Hey friends, here we are another week, another
episode of the Semi -Seminarian. This week we
continue our Bible study series, which we're
calling the Bible for Grownups. This week we're
going to begin a brand new book of the Bible.
We're going to begin looking at the Acts of the
Apostles, and we're going to focus at the very,
very beginning of this work on the importance
that Luke puts on the eyewitness accounts of
the resurrection, something that is so incredibly
important to the Christian faith. Anyway, I hope
you enjoy, and I'll see you on the other side.
We want to start looking tonight by actually
rewinding and going back to Luke chapter 24.
The last chapter of Luke. Now, that's not the
next page from Acts because Luke doesn't come
after or before Acts. John does. So you'll have
to skip the Gospel account according to John
and go to the Gospel account according to Luke.
Then we'll go back. These two books, Luke and
Acts, were originally written on one scroll.
This is one long book in two sections. Okay,
so I want us to end Luke. So we can begin Acts.
And by looking at that last part of that last
chapter of Acts, it will kind of give us a running
start as we jump into Acts. The last chapter
of Luke, which is 24, and I'm going to begin
with verse 13 and read to the end of the chapter.
Just because that's just kind of where I felt
like was a good spot to jump off point. I was
also going to say that this... Lesson probably
won't go the whole hour. This is one of those
things where there's so much to have in our heads
as we begin to explore what's going on in the
Acts of the Apostles that it's one of those deals
where if I just kind of focused on the introduction
with chapter 1, it may not be in an hour, but
if I added chapter 2 of Acts to chapter 1, it
would be two hours. So we're just going to take
it in small bite -sized pieces. Chapter 2, for
those of you that have any real familiarity with
the Bible at all, is going to begin with the
day of Pentecost. And that's a big, big deal.
And I don't want to rush through that at the
end of the night. I want to focus on Pentecost.
So our next session together will start with
the beginning of chapter 2. So today, tonight,
beginning with chapter 24 of Luke, verse 13.
And I'm really not going to provide too much
commentary. This isn't a Bible study about the
gospel according to Luke. This is just to set
us up for Acts chapter 1. So I'm just going to
kind of brush through and read this, just so
we can kind of get the narrative, the literary
narrative in our head. Now that same day, two
of them were going to a village called Emmaus,
about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking
with each other about everything that had happened.
As they talked and discussed these things with
each other, Jesus himself came up and walked
along with them, but they were kept from recognizing
him. He asked them, what are you discussing together
as you walk along? They stood together, their
faces downcast. One of them, Cleopas, asked him,
are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does
not know the things that have happened in these
days? What things, he asked. About Jesus of Nazareth,
they replied. He was a prophet, powerful in word
and deed before God and all of the people. The
chief priests and our rulers handed him over
to be sentenced to death and they crucified him.
But we had hoped that he was the one who was
going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it
is the third day since all of this took place.
So this is resurrection day. In addition, some
of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb
early this morning but didn't find his body.
They came and told us that they had seen a vision
of angels who said that he was alive. And some
of our companions went to the tomb and found
it just as the women had said, but they did not
see Jesus. He said to them, how foolish you are
and how slow to believe all the prophets have
spoken. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these
things and then enter His glory? And beginning
with Moses and all the prophets, He explained
to them what was said in all of the Scriptures
concerning Himself. If you think my Bible studies
are long, as they approached the village to which
they were going, Jesus continued on as if He
were going farther. But they urged Him strongly,
Stay with us, for it is nearly evening. The day
is almost over. So He went in to stay with them.
When He was at the table with them, He took bread,
gave thanks, and broke it, and began to give
it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and
they recognized Him, and He disappeared from
their sight. They asked each other, were not
our hearts burning within us while He talked
with us on the road and opened the Scriptures
to us? They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem.
There they found the eleven, and those with them
assembled together, saying, It is true. The Lord
is risen and has appeared to Simon. That's Peter.
