Book of Acts (Bible in one year) - Jesus Taken Up into Heaven
By Rev. Katherine Liu Bruce
Christian Arts
Ministries: Biblical Precepts: Gospel music
The book of Acts - Introduction
Authorship
That the author of Acts was a
companion of Paul is clear from the passages in the book in which “we” and “us”
are used (16:10-17; 20:5-21:18; 27:1-28:16). These sections themselves eliminate
known companions of Paul other than Luke, and Colossians4:14 and Philemon 24
point affirmatively to Luke, who was a physician. The frequent use of medical
terms also substantiates this conclusion (1:3;9:18,33:13:11;28:1-10).Luke
answered the Macedonian call with Paul, was in charge of the work at Philippi
for about six years, and later was with Paul in Rome during the time of Paul’s
house arrest. It was probably during this last period that the book was
written. If it were written later it would be very difficult to explain the
absence of mention of such momentous events as the burning of Rome, the
martyrdom of Paul, or the destruction of Jerusalem.
Importance of the book:
1) Acts gives us the record of
the spread of Christianity from the coming of the Spirit on the day of
Pentecost to Paul’s arrival in Rome to preach the gospel in the world’s
capital. In this regard, then,, it is the record of the continuation of those
things that Jesus began while on earth and that He continued as the risen Head
of the Church and the One who sent the Holy Spirit (1:2;2:33). The book is
sometimes called The Acts of the Holy Spirit. 2) The thirty years covered by the book were
important years of transition. The gospel was preached first only to Jews, and
the early church was composed largely of Jewish believers. As more and more
Gentiles were included, the church became distinct from Judaism. 3) Doctrines that are later developed in the epistles appear in
seed form in Acts (the Spirit, 1:8; the kingdom, 3:21;15:16; elders,
11:30;Gentile salvation, 15:14). However, the book emphasizes the practice of
doctrine more than the statement of doctrine. 4) Acts furnishes principles for
missionary work. 5) The book reveals patterns for church life. 6) Archaeological
discoveries confirm in a remarkable way the historical accuracy of Luke’s
writing.
The contents
In the
first twelve chapters of the book the important figures are Peter, Stephen,
Philip, Barnabas, and James. From Chapter 13 to the end, the dominant person is
Paul. The book may also be divided according to the geographical divisions
mentioned in the Great Commission (1:8)
Scriptures reading Acts 1:1-11
Jesus Taken Up into Heaven
1In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about
all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2until the day he was taken up to heaven, after
giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had
chosen. 3After
his suffering, he presented himself to them 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. 4On 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. 5For
John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized
with the Holy Spirit.”
6Then they gathered around him and asked him,
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7He 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.” 9After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from
their sight. 10They were looking intently up into the sky as
he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11“Men of Galilee,” they said, “Why do you stand here looking into
the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come
back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Verse 1 my former book. The
gospel of Luke. Theophilus means “dear to God” or “friend of God.” He was
probably a Roman official, since the title “most excellent” (Luke1:3) indicates
an official position in Acts 23:26; 24:3;26:25). Forth days.(v.3)
The only reference to the length of Christ’s ministry on earth between His
resurrection and His ascension.
Verse 3 This was to train the disciples to practice
and enjoy the Lord’s invisible presence. The resurrected Christ dwelt in the
disciples, because He had breathed Himself as the Spirit into them on the day
of His resurrection (John20:22). His appearing does not mean that He had ever
left them; it simply means that He made His presence visible to them, training
them to realize and enjoy His invisible presence all the time. Forty days is a period of trial and testing. This
proves that the kingdom of God would be the main subject of the apostles’ preaching
in their commission that was to come after Pentecost
(8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23,31). It is not a material kingdom, visible to
human sight but a kingdom of the divine life. It is the spreading of Christ as
life to His believers to form a realm in which God rules in His life.
