Acts Episode 1: Judea, Samaria, the Ends of the Earth

Luke begins his second book as a companion for his gospel. He sees the two books as telling one story about the mighty works of Christ. Also the theme of the book is set, the gospel will go to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The apostles have been thoroughly trained by Christ and prepared; all they lack is the power of the Spirit and they will transform the world with their message. Their role is limited to one thing: witness. The Spirit will do the rest.

- Podcast Transcript - 

Wes

Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This podcast is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you're interested in learning more, just head over to twojourneys.org. Now on to today's episode. This is Episode 1 in our Acts Bible Study podcast. This episode is entitled Judea, Samaria, the Ends of the Earth, where we'll discuss Acts 1:1-11. I'm Wes Treadway, and I'm here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we're looking at today?

Andy

Well, this is an exciting introduction and beginning to this incredibly exciting book of Acts, and I think Acts 1:8 really is in many ways the theme verse of the entire book: "You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." And so, we get to look at that today and how it begins, how the gospel pours out from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth and how it begins. So today, this is somewhat of a prologue and the very, very end of Jesus's physical ministry on earth before he was taken up into heaven. So, it's going to be very exciting to walk through these verses today.

Wes

Well, let me go ahead and read the first 11 verses of chapter one as we begin.

In the first book, Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "You heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold two men stood by them in white robes, and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

Luke begins this book referring to his first book, saying that in that work he had dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach. Some call Acts, not the Acts of the Apostles, but the Acts of Jesus Christ through the Apostles. What instructions did Jesus give his apostles after his resurrection, and how should his instruction influence how we embark on our own journey through the Book of Acts?

Andy

Yeah, it's a good insight that you're making here that this really depicts the activities of Jesus through his people and also by the power of the Holy Spirit as well. So, some have said it's the Acts of the Spirit, Spirit acting continually on behalf of Jesus as Jesus was acting continually on behalf of his Father. And so, Luke, the 24 chapters of Luke, it's a two-volume set that we have here that begins with the same introduction to a man named Theophilus. And so that's how you know we're really dealing with a two-volume set because it's just an interesting kind of introduction. We don't know who Theophilus was, but the word literally means God-lover or one who loves God. So, it could be it's just Christian, a Christian reader, or it could be a specific person with that name. But at any rate in the Book or the Gospel of Luke, we see all of Jesus's actions there.

And the convincing proofs that he gave them that he was God in the flesh, the miracles he did, the teachings he did, and then especially his substitutionary, atoning death on the cross, and then his bodily resurrection. And there in Luke 24, he makes it very plain saying, "This is what has been written. 'The Christ must suffer and come into his glory, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to the whole world beginning in Jerusalem.' You are witnesses of these things, and you must stay in Jerusalem until you receive power from on high or be clothed with power from on high." That's Luke 24:46-49 (paraphrase). So that fits very much into what we're seeing here in Acts 1:1-11. We've got this two-volume set, and it really is the actions of Jesus. It reminds me of the end of the Gospel of Mark, which I've been doing scripture memory, and I think it fits well with the question the way you asked it. It says in Mark 16, he had said, "go into all the world," verse 15, and "preach the good news to all creation." And then at the end in verse 19 and 20 of Mark 16, it says, "after the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven," just like in Acts 1, "and sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere." Now listen to this, "And the Lord, that is, Jesus, worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it." So that fits right into your question. These are the works of Jesus together with his apostles in spreading the gospel.

Wes

Now, there were also some specific things that Jesus did immediately following his resurrection. What do we learn in verse 3 about what Jesus did right after his resurrection?

Andy

Alright, so he gives them many convincing proofs that he is alive, and he especially gives them a crash course in Old Testament prophecies concerning himself. So, he is teaching them how the 39 books of the Old Testament, what we know is the Old Testament, but they would've just known it as scripture. He walks them through all of these scriptural proofs. And so, when we start seeing Peter, this fisherman from Galilee quoting Psalm 16 and all of that and just interpreting scripture in very powerful ways, where did that come from? Well, I know where it came from. It came from Jesus. And so, he gave them two things. First of all, many convincing proofs that he was alive, and that means just like, Thomas, "Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have" (Luke 24:39). "And he says, "Put your finger in my nail marks and your hand and my side stop doubting and believe" (John 20:27, paraphrase).

