Acts 1:1-5
Sunday
Morning Bible Study
Introduction
The "Acts of
the Apostles" could rightly be called the "Acts of the Holy
Spirit", since it is a record of events that occurred in the early church,
through the work of the Holy Spirit.
It was written by
Doctor Luke, who wrote the gospel of Luke, and who carefully gathered eye
witness accounts of the various things he writes about.
It starts after the
resurrection of Jesus, just prior to His ascending to heaven, around AD 33. It
covers the birth and early days of the church in
In our study of this
book, we'll try to tie in some of the various letters from the apostles, to see
how they fit historically with the events of the book.
1:1-5 Wait for the promise
:1 The former treatise have I made
Referring to the
book we know as the "Gospel of Luke".
:1 O Theophilus
This is the same
person (or individuals) that Luke wrote his gospel to:
Lu 1:3
It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from
the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,
Who was Theophilus?
It has been
suggested that Theophilus may have been a Roman official, since the title
"most excellent" (Luke 1:3) was usually associated with this.
His name means
"lover of God".
:1 of all that Jesus began both to do
and teach
Note: "began"
Luke sees the
events in the gospels as only the beginning.
Now in the birth of
the church, we'll see even more of what Jesus will do and teach through the
work of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of the apostles and leaders.
Lesson:
Longing for the
"good 'ol days"
We can read of the
things in Acts and get kind of misty-eyed, wishing we lived back in those days.
But these were only
the beginnings of the church.
In a way, the book
of Acts isn't finished even yet, since the Holy Spirit is still working in the
church.
And in some ways,
many of the saints throughout history would have loved to trade places with us,
since it appears that we are the church that will witness the second coming of
Christ on the earth.
The best is yet
ahead!
:2 given commandments
He gave them
commandments like this:
Mt
28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
:3 after his passion
The word
"passion" refers to His suffering and death on the cross.
:3 by many infallible proofs,
We've talked much
over the last few weeks about how "reasonable" our faith is.
Its been said, "There
is more evidence that Jesus rose from the dead than there is that Julius Caesar
ever lived or that Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three."
Billy Graham (1918
)
If you'd like to
investigate this further, I'd encourage you to check out the tapes from John
19-20.
:3 being seen of them forty days
It interesting to
see how many events in Scripture are tied with "forty days" -
The flood was forty
days upon the earth (Gen. 7:4)
Two different
times, how long Moses was in the mount with God (Ex 24:18; 34:18)
The number of days
the spies were searching the
The number of days
Goliath presented himself to the armies of
The term of time
was given out by Jonah for the destruction of
How many days
Christ fasted, and was tempted in the wilderness. (Mat 4:2)
I know there are
different ideas as to what this number "forty" represents, but to me,
it seems to be a number of days that speak of a full amount of time, enough to
accomplish whatever job is being done.
The idea is that
Jesus gave a complete, full testimony to the disciples of His resurrection,
enough to make they were convinced that Jesus had rose from the dead.
Chronology check:
Jesus died on the
Passover, Friday the 14th of Nisan
He rose again on
the third day, which would have been Sunday the 16th of Nisan, and
the forty days would have started at that time.
During the forty
days, the apostles went from
:4 And, being assembled together with them,
Some of the ancient
manuscripts record "and ate with them".
That could be, it
seemed that after Jesus' resurrection, He spent plenty of time eating! Yum,
yum!
:4 that they should not depart from
It appears that they
are on the
(Acts
This is only about
a 1/4 of a mile east of the city of
:4 but wait for
Note the use of the
present active infinitive, "to keep on waiting around for".
Chronology calculation:
It's 50 days
between the feasts of Passover and Pentecost.
Jesus died on the
Passover, rose again three days later, then appeared to the apostles for a
period of 40 days.
Then from the time
that Jesus ascends to heaven, and the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost would
have been roughly 7-8 days.
They're going to be
waiting in
:4 the promise of the Father, which, saith
he, ye have heard of me.
Just a few weeks
ago, Jesus was telling the guys about the coming ministry of the Holy Spirit:
Joh
Joh
16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away:
for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I
will send him unto you.
And now Jesus is
telling them that within a few days, the promise will come.
:5 For John truly baptized with water
Jesus is going to
compare the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the baptism of John. To understand
one, you have to understand the other.