Verse 5 Baptized with the
Holy Spirit This promise was first fulfilled on the day of
Pentecost (11:15-16) and affects every believer by joining him to the body of Christ
(1Cor.12:13). This was accomplished in two sections (1) all the Jewish
believers were baptized in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (2:4). (2) All the Gentile believers were baptized
in the house of Cornelius. (10:44-47; 11:15-17). In these two sections all
genuine believers in Christ were baptized in the Holy Spirit into the one Body
of Christ once for all universally (1Cor.12:13).
Verse 6 the kingdom to
Israel. The messianic, Davidic, millennial
kingdom on earth; The time of its coming is unrevealed (Matt.24:36,42) for
which the apostles and other devout Jews were looking, was a material kingdom ,
unlike God’s kingdom of life, which is mentioned in v.3 and which Christ is building up through
the preaching of His gospel.
Verse 7 There is no rebuke in Christ’s answer, for
God is not through with Israel, and the kingdom will eventually come (Rom.11:26). In the meantime the gospel must
be preached throughout the whole world (Acts.1:8)
Verse 8 Receive power…upon you this
is to be baptized in the Holy Spirit (v.5) for the fulfillment of the promise
of the Father (v.4). Different form in you (John14:17). The Holy Spirit was breathed into the disciples on the day of the Lord’s resurrection (John20:22) to be the Spirit
of life (Rom.8:2) to them essentially.
The same Holy Spirit would come upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost to be the Spirit of power to them economically.
Witnesses Lit,
martyrs, those who bear a living testimony of the resurrected and ascended
Christ in life, differing from preachers who merely preach doctrines in
letters. In His incarnation Christ carried out His
ministry on the earth by Himself, as recorded in the Gospels, to sow Himself as
the seed of the kingdom of God only in the Jewish land. In His ascension He
would carry out His ministry in the heavens through these martyrs, in His
resurrection life, and with His ascension power and authority, as recorded in
the Acts, to spread Himself as the development of the kingdom of God from
Jerusalem, as a beginning, unto the uttermost part of the earth, as the
consummation of His ministry in the New Testament. All the apostles and
disciples in the Acts were His martyrs, His witnesses, of this kind.
Verse 11 Luke’s Gospel ends
with the Lord’s ascending into heaven (Luke24:51), and his Acts begins with it.
His Gospel is a narrative of the ministry of the incarnated Jesus on earth; his
Acts is a record of the continuing
ministry of the resurrected and ascended Christ in heaven, carried out
through His believers on earth. In the Gospels His ministry on earth, carried
out by Himself, only sowed Himself as the seed of the kingdom of God into His
believers, with no church being built up yet. In the Acts His ministry in
heaven, carried out through His believers in His resurrection and ascension,
spread Him as the development of the kingdom of God for the building up of the church
(Matt.16:18) throughout the entire world to constitute His Body, which is His fullness (Eph.1:23) for His
expression, and which is even the fullness
of God (Eph.3:19) for God’s expression.
The Lord’s ascension points to His coming back. Between these two
events is the dispensation of grace that He, as the pneumatic Christ, the life giving Spirit (1Cor.15:45), might
apply His all-inclusive redemption to God’s chosen people for their full
salvation, that He might produce and build up the church as His Body for the
establishing of the kingdom of God on earth. Christ ascended into heaven from
Mount Olivet (2.12), being taken up by a cloud, in a way that was visible to
human sight. He will return to the same mount (Zech.14:4), coming on a cloud
(Matt.24:30), in the same visible way.
Verse 11 will come in the same way The second coming of Christ, like the ascension, will be personal and visible (Rev.1:7;19:11-16). This vision of Christ’s ascension into heaven strengthened the disciples’ faith in Him and in what He had done for them through His death and resurrection. It broadened their view of God’s heavenly economy, which had brough them into cooperation with Christ’s ministry in the heavens for the carrying out of God’s New Testament economy on the earth. The believers should have such a vision concerning Christ’s ascension.
Bibliography,
Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim,
CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.
Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie Study Bible (NIV).Chicago,
IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.
