The book that many call the
Acts of the Apostles is the major historical account of the primitive
Christian period from a Christian point of view.
As the church spread from Jerusalem to Rome, this recorded history leaves
no question to the progress and development of the church. It was not the
product of human achievement, not even the efforts of a Peter or a Paul,
but the manifestation of Jesus Christ in the lives of the apostles. With its
many references to the Holy Spirit, the Acts of the Apostles reveals the development of
the
early movement of Christianity as being beyond the control of human endeavor. God was
manifesting Himself among the people.
The Acts of the
Apostles records the supernatural manifestation of Jesus in the lives of
the early followers of Jesus. There are
listed thirty-six definitely divine interventions: people are healed as
the shadow of Peter passes over them; Phillip is transposed from one
location to another; a young girl is raised from the dead; a man was made
blind because he was causing problems among the people; to name just a
few. In thirty years, there were over thirty-six recorded times where
Jesus manifested Himself in spectacular interventions of His divine power.
The early history of the church reveals six definite visions and five other
experiences that would be called visions today. Eleven times the
manifestation of Jesus in the lives of the people produced fresh, new, and
vital inspiration for their day: the visions of Cornelius, Peter, Ananias,
Paul and others. The people were being directed by God's intervention into
their lives.
Fourteen times the believers, as recorded in the
Acts of the Apostles, heard in an audible voice the voice of an angel of
the Lord. Seven times events occurred that could only be called
signs and wonders. Thirty six times in a thirty year period Jesus
was manifested in a spectacular superhuman way in ordinary human beings.
Although the wonder of the thirty-six marvelous miracles is astonishment
enough to keep us mystified, it is actually the ordinary daily
manifestation of Jesus that needs to be
emphasized. Perhaps, the most striking characteristic of the Acts of the
Apostles is the revelation of the extreme joyfulness that is seen in those
early Christians. As Peter would later say, the way of Christ is always
"joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Pet.1:8)
Their joy developed out of the experience and understanding of the work of
the risen Christ in their lives. As they knew Him, he was the Lord, the Christ, the servant of the
Father, the son of the Father, the Savior, the Prince of Life, the
Righteous One, and the Lord of all. The Acts of the Apostles is the record
of the manifestation of Jesus in and through His disciples, with the ultimate
characteristic of that manifestation being the joy of the Lord.
The Acts of the Apostles is the telling of the story of
the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ as it moved from Jerusalem, to
Judaea, to Samaria, and to the rest of the world. As the history unfolded from Jerusalem to Antioch, Peter
became the individual that would carry the story. When the gospel began
to spread outside of the nation of Israel, Paul then became the emphasis
of the preaching of the gospel.
Peter is in the forefront before and after Pentecost. It was
Peter taking the lead when he and John met the impotent man at the gate of
the Temple. Peter was the spokesman for the believers before the
Sanhedrin. Ananias and Sapphira were condemned by Peter when their
dishonesty was revealed to the church. Many people were healed as his
shadow passed over them. When he and John were sent to Samaria to confront
Simon the sorcerer, it was Peter who spoke and confronted the deceiver.
Through the gospel being manifested in his life, Dorcas was raised from
the dead and Aeneas was healed. It was Peter that was beckoned by
Cornelius to introduce the gospel to the Gentiles. He would later be the
spokesman to explain to the rest of the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem
that the opportunity of hearing the gospel was now open to the Gentiles.
Finally, this section of the Acts (chapters 1-12) ends with Peter being
miraculously delivered out of prison.
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