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