Then the two told what had happened on the way
and how Jesus was recognized by them when he
broke the bread. While they were still talking
about this, Jesus himself stood among them and
said, Peace be with you. They were startled and
frightened, thinking they had saw a ghost. He
said to them, Why are you troubled? And why do
doubts rise in your mind? Look. And my hands
and my feet. It is I myself. Touch me and see.
A ghost does not have flesh and bones as you
see I have. When he said this, he showed them
his hands and feet. And while they still did
not believe it because of their joy and amazement,
he asked them, do you have anything to eat? They
gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took
it and ate in their presence. He said to them,
this is what I told you while I was still with
you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written
about me in the law of Moses, the prophet and
the Psalms. Remember, that is the way that a
Hebrew would describe the whole of Hebrew scripture.
That includes everything, the Torah, the writings
of the prophets, the writings, the books of wisdom,
including the Psalms and the Proverbs. When he's
using this terminology, he is saying the whole.
of Hebrew scripture is about me. Then he opened
their minds so they could understand the scriptures.
He told them, this is what is written. The Messiah
will suffer and rise from the dead on the third
day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins
will be preached in his name to all nations,
beginning in Jerusalem. You are witnesses of
these things. I'm going to send you what my Father
has promised, but... Stay in the city until you
have been clothed with power from on high. When
he had led them out of the vicinity of Bethany,
he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And
while he was blessing them, he left them and
was taken up into heaven. Then they worshipped
him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
And they stayed continually at the temple, praising
God. So when is this? What time period is this?
Not what time of day, but anybody want to take
a... Not that, not necessarily. This is basically
in 30 A .D., okay? Biblical scholars agree that,
at least the agreement is right now, that Jesus
was crucified in the year 30 A .D., and that's
due to some corrections in the Julian calendar
that later scholars had made. We think that Jesus,
we grew up thinking Jesus was 33 years old whenever
he was crucified. They believed that to be true.
It's just that later calculations of the Julian
calendar found that that calculation was three
years off. So Jesus wasn't born in zero or one.
He was born in negative three. But in 30 AD,
or three, but in 30 AD is when this event happens.
It's specifically the springtime. So why is the
book of Acts, why is this ending of Luke's first
volume, why is this so important to us as Christians?
I just completed a two -day Twitter fight over
what is inconsequential and consequential to
our faith. is a fairly famous progressive Christian
author that I decided yesterday to pick a Twitter
fight with. Her name is unimportant, but her
original tweet said this. If you believe in the
resurrection, you're a Christian. If you don't
believe in the resurrection, you're a Christian.
If you say you're a Christian, I believe you.
My response to that is... Resurrection is necessary.
Then what happened was I got lit up by people
with all sorts of name -calling and honestly
assumptions being made about what I must believe
on other subjects regarding Christianity. In
the end, though, due to not wanting to be confrontational
but wanting to have a dialogue, I ended up with
several new followers, even made a few friends.
As disciples, as disciples of Christ, the ones
in parentheses, as disciples of Christ, we need
to be constantly, we should be searching for
that value that we hold most in common. Right?
Two -fourths, four -eighths, eight -sixteenths.
Spiritually, we as disciples, we need to be looking
for that lowest common denominator. All of these
fractions have different values, but they hold
some denominator in common too. Despite the numerical
differences, they can all be made in common by
the number two. And there are countless ways
by which we as Christians can measure ourselves.
The way that we baptize. At what age you can
baptize, right? Is it okay to baptize children?
You must be at a certain age of accountability
to be baptized. What is the age of accountability
if you're going to baptize somebody? Do you dunk
somebody or do you sprinkle somebody? Right?
Communion. Big, big difference. All different
types of values when it comes to communion. When
do you take it? Who can take it? Who can't take
it? How do you take it? You can go to a Disciples
of Christ church in Stillwater. It's an independent
Disciples of Christ church in Stillwater and
they'll do it shot style, right? Same folks.
Just even the way, the style that they take communion
is different. What about the apostolic age? The
belief that we are still in the apostolic age
today where people can still speak in tongues.
