Witness
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1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,
2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me;
5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
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.”
Introduction
Introduction
Next Act - The sequel, the next season, The Follow-On
Stranger Things - is in Season 4
For All Mankind - is in Season 3
Recap - For shows like this or some movies that are sequels there is some type of recap. Let’s the viewer know where they have been what has brought them to this point
Connection - There is some tie-in, alignment with the previous season or movie and the greater story
We see this in the Book of Acts. Acts is the follow-on to by Luke of his Gospel, named ‘The Gospel According to Luke’ or as we call it simply ‘Luke’.
Luke writes the Book of acts between AD 61 and AD 64, somewhere in the early 60s. He also follows the formula that we stated earlier 1. Luke provides a recap of sorts, then begins to connect the book of Acts to the overall mission. A mission that is still on-going.
1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,
Dealt with All - Hyperbole, meant to get across that nothing concerning the person of Christ is missing. Jesus is who Luke portrayed in His Gospel.
Jesus Began - The word began is key here, and is part of the recap. Luke is noting that Jesus’ work is not done. What Jesus began he will continue.
Do and Teach - His ministry. What did Jesus do and What did Jesus teach and Why.
43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”
1 Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him,
19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
What the early church said and did was rooted in and connected to activity in which the risen Jesus was involved.
Darrell L. Bock, Acts, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007), 53.To speak of the Kingdom of God.
2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
Day When He was Taken Up - The Day of Jesus’s Ascension, which occurs shortly directly after this passage.
Luke is talking about activities that happen before the ascension of Jesus which points back to what he mentioned at the end of his penned Gospel (Luke 24:50-53). That Jesus ascended to the heaven.
Given Commands - Prior to the he had given commands to the apostles that He chose, we continue to see Jesus working. Those men that he sowed into he is not commanding, and He is giving those commands through the Holy Spirit.
We have seen some of those commands in the previous messages in this series.
The Risen Jesus Speaks with Peter, where Jesus restores Peter telling him to Feed His sheep, to care for and look after His sheep (John 21:15-25)
We also saw this with Jesus’ Charge to the Disciples, where we get the Great Commission. (Matt 28:16-20)
So Jesus was not done, Jesus was still working making sure that everything was in order.
Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit figures prominently in the Book of Acts, Luke is setting us up for what we will see throughout the book, starting at Pentecost, with the Spirit Falling on the disciples, then those in Samaria, then Gentiles, and some others.
3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Luke makes mention of His suffering, but make no doubt this is about Jesus being hung on a tree as an innocent, who pays the penalty for sin that none of us could pay.
After this Jesus presented Himself, Jesus among the living. Paul captures the same thing in a concise list in 1 Cor 15.
5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
Many Proofs - To make sure that this was received correctly Luke says that I have receipts. Many Proofs
Proof
τεκμήριον (tekmḗrion) - that which causes something to be known in a convincing and decisive manner, proof
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 994.
Jesus was not just a figment of someones imagination, or some hypnosis, or some vision. Jesus is alive. This is important as we will see in a bit. There were things that Jesus did, things that people saw, reactions that people had to ensure you and me that this Jesus is no longer in the grave, but that He is alive.
4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me;
Staying With Them - Staying With them, can be translated eating with them. When Luke mentions that Jesus appeared to the Apostles over 40 days, this is not a continuous month and 10 days. Rather throughout this time Jesus would come to the apostles and sometime eat with them as we have seen on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias or as Luke mentions at the end of His Gospel.
40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
43 and he took it and ate before them.
Jesus gave them commands when He stayed with them. At some point prior to His ascension Jesus told the Apostles to remain in Jerusalem. This was to wait on the Promise of the Father.
Promise of the Father - What is the promise of the Father that they are waiting on, from the next verse we can tell that it is the Holy Spirit.
19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Jesus made it clear that in order for the other helper to come that He had to leave, and Jesus had not left yet. We see this in the teachings of Jesus in John 14-16, where he gives a number of teaching of
the helping of the Holy Spirit,
the Teaching of the Holy Spirit (John 14),
the witness of the Holy Spirit about Jesus (John 15),
the convicting of the Holy spirit and
the guidance of the Holy Spirit (guide you into all truth) (John 16).
5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Baptism is a transliteration from the Greek work baptidzo, which means to dip or submerge. This is also used when talking about the soldiers dipping the tips of their arrows into poison.
