BRUCE C WEARNE recaps his look at Acts, chapters one to six...
The apostles obeyed Jesus’ command to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit. Having done so they were empowered to lay the foundations from which Jesus’ disciples could, ever after, live out the teaching of His earthly ministry in the power of the same Spirit. Luke has told us that his book is about the ongoing impact of Jesus’ earthly ministry. What we have read so far concerns the first weeks and months after He left. The empowerment of the Holy Spirit showed itself in the life of His apostles and disciples. They became a bright light shining so Israel and Jewish descendents dispersed in various places could hear the Good News. They received it with joy. There are repeated inklings and hints in these first six chapters that the Gospel was then on the verge of spreading into gentile regions near and far.
Luke, in his two books written for Theophilus, is explaining how this motley movement of Jewish and gentile believers in Israel’s promised Messiah, had arisen and gone forth, first from Jerusalem but then, as it seemed, become evident in many other places as well.
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THE CHURCH TODAY: It was in Acts that the early church was born. PICTURE: Miguel Saavedra/www.freeimages.com
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But first, the apostolic synagogue at Jerusalem was set up. The work of the apostles commissioned by Jesus Himself required Jerusalem as their initial base of operations. Jesus had told them to wait for the Spirit there in Jerusalem because from there they would be His witnesses “throughout Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth” (1:8).
We can discover something interesting by thinking about the phrase “to the end of the earth” – what does end mean? Was this the farthest land or was this about the last things? The word means ‘extremity’ and it can refer to space as well as time. So how did the apostles understand Jesus’ command? Were they to always base their operations in Jerusalem, from there to send out more messengers to the ends of the earth? Or was this a command which required the apostles to take the Good News to the farthest extremity? Or is it, perhaps, something else? It seems to be that it is Jesus’ definitive description of what will happen when we, His disciples, take Him at His word. We discover that the Good News is a message for all times and places. This was our Saviour’s prophetic description of how we are to live, how we will live when the Spirit leads us!
Luke describes the many surprises the Holy Spirit had for the growing community. At first, the apostles led a well-respected synagogue which met at Solomon’s Portico in the temple. The religious authorities opposed them bitterly. It is noteworthy that apart from references to Pilate, when Jesus’ trial is mentioned, Luke does not say anything about the Roman authorities – the focus is on the Sanhedrin. After the lame man’s healing, Peter and John were dragged before it. Later the high priests and Sadducees imprisoned the twelve but an angel mysteriously freed them. That was just before the council adopted Gamaliel’s policy of “leaving them alone”. Then Luke tells us how a problem in food distribution was solved, as a prelude to Stephen’s arrest. A group including some from the Jewish and proselyte community in Cyrene, Egypt, the freedmen or Libertines, conspired to have Stephen executed for blasphemy.
As we shall see there was a somewhat spectacular unintended consequence of this effort to silence Stephen. The outpouring of intense persecution, we should probably call it an instance of “ethnic cleansing”, sought fanatically to rid Israel of these Gentile believers in Israel’s Messiah. And the Pharisee Saul, Gamaliel’s student, led the charge.
In all this the main character in Luke’s story, is the Holy Spirit Himself. He is always a few steps ahead, preparing the way, encouraging the followers of Jesus to move on and take the Good News with them wherever they go.
Got a verse or a short passage you’d like us to look at? Just send an email to [email protected].