So, he's just doing that kind of thing. He's also as the two disciples in the road to Emmaus, he's opening the scriptures up to them, and their hearts are burning in them as they read this scriptural account. They have this amazing sense of the presence of Christ. And so, he continues, he gives them the most awesome 40-day seminar on Christology and soteriology on how people are saved and who Christ is. It would've been incredible to sit in that 40-day seminary with them. And so, he's establishing all of these things. And then finally it says that he spoke about the kingdom of God. And so that's a very big, rich topic, and he's trying to give them a sense of what the kingdom of God was all about.

Wes

Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about that. What is this kingdom of God that he's unfolding for them and in what ways does the doctrine of the kingdom represent the gospel message itself?

Andy

Okay, so fundamentally the idea is: God is king. Because God created all things, he is entitled to rule all things. He is entitled to be king, to sit as king over the universe. And as king, he has the right to make laws by which his kingdom should be governed. He has the right to rule his kingdom and his subjects. His creatures are created to serve him, to serve his purpose, and they are for his glory. That's the way things were at the beginning. But we fell into sin. We rebelled against God's kingdom. We rebelled against his commands and his laws, and we came under his judgment. And that's why God sent his Son to die in our place so that our rebellion, our acts of rebellion would be atoned for and forgiven. But that's not the end of the story. He's still King. We're still creatures.

"God is king. Because God created all things, he is entitled to rule all things. He is entitled to be king, to sit as king over the universe."

We need to serve him. And so, the idea here is that we would be reconciled to God personally. And in our hearts and minds gladly reconciled to the idea that he is our king. And as king has the right to command us. And we have only one godly recourse, which is completely and gladly to obey his commands. That's the nature of the kingdom of God. Its God enthroned, and we yielding to him, serving him, and not only that but delighting in his kingdom. That's essential because we know that wicked men serve God, though they do it unwittingly because he's providentially in charge of what they do. The king's heart is like a watercourse in the hands of the Lord; he governs or he directs it whatever way he chooses. So even the most wretched tyrant makes decisions in ways that are controlled by Almighty God, but that's not the kingdom of God.

That person is on the outside of the kingdom. The kingdom is where God is enthroned, and his subjects are glad about it. They delight in it, and they think his kingdom is wonderful. And they delight and yearn and hunger and thirst to serve him. That's what the kingdom of God is all about. Now, beyond that, there are theological depths here which I could barely even scratch the surface of. But the idea of God ruling the nations in an active way through his Spirit, through his word in the person of his Son. And then the Jewish aspect of it, the King, "Are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" they said. So, there was a sense of a Davidic king and the role of the nation of Israel. There's lots of discussions about this and it goes beyond what we can touch here. But that's what it means when he spoke about the kingdom of God.

Wes

Such a powerful image, both Jesus' fulfillment of all of these promises and prophecies, but also the reality of that gospel message that Christ came to redeem sinners and bring them into that kingdom where they would joyfully submit to the rule and reign of God. What does verse 4 teach us about Christ's resurrection body, and what does it teach us about Christ's discipleship methods?

Andy

On one occasion while he was eating with them, so this is something that he did in Luke 24 where doubts were rising in their minds. And we have a number, a couple of examples of how disciples were prone to believe in ghosts. For example, the walking on the water, they thought Jesus was a ghost, it says in Mark's gospel. And they definitely thought it concerning his resurrection, and that was absolutely counterproductive to put it mildly. If Jesus really was a ghost, he hadn't been raised from the dead. And so, he has to prove his physical nature. And so, I just touched on this a moment ago about the many convincing proofs that he was alive. I think that was many convincing proofs that he was alive as a physical human being, right?

Wes

Had actually been raised,

Andy

Wasn't some spirit, there wasn't an apparition. And so, he proves it in Luke 24 by saying, "Do you have anything here to eat?" And they give him some broiled fish, and he chews it and swallows it in his resurrection body. And he also in John 20 says to Thomas, "Touch my hands and my side." And he says also in Luke 24, "Flesh and spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have." So, the idea of eating with them is to give them many convincing proofs that he has been raised from the dead. But also, it's just kind of the point of our salvation. God wants a relationship with us, and feasting is part of that. Back in the ancient near East, that's how people enjoyed each other. They reclined at table and shared meals together. And so, the idea that he would recline with them and eat with them and talk with them really is the point of all of our salvation that we would feast with the king and sit down and laugh and tell stories and eat together.

And so here's Jesus in this resurrection body. Now what does it prove about the resurrection body? It's corporeal. It's a real body. It's an actual physical body, and he's able to chew and swallow. He's able to eat. Now, we could go into many speculative details about it. Do we need to eat in order to stay alive? There are other questions that are really not appropriate to get into at that point, but our minds go in all kinds of different physical directions. I would table all of that and not go in that direction. What I would say is his chewing of fish, his actual eating shows what the nature of the resurrection body is. It's not an apparition or a spirit, but a physical body.

