ACTS 1:1

The Bible says in Acts 1:1-2, “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.” The first thing that the writer of the Book of Acts mentions is a “former treatise.” Another book had already been written by this author. That book was the gospel according to Luke. The same author wrote in Luke 1:3-4, “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, That you might know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.”

The first book was written about the Christ in order to be a record of the things that Christ did in His life on the earth. The second book, the Book of Acts, is written about the apostles while they were on the earth in order to leave a record for all of us of what the apostles accomplished as they put into practice the teachings that Jesus gave them. The Book of Acts is addressed to a man named “Theophilus.” Literally the name means lover of God. If you love God, you will love the Word of God, and you will gladly hear these words that were written by Luke as he was used by the Spirit.

Notice that Luke said about the first book that he wrote, the Gospel of Luke, that it was about what Jesus “began both to do and to teach.” The works of Jesus did not stop when He died on the cross. The works of Jesus continued through the lives of the apostles, and they continue in our lives today. Jesus is alive and He continues to do His work. We call this book the Acts of the Apostles, but could just as easily call it the Acts of Jesus through the Apostles.

Notice that Acts 1:2 says that Jesus gave commandments to the apostles “through the Holy Ghost.” The Holy Spirit is going to play a key role in the book of Acts. This was a time of transition. The apostles were all born and raised Jews. Salvation came of the Jews, because Jesus was a Jew. Jesus changed things. He brought a greater revelation. John 1:17 says, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” One of the big differences between the Old Testament emphasis and the New Testament emphasis is the indwelling Holy Spirit, as well as the difference between law and grace.

When Jesus performed His ministry, He showed us how to do it, and He showed us that it could be done. Jesus lived as a man filled by and led by the Holy Spirit. During His ministry, Jesus told the apostles that they also would perform their ministries by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to the apostles in John 14:16-17, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but you know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” One of the things emphasized in the first few chapters of the book of Acts is the Holy Spirit, and how the Holy Spirit was first given to the apostles. Some people make a mistake in how they interpret these events because they forget that this was a transition period. These were things that happened to the apostles and their contemporaries, but they were not things that necessarily will happen to us. What will happen to us is the same as the circumstances that existed once the transition period came to a close.

Since the transitional period, when a Christian gets saved, the indwelling of the Spirit takes place from the moment of belief. That was not the case for the apostles. During the ministry of Jesus, they believed on Him, but they did not have the indwelling of the Spirit until the Spirit came to them at Pentecost. Once the transitional period ended, all believers become indwelled by the Spirit at the moment of salvation through believing in Jesus. First Corinthians 12:13 says, “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.”

Another very important point to keep in mind when looking at the book of Acts is the fact that not only was this a transitional period, but also this was a history of the acts of the apostles. When we read a history of the acts of Jesus, we are reading the history of a perfect individual: someone who did no wrong in any situation. That is not true with the apostles. They were not perfect. Just because the apostles did something does not mean we should do it. There are at least two events in the book of acts that are things that should not have been done. One is the casting of lots to choose a replacement for Judas Iscariot. God picked His own replacement: Saul of Tarsus. Perhaps Paul also made a mistake when he returned to Jerusalem, took a Jewish vow, and had his head shaved. The law has been done away with. In Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek. If the Lord brought you out of the law, you should not return to it. Of course, Paul was a Jew, and one can be a Jew and a Christian at the same time, as long as one believes that Jesus is the Messiah.

These are the things to look for as we study the book of Acts:

1. A history of the acts of the apostles.

2. A transition from being Jews living under the law to being Christians living under grace.

3. A uniting of Jew and Gentile in equal status under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

4. A discovery of the indwelling Spirit and the new principle of serving God: being empowered by the Spirit.

There are several mistakes and false doctrines that could have been avoided if Christians understood what to look for as they studied the Acts of the Apostles. Charismatics would not make some of their doctrinal errors if they better understood the book of Acts. Baptismal regenerationists would not make their major doctrinal error if they better understood the book of Acts. It is the doctrines of the apostles that we need to replicate, not their actions. Some of the things the apostles did because they lived in the first century. They would do different things if they lived in our century. They did what made sense at the time as they lived the lives of Jews in the Roman Empire. Paul said, “I am become all thing to all men, that I might by all means win some.”

