13:46–48; 14:8–20). Today the unfinished task remains a formidable challenge. But it is possible to complete the task—to take the witness to the ends of the earth and plant a church in each unreached ethnic group. For the 1989 Lausanne II Congress on World Evangelization in Manila, David Barrett calculated that there remain twelve thousand distinct cultural groups (1.8 billion persons) that have no church in their language and culture (Lausanne Committee 1989:13–14). Among the 1.7 billion professing Christians in the world, we should be able to find 180 million true believers. They could serve as a more than adequate support base (fifteen thousand believers per unreached people group) to field a missionary force to penetrate each of the unreached groups. With such mobilization, each unreached people group could be evangelized in the foreseeable future. There is a way. Where is the will? Current recruitment and deployment of missionaries falls far short. Currently only thirty thousand full-time Christian workers are at work among the 1.8 billion members of the twelve thousand unreached groups. Will the vision be caught, the momentum generated, so that in obedience to Christ the last great push to the ends of the earth will take place? Immediately after Jesus gives this command, as the disciples are watching, he is taken up from the earth, and a cloud so envelopes him that the disciples can no longer see him. The cloud probably refers to the Shekinah glory, which at once manifests and hides the divine presence (Ex 19:16; 40:34). It may also point to Christ’s return (Dan 7:13; Lk 21:27; Acts 1:11). The disciples stand in awe, looking intently up into the sky for an extended period. Luke will use the verb “to look intently” often in Acts in connection with the miraculous (3:4, 12; 6:15; 10:4; 11:6; 13:9; 14:9).

*1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This is the last recorded statement of Christ on earth. It is thus final, authoritative, and of utmost importance. The Holy Spirit is a major theme in Luke and Acts and is the major point of continuity between the life of Jesus and the ministry of the church. Who is the Holy Spirit? God is three persons in one—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God became a man in Jesus so that Jesus could die for our sins. Jesus rose from the dead to offer salvation to all people through spiritual renewal and rebirth. When Jesus ascended into heaven, his physical presence left the earth, but he promised to send the Holy Spirit so that his spiritual presence would still be among mankind (see Luke 24:49). The Holy Spirit first became available to all believers at Pentecost (Acts 2). Whereas in Old Testament days the Holy Spirit empowered specific individuals for specific purposes, now all believers have the power of the Holy Spirit available to them. For more on the Holy Spirit, read John 14:16–28; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 12:13; and 2 Corinthians 1:22. There is no believer whom the Son of God does not require to be his witness. In what place, at what time, with what degree of frequency, in what manner, and to what extent, we ought to profess our faith, cannot easily be determined by a fixed rule: but we must consider the occasion, that not one of us may fail to discharge his duty at the proper time. John Calvin

Luke’s Gospel emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of Christ. Luke continued that emphasis here as he focused on the Holy Spirit’s role in the early days of the church. The term “spirit” (pneuma) occurs nineteen times in Matthew, twenty-three times in Mark, thirty-six times in Luke, twenty-four times in John, and seventy times in Acts. Christ had just reminded his followers that they would soon receive the Holy Spirit (1:5). When the Spirit comes, he told his followers, you will receive power. To do what? To be my witnesses. Power from the Holy Spirit is not limited to strength beyond the ordinary; that power also involves courage, boldness, confidence, insight, ability, and authority. The disciples would need all these gifts to fulfill their mission.

