In the history of the early followers of
Christ, a phenomenal event in the life of Jesus is recorded for all the ages
to come. Jesus had been speaking to His disciples. When He had finished His
instructions, "while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received
him out of their sight" (Acts of the Apostles 1:9).
As they "looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men
stood by them in white apparel" (1:10). These two men had a profound
message for the disciples. They 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:
(1:11). The two men predicted that Jesus would come back the same way He
ascended.
The context of the ascension of Jesus and His predicted returned is
extremely important in grasping the meaning of this "angelic" announcement
to the disciples. The background to their statements begins with a reference
back to the earthly life of Jesus. In reality, the entire book of the Acts
of the Apostles continues from what "all that Jesus began both to do
and teach" during His earthly ministry (Acts of the Apostles 1:1).
As Jesus began His earthly ministry, He entered into the synagogue at
Nazareth. He was given the book of the prophet Isaiah to read. He found the
following passage, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the
brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the
acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:18,19). He calmly said, "this
day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears" (Luke 4:21).
It was the acceptable time. Jesus began preaching the kingdom of God had
come. This proclamation of the kingdom of God was the essence of both the
ministry of Jesus (Luke 4:43) and the ministry of the Acts of the Apostles
(Acts of the Apostles 28:31).
It was a strange message in the light of the understanding of the time, in
deed, in the light of man’s understanding of every generation. Jesus
proclaimed that the "kingdom of God cometh not with observation . . .
for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20,21). The
kingdom of God could not be seen with the eyes of man. Man could see the
results of it but could not see or produce the power to perform as kingdom
saints.
The essence of the message of Jesus and the apostles in the Acts of the
Apostles was centered upon what God does for man. The message that was
prevalent in the time of Jesus, however, was focused upon what man does for
God. The people of God, before the preaching of Jesus, were consumed with
the teaching of the Pharisees. They who "trusted in themselves that
they were righteous" (Luke 18:9) preached a message of self-effort as
the way to God. Jesus, however, preached a message of God’s effort to man,
the kingdom of God is within you.
Jesus simply stated, "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose
it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it" (Luke 17:33).
He said of His own life and His own ministry, "Believest thou not that
I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I
speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the
works" (John 14:10). Again, He said, ". . . the living Father hath
sent me, and I live by the Father . . ." (John 6:57).
Jesus did not live His life in an attempt to do what the Father wanted Him
to do. The Father actually lived in and through Jesus. The Father did His
own will in and through the Son (John 6:38).
For example, Luke recorded, "The former treatise have I made, O
Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 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" (Acts of the
Apostles 1:1,2). Jesus did not give commandments to the apostles by His own
effort or being. It was not Jesus in Himself that was giving the
commandments. It was the Father through His Spirit by the mouth of Jesus
speaking the words of the commandments to the apostles.
Just as the Father had sent the Son and the Son lived by the Father, the
Acts of the Apostles documents the history of the early believers not only
being sent by the Son but the believers living by the Son as well (John
6:57). In the key verse of the Acts of the Apostles both aspects of being
sent by the Son and the power to live through the Son is stated: "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" (Acts of the
Apostles 1:8). They were being told that they would go and through what
power they would live.
The context of this statement of Jesus reveals not only the issue of the
primitive church but the issue of life for every generation of believers.
The context speaks of the resurrection of the Jesus, and "the things
pertaining to the kingdom of God" (Acts of the Apostles 1:3). Both the
resurrection of the dead and the kingdom of God address the same issue of
how man is to experience life.
When this issue is understood, it is not so surprising that it is also the
issue of the Garden of Eden (Genesis. 3:1-5), the issue of the Children of
Israel going into their promised land (Deuteronomy 1:22-46), and the issue
of every generation of believers (Galatians 5:16-26). The issue for man has
always been and will always be where he attempts to live his life.
The fact that man has always struggled to understand how he was and is to
experience life is illustrated in the opening verses of the Acts of the
Apostles. Jesus spoke of things pertaining to the kingdom of God and that
the early believers would soon be baptized with the Holy Spirit. They, in
turn, asked Jesus, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the
kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6). Being physical creatures, they just
automatic assumed that the kingdom of God would be a physical kingdom.
Because man experiences his life in this earthly realm, in his earthly body,
he continually wavers in his perception that the life of God is only by the
Spirit of God in the invisible kingdom of God. Man constantly struggles to
understand Jesus’ statement that the believer is in the world but not of
the world: "And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the
world . . . I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world" (John 17:11,15,16).
Man faces conflict continually when he does not understand the real issue of
life: "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do
the things that ye would" (Galatians 5:17). Failing to grasp the
message of Jesus, man consistently attempts to set up an earthly kingdom by
his own fleshly means. He keeps forgetting that life is only of the kingdom
of God and by the Spirit of God. The promise of the Father, as proclaimed by
the Son, was that the Spirit of God would come into man’s life and
overwhelm him to take him where he would not and could not go himself (Acts
of the Apostles 1:4,5).
Jesus not only taught this mystery of life He experienced the mystery. As
Luke wrote, Jesus "showed himself alive after his passion" (Acts
of the Apostles 1:3). The mystery of being "alive after his
passion" was what Jesus meant when He said, "Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth
alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life
shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto
life eternal" (John 12:24,25). The kingdom of God and life in the
Spirit only occur as the kingdom of man and the works of the flesh are
continually falling into the ground, continually dying off.
