Waiting for the Promise

WAITING FOR THE PROMISE

An Exposition of Acts 1:1-14

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: January 19, 2025

Series: The Book of Acts

Note: Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION

This morning we begin the fourth big sermon series since I came here about seven years ago. From January 2018 through May 2019 we walked through Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (that series was 45 sermons). Starting in October 2019 and continuing to December 2021, we journeyed through the Gospel of Mark (for a total of 56 sermons). Then from January 2022 to September 2024 we adventured through the Book of Genesis (and got 78 sermons out of it). As you may notice, each big sermon series has been longer than the previous one, but this trend is unlikely to continue. The Book of Acts, though longer than Philippians and Mark, is quite a bit shorter than Genesis, and that will affect the number of sermons preached.

And so, to the Book of Acts we now turn. The Book of Acts provides a historical overview of the early church – how the early church got off the ground and carried out its mission. The Book of Acts is another book about a beginning. The Book of Genesis told us about the beginning of the world and the consequential events that took place after God made the world. The Gospel of Mark told us about the coming of Jesus and the redeeming grace that He brought to sinners like you and me. The coming of Jesus meant a turning point and new beginning for this broken and sinful world. The Book of Acts narrates the beginning of the church as it was entrusted with the responsibility to continue Jesus’ mission after Jesus returned to heaven. The Book of Acts reminds us what it means to be the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and inspires us to be on mission with God, taking His message to the whole world.

The goal of this study on the Book of Acts isn’t to simply know what happened to the church in the 1^st century. It is much more: to let the same Holy Spirit who empowered the first disciples to do God’s work in the 1^st century world, empower us 21^st century disciples to do God’s work in our own time and place. Remember: “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Same problems, same pitfalls, same kinds of opposition, but also the same opportunities and possibilities. More importantly, God hasn’t changed. God is on mission in this world, and He calls His people of every generation to participate in His mission. God calls us to trust Him, go forth in His Name, and carry out the task that He has assigned to us. God hasn’t placed us here in Western Maine in order to get big heads, but to represent Him, to impress the message of His grace upon all who will listen, and to make new and better disciples. We cannot possibly do this in our own strength.

Some of us need to be reminded of the strength that is ours in Christ, so that we will have courage to proclaim Christ in hostile environments. Some of us need to understand that it is perfectly normal for there to be external and internal threats to the Christian community, and we need to make sure that we are rightly aligned with the Lord. Some of us need to come to grips with the fact that Christian missionary work and Christian ministry work is fundamentally supernatural, and if we’re not praying and not filled with the Spirit and not putting our hope and trust in God, then we will not bear the good fruit that God intends. Some of us, perhaps, need to discover God’s power for the first time. Note well: this power to be discovered doesn’t make us great in the eyes of the world, it rather makes us effective servants in the other-worldly kingdom of God.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Holy Scripture says:

¹ In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, ² until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. ³ He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

⁴ And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; ⁵ for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

⁶ So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” ⁹ And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰ And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, ¹¹ and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

¹² Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. ¹³ And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. ¹⁴ All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. (Acts 1:1-14)

LOOKING BACK: THE FULL SCOPE OF JESUS’ MINISTRY ON EARTH (v. 1-2a)

The background to the message of the Book of Acts is the full scope of Jesus’ life and ministry on earth. Jesus came onto the scene, being born of the virgin Mary, living as an obedient son under the parental direction of Joseph and Mary, was eventually baptized by John the Baptizer in the river Jordan, withstood the temptations of the devil in the wilderness, and thereafter embarked on a multi-year ministry of preaching and healing. All that was the subject of Luke’s first book: the Gospel of Luke.

Luke is better known as the human author of the Gospel of Luke, but he also authored the Book of Acts: “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up” (v. 1-2a). The “first book”, of course, is the Gospel of Luke. And so, at the beginning of Acts, Luke refers back to the Gospel of Luke and summarizes its content: what Jesus did and taught from the beginning of his life and ministry to “the day when he” ascended to heaven.

