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We must remember that Acts does not give us a full history of the church during this period. For example, the churches in Galilee and Samaria are barely mentioned Acts 9: Acts takes us up to about 60 or 61 A. This same Nero began his infamous persecutions of Christians in 64 A. Until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
Jesus, through the Holy Spirit , instructed the apostles regarding what to do in His absence. Jesus also established the fact of His resurrection with many infallible proofs during the forty days after his resurrection but before His ascension. In 1 Corinthians He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present. There were more than five hundred people who had seen the resurrected Jesus, and most of them were alive some twenty-five years later in the days of Paul!
The teaching Jesus gave during that period is not recorded, but we are told that He used that time to speak of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Many Gnostic and New Age teachers would like to think that after His resurrection, Jesus used the forty days to teach His followers strange and obscure doctrines that must be "rediscovered" with new revelations today.
But Luke reminds us that Jesus simply taught them much the same material that He had taught them in His earthly ministry: The things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them , He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said , "you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem: Jesus has nothing else for the disciples to do other than to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. He knows that they really can do nothing effective for the Kingdom of God until the Spirit comes. These verses provide another of the many "Trinity in Miniature" examples.
Jesus tells of the Promise of the Father , which is the coming of the Holy Spirit. You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit: The idea of being baptized is to be immersed or covered over in something; even as John baptized people in water, so these disciples would be "immersed" in the Holy Spirit. Perhaps it is more useful to describe the baptism of the Holy Spirit more like a condition than an experience. We should perhaps ask, " are you baptized in the Holy Spirit?
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? This was a question asked many times before. They must have believed that Jesus would certainly establish an earthly political kingdom before ascending to the Father. Of course, when Jesus ascended into heaven, He would leave them in charge of the kingdom! There are as many errors in this question as words.
The disciples certainly knew the many Old Testament prophecies describing the spiritual and political rebirth of Israel. The disciples probably thought that the spiritual rebirth seemed certain, so the political would come, also. And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. It is not for you to know: Jesus warned the disciples against inquiring into aspects of the timing of God's kingdom, because those things belong to God the Father alone which the Father has put in His own authority.
It was wise for Jesus not to outline His plan over the next 2, years. How do you think the disciples would have felt if they had known that the kingdom they wanted to see right then would not be coming for almost 2, years? At the same time, Jesus did not say that there was to be no restoration of the kingdom to Israel; He simply said that speculation into the times and dates of it was not proper for the disciples. But you shall receive power: If the political kingdom they wanted would be delayed, power would not. They would shortly receive power with the coming of the Holy Spirit.
The disciples were still seeing power , too much in terms of Caesar, and not enough in terms of Christ. Jesus offers them real power, spiritual power, but how attractive did that seem? They were thinking of political power! The natural result of receiving that power would be that they would become witnesses of Jesus, all over the earth. Notice that this really isn't a command; it is a simple statement of fact: When the Holy Spirit has come upon you … you shall be witnesses of Me. The words shall be are in the indicative, not the imperative.
Jesus wasn't recommending that they become witnesses , He was saying they would be witnesses. If we want to be witnesses , we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit! Far more important than the best course in evangelism is the filling of the Holy Spirit! A cultic group today claims that this is their mandate for being "Jehovah's Witnesses. The progress of the spread of the Gospel from Jerusalem , to Judea and Samaria , and then to the end of the earth becomes the outline of Acts.
Acts chapters 1 through 7 describe the gospel in Jerusalem , chapters 8 through 12 speak of the gospel in Judea and Samaria , and chapters 13 through 28 tell of the gospel going to the end of the earth. We might imagine the objections to the places of ministry Jesus described. Jerusalem was where Jesus was executed at the word of an angry mob; Judea rejected His ministry; Samaria was regarded as a wasteland of impure half-breeds; and in the uttermost parts of the earth , the Gentiles were seen as nothing better than fuel for the fires of Hell.
Yet God wanted a witness sent to all of these places. Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven. Jesus was taken up from them, as He was blessing them Luke As He slowly disappeared into the sky, surrounded by a cloud of Shekinah glory? Why did Jesus ascend this way? He certainly could have simply "vanished" to the Father's presence in a secret sort of way. But with the ascension, Jesus wanted His followers to know that He was gone for good, as opposed to the way He appeared and reappeared during the forty days after the resurrection.
Remember Jesus' words to His disciples in John It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. Now the disciples could know that that promise would be fulfilled. Why do you stand gazing up into heaven?
The two men apparently angels told the disciples to put their attention in the right place obedience to Jesus' command to return to Jerusalem , not in wondering where and how Jesus went.
Jesus told them to go to the ends of the earth , and they stood gazing up into heaven. Morgan speculates that the "men" were possibly Moses and Elijah. It seems best to say they were angels. Will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven: Jesus will return just as He left: Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
A Sabbath's day journey describes a short distance, the only kind allowed on the Sabbath. The eleven disciples the twelve minus Judas are present; along with Mary, the mother of Jesus, the brothers of Jesus such as James and Jude , the women who followed Jesus, and others, adding up to about Acts 1: The brothers of Jesus never seemed to be supportive of His ministry before His death and resurrection John 7: Calvin translates with the women as with their wives , a reference to the wives of the apostles. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot.
The day after that we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day arrived at Miletus. Be shepherds of the church of God, [ a ] which he bought with his own blood. Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Then they accompanied him to the ship. All rights reserved worldwide. You'll get this book and many others when you join Bible Gateway Plus.
