Acts 1:1-5

Sunday Morning Bible Study

 May 4, 1997

Introduction

The "Acts of the Apostles" could rightly be called the "Acts of the Holy Spirit", since it is a record of events that occurred in the early church, through the work of the Holy Spirit.

It was written by Doctor Luke, who wrote the gospel of Luke, and who carefully gathered eye witness accounts of the various things he writes about.

It starts after the resurrection of Jesus, just prior to His ascending to heaven, around AD 33. It covers the birth and early days of the church in Jerusalem, then follows the early ministry of Peter for a while. Then Luke switches to the ministry of the apostle Paul, with the last recorded events taking place somewhere around AD 60.

In our study of this book, we'll try to tie in some of the various letters from the apostles, to see how they fit historically with the events of the book.

1:1-5 Wait for the promise

:1 The former treatise have I made

Referring to the book we know as the "Gospel of Luke".

:1 O Theophilus

This is the same person (or individuals) that Luke wrote his gospel to:

Lu 1:3 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,

Who was Theophilus?

It has been suggested that Theophilus may have been a Roman official, since the title "most excellent" (Luke 1:3) was usually associated with this.

His name means "lover of God".

:1 of all that Jesus began both to do and teach

Note: "began"

Luke sees the events in the gospels as only the beginning.

Now in the birth of the church, we'll see even more of what Jesus will do and teach through the work of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of the apostles and leaders.

Lesson:

Longing for the "good 'ol days"

We can read of the things in Acts and get kind of misty-eyed, wishing we lived back in those days.

But these were only the beginnings of the church.

In a way, the book of Acts isn't finished even yet, since the Holy Spirit is still working in the church.

And in some ways, many of the saints throughout history would have loved to trade places with us, since it appears that we are the church that will witness the second coming of Christ on the earth.

The best is yet ahead!

:2 given commandments

He gave them commandments like this:

Mt 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

:3 after his passion

The word "passion" refers to His suffering and death on the cross.

:3 by many infallible proofs,

We've talked much over the last few weeks about how "reasonable" our faith is.

It’s been said, "There is more evidence that Jesus rose from the dead than there is that Julius Caesar ever lived or that Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three."

Billy Graham (1918– )

If you'd like to investigate this further, I'd encourage you to check out the tapes from John 19-20.

:3 being seen of them forty days

It interesting to see how many events in Scripture are tied with "forty days" -

The flood was forty days upon the earth (Gen. 7:4)

Two different times, how long Moses was in the mount with God (Ex 24:18; 34:18)

The number of days the spies were searching the land of Canaan (Num.13:25)

The number of days Goliath presented himself to the armies of Israel (1Sam 17:16)

The term of time was given out by Jonah for the destruction of Nineveh (Jon 3:4)

How many days Christ fasted, and was tempted in the wilderness. (Mat 4:2)

I know there are different ideas as to what this number "forty" represents, but to me, it seems to be a number of days that speak of a full amount of time, enough to accomplish whatever job is being done.

The idea is that Jesus gave a complete, full testimony to the disciples of His resurrection, enough to make they were convinced that Jesus had rose from the dead.

Chronology check:

Jesus died on the Passover, Friday the 14th of Nisan

He rose again on the third day, which would have been Sunday the 16th of Nisan, and the forty days would have started at that time.

During the forty days, the apostles went from Jerusalem, north to Galilee, then back to Jerusalem again.

:4 And, being assembled together with them,

Some of the ancient manuscripts record "and ate with them".

That could be, it seemed that after Jesus' resurrection, He spent plenty of time eating! Yum, yum!

:4 that they should not depart from Jerusalem

It appears that they are on the Mount of Olives right now:

(Acts 1:12 KJV) Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey.

This is only about a 1/4 of a mile east of the city of Jerusalem.

:4 but wait for

Note the use of the present active infinitive, "to keep on waiting around for".

Chronology calculation:

It's 50 days between the feasts of Passover and Pentecost.

Jesus died on the Passover, rose again three days later, then appeared to the apostles for a period of 40 days.

