Sermon Tone Analysis

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

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

9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?

This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Jesus was teaching the disciples both about the Spirit () and about the kingdom (), and the disciples would have every reason to understand these two themes as inseparably linked.

The sourcebook for much of Jesus’s postresurrection teaching was the OT Bible (, ), including what he taught them about their impending mission as his witnesses () and presumably about their reception of the Spirit ().

The prophets had regularly linked God’s pouring out his Spirit with the time of Israel’s restoration, and so any talk about the Spirit’s outpouring was de facto eschatological in character.

Indeed, in their contexts, the primary Spirit texts alluded to in all of Luke’s programmatic statements concern Israel’s restoration.

For example, the program for Jesus’s mission in the Gospel appears in ,

18  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

19  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

which quotes ; this passage refers explicitly to the comforting good news, which in context is the good news that God is restoring his people (, ; ; ; , ; , ; ; ; ; ).

Luke indicates that Jesus’s pre-ascension teaching to his disciples during this period reflected significant attention to the Scriptures (); Luke presumably offers us samples of the content of Jesus’s midrash in apostolic sermons that expound Scripture (esp. in ; ; ) but even more explicitly in biblical allusions in his final instructions to the disciples.

The primary allusion in (power “from on high,” ἐξ ὕψους) is probably to lxx (the Spirit “from on high,” ἀφʼ ὑψηλοῦ), which refers to Israel’s restoration (; cf. ).

15 until fthe Spirit is poured upon us from on high,

and gthe wilderness becomes a fruitful field,

and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.

16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,

and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.

17 hAnd the effect of righteousness will be peace,

and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust1 forever.

18 My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,

in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.

Luke’s parallel text in his second volume, , might also evoke (given its use of ἐπέρχομαι with πνεῦμα) and alludes to Isaiah’s passage about the Spirit’s empowering Israel as God’s witnesses in the end time (; , ; on which see in more detail below).

Indeed, the coming of the Spirit in Isaiah is often associated with Israel’s restoration (; ; ; cf. ; the new exodus material in ).

This is also the case with (quoted in ), which appears in the context of Israel’s eschatological restoration (; ).

Thus the disciples ask what seems, from their solely future eschatological perspective, the obvious question: When will Jesus restore the kingdom to Israel?

Like the Baptist, the disciples did not understand that the king would come twice, hence bringing the kingdom in two stages ( with ).

The disciples’ lack of understanding (suggested again in ) provides a suitable transition from their character as learners in the Gospel to their mission in Acts.

The important idea for the disciples is to let God be God, and know for certain He has a plan, as is reiterated by the angels in .

First and foremost, though, they must wait on God for His power.

The ot and Jewish tradition sometimes spoke of the Spirit’s giving people physical strength (, ; ; perhaps ), and occasionally the Spirit is even called “the spirit of power.”

Power had other associations with the Spirit; for example, God sometimes gave prophets his Spirit as his power to boldly stand against false prophets ().

4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

19 by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God

4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.

5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. 1 Th 1:5.

7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

2 Ti 1:7.

in addition to here, , ;

17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.

In Reference to John, and in the birth and ministry of Jesus, and ultimately:

38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.

He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

Ac 10:38.

Luke regularly associates power… with miraculous healing

And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. .

And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

Lk 6:19.

But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” Lk 8:46.

And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, Lk 9:1.

And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.

Ac 6:8.

38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.

He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

Although this power is not a permanent possession of Jesus’s agents but only of Jesus’s name, which they rightly carry:

6 But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

12 And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?

7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

Ac 4:7.

10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.

The language attributed to Jesus in this verse stems from what scholars often call “Second Isaiah”

9  All the nations gather together,

and the peoples assemble.

Who among them can declare this,

and show us the former things?

Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right,

and let them hear and say, It is true.

10  “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,

“and my servant whom I have chosen,

that you may know and believe me

and understand that I am he.

Before me no god was formed,

nor shall there be any after me.

11  I, I am the Lord,

and besides me there is no savior.

12  I declared and saved and proclaimed,

when there was no strange god among you;

and you are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and I am God.

13  Also henceforth I am he;

there is none who can deliver from my hand;

I work, and who can turn it back?” .

And again in Isaiah 44:

8  Fear not, nor be afraid;

have I not told you from of old and declared it?

And you are my witnesses!

Is there a God besides me?

There is no Rock; I know not any.”

9 All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit.