Acts 1: 1-11
1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: 4 And, being assembled together with [them], commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, [saith he], ye have heard of me. 5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Intro
First, I want to point out that Luke was the author of the book of Luke as well as the book of Acts and both of these books make up 28% of the New Testament. Luke was the medical doctor who had travelled with the apostle Paul as is recorded in the latter part of Acts. We know Luke was a doctor because Paul refers to him as such in Colossians 4:14 where he refers to him as ‘the beloved physician’ and we also get a hint of who he is in his writings. For instance; in Luke 4:35 where Luke is talking about the man who was possessed by an unclean devil; it says, ‘when the devil had thrown him in the midst’ and the word used for ‘thrown him’ actually describes convulsions. So, when this guy fell, Luke is saying, he didn’t just lay there but he convulsed. In Luke 9:38 a man said to Jesus, ‘Master, I beseech thee, to look upon my son.’ And the term ‘to look upon’ is the one used to describe a doctor visiting one of his patients. And then we also see where Matthew, Mark and Luke told about Jesus using the illustration of a camel going through the eye of a needle and Matthew and Mark use a word that describes a tailor’s needle but Luke uses one that describes a surgeon’s needle. So, the fact is, Luke was a doctor and medical terminology was natural to him.
Have you ever gone to a doctor and had him or her describe what was wrong with you in medical terminology and as soon as they realize that you don’t have a clue as to what they’re talking about they begin to use everyday language. And that’s what Luke does; he uses terminology that he’s used to and these are words that are both precise and clear in his mind.
Luke was not an apostle even though he travelled with Paul and possibly even spent time in prison with him. We have no record of him ever preaching or pastoring a church and he was not only a gentile but he was also the only gentile who wrote a New Testament book.
Paul mentions him three times in his writings, in Colossians 4:14, Philemon verse 24 and 2 Timothy 4:11. We assume Luke got a lot of the material for his two books from Paul and the others who were his contemporaries because he was very detailed in his writings. Now, having said that; doesn’t take away from the inspiration of either of his books. The words of scripture were God-breathed, yet written by men who were moved by the Holy Spirit.
Both the books of Luke and Acts were written to a man named Theophilus and his name means ‘a lover of God’ which really doesn’t say anything about him; after all, not everyone lives up to their name.
My first and middle names are Hugh Wallace. Hugh means intelligent and Wallace means strange. Originally, I was called Wallace Hugh on my birth certificate but there was so much confusion with people calling me by the wrong name I reversed the order and now my name means strange intelligence.
We don’t know why Luke wrote to Theophilus, he may have been trying to convert him or if he was already saved he might have written to encourage him in his faith by giving him an accurate account of the gospel but in either case we know he was successful because Theophilus passed these letters on to the church and eventually they were included in the canon.
First and foremost, we need to see that this is a personal book and back in Luke 1:1-3 Luke describes why he wrote them when he said, ‘1 Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, 2 Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; 3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, 4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.’
So, he’s writing to Theophilus so Theophilus can be sure of the things he’s been taught. And notice also in verse 3 that Luke calls him ’most excellent Theophilus’ which gives the impression that Theophilus was an important Roman.
The books of Luke and Acts are often studied together simply because one picks up where the other leaves off. It is interesting that Luke is the longest book in the New Testament and Acts is the second longest. The book of Acts also follows the lives of two dominant people. Peter dominates chapters 1-12 and Paul chapters 13-28.
Acts is also an historical book because it describes how the church began, the persecution of its early days, its organization in terms of local churches and their autonomous structure as they chose among themselves deacons. And in this book, we also see the planting of various churches like Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, Ephesus, Berea and Jerusalem. And by understanding their beginnings we have more insight into the messages of the books that are called by their names.
And in this book we can also see the transitional nature of the early church as it went from synagogues to churches and from Jewish to gentile in nature and we also see how it grew from Jewish orthodoxy to Christian liberty.
The outline of the book is spelled out for us in verse 8 which says, ‘But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.’ So, the disciples were told that after they received the Holy Spirit they were to take the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea and to the end of the world. In other words, they were to start locally and move to the ends of the earth.