And there are still prophetic voice out there.
Those are signifiers of the apostolic age. Some
people say that once the church was birthed,
at some point in what we find in the story of
Acts, the apostolic age ended and those things
went away. Right? Those are different values.
You can believe that or not believe that, but
there is still some common denominator that we
can share as Christians. And it's in my study,
based on my opinion, I believe the lowest common
denominator that we can hold and still call ourselves
Christians is the resurrection. Pretty much anything
else is on the side and open to debate when it
comes to liturgy or worship style or individual
preference of belief. As long as you believe
in the resurrection, That on the third day, God
had the power over life and death. And raised
Jesus from the dead. And Jesus then ascended
into heaven. As long as you believe that, everything
else can be a matter of taste. Essentially. That's
why we have different churches. Because of this
difference of taste. And the reason why I think
that that is the whole of the common denominator.
Is because in the resurrection. And the point
of Acts, the reason why I'm even talking about
this, the point of Acts is that Acts becomes
the eyewitness account to that resurrection.
Bless you. And ultimately, because, bless you,
because Acts is a narrative of the eyewitness
account of a resurrected Jesus and the resulting
church that was birthed out of it, right? Ultimately,
Acts... tells us something about God. It tells
us that God does not ask us just to have faith
in faith alone. God doesn't ask us to just believe
in Jesus. God gives us an eyewitness account.
God gives us evidence of Jesus' resurrection.
Right? And the reason why it's that denominator.
resurrection that ties us all together is because
the whole of everything, when we talk about the
resurrection and what it means, well, what does
it mean? Well, first of all, it means that God
is the creator because God has the power over
life and death. God can bend and shape the power
of physics and biology. in such a way that he
can, in some miraculous, mysterious way, reanimate
a dead being. Right? You cannot be the creator
of the universe if you don't have the power of
life and death. You might be an incredibly powerful
being, but you're not the creator of the universe.
So I think that that teaches us that resurrection
one, it shows that when God makes a claim that
he's the creator, the resurrection backs that
up. The other thing about the resurrection is
that in some mysterious way, because we can't
really understand the Trinity, that Jesus was
both God and man, right? That Jesus had divine
characteristics and he had human characteristics.
But what we believe about Jesus is that it was
nothing less than God. Now, how to explain God
in heaven and God in a bod, I can't do. But I
do believe that it is God in a body. And the
reason why I have to is because if the divinity
was anything but God in the body of Jesus, then
God doesn't love us as much as He says He does
because the sacrifice He made on the cross isn't
as valuable to Him as He promised us it was.
Right? So that, how much God loves us is assured
to us in the resurrection. Another thing I think
that is assured to us is God's faithfulness.
That God won't give up on us even in times when
we've given up on ourselves. God doesn't give
up on his son even though his son has died and
laid in a tomb. God has the to restore life,
not to just Jesus, but to us as well, even when
we think we are beyond restoration. So God leaves
nothing to chance. God leaves us eyewitnesses
to this account. And we recognize as the result
of the Acts of the Apostles, That God knows that
it's not just enough for us to believe in belief.
But we had to trust in something that people
saw and felt and experienced for themselves.
So, let's talk a little bit about the author
of Acts. The author of Acts is Luke the Evangelist.
Again, Luke wrote the gospel according to Luke,
and he wrote the Acts of the Apostles. And modern
scholarship is in agreement that these two are...
actually one long work. Luke was a Greek physician
who came from the Greek city of Antioch in Turkey.
At that time, it would have been Assyria or the
Assyrian Empire, but Antioch, Turkey in modern
geopolitical terms. Although some scholars and
theologians also believe that he might have been
a Jew, a Hellenistic, in other words, a Greek
city -dwelling Hebrew or Jew. Now, Luke was not
a disciple of Jesus. Luke was actually a disciple
of Paul. The way that Mark was a disciple of
Jesus, Mark was a disciple of Peter. Luke was
a disciple of Paul. One of the ways that we can
be affirmed of this is he repeatedly uses the
word we in describing the Pauline missions during
this book, the Acts of the Apostle, indicating
that he was personally there during those times.
