The Acts of the Apostles
Chapter 1

As if to start another paragraph of the same letter to Theophilus, Luke continued on from what we know of as the Gospel of Luke, and now we are entering into the Book of Acts – or the Acts of the Apostles.

The Time of the Omer

He is writing about the time frame in between the Feast of Passover and the Feast of Pentecost right after Jesus was crucified, buried, and God resurrected Him from the dead.  We are in what is known as the "Time of the Omer."  These 50 days in between the Feasts of Passover and Pentecost was a quiet time in Jerusalem because most of those in attendance at the Feast of Passover had left to go home to plant their crops, and depending on the crop grown, would determine whether they would be bringing back their first-fruit at the Feast of Pentecost 50 days later.  During this time of the Omer. Jesus, in His resurrected state, taught His disciples things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

So let's begin the Book of Acts, Chapter 1

The Kingdom of God

Acts 1:1  The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, ² until the day in which He was taken up, after He, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, ³ to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by man infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.  NKJV

As Luke begins to write about Jesus, he is reminding Theophilus of all he wrote concerning Jesus previously, in what we know of as the Gospel of Luke and now continues to tell about Him.  We need to be reminded from 1 Cor 15:6-8  that upon Jesus' resurrection, He was seen by over 500 brethren during those 40 of the 50 days of the Time of the Omer as witnesses of His resurrection.  It was during this time that Jesus taught and stressed to His apostles regarding the Kingdom of God.  Since Jesus had spent three years teaching on the Kingdom of God, why then was it necessary for Jesus to teach His disciples about the Kingdom of God during this time of His resurrection?  Let's dig into that!

The kingdom of God was not an Old Testament term, but prophesied many times in the writings of the Scriptures (Old Testament) of the coming of the Messiah. Emphatically, Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God is not as a physical location but a new relationship with God, through His Son Jesus, based on all that Jesus had done for the sins of mankind.

• In all four gospels, John the Baptist announced the Kingdom of God was at hand.  The Kingdom of God was a person, not a place.  All that Jesus said and did was related to the Kingdom of God.   Jesus died for the sins of mankind, and God rose Him from the dead so we can be free from our sins.  Jesus is now the King of kings and the Lord of lords.  And we, as His Body of believers are all part of the Kingdom of God because of our relationship with Jesus.
• Jesus' Kingdom is one that will never pass away, but will reign forever.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about the Kingdom of God.  Jesus taught it over and over to His disciples for three years, and now in these last days of the Omer, Jesus was re-iterating it and giving them command to go preach the Kingdom of God.  He was about to ascended back to His Father in heaven and they have to know their assignment.

The Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Israel?

⁴ And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; ⁵ for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” ⁶ Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 

^{So then, after all that Jesus had left them with His teachings on the Kingdom of God, both in His three years of ministry while alive on the earth and during the 40 days in His resurrected state, they now, just as He is ready to ascend back to His Father in Heaven come out with the question, “Lord will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?} 

⁷ And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

⁸ But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Jesus didn't scold them, but gently and firmly told them that they were not to know the timing on that, but instead, they would be receiving power when the Holy Spirit would come upon them...in a few days.

Do you think they understood what Jesus was saying…that they would be receiving power when the Holy Spirit would come upon them…in a few days.  Were they expecting this power to be physical so they could fight the Romans themselves, or was it a spiritual power?  And what was the purpose for this power?  Jesus tells us here – that power from the Holy Spirit was to give them power to be witnesses for Him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and wherever they went – to the ends of the earth.

• Power to spread the Kingdom of God wherever they went.
• Power to advance the Kingdom of God by sharing the Gospel message wherever.
• The Holy Spirit would come upon them and give them this power.

Jesus' Ascension

⁹ Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. ¹⁰ And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, ¹¹ who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Their conquering warrior, the one whom they were counting on to free Israel from the Romans had just disappeared up into heaven.   Any thoughts of Him conquering over Rome to free Israel also went up into the clouds.  Then two angels appeared stating Jesus will come back in the same way He just left them.

Not only were they confused when Jesus told them He would not be conquering over Rome at this time, and they were not to know when that time would be, but now He now rises in the air – up into the clouds and disappears out of sight.  Were they thinking all was lost?  But then, Jesus said they would receive power in a few days – just go to Jerusalem and wait.  That power is meant to tell people about Jesus – to spread the Kingdom of God wherever they went.  And now these angels are telling us that Jesus will come again just as they saw Him arise up into heaven.  I’m sure with mouth hanging open they left that scene to go wait for that power?

Back to Jerusalem

So down the Mount of Olives they walked, across the Kidron Valley and up to Jerusalem, which was on Mt. Zion.  This scene is the same scene I witnessed from Mount of Olives looking across the Kidron Valley up to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.  This journey was about a Sabbath’s days journey.

A Sabbath's Days Journey is about 2/3 of a mile.  If a Jew walked any futher than 2/3 of a mile on the Sabbath,
it would be considered work and against the Law of Moses.  Jews always rested on the Sabbath.