Wes

Now, in verses 4 & 5, how is the baptism that John gave compared with the baptism that Christ gives? What is the baptism of the Spirit and when did Jesus indicate that this would happen?

Andy

Well, this is first of all absolutely essential to the spread of the gospel. He says to them plainly gives them a clear command, "Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift my Father promised." He said the same thing in Luke 24:49b, "Wait until you are clothed with power from on high." He's going to talk about power in verse 8, which I'm sure we'll circle back to and focus on. But what he's talking about here is the gift or the power of the Holy Spirit. And he refers back to the very beginning of John's ministry when John the Baptist came and baptized, that is immersed, Jews in water. And he was known for this water baptism. But John made it plain that the one who came after him was greater than he was, "Whose sandals I am not worthy to untie" (John 1:27). And why was he greater, John? Well, because of the baptism that he gives, "I only baptize with water for repentance, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit" (Mark 1:8 paraphrase), he says. And so, the idea of being baptized in the Spirit, the word is immersed, so, Jesus has the ability to take us and immerse us in the Holy Spirit. And frequently the idea there is the picture of power that the Holy Spirit comes upon us in power and enables us to do the very difficult task of spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth.

"The Holy Spirit comes upon us in power and enables us to do the very difficult task of spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth."

Wes

Now, why do you think verse 6 begins with the word, "so" and what do we learn about the disciples' theology and expectations at this point?

Andy

Well, first of all, we need to note something I didn't mention in verse 5, and it's an addition, very small phrases added. John said, "I baptized with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." Well, Jesus adds the phrase, "in a few days." So now we're on the clock. And so, in a very few days that promise is going to come true. So that's the immediacy. You don't see the in a few days anywhere else, but here in Acts 1. So that's coming very, very soon. And so, the concept here is that the disciples are waiting for the power of the Holy Spirit to come upon them, and he's going to be pouring out the Spirit on them as John predicted that he would.

Wes

So, when they say, "so" they're then in verse 6, starting to make some logical conclusions. If this is what you're saying is going to happen, and it's going to happen not many days from now, are you then going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Exactly. What do we learn then from that? The disciples might've misunderstood about Jesus' teaching at this moment.

Andy

Right? So yeah, so when they met together, so everything's all pulling together. They're seeing a purpose to all of it. They're seeing a purpose to they certainly understand more than ever before the purpose of his death on the cross and they understood his bodily resurrection from the dead. They get it now. He is the same one who is nailed to the cross, is now raised, but he's in a glorious body. All of that makes sense. And now they have a mission to do. They're going to receive power for that mission and they're going to be witnesses as he says here. But he also had said earlier in Luke 24. And so they're getting ready. So, all of it is in fulfillment of this and hence the word, so. And then the question of "Are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" Now we need to understand what that means.

The Jews knew that with the exile to Babylon, things were never the same again. The Jews never had autonomy in the promised land and haven't to this present day. So even though there is a secular Jewish state there, there's still the city of Jerusalem is shared with Muslim or Islamic powers as well, and it's not fully what it should be. And it's what Jesus called the times of the Gentiles. And so, they don't have what they thought they should have, which is a physical earthly, kingly reign centered in Jerusalem over all the Gentile peoples to the ends of the earth. Now, people who believe in a millennium, a literal thousand-year reign of Jesus on earth, zero in on this as the fulfillment especially dispensational premillennialists that make a strong distinction between what God is doing with the Jews, with Jewish believers in God and what God is doing with Gentile believers in God, namely the church, they make a strong distinction. And so, they zero in on this verse as a very significant verse.

So yes, this is exactly what he was talking about. They haven't misunderstood. He is talking about a kingdom and he's now going to be restoring the kingdom to Israel, but it's kind of flimsy because the very next thing that gets said is, "You don't get it. You're not really understanding what you're talking about." Now they would zero in dispensational, pre-millennials and others that are talking about a physical reign, a Jewish kingdom centered in Jerusalem and going out to the ends of the earth. Jesus didn't correct anything but their sense of the timing. It's like, yeah, you got it right, but there is a timing issue. It's not as soon as you think it's going to be. So, there's a lot of debates about that back and forth.

Wes

In verse 7, Jesus says to them, "It's not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority." Why isn't it for us to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority, and how does not knowing that exact time of Christ's return cause us to be diligent daily?