So Luke, as he's writing Acts, would use the
pronoun we to describe he and Paul. There's a
Willie Nelson song in there. Me and Paul. He
and Paul. Originally written by Luke. A lot of
people don't know that. So, and so what Luke
is writing in the Acts of the Apostles is the
first 30 years of life in the church from the
resurrection. Okay, now I've given you a little
sheet there and it has, at least up to the book
of Acts, it has what is the most recent scholarship
with regard to the dates of the writing of the
various books of the New Testament. You'll see
that James, the letter to the church in Jerusalem,
It was written by Jesus' brother, James, somewhere
between 44 and 49. Then the Pauline letters come
in, Paul's letters to his churches. He first
writes to the folks in Galatia. And then Mark
is 50 to 60, Matthew's 50 to 60. Also, to be
completely honest, those two could be flipped.
The scholarship out there today about actually
which one came first, Mark or Matthew, is just
about a coin toss in what you study and find.
They're both written within that same time period,
very, very close to each other. And then Paul,
yes, Paul writes two letters. to the folks in
Thessalonica, two letters to the folks in Corinth.
He writes a letter to the church in Rome. And
then Luke writes his first book, the gospel according
to Luke. But what we see here right off the bat
is we have these two early gospel accounts of
Mark and Matthew, whichever one comes first.
And so if Jesus dies, and is resurrected in 30
AD, then about 20 years at the earliest, 30 years
probably at the latest, between 20 and 30 years
after the resurrection and ascension, we have
the first writing down of the life of Jesus.
But what you'll notice in the next 30 years is
for that first... that first 30 -year period
there, from 30 to 60, to where Luke writes his
first gospel account, you'll see that with the
exception of Mark and Matthew, they're all letters.
Two churches. That existed. And what that shows
us is the dramatic growth of the church without
something that we call the Bible. God isn't asking
these people to believe that Jesus loved them
because the Bible told them so. These letters
are written to people who have formed churches
in these places in the Mediterranean Rim because
they've encountered people who were eyewitnesses
to the resurrection. It's powerful stuff. So
by about 60, 30 years after Jesus' ascension,
we have the gospel according to Luke. Then we
have more letters written by Paul. And then finally,
we see after he completes his gospel account
in 60 or 61, that he writes the Acts of the Apostles
thereafter. So if the accounts that we find within
the Acts of the Apostles is basically from 30
to 60, then what we definitely know is that...
If 62 is the earliest date for the Acts, then
Luke is writing these events after the fact.
And that's important. Because as we go through
the Acts of the Apostles, it's going to feel
very much like a diary narrative. It's going
to feel very much like, this happened yesterday,
and I want to write it down, Luke says. These
events, some of the events that we talk about
tonight, Luke would have begun writing down 30
years later. So what the Acts shows us as a title
is that what we're going to examine are those
close individuals, those that were close to Jesus,
not the whole of his followers. Remember, there
would have been perhaps 100, 150. Followers of
Jesus that would have followed Jesus everywhere
he went. But then there's this inner circle of
just this dozen group of folks that were apostles.
The ones that were instructed to go out into
the world to start these churches. So a more
accurate account though is probably the Acts
not of the apostles but of Jesus through the
Spirit. Because the story that we're going to
find throughout the Acts. of the apostles is
actually that the Holy Spirit becomes the energizing
agent that drives the apostles to do something
that they had never done before. And the Holy
Spirit is the only consistent character through
the whole of the book because apostles will come
and go. Apostles will be there and then die.
Stephen, we're going to find very early on in
the account. Stephen gets into hot water with
the authorities very quickly and ends up getting
killed. So Stephen's going to go pretty quickly.
But the Holy Spirit stays throughout the whole
of the narrative of the Acts of the Apostles.