And in a real sense Waterloo is our Jerusalem and we have a personal responsibility to reach our families, our neighbors and our co-workers and then, the rest of the province or even the country is our Judea which tells us we have responsibilities in our own country or as we like to say in home missions and then we also have responsibilities to the mission field as both we either participate or support missions that are reaching out to the ends of the world.
And we can also say this book has a biographical nature as we follow the experiences of Peter in the early church and that of Paul from his conversion to his missionary endeavours all the way to prison. And here we can also follow the missionary journeys of the church as we trace the path of the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria to the ends of the known world which was Rome.
So, in Acts 1:1-11: we have three things that stand out and the first one is the resurrection. Look again in verse 3. ‘To whom also He shewed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.’
What were these infallible proofs? I Corinthians 15:6 tells us that Jesus appeared to over 500 brethren at once. And then the gospels tell us He also appeared to Mary Magdalene, the apostles behind closed doors, on the seashore and two men on the road to Emmaus. In John 21:13 it says the two men He met on the road to Emmaus ate with Him and then in Luke 24:39 He instructed His disciples to touch Him so they could see that He wasn’t a ghost.
Now, you wonder, did they touch Him? I think they did because I John 1:1 says ‘we have seen, heard and touched Him.’
Listen, the bottom line is, everything rises and falls on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus rose from the dead then you and I will too and if He didn’t, then you and I have no hope in time or for eternity because faith in a dead man is dead faith.
The problem most of the world has is they get their information about heaven from cartoonists and comics who for the most part believe nothing. And they give the impression that heaven is filled with people who are walking around bored; dragging harps by their side and waiting for another choir practice to begin. On the other hand they portray everyone in hell as having a good time and most of them are sitting on comfy couches, drinking the best booze and bragging about all the things they got away with while they were living on earth.
And listen, this is one of Satan’s greatest lies; because he was kicked out of heaven for rebelling against God and now he wants to make sure that no one is going to enjoy all the things he’s missing out on and he doesn’t want to have go through all the punishment that awaits him all by himself. And not only that, but he hates every believer as much as he hates God Himself because he knows we are God’s children and will spend the rest of eternity in heaven.
And listen, if you know you’re going to heaven and you believe his lies then you’re not going to experience the excitement or anticipation of going there and you’ll end up being more pre-occupied with this world than you are with the world to come.
You see, the problem most of us have is; we don’t understand what the Bible says about what happens when this life is over. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 2:9 it says, ‘But as it is written, ‘Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.’ And most of us stop right there and we assume that God hasn’t told us anything about the afterlife but the very next verse says, ‘But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.’ In other words, God has told us everything we need to know about the world to come in the Bible. And let me just touch on three areas here.
First, He gives us an idea of what life is going to be like physically because when Jesus died and rose from the dead He came back and spent time with His disciples and although they recognized Him; He was very different because in His resurrected state He could go from heaven to earth at will, He could walk through locked doors and eat with His disciples just like He had before.
And when you think about it, there were six other men in the Bible who we see after they died. There was Samuel who came back to warn Saul about his impending death and Moses and Elijah who appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and then in Luke 15 there is the account of Abraham and Lazarus who were both recognized by the rich man in hell.
And not only were people able to identify all six but some of them had lived thousands of years before and still; those who saw them knew who they were. This tells us that when we get to heaven we aren’t going to spend all of eternity walking around introducing ourselves to everyone because there will be instant recognition.
After all; wouldn’t it make sense that we’d have more sense when our bodies and minds are perfect? So, we will be who we are but better than what we are because sin and all its affects are going to be wiped away. There’ll be no more suffering, sorrow or any kind of pain. There’ll be no temptation because the world as we know it, the flesh and the devil will be gone and there’ll be no disunity, division or any kind of hostility but it’s all going to be replaced by peace and fellowship like we’ve never dreamed possible. So, physically, I think it will be very similar to what we have now but at the same time it will be very different because we’ll have eternal natures.
Second, the Bible also says we’re going to have new homes. In John 14 Jesus said, ‘In My Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.’