The term “witness” (martures) provides remarkable insight into the nature of the disciples’ task. A witness gives testimony based on what the witness knows, what he or she has seen—not hearsay, not rumor, not something someone else saw, but what he or she has experienced, seen, or heard. This witnessing theme is a repeated emphasis of the apostles’ work—for example, see 2:32; 3:15; 5:32; 10:39; 13:31; 22:15. In effect, Jesus was saying to his followers: “There is going to be a period of witnessing by you about me between my two visits to your planet. Go out and tell people what you know—what you’ve seen, experienced, and learned. I’ll be back.” They were to start right there in Jerusalem (1:4). Judea was the region surrounding Jerusalem (possibly including Galilee). Samaria was Judea’s hostile next-door neighbor, a more difficult but equally important place to take the gospel. The “ends of the earth” is actually a singular form in Greek (eschatou), suggesting that perhaps the reference is to Rome or the Roman empire, the world power at that time. The direction was of primary importance: Beginning from where you are at this moment, take the message of Christ outward, like ripples caused by a pebble thrown into a pond, not stopping at just your city or state but moving on beyond regional influence to the very “ends” of the earth. In other words, reach it all! The disciples took Jesus at his word and went about their task exactly as he directed: they began in Jerusalem (1–7), spread to Judea and Samaria (8–12), then filtered out across the world to the imperial capital, Rome (13–28).

*witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. The Book of Acts follows this strategy. The Jerusalem witness (ch. 2) gives in miniature form God’s worldwide ministry: the “Jews … from every nation” (2:5) who heard and believed carried the message far and wide. In the rest of Acts the gospel spreads to Jerusalem (3:1–8:1), to Judea and Samaria, up to Antioch of Syria (8:1–12:25), and to the ends of the earth (13:1–28:31).

*At the beginning of Acts, Jesus’ followers appear confused and fearful. But by the end of the book they are well on their way to transforming the Roman world with the gospel. What accounts for this dramatic change? Acts 1:8 provides the answer: “You shall receive power.” But notice:

(1) The power promised was not force or political authority. Israel had enjoyed superiority under David and Solomon, but those days were a distant memory. Jesus was not indicating a revival of Jewish dominance. Instead, the word “power” means ability or capacity. Jesus promised that once the Holy Spirit came upon them, His followers would have a new ability.

(2) The ability had more to do with being than doing. The believers would “be witnesses,” not just “do witnessing.” Evangelism is a process, not just an event. It involves a total lifestyle, not just occasional efforts.

(3) The power came from without, not from within. The believers were not to manufacture their own ways of proclaiming the gospel, but to look for supernatural ability from the Spirit to make them effective in gospel presentation. The power came when the Holy Spirit arrived, not before.

(4) The believers were to be witnesses to Christ, not to themselves. They were to make disciples not to themselves but to the risen Lord (Matt. 28:18–20).

Expositors - Here the mandate to witness that stands as the theme for the whole of Acts is explicitly set out. It comes as a direct commission from Jesus himself--in fact, as Jesus' last word before his ascension and, therefore, as one that is final and conclusive. All that follows in Acts is shown to be the result of Jesus' own intent and the fulfillment of his express word. This commission lays an obligation on all Christians and comes to us as a gift with a promise. It concerns a person, a power, and a program--the person of Jesus, on whose authority the church acts and who is the object of its witness; the power of the Holy Spirit, for the mission; and a program that begins at Jerusalem, moves out to "all Judea and Samaria," and extends "to the ends of the earth." The Christian church, according to Acts, is a missionary church that responds obediently to Jesus' commission, acts on Jesus' behalf in the extension of his ministry, focuses its proclamation of the kingdom of God in its witness to Jesus, is guided and empowered by the self-same Spirit that directed and supported Jesus' ministry, and follows a program whose guidelines for outreach have been set by Jesus himself. Whereas the geographical movement of Luke's Gospel was from Galilee through Perea to Jerusalem, in Acts the movement is from Jerusalem through "Judea and Samaria" and on to Rome. The joining of Judea and Samaria by one article (te) in the Greek (en pase te loudaia kai Samareia, "in all Judea and Samaria") suggests a single geographical area that can be designated by its two ethnological divisions. And the fact that neither Galilee nor Perea is included in Acts 1:8 as a place to be evangelized (even though 9:31 speaks in summary fashion of a growing church in "Judea, Galilee and Samaria") probably reflects Luke's emphasis in his Gospel on Jesus' evangelization of those areas. So here Jesus' mandate to witness not only gives us the theme of Acts but also a basic table of contents by the threefold reference to "Jerusalem," "all Judea and Samaria," and "the ends of the earth." To be sure, Luke's development of this table of contents is fuller and more subtle than its succinct form here. Nevertheless, in what follows he shows through a series of vignettes how the mission of the church in its witness to Jesus fared at Jerusalem (2:42-8:3), throughout Judea and Samaria (8:4-12:24), and as it progressed until it finally reached the imperial capital city of Rome (12:25-28:31).