Then from the time that Jesus ascends to heaven, and the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost would have been roughly 7-8 days.

They're going to be waiting in Jerusalem for about a week.

:4 the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

Just a few weeks ago, Jesus was telling the guys about the coming ministry of the Holy Spirit:

Joh 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

Joh 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

And now Jesus is telling them that within a few days, the promise will come.

:5 For John truly baptized with water

Jesus is going to compare the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the baptism of John. To understand one, you have to understand the other.

How did John the Baptist baptize people?

The word used both places is baptizo - to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk); to overwhelm

John the Baptist baptized people by immersing them in the Jordan River.

I don't think he "sprinkled" them, first, because that isn't the meaning of baptizo, but secondly, if he only sprinkled them, why do it in a river, why not carry around a bucket of water?

:5 ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost

Just as John immersed people in water, the disciples would be immersed with the Holy Ghost, in fact, it might be more proper to translate this as "baptized in the Holy Ghost".

I think we need to stop a second and look at the three kinds of relationships the Holy Spirit has to people. These three kinds of relationships can be described by three prepositions, "with" (Greek para), "in" (en), and "upon" (epi).

We see two of them being used by Jesus in:

Joh 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 [Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

1. With

When the Holy Spirit is "with" us, He is along side of us to encourage us, comfort us, and to convict us.

The Holy Spirit may be doing these things in anybody's life, whether or not they are a believer.

2. In

When we receive Jesus in our heart, the Holy Spirit comes to live "in" us.

A person who does not have the Holy Spirit living "in" their heart cannot be a Christian.

Rom. 8:9 … Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

3. Upon

When a person has the Holy Spirit come "upon" them.

This goes hand in hand with the power of God working dynamically in your life:

Ac 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

This is what's known as the "baptism" of the Holy Spirit, as we'll see later.

I think it's very important to see how Luke uses several different terms to describe the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Q. What are some of the different terms used to describe the "baptism of the Holy Ghost"? (warning - I'm going to give a lot of references, for the sake of the tape, for those of you who want to go even more in depth in this).

1. "the promise of the Father"

Ac 1:4 …wait for the promise of the Father, which, [saith he], ye have heard of me.

It's also used in Acts 2:33

2. "baptized with the Holy Ghost"

Ac 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

Here in Acts 1:5; 11:16, also in Mat. 3:11; Mar. 1:8; Luk. 3:16.

3. "filled" with the Holy Ghost

When the actual event occurs, this is how Luke describes it -

(Acts 2:4 KJV) And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The phrase occurs 6 times in Acts (2:4; 4:8; 4:31; 9:17; 13:9; 13:52)

4. The "upon" phrases (Greek "epi", seven occurrences in Acts)

The preposition "upon" is used with several other words to describe either the Acts 2 event, or the baptism that took place at Cornelius' house.

"fell upon"

In reference to the Bible study at Cornelius' house:

(Acts 10:44 KJV) While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. (Also Acts 11:15)

This is clearly the same thing as Acts 2, because Peter says it is:

(Acts 11:15-16 KJV) And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. {16} Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.

"came upon"

(Acts 1:8 KJV) But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon (epi) you: (Also in Acts 19:6)

"poured out upon"

Found in Acts 2:17; 2:18; 10:45

5. "the gift of the Holy Ghost"

Same Bible Study with Peter, different phrase.

(Acts 10:45 KJV) And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Also in Acts 2:38)

Q. Is the "baptism of the Holy Spirit" what happens when you get saved?

Some would say that the "baptism of the Holy Spirit" occurs when a person is saved and the Holy Spirit comes into their life, and is a different thing from being "filled" with the Holy Spirit.

They point to:

1Co 12:13 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.

The Greek here is similar, at least on the outset. The "by one Spirit" could be translated "in one Spirit", and is the same Greek phrase as in Acts 1:5, except here, the translation works differently, because the context (1Cor. 12:7-11) shows us that it's the Spirit that's doing all the work, baptizing, immersing us into the Body of Christ. This does occur at salvation.