So let's begin just here again. We're just going
to focus on the first chapter 9. So that's just
kind of a setup to where we are. We're in 30
A .D. And what this is going to do over these
next few weeks is we're going to look at the
next 30 years of the growth of the church. So
this is immediately after Christ's death, resurrection,
and ascension. In my former book, Luke says,
Theophilus. Theophilus means a lover of God.
It is likely that this person is some rich believer.
that had enough money to actually fund the writing
of this account. So he's writing, Luke is writing
his account of the story of Jesus for this patron,
Theophilus, who's paying for it all. So in my
former book, in Luke, I wrote about all that
Jesus began to do. Now he's writing here in Acts
and saying whenever I wrote my gospel account,
that ended with his death and his resurrection,
that part was the stuff that he had just begun
to do. The implication here that Luke is giving
us right off the bat that he's going to tell
us about in Acts is even though Jesus died and
was resurrected, the story of Jesus isn't over.
The implication is that Luke is the beginning
and Acts is a continuation of the work of Jesus.
Scripture continues. And to teach until the day
he was taken up to heaven after giving instructions
through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had
chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself
to them and gave many convincing proofs that
he was alive. He appeared to them over a period
of 40 days and spoke... Someone just remember
40 days when we stop again and talk. appeared
for 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
On 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. For John baptized
with water, but in a few days you will be baptized
with the Holy Spirit. Let me just stop right
there. So resurrection happens on Easter, which
is just a few days after Passover. So we have
from, it's actually, I just realized that this
isn't from Easter. This should be from Passover.
So from Passover, forward in the calendar 49
days, the next day is the day of Pentecost. So
Pentecost is another one of these Jewish festivals
that Jews from... Jerusalem and around Jerusalem
would be required to come to Jerusalem and offer
a sacrifice. This time, the sacrifice isn't the
Passover lamb, but it's the first fruits of the
early summer harvest. Remember, the climate is
different in the Mediterranean than it is here.
And so by June, they would have already had a
first crop. Pentecost is a Jewish festival. that
asks people to come back to Jerusalem seven weeks
after Passover and offer a new sacrifice, the
sacrifice of the firstfruits. That's what the
festival is called, the Festival of Firstfruits.
Pentecost, that word, means 50 days. 50 days
from Passover, 49 days. Passover, 49 days, or
49 days, the next day is Pentecost. However you
want to calculate. Now just stay where you're
at, but I just want to go back and compare first
paragraphs. Theophilus writing the story about
Jesus and what he's doing. I just want to go
back and read the first paragraph of Luke chapter
1. Many have undertaken to draw up an account
of the things that have been fulfilled among
us, just as they were handed down to us by those
who were the first eyewitnesses and servants
of the word, with this in mind, since I myself
have carefully investigated everything from the
beginning, I too have decided to write an orderly
account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that
guy, so that you may know the certainty of the
things you have been taught. Luke is very concerned
in both the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles,
in the beginning of the gospel according to Luke,
and telling the reader two things. One, this
deals with eyewitness accounts. And two, I am
only dealing in facts so that you can have certainty.
Luke is laying out a case here for the truth
of Jesus Christ. Okay? Now, in Acts there, We
have also that promise, going back to Acts now,
we have the promise right off the bat of the
coming of the Holy Spirit. Now, I want to stop
just for a second and compare the Holy Spirit
in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Holy Spirit in
the Old Testament, versus the Holy Spirit in
the New Testament. So, the Holy Spirit existed
during the time of the Old Testament, right?
When did the Holy Spirit come into existence?
No, right off the bat in Genesis 1, right? Whenever
God is talking to we, right? He's talking, the
Spirit is there. The Spirit hovered over the
waters, right? The Holy Spirit is a part of the
Godhead, pre -created, uncreated creator. So
the Holy Spirit has been around since forever,
okay? And the Holy Spirit acted in the Old Testament
just like it acts. In the New Testament, but
it acts in a different way. Does anybody know
the difference, the distinction? Okay. When the
Holy Spirit acts in the Old Testament, he works
and covers the body of the nation of Israel.