*Power from the Holy Spirit is not limited to strength beyond the ordinary — that power also involves courage, boldness, confidence, insight, ability, and authority. The disciples would need all these gifts to fulfill their mission. If you believe in Jesus Christ, you can experience the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. Jesus promised the disciples that they would receive power to witness after they received the Holy Spirit. Notice the progression: (1) they would receive the Holy Spirit, (2) he would give them power, and (3) they would witness with extraordinary results. Often we try to reverse the order and witness by our own power and authority. Witnessing is not showing what we can do for God. It is showing and telling what God has done for us. Jesus had instructed his disciples to witness to people of all nations about him (Matthew 28:19,20). But they were told to wait first for the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49). God has important work for you to do for him, but you must do it by the power of the Holy Spirit. We often like to get on with the job, even if it means running ahead of God. But waiting is sometimes part of God's plan. Are you waiting and listening for God's complete instructions, or are you running ahead of his plans? We need God's timing and power to be truly effective. This verse describes a series of ever-widening circles. The gospel was to spread, geographically, from Jerusalem, into Judea and Samaria, and finally to the whole world. It would begin with the devout Jews in Jerusalem and Samaria, spread to the mixed race in Samaria, and finally be offered to the Gentiles in the uttermost parts of the earth. God's gospel has not reached its final destination if someone in your family, your workplace, your school, or your community hasn't heard about Jesus Christ. Make sure that you are contributing in some way to the ever-widening circle of God's loving message. —Life Application Bible Notes

*Instead of concerning themselves with the time of the coming kingdom, the disciples were instructed to witness to the remotest part of the earth, a reference to Rome, the center of civilization. Acts ends with the gospel reaching Rome (Acts 28:16 When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him).—Ryrie Study Notes

*THE KINGDOM AND ITS WITNESSES (Ac 1:6-8)

1:6-8 So when they had met together they asked him, "Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom of Israel at this time?" But he said to them, "It is not yours to know the times and the seasons which the Father has appointed by his own authority. But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power; and you will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and in Samaria and to the farthest bounds of the earth."

 Throughout his ministry Jesus laboured under one great disadvantage. The centre of his message was the kingdom of God. (Mk 1:14); but he meant one thing by the kingdom and those who listened to him meant another.  The Jews were always vividly conscious of being God's chosen people. They took that to mean that they were destined for special privilege and for world-wide dominion. The whole course of their history proved that humanly speaking that could never be. Palestine was a little country not more than 120 miles long by 40 miles wide. It had its days of independence but it had become subject in turn to the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. So the Jews began to look forward to a day when God would break directly into human history and establish that world sovereignty of which they dreamed. They conceived of the kingdom in political terms. How did Jesus conceive of it? Let us look at the Lord's Prayer. In it there are two petitions side by side. "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." It is characteristic of Hebrew style, as any verse of the Psalms will show, to say things in two parallel forms, the second of which repeats or amplifies the first. That is what these two petitions do. The second is a definition of the first. Therefore, we see that by the kingdom Jesus meant a society upon earth where God's will would be as perfectly done as it is in heaven. Because of that it would be a kingdom founded on love and not on power. To attain to that men needed the Holy Spirit. Twice already Luke has talked about waiting for the coming of the Spirit. We are not to think that the Spirit came into existence now for the first time. It is quite possible for a power always to exist but for men to experience or take it at some given moment. For instance, men did not invent atomic power. It always existed; but only in our time have men tapped it. So God is eternally Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but there came to men a special time when they experienced to the full that power which had always been present. The power of the Spirit was going to make them Christ's witnesses. That witness was to operate in an ever-extending series of concentric circles, first in Jerusalem, then throughout Judaea; then Samaria, the semi-Jewish state, would be a kind of bridge leading out into the heathen world; and finally this witness was to go out to the ends of the earth. Let us note certain things about this Christian witness. First, a witness is a man who says I know this is true. In a court of law a man cannot give in evidence a carried story; it must be his own personal experience. There was a time when John Bunyan was not quite sure. What worried him was that the Jews thought their religion the best; the Mohammedans thought theirs the best; what if Christianity were but a think-so too? A witness does not say, "I think so"; he says "I know." Second, the real witness is not of words but of deeds. When Stanley had discovered Livingstone in Central Africa and had spent some time with him, he said, "If I had been with him any longer I would have been compelled to be a Christian and he never spoke to me about it at all." The witness of the man's life was irresistible.
Third, in Greek the word for witness and the word for martyr is the same (martus, <G3144>). A witness had to be ready to become a martyr. To be a witness means to be loyal no matter the cost. —Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