How did John the
Baptist baptize people?
The word used both
places is baptizo - to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of
vessels sunk); to overwhelm
John the Baptist
baptized people by immersing them in the Jordan River.
I don't think he
"sprinkled" them, first, because that isn't the meaning of baptizo,
but secondly, if he only sprinkled them, why do it in a river, why not carry
around a bucket of water?
:5 ye shall be baptized with the Holy
Ghost
Just as John
immersed people in water, the disciples would be immersed with the Holy Ghost,
in fact, it might be more proper to translate this as "baptized in
the Holy Ghost".
I think we need to
stop a second and look at the three kinds of relationships the Holy Spirit has
to people. These three kinds of relationships can be described by three
prepositions, "with" (Greek para),
"in" (en), and "upon" (epi).
We see two of them
being used by Jesus in:
Joh
14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that
he may abide with you for ever; 17 [Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world
cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him;
for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
1. With
When the Holy
Spirit is "with" us, He is along side of us to encourage us, comfort
us, and to convict us.
The Holy Spirit may
be doing these things in anybody's life, whether or not they are a believer.
2. In
When we receive
Jesus in our heart, the Holy Spirit comes to live "in" us.
A person who does
not have the Holy Spirit living "in" their heart cannot be a
Christian.
Rom.
8:9
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
3. Upon
When a person has
the Holy Spirit come "upon" them.
This goes hand in
hand with the power of God working dynamically in your life:
Ac 1:8
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.
This is what's
known as the "baptism" of the Holy Spirit, as we'll see later.
I think it's very
important to see how Luke uses several different terms to describe the baptism
of the Holy Spirit.
Q. What are some
of the different terms used to describe the "baptism of the Holy
Ghost"? (warning - I'm going to
give a lot of references, for the sake of the tape, for those of you who want
to go even more in depth in this).
1. "the
promise of the Father"
Ac 1:4
wait for the promise
of the Father, which, [saith he], ye have heard of me.
It's also used in Acts 2:33
2.
"baptized with the Holy Ghost"
Ac 1:5
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy
Ghost not many days hence.
Here in Acts 1:5;
11:16, also in Mat. 3:11; Mar. 1:8; Luk. 3:16.
3.
"filled" with the Holy Ghost
When the actual
event occurs, this is how Luke describes it -
(Acts
2:4 KJV) And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to
speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
The phrase occurs 6
times in Acts (2:4; 4:8; 4:31; 9:17; 13:9; 13:52)
4. The
"upon" phrases (Greek
"epi", seven occurrences in Acts)
The preposition
"upon" is used with several other words to describe either the Acts 2
event, or the baptism that took place at Cornelius' house.
"fell
upon"
In reference to the
Bible study at Cornelius' house:
(Acts
10:44 KJV) While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them
which heard the word. (Also Acts 11:15)
This is clearly the
same thing as Acts 2, because Peter says it is:
(Acts
11:15-16 KJV) And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at
the beginning. {16} Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he
said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy
Ghost.
"came
upon"
(Acts
1:8 KJV) But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon (epi) you: (Also in Acts 19:6)
"poured out
upon"
Found in Acts 2:17;
2:18; 10:45
5. "the
gift of the Holy Ghost"
Same Bible Study
with Peter, different phrase.
(Acts
10:45 KJV) And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many
as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift
of the Holy Ghost. (Also in Acts 2:38)
Q. Is the
"baptism of the Holy Spirit" what happens when you get saved?
Some would say that
the "baptism of the Holy Spirit" occurs when a person is saved and
the Holy Spirit comes into their life, and is a different thing from being
"filled" with the Holy Spirit.
They point to:
1Co
12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether [we be] Jews
or Gentiles, whether [we be] bond or free; and have been all made to drink into
one Spirit.
The Greek here is
similar, at least on the outset. The "by one Spirit" could be
translated "in one Spirit", and is the same Greek phrase as in Acts
1:5, except here, the translation works differently, because the context (1Cor.
12:7-11) shows us that it's the Spirit that's doing all the work, baptizing,
immersing us into the Body of Christ. This does occur at salvation.