Now it does not say that Jesus ascended into heaven on the Sabbath; the point here was giving a distance of where Jesus ascended into heaven from Jerusalem, which was about a Sabbath's Journey's away - 2/3rd of a mile.

Jesus' ascension day was 40 days following His resurrection day (Sunday)

As the apostles entered into Jerusalem, they went to a large house that had an upper room.  This apparently had been a place where the apostles and the disciples had met many times while Jesus was with them in His resurrected state.  It could even have been the place of the Last Supper before Jesus' death. This we don’t know.  The disciples, Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the Son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James…all 11 apostles of Jesus – minus Judas Iscariot who had betrayed Jesus and had hung himself.  Among them were also many women, including Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the earthly brothers of Jesus – of which there were four brothers.  We’ll read later in this chapter where there were 120 of them in that upper room.

They all went to prayer, confused, but so desiring to know what was going on, and to wait for that power that Jesus had promised would happen in a few days.

Peter - the Leader

¹⁵ And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said, ¹⁶ “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; ¹⁷ for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.”

Peter remembered how Jesus had told him that he was to lead the people to build His church (Matt 16:18).  It was now time for him to take over his leadership position.  Peter stood up in their midst and told the people how Scripture must be fulfilled, which was given 1000 years earlier by King David concerning Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus.  Just think…the Holy Spirit of God had anointed King David to prophesy 1000 years earlier what would happen to the one who would betray their coming Messiah.  Judas had led Roman soldiers, who the Sanhedrin Council had given blood money to Judas to betray Jesus, and Judas brought the soldiers right to Jesus to have Him arrested.

¹⁸ (Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out. ¹⁹ And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood.)

Thirty pieces of silver was the price Judas was given for betraying Jesus.  His sin, however, had become so intensely repulsive to him to where he could no longer live with that guilt.  He tried to return the money, throwing it on the floor, but the Sanhedrin called it blood money and would not take it back.  Judas so despondent, went out and hung himself from a high tree whose branches reached out over a low field.  Since the Sanhedrin Council refused to put that blood money back in their treasury, they instead bought the field in which Judas hung himself, calling it Potters field, as a burial place for strangers.  Matthew and Luke both given a slightly different view of Judas’ hanging; however, we can put them together to come up with what could have easily happened to Judas.  Upon rushing out to hang himself on a branch of a tree, as his body decomposed, his bowels eventually burst open, falling to the ground.

²⁰ “For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘Let his dwelling place be desolate, And let no one live in it’; and, ‘Let another take his office.’

King David had prophesied in Ps 41:9, Ps 69:25; Ps 109:8 that this place in which Judas’ body fell should become desolate where no one would live in it.  It would become forsaken land.

A Disciples Versus An Apostle

²¹ “Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²² beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” ²³ And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. ²⁴ And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen ²⁵ to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.”

I think we need to look at the difference between an apostle and a disciple of Jesus.  A disciple was and is a follower of Jesus Christ, believing and trusting in Him as Lord and Savior.  An apostle on the other hand was not only a follower of Jesus, believing and trusting in Him as Lord and Savior, but was with Him from the very beginning = from the baptism of John the Baptist, was with Him throughout His earthly ministry, and was a witness to His resurrection.  Out of the 120 followers of Jesus, only two men filled that requirement.  Joseph called Barsabas, also named Justus and Matthias.

When these two men were selected, the people went to prayer…praying  "Lord, you know the hearts of all men – you know the hearts of each of these men.  This is a grave responsibility.  Show us who you want to fill that position of your apostle."

Casting of Lots

 ²⁶ And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Why did they cast lots to choose between Matthias and Barsabas?  The casting of lots went all the way back to the time of the setting up of the Law of Moses.  The high priest had sewn in a pouch over his heart two stones with writings upon them – the Urim and the Thummim as they were called.  When they needed to make a decision, they cast lots to see which stone was chosen.  While this seems very archaic, there was another very good reason why this was done.  In the Old Testament, the only way they heard from God was through a prophet.  When there was no prophet, and the Israelite people needed to hear from God, they went to the high priest who would then cast lots to hear from God.

Under the New Covenant, believers have the indwelling Holy Spirit to teach us truth.  He speaks to us – we hear from Him  The Holy Spirit is God.  For these apostles and disciples, the Holy Spirit had not come just yet. They were still waiting for Him.  There was no prophet to speak on behalf on God, So they were left with no choice but to cast lots.  They cast their lots, and it fell upon Matthias.  Matthias ended up being the 12^th apostle of Jesus Christ, the one who replaced Judas of Iscariot.  The scriptures do not speak of Matthias again; however, history shows us that Matthias went on to serve Jesus well until his death by martyrdom, many saying he was stoned to death and then beheaded.

So we end chapter 1.

 

Click here for Acts  -Chapter 2

Pastor Joyce Erickson
Believersbibleschool.com