The Holy Spirit dwells for the benefit of the
nation in the Ark of the Covenant. The Holy Spirit
in the Old Testament, there's a Hebrew word that
is Shekinah. Anybody know that word, Shekinah?
It means the manifestation, the physical manifestation
of God. So smoke or fire or wind, the Shekinah
glory, that's the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.
The transition from the temple system to the
body becoming the temple system. is that the
Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, whatever, continues
to dwell in the temple, but the temple isn't
someplace you go. The temple is you yourself.
So the residence of the Holy Spirit stays the
same in that the Holy Spirit is always contained
in the temple. The difference is... That Jesus
has changed the temple from a place that's a
building to ourselves. The Holy Spirit now acts
for the benefit of the individual. Not only to
the nation of Israel. Big, big difference. So
the Holy Spirit coming to the individual is actually
promised. Stay where you're at. I'm just going
to read. I just have a little bit tonight from
the Old Testament prophecies. I'm going to read
a portion from Isaiah, a portion from the prophet
Ezekiel, from his very, very weird chapter 36.
If you want to go home and read Ezekiel chapter
36, this is like Old Testament prophet at Woodstock.
This is crazy, trippy stuff. And then Joel chapter
2. All three of these. They're going to tell
us about the promise of the coming of the Holy
Spirit. So beginning with the 14th chapter of
Isaiah's prophecy in the 32nd chapter, Isaiah
says this, The fortress will be abandoned, the
noisy city deserted. Citadel and watchtower will
become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys,
a pasture for flocks, till the Spirit is poured
upon us from on high. And the desert becomes
a fertile field, the fertile field seems like
a forest. Ezekiel 36, verse 25 says, I will sprinkle
clean water on you and you will be clean. I will
cleanse you from all of your impurities and from
your idols. I will give you a new heart and put
a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your
heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit in you and move you
to follow my decrees. Be careful to keep my laws.
Second chapter of Joel, prophet Joel, in the
28th verse, says, And afterward I will pour out
my spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters
will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams,
and your young men will see visions. You've probably
heard that portion of Joel before. So, promise
fulfilled. The Old Testament prophecies. Looking
at verse 6 of Acts, Then they gathered around
him and asked, Lord, Are you at this time going
to restore the kingdom of Israel? Okay, we recognize
we've got this whole Messiah thing wrong. We
now understand the implications of the resurrection.
And we feel like you are still promising a restoration
of the kingdom of Israel. Okay, so we admit we
got the resurrection bit wrong, the Messiah bit
wrong. But what about the kingdom of Israel?
Is now when you're going to do that? He says
to them, it's not for you to know the times or
the dates the Father has set by his own authority,
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes on you. And you'll be my witnesses where?
In Jerusalem, right? And then in Judea and Samaria,
and then to the ends of the earth. Judgment comes
from the temple first, God says in the Old Testament.
This whole thing starts at the heart of my people,
Jerusalem. And you're going to bear witness to
my resurrection first to the people in Jerusalem.
And then concentric circles outward. First to
the Jews in Jerusalem. Second to Jews that may
not live in Jerusalem but live in Judea. Right?
And then non -Jewish adjacent territories. Samaria,
which are old Semitic cousins of the Jewish people.
They're the Jews that basically were left behind
during the exile. So Jesus is saying, we're going
to start in Jerusalem and we're going to work
our way out. But we are going to go to the whole
of the world with this message. Verse 9. It's
really small. After he said this, he was taken
up before the very eyes. Eyewitness account.
And a cloud hid him from their sight. They were
looking intently up into the sky as he was going,
when suddenly two men dressed in white stood
beside them. Men of Galilee, they said. Why do
you stand here looking at the sky? The same Jesus
who's been taken... from you into heaven will
come back in the same way you have seen him go
to heaven. This is a fulfillment of the prophecy
of Daniel. In the seventh chapter of his prophecy,
the seventh chapter of Daniel deals almost exclusively
with this prophetic character called the Son
of Man, of whom Jesus referred to himself. In
Daniel 7, verse 13, it says, In my vision at
night I looked, and there before me was one like
the Son of Man. coming with the clouds of heaven.