The "baptism of the Holy Spirit" mentioned in Acts 1,2 on the other hand is a "baptism" done by Jesus (Mat. 3:11, Luk 3:16), and is immersing us in the Holy Spirit. It's purpose is a little different, being that of giving us power in ministry.

The ironic thing is that people who hold this view often go on to say that though a person is "baptized in the Holy Spirit" only once, a person can be "filled" over and over again, quoting -

Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

But hopefully you've notice by now, that Luke makes no distinction between the "baptism" and the "filling", but they're both the same.

We'll see in our study of Acts that the baptism of the Holy Spirit may occur when a person is saved, or later, and many times after that.

Caution:

I know I've made a big deal trying to show you how the "baptism" is the same as the "filling", but I do think that we need to be careful that we don't make such a big deal with people that we turn them off.

If they're more comfortable talking about the "filling" of the Holy Spirit, hey, let's use that word.

Q. When were the disciples "saved"?

This would be the moment that the Holy Spirit came "in" to them, and though it might be on the day of Pentecost, I wonder if their "conversion" came on that Resurrection evening, when Jesus first appeared to them. They had been doubting what the women had been telling them, but when Jesus appeared to them, they believed, and Jesus, not coincidentally, "breathed" on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (Joh 20:22), and the Holy Spirit came "in" to them.

One last issue …

Lesson:

If I want this power of the Holy Spirit in my life, do I need to "wait" for it like the apostles?

No.

Even though the disciples were told here to "wait" for the Holy Spirit, this is the only time we see the practice of "waiting".

In none of the other occurrences of the "filling" of the Holy Spirit, do we see "waiting" involved. For example -

When Peter went to Cornelius' house, he didn't even get to finish his Bible Study, when he was interrupted:

Ac 10:44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.

I think there needs to be an element of faith involved with the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Too often the filling of the Holy Spirit is tied so much to feeling oriented experiences.

God wants us to trust His Word, not our experiences.

2Co 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

We are to live our lives by trusting Him, not our senses.

The Bible says that if we ask God for something that is in His will for us, that we will have our requests:

1Jo 5:14-15 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

Is it God's will that we be filled with the Holy Spirit?

Yes. In Eph. 5:18, we are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit!

I think that at times we need to simply ask God to fill us, and because we know it's His will, we need to assume that He has filled us, and to live our lives as if we have been filled, because we have.

Lesson:

Does this mean we don't have to wait anymore?

No. Here's where I think we've sold ourselves short in our modern, instant, microwave fast Christianity.

I don't think it's a matter of whether we should wait or not wait, we need to do both.

When I read of the accounts of believers throughout church history, I read about how they often placed great importance on "waiting" on the Lord.

When they would be going through a spiritual struggle in their heart, they would go away and wait on the Lord until they got it resolved.

Let me read some Scriptures to you, and you tell me if we ought to be "waiting" on the Lord:

Ps 27:14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Ps 123:2 Behold, as the eyes of servants [look] unto the hand of their masters, [and] as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes [wait] upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.

Ps 130:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.

Isa 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.

Give God the time He desires with you.

It's not that God speaks slowly and has a hard time getting to the point, it's that we often have a hard time receiving, and hearing His voice.

Illustration

A pilot shared this experience he had flying his Cessna 172:

I flew over to Pontiac one day that summer to see Eldon Huff. The ceiling was very low when I started back, and once again clouds closed in on me. In trying to ease myself below them, I lost control of the plane. It stalled, and I found myself in a spin. I pulled back on the control yoke with all my might, But I couldn't budge it. Plowed fields were whirling up toward me, and I realized there was nothing left to do but pray. I released the controls, closed my eyes, and folded my hands under my chin:

"Father in Heaven, please help me" I began, and I felt a miraculous change take place. The spinning stopped and suddenly the plane was flying level again.

Great advice when we're in a tail spin: release the controls, close our eyes, and pray.

-- from Tom Monaghan, Pizza Tiger, New York: Random House, 1986, p. 130.