And what this tells us is; that Jesus is preparing a home or a mansion specifically with you and I in mind and that tells me that our homes are going to be absolutely breathtaking. And when He says, ‘if it were not so I would have told you;’ what He’s saying is, I’m not just saying this to make you feel good but I’m saying this because it’s true. So, we’ll have new bodies, new homes -
And then third, there’s also going to be a new government in a new city that going to rule a brand new earth. In Revelation 21 John describes this city by saying, it will be fifteen hundred miles square and the walls will be made of jasper which many think is a form of diamond and the gates will be made of pearl and the streets will be paved with pure gold. And all this means; is the city will be absolutely priceless and breathtaking not only because of its beauty but because the entire city is going to be lit up by the glory of Jesus Christ Himself. In other words, even though the sight will take your breath away, nothing will detract from the presence of God Himself.
And to top it all off; we’re going to be surrounded by those who’ve gone before us and it’s going to be the greatest fellowship anyone could ever imagine.
D.L. Moody wrote, "When I was a boy I thought of Heaven as a great shining city, with vast walls and domes and spires, and with nobody in it except angels, who were strangers to me. By and by my little brother died, and I thought of a great city with walls and domes and spires, and a flock unknown angels, and one little fellow that I was acquainted with. He was the only one that I knew there. Then another brother died, and there were two that I knew. Then my friends began to die, and the number continually grew. But it was not until I had sent one of my little children back to GOD, that I began to think I had a little interest there myself. A second, a third, a fourth went, and by that time I had so many friends in Heaven that I did not see walls and domes and spires but I began to think of the residents of the Celestial City. And now so many of my friends have gone there, that it sometimes seems that I know more in Heaven than I do on earth."
Listen, heaven is a wonderful place made by a wonderful God for people like you and me who have received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. And as someone said, you can go to heaven without health, without wealth, without fame, without a great name, without learning, without earnings, without culture, without beauty, without friends and without a thousand other things; but you cannot go to heaven unless you have Jesus because He’s the one who paid your way on the cross and He’s the one who’s going to be the center of the eternal city.
II The second thing that stands out is the promise of power in verse 8. ‘But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.’
And they were told to wait but what were they waiting for? The Holy Spirit: in other words God had a purpose and plan to fulfill and they were told to wait. They’re used to be what they called ‘tarrying meetings’ and the idea was that if we prayed long enough or lived good enough God would bless us with His Spirit but if that were true; then all 120 of those gathered were at the same spiritual point at the same point in time. But; as I said, God had a set time and a specific plan and they weren’t to run on ahead of Him.
Did you ever read this and wonder what would have happened if they just ran out and started preaching? First, they’d have the wrong message. Obviously, from verse 7 they were asking when the kingdom was going to come. In other words, these guys thought that Jesus was going to somehow empower them to overthrow Rome and liberate Israel but the problem with their plan is that if Israel had been liberated it would have been a political movement and not a spiritual one and the nation would have been full of unsaved people. So, the problem with the disciples was short-sighted because they were looking for solutions to current problems without addressing the spiritual.
In the third century we had the rule of Constantine who had what many call a questionable conversion and then he decided everyone else should do the same. And the result was; there were decisions without commitment and this resulted in apostasy because many unsaved people joined the church and they brought all their pagan practices with them.
This ultimately resulted in the worship of the Mother of God, the priesthood of unbelievers, the worship of saints who’ve died and the honoring of the relics like the splinters of the cross, the bones of the apostles, (as a matter of fact there were enough bones from the body of John the Baptist to make two bodies) then there was Mary’s holy belt, the chains of Peter, a bronze portrait of Jesus that was found in a cave, the shroud of Turin which was supposedly the robe Jesus was wrapped in when He was buried and even some say a holy broken angel wing. (Someone told me about this when we were in Israel, I wanted to go see it but my wife wouldn’t let me.)
So, the disciples were told to wait because not only would they have had the wrong message but they’d also be running in the flesh and they’d probably end up preaching for fame or fortune rather than the Lord Jesus. Listen, the purpose of the power of the Holy Spirit is to make us His own and then to use us for His glory.
So, they not only could’ve had the wrong message but gone off with the wrong motives.
Did you know that Jesse James; the bank robber with his gang committed 26 holdups where they stole around $200,000 and killed at least 17 men (many by Jesse’s own hand). Jesse James was one of the West’s most notorious outlaws. And yet, very few people know this but Jesse James was also a very devout churchgoer. Why, shortly after he killed one man in a bank robbery Jesse was baptized in the Kearney Baptist Church in Kearney, Missouri. Then he killed another man, a bank cashier, and then he joined the choir and taught hymn-singing. They said he loved to go to church but he couldn’t always show up on Sundays because sometimes he had a train he had to catch. He was the classic example of someone who had all the right moves but all the wrong motives.
Listen, the purpose of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives is first and foremost to make us members of the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:13 tells us we are baptised into the body and that means we are part and parcel of one another. And then as Acts 1:8 says, ‘we shall be witnesses unto Him.’ The word 'witnesses' is used a total of 39 times in the book of Acts.
Why does He use the same word so often? Maybe, because we miss it and think of a thousand other things we can do and we never seem to get around to doing the one thing we were told to do. I remember when I was 13 or 14 I figured I should study for a couple of hours for my final exams and I thought I should find a pen and pencil and as a matter of fact I thought I should have two of each. So, it took a while but I found them. By then I felt hungry and decided I’d have a snack because everyone knows you can’t study on an empty stomach. Then I realized what night it was and there was something on television that I had to see and ended up spending the rest of the night watching television. Needless to say, the next morning, there were questions on the exam that I had never thought of and I failed miserably.
I wonder how we’re going to feel when we face the ultimate test of seeing Jesus and realize how little we did the things he told us to do. Listen, He’s only given us one job to do; let’s not ignore it.
Not all of us are not called to preach, sing or serve on a foreign field, but all of us are called to be witnesses. And if you were a witness at an accident or crime scene and were called to give evidence no one would ask about your qualifications or education but all they want to know is your basic understanding of what happened. A witness gives first hand evidence to support the truth.
1 Peter 3:15 says, ‘But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.’
The Greek word for witness is martus and the English equivalent is martyr which is someone who lays down their life. And although I know there are places in the world where living for your faith can cost you your life; sometimes it almost seems as difficult if people are going to laugh at you. The fact is; most of us would rather die than be laughed at but regards of how we feel about the world’s reaction; we are still called to be witnesses.
So, we saw the resurrection and the provision of the Holy Spirit and then this passage ends with the ascension of Jesus into heaven.
III Ascension
We can let our imaginations go free but none of us know exactly what these people saw but as they stood there looking up and Jesus went up out of sight. I think they must have stood there for a long time waiting for Him to come back because two angels appeared and said the Lord Jesus was going to return in a similar way but also to let them know they were wasting their time standing around.
I guess there are two questions we need to ask ourselves and the first is, are we ready for the Lord’s return? Now, I know you’re probably thinking, hey, I’m in prayer meeting, of course I’m ready. And I’m not questioning anybody’s salvation but I’m simply asking, if the Lord came back tonight, are there a few things that you didn’t get around to doing that you know you should. And since, the Lord can come back any minute or He may take us home unexpectedly, then we all need to ask ourselves if we’re ready.
In the New Testament's 260 chapters, Jesus return is mentioned no less than 318 times. Statistically, that means that one verse for every 25 pages of the Bible refer to the return of Jesus Christ in some way, shape, or form. Make no mistake about it: Jesus Christ will come back again, and God has given us specific instructions for what we are to do while we wait.
First, we are to be watching for Him; conscious of the fact that He could come at any time. Second, we should be ready to leave and not so tied to the things of the world that we’ll go up backwards hanging on to our precious possessions. Third, while we are waiting it ought to be our goal to become more like Jesus every day. Fourth, we should be looking forward to His return. Have you ever been looking forward to seeing someone? You wait for the sound of that person's car in the driveway. You pull the door open before they can even knock. If anything would cause us to be hesitant in saying, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" we need to examine our hearts. Finally, we should be witnessing because while watching is the evidence of faith, witnessing is the evidence of our faith in action.
Let me recap very quickly, we looked at who wrote the book, why he wrote it and who he wrote it to. And then we saw how he emphasized the resurrection of Jesus, the promise of the power of the Holy Spirit for those who believe on Him and the ascension of Jesus into heaven with the promise that He’ll come back the same way He went. He lefts in the clouds and He’ll return in the clouds. And we also saw the need for each of us to be busy until He returns.
Joseph Bayly once said, ‘God’s people should plan for a voyage of a thousand years, but be prepared to abandon ship tonight.’
