The Acts of the
Apostles is the continuation of the manifestation of Jesus in the lives
of the early believers. It is the story of the risen Christ at work
among his disciples. God was
dwelling among men through His Holy Spirit. Through the
quickening power of the Spirit of God, Jesus Christ Himself was the force at work in the
dispersion of the gospel to the known world of the first century.
The understanding of
Luke’s second treatise is built upon the revelation of Jesus Christ as
recorded in Luke’s first treatise, the Gospel of Luke. 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).
The Acts of the Apostles is the story of the acts of Jesus, not in His
earthly life, but through the lives of the apostles.
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.
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