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You can cancel anytime during the trial period. To subscribe at our regular subscription rate, click the button below. To manage your subscription, visit your Bible Gateway account settings. Repentance must never be thought of as something we must do before we can come back to God. Repentance describes what coming to God is. You can't turn towards God without turning from the things He is against. In this sense, repent is a word of great hope.
It says "You don't have to continue the way you've been going, you can turn to God," something many people desperately want. The second thing Peter says they must do is be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ , as an expression of their belief and complete trust in Him. Baptism made a clear statement. In that day, Jews were not commonly baptized, only Gentiles who wanted to become Jews. For these Jewish men and women to be baptized showed just how strongly they felt they needed Jesus. The promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off: As they repented and demonstrated faith and obedience by baptism, the gift of the Holy Spirit would be given to them as it was given to the original group of disciples.
Peter also specifically promised that the promise of the Holy Spirit would be given to those who believe in all succeeding generations all who are afar off. They saw the glorious work of the Holy Spirit among the disciples, and Peter told them that it was something that these people could take part in; they didn't only have to be observers. And since the promise is for all who afar off , it includes all people up to the present time. And with many other words he testified and exhorted them: Peter's sermon didn't end there.
He continued to urge the crowd to come to Jesus in repentant surrender. Be saved from this perverse generation: Any generation that is responsible for putting Jesus to death is a perverse generation.
But since every generation is responsible for Jesus' death, every generation needs salvation. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
About three thousand souls were added to them: This day of Pentecost saw an amazing harvest of souls. The church went from about people to 3, people in one day. Think of how this touched lives. Many of the 3, were undoubtedly pilgrims who came to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost, expecting something special from God, but not expecting anything like this. Many in this crowd would eventually travel far from Jerusalem, back to their homes, taking the good news of Jesus Christ with them.
Those who gladly received his word were baptized: Those who believed on Jesus that day did so gladly , even making a dramatic statement in baptism. They would not have submitted to baptism unless they were fully convinced of who Jesus was and their great need for Him as a Savior. How could you baptize 3, people? There were huge resources of water available on the temple mount, and pools and reservoirs nearby, so it was not difficult to find a place where the baptisms could take place.
What a baptism service that must have been! But God continues to do such great things. They couldn't count how many were baptized, but the event was attended by more than 5, people. It was reported as the largest baptism service in the history of America. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. On the day of Pentecost, the sound of the rushing wind, the tongues of fire, and the conversion of 3, were all remarkable events; but the things described in Acts 2: First, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine: They relied on the apostles to communicate to them who Jesus was and what He had done.
They just trusted in Jesus; now they want to know more!
Continued steadfastly uses a Greek verb communicating "a steadfast and single-minded fidelity to a certain course of action. Thankfully, God allows us to sit under the apostles' doctrine - the New Testament record. Every pastor should seek to be unoriginal, in the sense that we don't have our own doctrine, but the apostles' doctrine. They continued in fellowship: The Greek word koinonia has the idea of association, communion, fellowship, and participation; it means to share in something. As Christians, we share the same Lord Jesus, we share the same guide for life, we share the same love for God, we share the same desire to worship Him, we share the same struggles, we share the same victories, we share the same job of living for Him, we share the same joy of communicating that gospel to others.
They continued in the breaking of bread: Even living so close to the time when Jesus was crucified, they still never wanted to forget it - how much more should we? They continued in prayers. Whenever God's work is done, God's people are praying. Everything else we read about the power and glory of the early church flows from this foundation of the word, fellowship, remembrance of Jesus' work on the cross, and prayer.
From Luke's description of the early Christian community, "The educated reader would have got the impression here that the Greek ideal of society had been realized. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. The power of God was evident because fear came upon every soul. One of the greatest, most powerful works God can do is to change the human heart towards a reverent honor of the Lord. The power of God was evident because many wonders and signs were done , and where God is moving, lives will be touched in miraculous ways.
Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common: With the influx of more that 3, believers, most of whom stayed in Jerusalem and didn't have jobs, the family of Christians had to share if they were to survive.
We shouldn't regard this as "early communism," because it was voluntary, temporary, and flawed to the extent that the church in Jerusalem was in continual need of financial support from other churches. Also, we don't have any evidence this continued very long. The Jews had a tremendous custom of hospitality during any major feast like Pentecost; all visitors were received into private homes, and no one could charge for giving a bed or a room to a visitor or for supplying their basic needs.
The Christians took this tremendous feast-time hospitality and made it an everyday thing. Sold their possessions and their goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need: The power of God is evident here because Jesus became much more important to them than their possessions.
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house: The church is meant to worship God and learn His Word together, but it is meant to do more; God wants us to share our lives with one another. Praising God and having favor with all the people: Their Christian experience was daily, joyful and simple - good examples for us to follow.
And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved: This is God's prescription for church growth. If we take care to follow the example of Acts 2: Since the text and audio content provided by BLB represent a range of evangelical traditions, all of the ideas and principles conveyed in the resource materials are not necessarily affirmed, in total, by this ministry. Blue Letter Bible study tools make reading, searching and studying the Bible easy and rewarding. Individual instructors or editors may still require the use of URLs. Keep me logged in! Did you forget your password?
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Here, the sound from heaven is the sound of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the disciples d. Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. The response to Peter's preaching.
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