He approached the ancient of days, which is an
awesome name for God, if you ask me. He approached
the ancient of days and was led into his presence.
He was given authority, glory, and sovereign
power. All nations and peoples of every language
worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom
is one that will never be destroyed. Okay, so
the ascension. To Jesus. Of Jesus to heaven.
Again, it's a call back time. The Old Testament
to the new. Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem.
They have been told, go back to Jerusalem and
wait. Okay. How long does anybody know? How long
did Jesus before his ascension? How long did
Jesus appear to people? 40 days. That's right.
You got it right. Right. 40 days. How long is
it from Passover to Pentecost? 50 days. So if
Jesus was with them 40 days, and he told them
to go back to Jerusalem and wait, it took 10
days. They're going to wait in Jerusalem for
10 days. We want to keep a clock in our head
in time. Time's important here, I think, to really
grasp how quickly Christianity begins to spread.
In the ancient world, given there's no internet,
there's no TV, there's no satellite phones, given
all of that, I want us, as we go through the
book of Acts, I want us to focus or think about
time. Because time is really, really, I think,
important here. Because I think it is illustrative
of the tremendous power of the Holy Spirit at
work here. So the apostles, after the ascension,
they return. To Jerusalem from a hill called
the Mount of Olives. Okay, so we know where that's
at. We know that they're walking back to the
house. We're going to find out here in a second
is that same upper room where they met with Jesus
on the eve of his crucifixion. And we know that
the walk from the Mount of Olives back into the
city is, according to scripture, a Sabbath's
day walk from the city. Anyone? No. A Sabbath's
day walk. You are permitted to walk a certain
distance from the city walls and not break the
Sabbath because you're not supposed to travel
or walk or do work or create or destroy on the
Sabbath. Right? You are not to do work. But the
reality of the human existence is there are going
to be times even on the Sabbath where you're
going to have to have kinetic motion with your
body. So the rabbis decide, how long can you
walk with it not being work? And I have no idea
how they came up with it, but it is a rabbinic
law that a Jew might travel up to 2 ,000 cubits
on the Sabbath from the walled limits of a town.
Thank you. It is about five -eighths of a mile.
A little over a half of a mile. And we know that
it's about that distance, right? Because we've
talked about that's halfway. The Mount of Olives
is halfway between Bethany, where Martha and
Mary and Lazarus lived, into Jerusalem. They
went back and forth over the Mount of Olives.
Man, that was the jam, right? Okay, when they
arrived, they went upstairs to the room where
they were staying. They were staying in the place
of the upper room where they had the Last Supper.
Those present were Peter, John, James, Andrew,
Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James
the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and
Judas the son of James. They all joined together
constantly in prayer along with the women and
Mary, the mother of Jesus. and with his, Jesus'
brothers. In those days, Peter stood up among
the believers, a group numbering about 120, and
he said, Brothers and sisters, I think that's
important, the scripture had to be fulfilled
in which the Holy Spirit spoke long enough through
David concerning Judas, who served as guide for
those who arrested Jesus. He was one of our number.
And he, Judas, shared in our ministry with the
payment. For his wickedness, Judas bought a field.
There he felt headlong his body burst open and
all of the intestines spilled out. Everyone in
Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that
field in their language Akadama. Akadama, that
is the field of blood. So Peter said, it is written
in the book of Psalms, may his place be deserted.
Let there be no one to dwell in it. That's from
the 69th Psalm. And then Peter says, may another
take his place of leadership. That's from the
109th Psalm. Now, I did some research on this
to try to figure out why was it so important
for Peter to quote the Psalms here in making
this decision. And it basically is that most
people seem to think that for the disciples,
that they would have thought that David, King
David, would have somehow prefigured Christ.