*Witnessing— Great Commission— Holy Spirit— Power: the second scene. Jesus assigned the believer's great task—the great commission. Note three significant points.

1.The believer's equipping power was to be the Holy Spirit. The disciples had asked about the kingdom, the positions of leadership and authority Christ had promised. The point is critical and to be noted with all diligence. They were to receive power, but not the power of this earth, not the power of...

Their power was to be spiritual and supernatural. It was to be the very power...

·  of God Himself,

·  of the Supreme Being of the universe,

·  of His presence,

·  of His Spirit

God's very own Spirit was to dwell within the heart and life of the believer. No greater power could ever be possessed by anyone. This is clearly seen: once the early disciples experienced the coming of God's Spirit into their being, they never again asked about earthly power. Experiencing the presence and power of God within their lives was the summit, the supreme experience of their lives. Nothing else was ever needed. It is this for which the human heart craves, and once God's Spirit truly dwells within a person, that person is supremely fulfilled and satisfied. Nothing else can ever satisfy—not position or authority, recognition or fame—not if the person has truly received the Spirit of God into his heart and life.

The point is this: the believer is given a task by God, a mission to carry out on earth. The believer does not have the power to carry out that task. The power of God Himself, of His Spirit, is needed. Therefore, Christ promises, "Ye shall receive power after the Holy Spirit is come upon you." Both the Spirit of God and His power are promised. But note a critical point: the Holy Spirit comes upon believers as an equipping power. The major purpose for His coming is to equip the believer to carry out his task for God.

2.  The believer's task is the great task of witnessing for God. The disciples had asked about the coming of the kingdom, just when the kingdom would come. When would believers be gathered and cloistered together in the fellowship and worship of God, free from worldly injustices and sin? Again, Christ had promised the kingdom, a day when He would gather all believers together in perfect fellowship and service of God. He promised a day when believers would be freed from the world, from its sin and shame, death and hell. But again, note: now is not the time to be cloistered together...

·  in heaven.

·  in the eternal kingdom of God.

·  in Christian societies.

·  in the church.

Now is not the time for believers to be revelling in the love and fellowship, the enjoyment and comfort of each other. This is the point Christ is making, a critical point. It is time for...

·  WITNESSING

·  BEING WITNESSES TO CHRIST

Witnessing to Christ, sharing the glorious salvation in Him, is the great task of the believer. This is understandable, clearly seen, for no greater truth exists in all the universe. Man can now live forever; man can now be delivered from sin, death, and hell. Just think about it! The perfect cure for...

·  sin has been secured.

·  death is known.

·  hell now exists.

There is no reason for the world—no reason for any person—to suffer any longer under the weight and bondage of...

(God have mercy upon all who know the cure and keep silent! No greater indictment against a person exists.)