There are two baptisms there is one of John. Which is a baptism of repentance. A baptism that makes way to receive the Lord. Luke records this in Acts 19.
1 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.
2 And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.”
4 And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”
The instrument of this baptism, as Jesus points out, is water. ‘for John baptized with water’. Note the tense this was already done, but you, Jesus says you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, future tense. For you the instrument is the Spirit of God. We also see this in Acts 19.
5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.
7 There were about twelve men in all.
This baptism is for salvation and judgment. Indicates the salvation of one who believes on Christ and that they are no longer under the judgment of the world. They are now in Christ and their sins have been forgiven.
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
So When they had come together - Luke is getting to the connection here. This is a time when Jesus and His apostles are together right before His ascension. This is not like any other time over the past 40 days where they have gotten together. This is the last time like this where the apostles and Jesus will e together.
Lord will you - Their question is almost like a what’s next, what happens now. We understand what the Scripture says about the restoration of Israel, is this it, is this the time, what happens now.
This is not out of the ordinary for someone expecting the Messiah to come. The one who will rule rightly over Israel as the Father intended. Jesus is this Messiah, the Christ. So this would seem to be a natural question.
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
Jesus’ reply is not one of frustration or flat out rejection. It is rather a response of consideration and change of focus.
Jesus starts with the sovereignty and providence of the Father.
Some persons do not allow for God to be God. We can forget that this same God we serve spoke into a void, where nothing existed and time, matter and energy came to be.
GPS satellites track this value called absolute GPS Time. Which is the number of seconds from the first GPS constellation being on in orbit. This is the number of seconds from Jan 6, 1980 until now. When you think of the number of seconds in a day, 86400, to the number of seconds in a week 604800 and 52 weeks a year going on 42+ years now. We would think of that as a lot of seconds.
Well the LORD God has been tracking this since he said ‘Let there be light’ roughly 8 thousand years ago. So who really owns times, who set the stars and gave us seasons.
How much should we concern ourselves with those things as opposed to a God who loves us and provides for us and keeps us. A God who has defeated death for us, reconciled us to himself and allowed us to become part of the love fest that is going on in the Godhead.
Jesus notes that you (the apostles) are not to concern yourself with these things, dates the Father sets, times the Father has ordained by His authority. Your concern is to do as commanded until I return. We need to be about our Father’s business.
Israel still has a place in God’s plan, but that was not the focus right now. The focus was not inward or nationalistic, it goes beyond that and Jesus continues to explain this.
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.”
Now Jesus gets, to what will happen when the Holy Spirit comes upon not many days from now.
They will receive power, the ability to carry out an activity, a boldness, might, strength, resolve. This will enable the apostles to carry out the commands that have been given to them over this past 40 days. Just as the Prophet Ezekiel prophesied, the Spirit will be put in them, not to come and go as in the Old Testament, but to remain in you. Providing the strength you need indwelling and infilling you for the work of the Lord.
Then Jesus says you will be my witnesses. This is the continuation, we have spent the first 8 verses of Acts to get this point. This is how the Church will grow, this is the plan that Jesus and the Father had for the body of Christ. This is the work that Jesus began to do and teach and how it is going to work out. You will be my witnesses.
What are they to witness about, Jesus!
Let’s think of what a witness is, they are someone who can state the truth as an objective experience with something or someone. They can relate to being there, seeing, touching, smelling something that would align with reality.
We have a hard time with truth, now, everyone seems to have their own, and they do not have to correlate or correspond to each other.
Jesus, however, had witnesses with no need to have a subjective measure of truth, they just needed to tell what they have experienced in these 3+ years.
The miracles, feeding of the 5000, feeding of the 4000, the turning or water to wine, the raising of the widow’s son in Nain, the healing of the Centurions daughter, the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, the healing of the Centurions servant, the healing of the man at the pool of Bethsaida, the casting out of demons, after the mount of transfiguration casting legion into swine. The healing of the man who was blind since birth, the healing of the leper in Mark. These are things of witness.
The way the he taught on the Kingdom of God, with authority.
Finally the fact that He died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried and that He was Raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures.
22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”
32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.
15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.
39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree,
40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear,
41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
Then He appeared before us, He continued to teach us about the Kingdom of God, He ate with us, We handled Him and Touched Him. We were with Jesus after His resurrection until His ascension.
They are witnesses of Jesus. The Messiah, the anointed one and they are to be witnesses to the ends of the earth.