The Beginning Of Acts Series

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.