The very beginning of the Acts of the Apostles illustrates this principles
when Luke recorded "he [Jesus] was taken up" and "he [Jesus]
through the Holy Ghost had given commandments" (Acts of the Apostles
1:2). He did not ascend nor speak in His own power. The Father raised Him
and the Holy Spirit empowered him. This is the mystery of being "alive
after his passion."
This is also the mystery of being baptized with the Holy Spirit. Concerning
this baptism, Jesus said it was "the promise of the Father, which . . .
ye have heard of me" (Acts of the Apostles 1:4). It is in John’s
gospel that the record is given where Jesus told His disciples of the
"promise of the Father."
The record began with Jesus stating "Little children, yet a little
while I am with you . . . Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but
thou shalt follow me afterwards" (John 13:33,36). Peter responded,
"Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy
sake" (13:37). Little did Peter realize that he was actually referring
to his kingdom (what he would do for God) and his fleshly deeds (what he
would do in the power of his own might).
At this point of time, Peter did not understand the kingdom of God and the
empowering of the Holy Spirit. He was still struggling to do a great deed
for God by his own power. It would be yet for another day until Peter would
"stretch forth [his] hands, and another [would] gird [him], and carry
[him] whither [he] wouldest not" (John 21:18).
Peter would eventually get where he wanted to go, but he would do so only by
the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would gird him and take him
where he could not and would not go himself. He would become baptized by the
Holy Spirit. His life would be empowered not by his efforts but by the Holy
Spirit.
Before this empowerment could occur in Peter, however, Jesus had to first go
and make it possible for Peter to come and take up his residence in the
power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to Peter, after Peter was told that he
would deny Jesus three times,
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God,
believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions [literal
meaning, "a staying, i.e. residence"]: if it were not so, I
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also "(John 14:2,3).
The death, resurrection, ascension, and return of Jesus
back into Peter’s life would eventually enable Peter to be taken to the
place where he could live in the Spirit of God.
Near the end of this lengthy discourse of Jesus, He revealed the exact place
where Peter would be taken and the consequences of abiding (same word
translated mansion in John 14:2 is translated abide in John
15:1-10) in the place prepared for him. Jesus said, "Ye have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring
forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask
of the Father in my name, he may give it you" (John 15:16). It is the
secret and mystery of life.
Jesus told His disciples that He had chosen them and ordained
them. With ordained meaning "to place (. . . in a passive and
horizontal posture), Jesus is stating that He will take them to a place that
is totally passive and horizontal as opposed to upright and active. He is
revealing the secret of experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit.
In addition to being in a passive and horizontal posture, the disciples will
also go. With go meaning "to lead under, i.e. withdraw or
retire (as if sinking out of sight)," Jesus is again revealing how the
disciples would experience the power of living in the life of the Spirit.
Jesus will take the disciples down to a passive, horizontal posture that
will cause them to sink entirely out of sight.
When the disciples are taken to their "passion" (the dying off of
their fleshly effort), they will then experience the resurrected life of
Christ. The disciples will not be seen but Christ will be manifested in
their lives. The Acts of the Apostles is the story of Jesus being manifested
in and through the apostles.
Jesus taking the disciples down (just as the Father took Jesus down) by the
Holy Spirit that He might become prominent in their lives is what it means
to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that He must go and prepare
a place for the disciples. Then, He said to them, "I will come again,
and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also"
(John 14:3). He added, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come
to you" (John 14:18). Finally, He said, ". . . we [the Father and
the Son] will come unto [you], and make our abode with [you]" (John
14:23). With abode of John 14:23 and mansions of John 14:2
being translated from the exact same original word, Jesus is revealing in
this lengthy discourse the secret and mystery of life: Jesus is to be
manifested in the lives of the believers by the power of the indwelling Holy
Spirit.
After Jesus commanded the disciples not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait
for the promise of the Father, ". . . he was taken up; and a cloud
received him out of their sight" (Acts of the Apostles 1:9). As they
saw Him ascending into heaven and a cloud eventually prohibiting them from
seeing Him, they still continued to gaze intently into heaven. Even though
Jesus had told them earlier that what they were now witnessing would occur
(John 6:62), they, as all men probably would, seemed to be dazed by what had
occurred.
Two men standing "by them in white apparel" said unto them,
"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" (Acts of the Apostles 1:11). Jesus
had been taken from them into heaven by the Heavenly Father. Jesus would
come back to them, sent by the Heavenly Father from heaven.
Just a few short days after the apostles saw Jesus ascending into heaven,
they were gathered together in an upper room. "And suddenly
there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled
all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven
tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all
filled with the Holy Ghost . . ." (Acts of the Apostles 4:2-4). Jesus
had returned to them, and now, through the baptism of Holy Spirit, He would
be the presence and source of life within them. He would be the essence of
their All in all. As He said, "because I live, ye shall live
also" (John 14:19).
On the first Feast of Pentecost after the death of Jesus on the cross,
Christ would become the manifestation of their lives. He had returned to
them the same way as He had been taken from them. The Father had taken
Him up and the Father had sent Him down.
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