1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
The eleven apostles had returned from “the mountain where Jesus had told them to go” in Galilee where they received the great commission, Matthew 28:16-20. Luke in Acts chapter one tells us that the eleven apostles are now in Jerusalem.
Luke gives us a very brief account of what Jesus said to the eleven apostles over a period of forty days, “He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”, (ver. 3b). Of the three things Luke tells us what Jesus said to them, one is answering a question but the other two are about the same subject, the baptism or coming of the Holy Spirit on them. Why does Luke specifically focus on only one topic that Jesus spoke about during this forty-day period? Surely Jesus spoke about other things when He spoke to them “about the kingdom of God”. But why was what Jesus said about the baptism of the Holy Spirit more important anything else that He told them during this period of time? The answer is what we read throughout the book of Acts about the lives and ministry of those who had experienced the reality of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. However, just as important, we see the continuation of what has resulted since Acts throughout the centuries in the lives of those who have claimed and experienced this promise in their relationship with Jesus.
4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
It is interesting that Luke tells us what Jesus told the apostles in verse four was a “command”, “Do not leave Jerusalem”. Jesus knew the importance of what was to come for the eleven and others if they did not leave the city. That is why He told them that they had to “wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.” There are two points to how Jesus describes what they were to “wait for”.
First, Jesus tells them, “the gift my Father promised”. Did the apostles know how they were going to be changed forever once they received the gift? We have the advantage of reading what Luke wrote of about what Peter said in his sermon in the next chapter, Acts 2:17-21.
What Jesus was referring to when he said, “the gift my Father promised”, many Bible scholars believe it was what Peter quoted in Joel 2:28-32 which was God speaking through the prophet Joel. It is important that we do not overlook the fact that what they all were going to receive was promised by God hundreds of years before it happened. Also please note, only the New International Version of the Bible inserts the word “gift” which is not in the original Greek manuscripts or used in most other translations of the Bible. However, it is interesting that Peter in later verses refers to God’s promise as a gift, Acts 2:38, 10:45 and 11:17.
The second point was about the baptism of the Holy Spirit that they were going to receive. Jesus had previously spoken to them about it in the following verses.
John 7:38-39, 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
John 14:16-17, “16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.”
John 14:26, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name…”
John 15:26, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father…”
6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
On another occasion the apostles asked Jesus a question that was important to them, it was from the basis that, for centuries all Jews were waiting for the restoration of God’s kingdom. But it is clearly seen that Jesus answers their question in one sentence, they were not to know when this was going to take place. However, in verse eight Jesus redirects the subject of their conversation to a more important matter, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
There many important issues and questions of our life that we think are important and that we would like Jesus to answer for us. But as with the apostles, are we asking questions that we really do not need to ask or that Jesus does not think it is important for us to know the answers? Are we asking the right questions for our lives that Jesus wants us to ask and to know the answers? Are we asking Jesus questions of how to be the man or woman He created us to be in Him and to do what He wants us to do where He has placed us to do it?
For the apostles Jesus wanted them to be His witness not only where they lived in Jerusalem, but being His witnesses everywhere in between where they were at and “to the ends of the earth.” What Jesus wanted the eleven apostles to focus on was the Holy Spirit in their lives and what the purpose was and what would be the results where they went.
Our daily prayers it should always include asking Jesus that the Holy Spirit would always teach us to be who God created us to be in Christ Jesus where ever that may be.
Pastor John
Colossians 3:10-11
“…and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him — 11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.”
Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
