Infant Church

Context

Historical

At this point Jesus has been resurrected and showing himself to the disciples and about 500 others.

Biblical

Forty Days With Jesus

Some significant things happened in Forty Days.

Days of rain in the great flood

The time Moses spent on Mt. Sinai receiving the law

Elijah’s trip to Mt. Horeb

Jesus in the wilderness

So, when we see the Forty days appear it has a tendency to mean God is doing something or preparing something great.

What do we do Now?

What happens when we go do our own thing? In verse 4 Jesus tells his disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they receive the gift from the Father. However, there is something interesting about this sentence in the Greek. “The Greek construction can be rendered quite literally, “Stop departing from Jerusalem,” implying that at this point the disciples had been coming and going from the Holy City.” (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992). What would have happened if they were like, “What are we waiting for?! We know what to do, we need to go tell people about Jesus!” That’s a great mentality right? Who can fault someone for wanting to spread the Good News?

John B. Polhill, Acts, vol. 26, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 83.