And that's not too surprising because the prophets
also anticipated a Messiah in the image of David.
So they just kind of connected David and Jesus
together as the prototypical kings. So they just
looked to the words of David in the Psalms for
wisdom. Therefore, it is necessary to choose
one of the men who have been with us the whole
time the Lord Jesus was living among us. Beginning
with John's baptism, to the time when Jesus was
taken up from us. For one of these must become
a witness with us of his resurrection. Okay,
there's only 11 of us now, and Jesus picked 12
for some reason. And if we're going to continue
working like Jesus intended us to work, we need
to pick a new number 12, right? Now, Peter lays
out some requirements. in how they're going to
pick who this person is. Here's his rationale.
One, whoever they pick needs to be someone who's
always been with us. Two, he defines always.
Between some significant starting point, something
that's significant to them all, the baptism of
Jesus by John, and the ending point being the
ascension. So obviously the baptism of Christ
by John in the Jordan was of superior importance
to them all, as was the ascension. Because whenever
he talks about you being with us the whole time
we were followers of Jesus, that's how he defines
always. The third rationale here is why. Why
would that be important? Because Peter's trying
to tell us the same thing Luke's trying to tell
us. We need eyewitnesses to the resurrection.
This is not about evidence. I'm not looking for
the best public speaker we've got. I'm not looking
for the most charismatic or maybe the one of
these disciples because some of these disciples
have their own sets of followers now. I'm not
looking for maybe the most influential of the
other. followers of us i'm not looking for the
richest one who has the most resources the most
important qualification to peter of who they
were going to select was that person had to be
an eyewitness to the same things we have been
eyewitnesses to so let's look at the starting
and ending points for this time period what's
significant about both of them what happens in
both of them The heavens open up. They witnessed
with their own eyeballs heavens opening up. They
witnessed what it was like in a heavenly plane.
Right? The other thing that's important in both
accounts is it wasn't just this small group of
people that saw it either. Right? It was a larger
grouping of people that witnessed this too. Remember,
whenever John was baptizing out in the Jordan,
Mark begins his gospel account with that. He
doesn't start with Christmas. He actually starts
with the baptism of Jesus. And right off the
bat, Mark says that John was out in the wilderness
baptizing people, and he says all of the people
of Jerusalem were coming out to be baptized.
So there were crowds and crowds of people coming
out. to be baptized by John in the Jordan River.
So that day when Jesus got into the water and
the heavens opened up and the Spirit like a dove
descended upon Him, it wasn't just this group
of 10 or 12 dudes that saw it. There was a whole
bunch of people that saw it. So the most important
qualifications here for start and end of being
an eyewitness is you were with us when we saw
heaven. Open up. And you weren't the only ones
that saw it. There were other people that could
attest to it too. So it doesn't come off like
some sort of conspiracy. So, verse 23 says, So
they nominated two men, Joseph, called Barsabbas,
also known as Justice, and Matthias. And they
prayed, Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show
us which of these two you have chosen to take
over this apostolic ministry. Which Judas left
to go where he belongs. Then they cast lots and
the lot fell to Matthias. So Matthias was added
to the eleven. And that's where we'll end the
introduction to Acts tonight. Because we now
sit on the precipice. of one of the most important
events in the history of the world. The moment
when the Holy Spirit actually descends upon the
apostles. A wind rushes through the entire city
of Jerusalem, scaring people to death, making
the apostles act like these people thought they
were drunk. And then something very strange occurred.
everybody could understand in their own language.
And what is the significance of that? Not just
being a really cool trick, but what does the
ability to hear that message that Peter preached
that day in our own language, what does that
say about God and his relationship with us? If
you'll come back next time, that's what we'll
talk about. Well, there you have it. This episode
sets us up for next time when we focus on the
beginnings of the church on that day of Pentecost.
I hope you'll come back. and experience that
with us. Hey, listen, before you go, however
it is that you listen to the podcast, if you
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until next time, friend, be blessed and be a
blessing.