The ground covered in the gospel of Luke

Let’s remember: the Gospel of Luke begins with the promised conceptions of John the Baptizer and then of Jesus, which are then followed by their birth announcements, and then in due course we arrive at Jesus’ baptism in Luke 3, his wilderness temptation in Luke 4, followed by an extensive summary of Jesus’ teaching the Word, healing the sick, and calling and mentoring His disciples that runs from Luke 4:14 to Luke 21:38. Then the sufferings of Jesus Christ and His death upon the cross are recounted in Luke 22-23, followed by the announcement of Jesus’ resurrection in Luke 24. In Luke 24, following His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples, instructed them from the Scriptures, and prepared them for their upcoming mission. Luke 24 concludes with Jesus ascending into heaven and the joyful disciples returning to Jerusalem and blessing God in the temple (Luke 24:51-52). Those are the data points of the Gospel of Luke. But what does it all mean?

The meaning and significance of the gospel of Luke

Look at how Luke began his first book:

“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the world have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.” (Luke 1:1-4)

Both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts were addressed to a man named Theophilus. Theophilus must have been a man of standing in the early Christian community, a man who would steward the sacred writings and see to it that they found their way to the church at large. As Theophilus’ name means ‘friend of God’ or ‘lover of God’, we do well to consider that Scripture teaches that all of us ought to be friends and lovers of God, and that only those who befriend and love God will actually benefit from the truth of Scripture.

Notice what Luke said to Theophilus at the beginning of the Gospel: “to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us”. In the life, ministry, suffering, and resurrection of Jesus, things were being accomplished. What things? The things that God had promised long ago in the writings of the Old Testament – the promises that were made in the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets. When Jesus inaugurated the special Supper of bread and wine, He took “the cup after they had eat” and said, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:20) The new covenant was promised long ago, in such Old Testament books as Jeremiah and Ezekiel. God promised to make a new covenant with His people, a new and better covenant that would forever wash away their sins, transform their hearts, and send God’s Word and God’s Spirit streaming into their lives such that they would know God personally and walk with Him faithfully. This new covenant was accomplished and fulfilled, sealed and delivered, through Jesus and the blood that He shed upon the cross.

After His resurrection, Jesus said to His disciples:

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:44)

All the Old Testament promises that were made about the Messiah, about the Son of David, about the Suffering Servant, and about the temple and the priesthood and the sacrifices – all of these promises looked ahead to Jesus and what He would accomplish, and in due course He actually came and accomplished them. And let us never forget that the things that Jesus accomplished are for the benefit of those who trust Him. As Jesus goes on to say in the verses that immediately follow:

“Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 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 for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”” (Luke 24:45-48)

Jesus came to rescue us – not from our personal discomforts and our political frustrations – but from our sins, and from the judgment that we so rightly deserve for our sins. Jesus came to give us a fresh start, for the grace of repentance is getting to turn away from all the sin that leads to death, and getting to follow the risen Savior in the light of His life and victory.

So, the beginning of the Book of Acts first reaches back into the Gospel of Luke to make it clear that the Book of Acts builds upon the Gospel of Luke. And the Book of Acts begins in the same place that the Gospel of Luke ends, with references to Jesus teaching His disciples prior to His ascension into heaven, followed by Jesus actually ascending into heaven. The end of Luke and the beginning of Acts cover the same ground, but each still has its own emphasis? What is the emphasis in the beginning of Acts?

MOVING FORWARD: JESUS EMPHASIZES THE COMING OF THE SPIRIT (v. 2b-8)

Well, the emphasis comes in verses 4-8, and notice how the writer Luke sets it up. In verse 2 he refers to “the day when he [Jesus] was taken up”, and in verses 9-11 he actually describes how Jesus “was taken up… into heaven” (v. 11). In between this reference to the ascension at the beginning of verse 2 and the description of the ascension in verses 9-11, Luke clearly wants to emphasize some specific things that Jesus said before He ascended into heaven.