Now note several points.

a.  The word "you." It is the believer who is to witness. It is the believer who knows the cure, the truth of salvation.

b.  The words "unto me." Christ is the message, not a man's ideas, not even the idea of religion. "Christ crucified" is the believer's testimony (1 Cor. 1:23. Cp. 1 Cor. 1:18, 24; GALATIAns 6:14.)

c.  The word "witness" (Greek, martures PWS: 4393). This is the same word as martyr. The believer is to be so committed to reaching men that he is ready to die as a martyr if need be. (See Deeper Study #1—Acts 1:8 for verses on witnessing.)

d.  The word "witness" is not a command. Rather, it is a natural result of the Holy Spirit within a person. So is power. The Lord says very simply that a Spirit-filled person has power and becomes a witness for Him throughout the world. This is important, for it makes power and witnessing trademarks of Christian believers. A genuine believer possesses both the Spirit and power in his life and becomes by nature a witness for the Lord.

3.  The believer's method: Jesus gives the method that the believer is to follow in his witness and spread of the gospel.

a.  The believer is to witness where he is (Jerusalem) and move progressively outward (Judaea and Samaria) until he is having a part in reaching the uttermost part of the earth.

Every believer...

·  is to go as far as he can personally go.

·  is to give as sacrificially as he can for others to go.

·  is to use and support every means he can to reach the world.

b.  The believer is to witness where he is first, see to it that Christ is well known throughout his home and community before moving on. But once Christ is well known, the believer is to move out, ever pressing outward from where he is. His first witness is to be...

·  in Jerusalem: where he is, his home and local community. (See Deeper Study #1—Luke 9:4 for more discussion.)

·  in all Judaea: other communities and areas and cities and states. Note the words "all Judaea."

·  in Samaria: other states and provinces where people are antagonistic. There was bitter hatred between the Jews and Samaritans. Yet Christ tells His witnesses to carry the message of salvation even to their enemies. (See Deeper Study #2, Samaritans—Luke 10:33.)

·  to the uttermost part of the earth: to the unknown countries and regions of the world.

A critical point is this: the believer is to see that each area receives the message of Christ. He is to stay there before reaching out. But once the area knows the message, the message is to be carried out into another area.

 Thought 1. What a difference world evangelization would experience if each believer would simply do what Christ says. —Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible - Commentary

The most Spirit filled, godly family in the Bible

Luke 1:6 Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: ….76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,

Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.

Peculiar to the NT is the designation as mártures (pl., witnesses) of those who announce the facts of the gospel and tell its tidings (Acts 2:32; 3:15; 10:39, 41; 13:31; Rev. 11:3). Also mártus is used as a designation of those who have suffered death in consequence of confessing Christ (of Stephen, Acts 22:20; Antipas, Rev. 2:13; Rev. 17:6. their witnessing of Jesus became the cause of their death). The Lord Jesus in Rev. 1:5 is “the faithful witness,” (Rev. 3:14)

The place name “Samaria” has a twofold sense. First, it refers to the capital city of the N kingdom of Israel, from the time of its construction by Omri in the early 9th century b.c. (1 Kgs 16:23–24) to its conquest by the Assyrians in the late 8th century (probably 721 b.c.; attributed to Shalmaneser V in 2 Kgs 17:1–6, but to Sargon II in Assyrian records). This city has been identified with the ruins of Sebastiya (M.R. 168187). Second, after the destruction of the city the name “Samaria” (Assyrian Samerina) was applied to the larger district in which the city had been situated, following the Assyrian practice of naming a province after its capital or principal city. The natural borders of this region were defined by the valleys of Jezreel and Aijalon on the N and S respectively, by the coast to the W, and by the Jordan river valley on the E. In pre-Assyrian times this region and its population had been referred to after the old Israelite territorial/tribal name Ephraim (in Hosea 36 times and Isaiah 12 times; cf. Jer 31:5–6). Sometimes the name Ephraim was reserved only for the hill country of S Samaria, while the hill country of N Samaria was called Manasseh. Later, however, the area was repopulated by heterogeneous populations from throughout the Assyrian empire, whom the Judeans of Jerusalem generally regarded with contempt.