Andy

So, God has not let us know the details about the timing because I think it would affect the way the story unfolded. We are instead told we'll not know the time. "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven nor the Son" (Matthew 24:36), said Jesus before his crucifixion, "but only the Father." So, the idea is we are supposed to know big broad themes like the second coming of Christ and the spread of the gospel before that, and the sending out of the angels. You gather the elect from the four winds from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens and all of that. We're supposed to know that we're just not supposed to know when. And our job is to be constantly ready, be alert, be ready like the five wise and five foolish virgins. Or like the steward that's put in charge of the whole plantation or mansion, and he's in charge of the other servants, and he's supposed to be doing what he's supposed to be doing until the master comes.

They don't know when the master's coming back. It could be in the evening or midnight or when the rooster crows or at dawn, he says in Mark's gospel. So, at any moment it could come. You just need to be ready. So, I think the reason that we're not to know the times or dates that the Father set by his own authority is that it would affect the story. It would affect the unfolding of the gospel in ways that would be harmful. And so, God and his wisdom chose to not tell us. So, imagine if you lived in the, I don't know, eighth century or 12th century, and you were told that the second coming of Christ would be in the year 2059. Please don't think I'm making prediction here, but at any rate, you're told that. It's just going to affect the way you lived your life. It's not coming in my lifetime, it's not in my lifetime. So, I will live a different kind of life. Even if I said that to you, if I said the year 2059, you could immediately feel a certain sinful relaxation almost in our minds. It's like, well, I guess there's some things that just don't pertain to us. And the Lord doesn't want that. So, we don't know.

Wes

Yeah. And so that sense of urgency then in our daily lives is good because it keeps us mindful of the reality that those things are before us. And if we don't know when they could come, they could and will in a sense come quickly.

Andy

Yeah, I also like that just the phraseology, "It's not for you to know." So, you get the feeling of you're walking through the halls of the Pentagon and your swipe card doesn't work for that door. What does that tell you?

Wes

Don't go in there-

Andy

Don't go in there. It's not for you. Alright? Others can go in there but just not you. And so, I think it humbles us too. I mean you get the sense, the same thing as we walk through the Book of Job, and you get the feeling like to some degree by what God never covers with Job, what he never talks to him about. He's saying the same thing. It's not for you to know why I took your 10 children. It's not for you to know exactly what my purposes were. It's enough for you to know that I made the eagle and that I'm powerful and I'm wise, et cetera. That's what it is for you to know, but it's not for you to know other things. So, it limits us.

Wes

Let's spend some time now talking about verse 8. This is as you've mentioned, kind of an outline for what we'll see in the rest of the book. And there's some major things that we want to take away from this verse. What does verse 8 teach about the role of the Holy Spirit in witnessing, and how effective would we be as evangelistic witnesses without this power?

Andy

Well, the second one is easy. We would be completely ineffective. We could do nothing. Jesus said, "I'm the vine; you're the branches... Apart from me, you can do nothing" (John 15:5). So, I would say you just bring the Holy Spirit in there apart from the Spirit of Christ, we can do nothing. And so, our witness is entirely tied to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And now here's where we must understand with a sense of awe and reverence at the greatness of the work of the Holy Spirit. There were 120 believers in the upper room when Jesus ascended into heaven after they went back, and they're praying and waiting for the gift of the Holy Spirit. That's what the text tells us. 120. Now how many Christians are there? Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions all over the world. How did that happen? Holy Spirit made it happen.

Here's another statement that struck me a number of years ago, and I've meditated on it many times since. In every generation, almost for two millennia, for 20 centuries, but especially in the past 18 centuries, in every generation, the single most famous man on earth has been Jesus Christ. Though no baby is ever born knowing his name or knows anything about him, but the Holy Spirit is so good at what he does that every generation he makes it certain that Jesus is well-known all over the earth and increasingly so. That is the power of the Holy Spirit. Also, John Murray's book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, there's two steps. The blood is shed, and the blood is painted on the doorposts and the lintels, that kind of thing. So, there's two steps: Jesus shed the blood, but then it has to be applied to individual elect people to affect their redemption.

The Holy Spirit does that application. That's his job, and he does it through us through the preaching of the gospel. So, the power of the Holy Spirit is absolutely indispensable to the work. Now let me speak at a personal level. I have a hard time, as a sinner, I have a hard time being a witness for Jesus. I don't do it well, I would say there's lots of problems going on. The central issue is I favor myself above all the other people in a very sinful way. I have a fleshly protection of self where if anything causes me pain or difficulty or hardship in any way, I tend to avoid it, the path of least resistance. I tend to be the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan that walks by the man bleeding by the side of the road, and I don't really care.