The "baptism
of the Holy Spirit" mentioned in Acts 1,2 on the other hand is a
"baptism" done by Jesus (Mat. 3:11, Luk 3:16), and is immersing us in
the Holy Spirit. It's purpose is a little different, being that of giving us
power in ministry.
The ironic thing is
that people who hold this view often go on to say that though a person is
"baptized in the Holy Spirit" only once, a person can be
"filled" over and over again, quoting -
Eph
5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the
Spirit;
But hopefully
you've notice by now, that Luke makes no distinction between the
"baptism" and the "filling", but they're both the same.
We'll see in our
study of Acts that the baptism of the Holy Spirit may occur when a person is
saved, or later, and many times after that.
Caution:
I know I've made a
big deal trying to show you how the "baptism" is the same as the
"filling", but I do think that we need to be careful that we don't
make such a big deal with people that we turn them off.
If they're more
comfortable talking about the "filling" of the Holy Spirit, hey,
let's use that word.
Q. When were the
disciples "saved"?
This would be the
moment that the Holy Spirit came "in" to them, and though it might be
on the day of Pentecost, I wonder if their "conversion" came on that
Resurrection evening, when Jesus first appeared to them. They had been doubting
what the women had been telling them, but when Jesus appeared to them, they
believed, and Jesus, not coincidentally, "breathed" on them and said,
"Receive the Holy Spirit" (Joh 20:22), and the Holy Spirit came
"in" to them.
One last issue
Lesson:
If I want this
power of the Holy Spirit in my life, do I need to "wait" for it like
the apostles?
No.
Even though the
disciples were told here to "wait" for the Holy Spirit, this is the
only time we see the practice of "waiting".
In none of the
other occurrences of the "filling" of the Holy Spirit, do we see
"waiting" involved. For example -
When Peter went to
Cornelius' house, he didn't even get to finish his Bible Study, when he was
interrupted:
Ac
10:44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which
heard the word.
I think there needs
to be an element of faith involved with the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Too often the
filling of the Holy Spirit is tied so much to feeling oriented experiences.
God wants us to
trust His Word, not our experiences.
2Co 5:7
(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
We are to live our
lives by trusting Him, not our senses.
The Bible says that
if we ask God for something that is in His will for us, that we will have our
requests:
1Jo
5:14-15 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any
thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us,
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
Is it God's will
that we be filled with the Holy Spirit?
Yes. In Eph. 5:18,
we are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit!
I think that at
times we need to simply ask God to fill us, and because we know it's His will,
we need to assume that He has filled us, and to live our lives as if we have
been filled, because we have.
Lesson:
Does this mean
we don't have to wait anymore?
No. Here's where I think we've sold ourselves short in
our modern, instant, microwave fast Christianity.
I don't think it's
a matter of whether we should wait or not wait, we need to do both.
When I read of the
accounts of believers throughout church history, I read about how they often
placed great importance on "waiting" on the Lord.
When they would be
going through a spiritual struggle in their heart, they would go away and wait
on the Lord until they got it resolved.
Let me read some
Scriptures to you, and you tell me if we ought to be "waiting" on the
Lord:
Ps
27:14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine
heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
Ps
123:2 Behold, as the eyes of servants [look] unto the hand of their masters,
[and] as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes [wait]
upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
Ps
130:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
Isa
40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall
mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they
shall walk, and not faint.
Give God the time
He desires with you.
It's not that God
speaks slowly and has a hard time getting to the point, it's that we often have
a hard time receiving, and hearing His voice.
Illustration
A pilot shared this
experience he had flying his Cessna 172:
I flew over to
Pontiac one day that summer to see Eldon Huff. The ceiling was very low when I
started back, and once again clouds closed in on me. In trying to ease myself
below them, I lost control of the plane. It stalled, and I found myself in a
spin. I pulled back on the control yoke with all my might, But I couldn't budge
it. Plowed fields were whirling up toward me, and I realized there was nothing
left to do but pray. I released the controls, closed my eyes, and folded my
hands under my chin:
"Father in
Heaven, please help me" I began, and I felt a miraculous change take
place. The spinning stopped and suddenly the plane was flying level again.
Great advice when
we're in a tail spin: release the controls, close our eyes, and pray.
-- from Tom
Monaghan, Pizza Tiger, New York: Random House, 1986, p. 130.