Acts

Jump to:

02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

Acts

Verse 2 indicates that Acts is the continuation of a previous book. The Gospel of Luke was written about the life of Jesus on earth up to the cross. The Book of Acts was Luke's'continuation. It discusses the life of the early church in the 'Pre-canon period'.

The book was written circa 61 AD about the same time the Apostle Paul was writing his Prison Epistles.

Chapter 1
1-2~~ The former treatise have I made unto thee
{the Gospel of Luke},
O Theophilus,
of all that Jesus kept on doing and kept on teaching 2~~
until the day in which He was taken up.
After He had given commandments
through the Holy Spirit,
unto the Apostles whom He had chosen.

{Note: in the style of the more learned people of the time, a 'sponsor' funded Luke. It was the custom to honor the sponsor in the Prologue - in this case Theophilus. Theophlus was a 'knight of the Roman Empire' and therefore very wealthy. Also note that Christ chooses who will become an Apostle (and the Holy Spirit then bestows the spiritual gift).}

3~~To whom also He showed Himself alive
after His suffering
{after the cross}
by many infallible proofs,
being seen of them forty days,
and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

4~~And, being assembled together with them,
He taught and commanded them
that they should not depart from Jerusalem,
but wait for the promise of the Father,
which, you have heard from Me.

5~~ "For John truly baptized with water,
but you all shall be baptized by means of the Holy Spirit
not many days hence."

{Note: Baptizo means to 'be identified with'. The baptism that is identified with salvation is a dry baptism - the baptism of God the Holy Spirit.}

6~~ When they therefore were come together,
they asked of Him, saying,
"Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?"

{Note: they missed the point of the Church Age and asked this question.}

7~~And He said unto them,
"It is not from you to know the times {dispensations}
or the seasons
{cycles of divine discipline - the 5th cycle of discipline
was coming for the Jews},
which the Father has put under His own authority."

{Note: By saying it is not from you to know, Jesus was saying to the disciples that they had not absorbed enough doctrine to understand the plan of God the Father at this point. They did not know the Age of the Gentiles, the Jewish Age (which was soon to be interrupted), the Church Age, then the 'time of Israel' again for 7 more years (the Tribulation) and then the Millennial Reign of Christ. But later they would learn.}

8~~"But you shall receive power.
After that
the Holy Spirit is come upon you.
And you shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judaea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

{Note: The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is still 10 days away at this point- the power of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.}

9~~And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld,
He was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

10~~ And while they stared upward toward heaven
with their eyes bulging as He went up,
BEHOLD, two persons stood by them in white apparel {angels}.

11~~ Who also said,
"You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus,
Who is taken up from you into heaven,
shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven."

{Note: When Jesus returns He will return back to the Mount of Olivet - also see Zechariah 14-4.}

12~~Then returned they unto Jerusalem
from the mount called Olivet {Mount of Olives},
which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey.

13~~ And when they were come in,
they went up into an upper room,
where they habitually resided . . .
both Peter and James . . .
and John and Andrew . . .
Philip . . .
and Thomas . . .
Bartholomew and Matthew . . .
James, the son of Alphaeus . . .
and Simon Zelotes,
and . . . Judas the brother of James.

14~~ These all continued
with one accord in prayer and supplication,
with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus,
and with his brethren.

15-16~~ And in those days
Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said,
(the number of names together
were about an hundred and twenty), 16~~
"Men and brethren, this scripture had to be fulfilled,
which before the Holy Spirit spoke by the mouth of David
concerning Judas,
which was to guide them that took Jesus."

17~~"For he {Judas} was numbered with us,
and had obtained part of this ministry. "

{Note: Even today there are people numbered as Christians that have NOT accepted Christ as their savior.}

18~~ "Now this man {Judas}
purchased a field with the reward of iniquity;
and falling headlong,
he burst asunder in the midst,
and all his bowels gushed out. "

{Note: Judas took the 30 pieces of Silver and purchased a field but nothing would grow on it. He confessed his sins but this was meaningless since he had not accepted Christ as his savior. He hung himself but had no friends to cut him down. Everyone hates traitors. Finally the rope broke and when his body hit the ground, his body just opened up and his insides were exposed.}

19~~ "And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem;
in so much as that field is called in their proper tongue,
'Aceldama', that is to say, 'The field of blood'. "

20~~ {Peter continues}
"For it is written in the book of Psalms,
'let his habitation be desolate
and let no man dwell therein {Psalm 69:25 - about Judas}
and his {office of} apostle-ship let another take"
{Psalm 109:8}.

{Peter is the leader and he makes an erroneous suggestion}
21-22~~ "Wherefore of these men
{Mistake - Peter is attemting to tell God from whom He can choose}
which have companied with us all the time
that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us . . . 22~~
beginning from the baptism of John,
unto that same day that he was taken up from us . . .
must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection."

{Note: We find out later that the Apostle Paul also sees Christ and RBT says Paul is the Apostle chosen by God to become the 12th pillar of the church. We hear no more about Justus or Matthias anymore. We know Barnabas and Paul are Apostles recognized as such by Peter, James, and the other leaders of the church in Galatians.}

23~~ And they appointed two,
Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus,
and Matthias.

{Note: God the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts. The gifts are not ever given to someone that man chooses (or even a group of men). The Exodus generation made a similar type error in trying to replace God's choice for leader. See this point made by Paul in Galatians 1:1.}

24-25~~ And they prayed {example of a useless prayer},
and said, "Thou, Lord, Who knows the hearts of all men,
show which of these two Thou has chosen, 25~~
that he may take part of this ministry and apostle-ship,
from which Judas by transgression fell,
that he might go to his own place?"

26~~ And they gave forth their lots {they voted!};
and the lot fell on Matthias.
And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

{Note: Apostleship was a temporary spiritual gift. It was not awarded by God based on a vote by men!}

This page is sponsored by Poporn or Snore. See Popcorn or Snore for Honest, Unbiased film reviews. Until next time, happy viewing !