The Bible says in Acts 1:3, “To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” Three things are mentioned about Jesus in this verse: His death, His resurrection, and His teachings. The death of Jesus on the cross is referred to by the word “passion.” Passion speaks of intense distress and suffering in the soul. The degree to which Jesus suffered must be staggering to our minds. He suffered for the sins of the world. But He did not stay dead. He rose from the dead. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, everything else would have been in vain. Our faith would be in vain without the resurrection.

When Jesus rose from the dead, He did not just appear one time. That would have made it too easy to dismiss the appearance as someone’s imagination. Jesus stayed on the earth for forty days after His resurrection so that He would be seen many times by the apostles and other believers and so that there would be no doubt. That is what Luke meant when he said that there were “many infallible proofs” that Jesus had been resurrected. The reason that the apostles were willing to do the things that we are going to read about in this book is because they knew that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. A very important important teaching in Christianity is the resurrection from the dead. Through Christ we have life after death. For believers in Jesus death is not the end. It is just the beginning. Do not cry for the dead in Christ: rejoice for them. They are in a much better place. They are with the Lord.

We are told that during those forty days Jesus spent the time “speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” In other words He did the same thing during the forty days that He did during the three years of His ministry: He taught the Word of God. There is nothing more important than teaching the Word of God about the Kingdom of God. The teaching of the Word of God is dying out in the land. It did not die out as long as Jesus was here on the earth, and will not die out as long as there are those like the apostles who go forth teaching the things that Jesus taught them.

Concerning Jesus, the Bible says in Acts 1:4-5, “And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which said he, you have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” Jesus had taught the disciples for three years, He had died for the sins of the world, and He had given the Great Commission. One would think that now it was time for the apostles to get busy and spread the Word throughout the world. But Jesus said “that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait.” Do not ever be in a hurry to do something before God’s time. Just because something is a good idea, does not mean that God wants you to do it now.

God always uses a prepared person for a prepared place. The apostles were not prepared yet. They lacked one thing: the Holy Spirit. Jesus referred to something that John the Baptist had said back at the start of the public ministry of Jesus. For example, in John 1:33 John the Baptist said, “And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost.” John baptized with water. Water cannot wash away sin. Water cannot empower a person to serve God. Water is a physical substance. Water has no spiritual quality to it. The water in baptism is symbolic. It symbolizes cleansing from sin. People who repented were cleansed from their sins because they repented. They were baptized with water as a symbolism after they repented. The water did not give cleansing from sin: God gave the cleansing from sin because the person repented of his or her sins.

There is something more important than baptism by water and that is baptism by the Spirit. Jesus is the only one who can give baptism by the Spirit. No one else can give it. No religious ceremony can give the baptism of the Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit had been promised to the apostles, but it had not yet happened. Without the Spirit the apostles would not be equipped to do the work of God or to spread the gospel. This was the transitional period in which Jesus was taking the apostles from Old Testament Judaism into New Testament Spirit-filled Christianity. And then through the day of Pentecost and a few other incidents similar to it, Jesus was showing the apostles the importance of the Spirit, and was showing the apostles that the work of God would now be done by human beings who believed in Him and who were filled and led by God’s Spirit. It was promised that the Spirit would come once Jesus left, and that promise was kept at the day of Pentecost.

But the apostles tried to change the subject. They still did not understand. The Bible says in Acts 1:6-7, “When they therefore were come together, they asked of him saying, Lord, will you at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in his own power.” This would not be the last time that believers were over-involved in seeking to understand things regarding prophesy that they should not be seeking. There is a time to study Bible prophecy, but there are many other times when more important things should be inquired about: especially the subject of how to be prepared to do the work of God.

Concerning future events, there are some things that God has revealed to us; but there are other things that He has not revealed. One of the things that God has not revealed is the exact time that certain prophetic events are going to take place. Jesus said to the apostles, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in his own power.” You can tell when someone is going off into dangerous territory when they make representations that they know when certain prophetic events are going to take place. Jesus might come back today, or He might not come back for another two thousand years or longer. We do not know because God has not revealed that to us. What God has revealed is that Jesus will come back. That is what is important. It is important that we look forward to the return of Christ, and that we realize that He might return any day even though we do not know which day it will be.

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