Well in this case, when it comes to the gospel, we're talking about a kind of a spiritual man bleeding by the side of the road. We're talking about an individual who's on his or her way to hell, and I'm walking by on the other side of the road, and I don't really care. And the only thing that's going to change that is the power of the Spirit in my life. As Paul will say later in this very same book, "And now compelled by the Spirit, I'm going to Jerusalem not knowing what will happen to me there" (Acts 20:22). And so the idea is what does that compulsion of the Spirit? It's the Spirit has a powerful hold on us and makes us be witnesses, makes us courageously risk things for the gospel. He is at work in weak people like you or me. The Holy Spirit comes upon us.

"The Spirit has a powerful hold on us and makes us be witnesses, makes us courageously risk things for the gospel. He is at work in weak people like you or me. The Holy Spirit comes upon us."

And again, I want to say that this is not just once. That are fresh waves and effusions of the power of the Spirit that have come on the church again and again in church history, moving them along to the next quantum leap in gospel advance. And so also individually, fresh pulses and waves of the Spirit come upon us when we've had a good quiet time. Or when we are walking with the Lord, and we are moved strongly to go talk to somebody at an airport or at a restaurant or a coworker. The Holy Spirit has come upon us, and he gives us words to say. This is indispensable. There's so much more I could say about this, but this is vital. I feel like as we think about our local church and the desire we have to be more fruitful evangelists, this is essential. We need to pray that the Spirit would be poured out on us from high in great power, enabling us to be witnesses for Jesus.

Wes

Let's focus on that word witness for just a moment. So, verse 8 begins with this promise of power and then it transitions in the second part of the verse to the idea of the disciples being witnesses. What does it mean to be a witness for Christ? And what are the similarities and differences between the witnessing of the early church and our witnessing for Christ today?

Andy

Alright, so I think the first kind of simplest sense of witnesses is like a court trial and evidence being given, anecdotal testimony saying, I saw this happened. I saw this occur. And so, you think about the Ten Commandments, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. I've always thought of that as in terms of a court trial. And you are officially lying about your neighbor to the end that the law would bring down repercussions, even the death penalty. And so that's the idea of a witness at court trial. So, to some degree, there's an image here, a metaphor of the world sitting in judgment on Christ, interestingly. And we are being called to testify to the truth of Christ as the son of God, as the King, as the Savior. And the world is kind of sitting on its judgment seat, stroking its chin, trying to decide what to do.

Or in that case then maybe the world isn't necessarily a judge, but the world is a jury and they're trying to decide the truth of this or that matter. So, they're listening to testimonies and the disciples, the first generation were eyewitnesses of his glory. So, in other words, they specifically saw Jesus from the beginning of John's ministry. They're going to say later than the same chapter. That's what you had to be to be an apostle. They saw Jesus from the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist. They saw through his teaching Sermon on the Mount, feeding the 5,000, walking on water, all of those things which now make up the first four books of the New Testament. They are eyewitness accounts. So, to some degree this is specifically for them, you are my witnesses. But then through their writings, we then are witnesses to testify in a secondary sense to the initial primary eyewitnesses who saw Jesus and heard his words and touched him like Thomas touching the wounds. (I don't know if they actually did go through with it.) He just knew that Jesus was raised. But we then are witnesses to the witnesses, and we say, you need to read this book, the Gospel of Mark. It'll tell you about the facts of Jesus' life. Or the Gospel of Luke. We need to read this together. We then become witnesses, and we're also finally testifying to what God's done in our lives. The Holy Spirit has come upon me. I'm a changed man. I once was this and now I'm that. And the same power can work in your life. I'm testifying to the power of God through Christ and through the Holy Spirit in my life. You need to join me in faith in Christ. So that's what witnesses means to me.

Wes

That's an amazing connection as we think about what it means for us to be witnesses, witnessing both by the power of the Spirit and to the power of the Spirit to transform and change us and apply that salvation that Christ accomplished. As we look at the last three verses of this chapter, I want to begin by asking what happened after Christ's last word in Acts 1 and what can we learn from Jesus' chosen way of leaving this world?