The rest of verse 2 tell us that Jesus ascended “after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.” Then verse 3 tells us that “after his suffering [which of course included his death]” Jesus appeared to His disciples, demonstrating that He was alive from the dead and speaking to them “about the kingdom of God” (v. 3). This took place over the course of “forty days” – for there was a span of forty days from the day of Jesus’ resurrection to the day of Jesus’ ascension. Jesus’ repeated appearances to His followers after His death gave them confidence that Jesus really had risen from the dead and conquered death. Then verse 9 begins by telling us that the ascension took place “when [and after] he had said these things”. So in various ways Luke is telling us that before Jesus ascended into heaven, He said some very important things to His apostles, He gave them commands, He discussed God’s kingdom with them. These are all general references to what Jesus said during this time, but what about specifics? What specifically did Jesus tell His apostles before “he was lifted up” to heaven?

These specifics come in verses 4-8. Jesus is just about to return to the Father and thus be physically absent from His followers. What does He choose to tell them just prior to His departure? In short, He tells them that the Holy Spirit will come upon them and direct their lives going forward. Let’s slow down and look at what Jesus is saying here.

“you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (v. 4-5)

First, in verses 4-5, Jesus promises His followers that they “will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (v. 5). In view of this promise, Jesus “ordered them” – commanded them – “not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father”. The apostles are not to wander aimlessly prior to the coming of the Spirit. They are not to do whatever they want, wherever they want, before the Holy Spirit descends upon them. Instead they are to stay put, in Jerusalem, and they are to wait. They are to wait with confidence and expectation “for the promise of the Father”. This phrase “the promise of the Father” refers to the coming of the Holy Spirit, because the Father had promised to send the Holy Spirit to His people. Jesus used this same phrase “the promise of the Father” near the end of the Gospel of Luke: “And behold, I am sending the promise of the Father upon you.” (Luke 24:49a) In John 14, prior to His death, Jesus promised: “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 14:26) So prior to the teaching moment in Acts 1, the apostles had previously “heard from [Jesus]” (v. 4) about the Father’s promise to send the Spirit, as Jesus indicates in verse 4.

In fact, the Father had promised way back in the Old Testament to one day bestow the gift of the Holy Spirit upon His people, as when He said through one of the prophets, “And I will put my Spirit within you” (Ezekiel 36:27). Luke will continue to emphasize the gift of the Holy Spirit as the fulfillment of Old Testament promises in Acts 2, so I don’t want to borrow too much from Acts 2 right now, since we will get there soon enough. But we must clearly understand that the gift of the Holy Spirit is a big deal, because it indicates that the day of salvation has arrived, that the year of God’s favor is upon us, that the new covenant has been put into effect, that Jesus has cleared away all the barriers between the Holy One and sinful mankind, that the barriers of sin and death, of guilt and punishment, and of wrath and judgment have all been cleared out of the way at the cross, and that God is now enabling all of His believing people to live in spiritual communion with Him.

In verses 4-5, Jesus is telling His people that a new beginning is about to take place, and they are to be dialed in and to wait expectantly for that special moment when God’s plan of redemption shifts into the next gear, which would happen “not many days from now”.

Water baptism vs. Holy Spirit baptism

In verse 5, we learn that baptism with the Holy Spirit under the kingship of the risen Lord Jesus Christ, contrasts with the baptism with water that took place under the ministry of John the Baptizer. John himself made this distinction back in the days of his ministry. For example, in Luke’s first volume (the Gospel of Luke), John said, “I baptized you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Luke 3:16) John “[proclaimed] a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3). Baptism into and with water symbolizes a fresh start, a washing away of the crud, a cleansing from sin, a new life. Even now, water baptism continues to be practiced in the church as a symbol of renewal, and as a tangible way of communicating that we believe in Jesus. But baptism with the Holy Spirit takes things to an entirely different level.

