Waiting For Power From On High
– Acts One
Acts is the book that
reveals the history of the New Testament church. If the book of Acts was taken
out of our New Testament, we would never understand the rest of it. Luke is the
author of the book Acts. He was also the author of the Gospel of Luke. Luke and
Acts together make up about 28% of our New Testament. The book of Acts is God's
divine book on the subject of church history.
If we are ever to
understand New Testament Christianity we must have knowledge of the beginning
and growth of the church. The importance of the book of Acts is seen in the
words of Acts 1:3. Luke spoke of those "To whom the Lord shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible
proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to
the
The common elements in all of the preaching throughout the book of Acts are: (1) Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of Old Testament, (2) Jesus is the Messiah, (3) He had a great miracle working ministry, (4) He was crucified as a sin sacrifice, (5) He was raised from the dead on the third day, (6) He now reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords, (7) He will come again, (8) The world will be judged by His word, (9) therefore, all men everywhere need to hear this message, repent of sins, be baptized for the remission of sins and serve God out of a heart of deep love.
The events of the first chapter of Acts took place in the ten days that elapsed from the day of the ascension of Jesus Christ to the Jewish feast day of Pentecost. Luke begins with a brief review of the history of the life of Christ, His gospel and good works. The book of Acts, like the Gospel of Luke was written to Theophilus. The book starts with and stays with the theme of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. During the forty days following His resurrection Jesus had given much instruction to His disciples.
Acts One provides a brief, but powerful look at Christ's ascension
into heaven. His disciples were witnesses to the ascension. The apostles were
commanded to go to
Jesus
was presented alive – Acts 1:1-3: The book of
Acts is a letter addressed to one man, Theophilus. It is, however, a message
for everyone. It is a continuation of where Luke had left off at the conclusion
of his gospel. In his gospel Luke wrote of what Jesus began to do and to teach.
Jesus chose twelve men to be His apostles.
Just before His ascension to heaven he gave them explicit commands as to
where they should go and what they should preach. "And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer,
and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of
sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at
Jesus showed Himself alive after His sufferings and death. He was
presented alive to speak things pertaining to the kingdom or church. During a
forty day period following His resurrection Christ was not only seen of the
disciples at certain times, but He was also heard by them. He spoke of the
things pertaining to the
Jesus
promised the Holy Ghost – Acts 1:4-8: The apostles were to wait in
The apostles learned that they were responsible for preaching the gospel to every creature. Christians are responsible for the evangelism of the world in each generation. Every man on earth is lending his influence in behalf of either truth or falsehood. Faith in the risen Christ gave tremendous power to the apostles' preaching and it should likewise move us to evangelism.
Jesus ascended to heaven – Acts 1:9-12: The apostles were
allowed to witness the ascension of the Lord. The Lord Jesus was "taken
up" because "up" is where God is. Heaven is where Jesus is now
sitting at the right hand of God. The ascension of Jesus is in perfect harmony
with the other parts of His history. Jesus' ascension was a fitting and natural
termination of His earthly ministry.
This same Jesus who died to
save us and that ascended back to heaven shall come again. He shall come in the
same manner as He ascended. He will come in the clouds of heaven, and shall be
attended with His mighty angels. He shall descend Himself in person, with a
shout, and with the sound of a trumpet, to receive His own. They will meet Him
in the air. (I Thessalonians 4:13-18)
Jesus had said, "wait in
There can be no living apostles in the church today. Observe that
specific requirements
set
forth for one to be an apostle. "Wherefore of these men which
have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among
us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up
from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his
resurrection." (Acts 1:21-22) The choice for an apostle was to be from
among the men, and not the women. Women did not bear any office, or exercise
any authority in the church. An apostle had to be eyewitness of Jesus'
resurrection; otherwise he could no be a witness at all.
To become a Christian you must hear the
gospel (Romans