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Bible Study on Acts 1:1-5, The Promise of the Holy Spirit

It must be kept in mind that there was three and a half years of ministry leading up to this point in time including the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Before that ministry there were thousands of years of preparation, from the creation of man, to the promise to Abraham, the exodus of Israel from Egyptian bondage and the preservation of the lineage of Christ until the fulness of time (Gal. 4:4). All of that time, patience and energy was leading up to the events close at hand. This is to say that the importance of these events is immense. It cannot be underestimated.

In his previous book, Luke had gone back farther than any of the other writers in terms of actual “Gospel” events. He had revealed God’s first communication to man in a period of four hundred years marking the beginning of a new set of events. He had clearly tied the new to the old. Malachi 4:5-6, God’s last communication with Israel said,

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

Luke chapter one connects the new to the old with the next communication of God being on the exact same subject. God hadn’t forgotten. God’s plan for the redemption of men was on track. At the beginning of Acts we recognize that God is still on the same subject. The act of redemption, the shedding of blood, has occured as has victory over death and the crowning of the King (2:23-33). As Luke begins to write, Jesus is on the throne and is about to perform His first official act, the sending of the Holy Spirit.

v. 1

There is a great connection between what Jesus did and taught and what the apostles would do and teach. I mention this because there are those who believe that what Jesus taught was Old Covenant doctrine, but once this connection is proved the argument is shown to be the empty shell that it is. If the apostles were only to teach what Jesus taught then either Jesus taught New Testament doctrine or the apostles taught Old Covenant doctrine. One goes with the other.

• John 17:8, For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
• John 14:26, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
• John 16:13, When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
• Mark 13:11, And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.
• John 12:48, The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

Jesus gave his words to the apostles with the help of the Holy Spirit, who will guide them into all truth but will only teach them those things Jesus has taught them. On top of that we will be judged by the words of Christ. There you have it. Those things that the apostles would teach after the coming of the Holy Spirit would be the things that they had been taught while Jesus was with them. This would be their claim to authority. Hearing the apostles would be the same as hearing Jesus (1 Cor. 14:37).

Since the New Testament teaches that the Old Covenant has been abolished and it teaches that the words of the apostles are the words of Jesus, then Jesus’ words could not have been Old Covenant doctrine.

v. 2

I don’t know why but most translations give “commands” or “commandments.” The word in the Greek, however, is singular, which is why the ASV says “commandment.” If there’s one commandment that Luke is talking about he must be talking about the Great Commission.

• Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
• Mark 16:15-16 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
• Luke 24:46-47 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

v. 3 – Proofs

Why is it that Christians maintained their testimony in the face of death? They were ostracized from their families and society. It was in no way financially rewarding. They were physically punished, sometimes tortured and killed. No apostle that saw the proofs mentioned here left the faith. Thousands of Christians maintained their faith rather than turn back to the comfort of family and society. Why? is a question that demands an answer here. Jesus proved to them that he was back from the dead. He spent 40 days with them after having been dead. He still had the hole created by the spear in his side. There were holes in his hands and feet (John 20:27). Here was a man with a spear hole in his heart walking among them unimpaired. The holes weren’t healed up (again, John 20:27). They were with him for three and a half years, they saw him beaten and crucified, they saw him pierced and buried and the tomb sealed and they saw him alive. Without these proofs there is no book of Acts.

v. 4

“He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem.”

“And it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.” (Isa. 2:2-3; see also Mic. 4:1-2)

The kingdom was to come “with power” (Mark 9:1). The apostles were ordered to “stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). The retelling of the order says that they would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:4). Something BIG is about to happen.