Church Before Pentecost
Acts 1:1-14
INTRODUCTION Popular Protestant propaganda promotes the fiction that "the church" began on the day of Pentecost. This fiction is not only foreign to the Bible, it is plainly contradictory to what the Bible really teaches. Any church started at Pentecost would have been too late to be Christ's church, which was already organized and operating during His personal ministry [Matthew 18:15-18]. The apostles were the first members and foundation of this church [I Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 2:20]. But there is not one line of Scripture that states or even hints that any church was started at Pentecost. To the contrary, in Acts 1:15-26 we are given an account of a business meeting of the church already existing, and it was to this church that 3,000 souls were added on the day of Pentecost and others daily thereafter [Acts 2:41, 47]. Our present lesson [Acts 1:1-14] is one of five accounts including different occasions and different wordings in which Jesus stated and restated His commission to His church after His resurrection and before His ascension. Outline: 1. Continuance, Acts 1:1-3. a. Report resumed, 1. b. Reordering required, 2. c. Resurrection recertified, 3. 2. Commission, Acts 1:4-8. a. Promised power, 4-5. b. Prelimited power, 6-7. c. Purposeful power, 8. 3. Comparison, Acts 1:9-11. a. Visible valediction, 9. b. Visible visitors, 10. c. Visible victory, 11. 4. Compliance, Acts 1:12-14. a. Apostolic agreement, 12. b. Apostolic abode, 13. c. Apostolic assembly, 14. NOTES ON THE TEXT: CONTINUANCE , Acts 1:1-3.Undoubtedly the writer of the gospel of Luke wrote the book of Acts also, as is evident from comparison of the opening verses of the two books. In this book we have a continuance of Luke's inspired record of the doings and doctrines of Jesus. If the traditional title is correct, the apostles were nevertheless only continuing the work of their risen Lord. Report Resumed, 1. Whoever Theophilus was, Luke was concerned that he should "know the certainty" of the things in which he had been instructed as a believer in Christ [Luke 1:4], and so here he resumes the report begun in the "former treatise." Reordering Required, 2. Jesus had spent perhaps more than three years instructing the first members of His church before His crucifixion, but their understanding was more limited then than later. At the time of the crucifixion they were all scattered and discouraged; nothing less than the resurrection was required to reorder their thinking and fellowship and to prepare them to receive renewed and enlarged commandments from their risen Lord. Resurrection Recertified, 3. "Passion" here means "suffering," referring to Christ's suffering of death. Three days during which the dead body of Christ lay in Joseph's tomb plus forty days of "infallible proofs" of His resurrection would seem to leave about a week between the ascension and Pentecost. He was seen by His disciples during those forty days that "he showed himself alive;" Luke here rectifies the resurrection to remove any possibility of doubt concerning the fact.
COMMISSION, Acts 1:4-8. As noted in our introduction, this is one of five statements of Christ's commission given to His church between the time of His resurrection and the time of His ascension. Others may be found in Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-49; and John 20:21-23. Promised Power, 4-5. Reminding His church of "the promise of the Father," Jesus refers to His baptizing the entire body in the Holy Spirit, an event that took place at Pentecost. All the members at that time had heard this promise from Jesus before, and at least the apostles [and probably most or all of the others] had heard it still earlier from John the Baptist. Now the time for the fulfillment of that promise was "not many days hence." The preposition "with" in verse 5 should be translated both times "in." John baptized individual believers in water; Jesus baptized the whole church in the Holy Spirit. Prelimited Power, 6-7. Yet the promised power of the Holy Spirit did not and does not remove all limitations of human capability. Idle questions of prophetic interpretation may remain unanswered, for instance. No doubt Jesus could have given additional information at this point, if He had so chosen; but instead He said simply, "It is not for you to know." Our obligation is not to ask questions, but to obey orders. Purposeful Power, 8. God's purpose in giving the power of the Holy Spirit to His church in special manifestations was definitely not to foster personal pride in individual gifts; rather the divine purpose was to make His people effective in witnessing for Christ, and that not only in Jerusalem but eventually "unto the uttermost part of the earth."
COMPARISON, Acts 1:9-11. "Like manner" in verse 11 makes a comparison between Jesus' going up to heaven nearly 2,000 years ago and His future coming back down to earth. No doubt there are various points of comparison, but for one we are certainly safe in saying that just as His going away was visible so also His coming again will be visible. Visible Valediction, 9. "While they beheld, he was taken up." No secret disappearance here; not only was he visible, but His disciples were watching as He went, and continued to watch until "a cloud received him out of their sight." Visible Visitors, 10. Making doubly sure that their eyes had not deceived them, there came two heavenly messengers, plainly visible as two men who "stood by them in white apparel." There could be no mistake about the appearance of these visible visitors. Visible Victory, 11. Continuing the comparison of the going with the coming of our Lord, we may note a point of difference not mentioned in our present text. His going away, though visible, was witnessed only by His disciples; but when He comes again "every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him" [Revelation 1:7]. His visible return will mark His visible victory over all His enemies.
COMPLIANCE, Acts 1:12-14. For a while at least the members of this first church were so impressed by their experiences with the resurrected Christ that they complied with His commands without reservations. Too often we lack the power of God because we seek compliance with our own will instead of His. Apostolic Agreement, 12. So the apostles agreed in obeying their Lord. People who claim to be in apostolic succession but are not in apostolic agreement need not expect us to believe their claims. Apostolic Abode, 13. Most commentators wrongly assume that the "upper room" was the location of the prayer meetings mentioned in the next verse. The Scripture does not say so; what it says is that the named apostles "abode" there: that is, they slept and perhaps ate there. Apostolic Assembly, 14. Luke 24:53 informs us that the daily prayer meetings of the church There referred to, in which the members [including the apostles but also including others] were continually "praising and blessing God," were held "in the temple." The temple was a huge place, with plenty of room not only for the little church of about 120 members [Acts 1:15] but also for the multitude of many thousands of Jews who came together there on the day of Pentecost.
CONCLUSION [Luke 24:47] "Repentance" means a change of mind. Gospel repentance is a change of mind from unbelief to belief of God's Word, from unbelief to belief in God's judgment on sin, from unbelief to belief in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Repentance therefore involves faith, and faith is the attitude arrived at by repentance; in the New Testament the two words are seldom used together, because either word necessarily implies the other. Dismissal, forgiveness, or remission of sins is promised and provided only through "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" [Acts 20~21]. "In his name" means under His authority and upon His merits. ==================== [From Ashland Avenue Baptist paper, March 3, 1978, pp. 2-3. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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