Andy

Well, "after he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes and a cloud hid him from their sight," just probably other than walking on water. But it's comparable. I would say it's more spectacular than anything else Jesus ever did. Visually spectacular. I mean it's amazing- just defying the laws of gravity and floating higher and higher and higher and getting just in the laws of visual perspective, smaller and smaller until finally he was gone. And a cloud it said, hid him from their sight. Now the author to Hebrews picks up the journey, and he passed through the heavens until he was higher than the heavens. So, he goes through heavenly realms into a realm that only God can occupy. He's above the heavens sitting at the right hand of Almighty God. So, he's seated there. Now this doesn't say that, but that's where he is going. He's moving through the heavenly realms, through the physical sky and then through that doorway to some degree, into the spiritual realms, and then above all those, until he sat down at the right hand of Almighty God.

Wes

How does the apostles’ posture, they're continuing to gaze up at the clouds, represent the church's heart attitude toward the second coming? And why was their physical posture inappropriate given the command that they had just received in verse 8?

Andy

Well, I think it was completely right for them to watch him go, but it's almost like they're waiting for him to come back right away. And it kind of reminds me of that school of prophets that was speaking to Elisha after Elijah was taken up to heaven in the chariot of fire. And they're like, well, let's go look for him. Go find. It's like, Elisha's like, no, don't do it.

Wes

This is not a big game of hide-n-seek.

Andy

No, he's gone.

Wes

He's gone. We're not trying to go find him.

Andy

I'm telling you, he's gone. So, the angels have that job to do to come down and say that. But basically, it was reasonable for them to watch him go, but it was unreasonable for them to stand there waiting and looking intently for him. And so, they're looking up for him. And that posture also, it brings a sense of realism. There are these little quirky human moments in the Bible that then these folks are craning their necks to see something that they're never going to see. It's done now. And then the angels have to come and say it's time to go back and resume your life. So, it just makes it real. It makes it feel real. And then these two men in white, now it doesn't say that they're angels, but this is how it frequently is. You get the same thing in the Book of Daniel where you read this account and in Daniel 12 for example, there's a man sitting above the river like the Tigris or Euphrates, I don't remember, but he's above the river of Babylon and or standing kind of midway through and it's like, all right, that's an angel. It's like there's

Wes

Certainly no man, there's-

Andy

No human able to do that. So suddenly two men dressed in white, and you get this also at the empty tomb in John's gospel, two young men in white. So, these are angels, and they bring this message, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky?" So, the time for that's done. "The same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you've seen him go into heaven." That's a clear prediction of the very thing Jesus had said many times of the second coming. And so they are, it's time for them to go back in and prepare to be witnesses through Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth.

Wes

There's so much wrapped up in these first 11 verses of: promise of power to be faithful witnesses, Christ's ascension, and then also the promise of his return, much to be encouraged by and a phenomenal way to begin our journey through the Book of Acts. Andy, is there anything else we need to say about the way that Acts 1:8 gives us a sort of outline for the rest of this narrative? Or what final thoughts do you have for us as we begin this journey?

Andy

Right. So, Acts 1:8 stands over me and us and every Christian every day of our lives. Because here's the thing, we get the geographical extent of the gospel here in Acts 1:8 very clearly from Jerusalem through Jude and Samaria to the ends of the earth. That's every square inch of the earth. The chronological you get in Matthew 28:20, "Surely I will be with you always, even to the end of the age." And so, in every generation and to the ends of the earth, to the end of time and to the ends of the earth, that's our responsibility. Now, the apostles died, and their time is over, and yet here the scriptures are still testifying to us.

It's almost like a relay race. It's our turn around the track. Now we've got the baton, and we need to be faithful. And yet we are so frequently unfaithful, we're so frequently cowardly and selfish and self-focused and unbelieving. And so, we need to go back again and again to Acts 1:8. And as spiritual beggars say, God, give me power today. I want to be a witness for you today. So, I would commend to all of our listeners and to us that we would pray regularly, "God, make me a witness today to someone concerning Christ. Give me power through the Holy Spirit." And the thing about the power of the Spirit, we need to keep in mind as we saw in 1 Corinthians 2:3 and studied there, Paul says, in his preaching in Corinth, "I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling so that my preaching might be not a display of human power, but of the power of the Holy Spirit." So, the Spirit can come upon you, and you preach in weakness, fear, and much trembling. So, it's like, well, how is that the Spirit? You did it. You were faithful, you were bold, and people heard the gospel, and they weren't impressed with you. So well done. And so, I would say ask the Holy Spirit to come on you and make you a witness in ways you've never been before.

Wes

Well, this has been episode one in our Acts Bible study podcast, and we want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 2 entitled In the Upper Room where we'll continue our discussion of Acts 1, looking at verses 12-26. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.