Whereas water baptism symbolizes spiritual realities, Holy Spirit baptism is the decisive spiritual reality. Do you see? Human beings like John can set up shop near a river, proclaim a message, and tell people to come and get baptized in the water. Now in John’s case, John was acting faithfully with God’s full authorization. Other people may set up shop near a river for dubious purposes. But still, even in the case of a faithful prophet like John, what can John do? He can proclaim the message. He can invite people into the water, and people can choose to enter the water. People can entrust themselves to John’s ministry, and John can submerge them under the water. The water and all that it symbolizes is a beautiful thing, but the water isn’t the spiritual reality itself. John could point people to the spiritual reality, and he could encourage other people to get aligned with spiritual reality, but John himself couldn’t decisively bring about the spiritual reality in people’s lives. The Baptizer couldn’t bring about the spiritual reality, the baptized couldn’t bring about the spiritual reality, and the water couldn’t bring about the spiritual reality. The only One who is able to decisively bring about the spiritual reality and make it utterly real in people’s lives, is the Messiah, the Mediator appointed by the Father to reconcile sinners to God. This is what John the Baptizer saw and heard from the Father:

“I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him [Jesus]. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:32-34)

Jesus is God’s beloved Son who possesses the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and He is the one and only Mediator who is authorized by the Father to flood His people with the gift of the Holy Spirit. And just think about what this all means: we are not called to be governed by the flesh; we are not called to be governed by the physical or material or financial or social; we are not called to live at a distance from God; we are not called to remain stuck in our ignorance or in our weakness or in our bondage to sin; we are not called to go our own way; and we are not called to have our thinking limited by human potentiality. Do you think that the eleven apostles, sorrowful and dejected after the crucifixion of their Master, are going to bring exuberant joy and triumphant hope to the whole world? Do you think that they are going to turn the world upside down? Do you think that they are going to spearhead a movement that, centuries downstream, inspires 120 people to gather together in South Paris on a Sunday morning in the year 2025 in order to worship the Crucified One? We don’t praise these men for somehow mustering up the wisdom and strength to make something of their lives. We don’t praise these men for being masterful communicators and masterful civilization builders. We don’t praise these men for producing moral resilience and cultural impact. We don’t praise these men for unraveling the mystery of how to connect with the divine or how to make religion accessible to ordinary people. They themselves were ordinary people, and they didn’t discover some brilliant ideas that they then figured out how to effectively package and market to the wider world. That’s not how it happened. You know how it happened, right? Jesus Christ died for their sins, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and not many days later baptized them, immersed them, submerged them, reshaped and revolutionized them with the Holy Spirit. It has been well said that Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good, but to make dead people live – to make spiritually dead people alive to God, reconciled to God, purified by God, and empowered by God. I am fond of a quotation from J. B. Lightfoot, a 19^th century bishop in England:

“Though the Gospel is capable of doctrinal exposition, though it is eminently fertile in moral results, yet its substance is neither a dogmatic system nor a moral code, but a Person and a Life.”[1]

The Person and Life of Jesus Christ are made personal to us, are impressed upon us at a heart level, and the beauty and power of His grace becomes real in our own experience – through the presence and ministry of the Holy Spirit. The link between all that Jesus accomplished (which we learn about in the Gospel of Luke) and us and our life and our benefiting from it and our participation in His mission to the world (such as we will learn in the Book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament) – the personal, experiential, and transformative link between Jesus and us is the Holy Spirit of the living God, the Spirit of truth, the promise of the Father, the Comforter and Counselor who leads us on the path of following Jesus.

“you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (v. 6-8)

Now let’s go to verses 6-8, where Jesus once again draws attention to the forthcoming gift of the Holy Spirit. The mention of the Spirit’s coming in verses 4-5 is more general and refers to all that the Holy Spirit will accomplish in our lives, whereas in verses 6-8 the Spirit’s coming is specifically linked to our mission. But verses 6-8 begin with a potential distraction.

This potential distraction is instructive for us. Jesus tells them “you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (in v. 5) and “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (in v. 8), and in between the disciples start to go down a rabbit hole. What they did in this moment, we often do ourselves. God is attempting to orient our vision to the big picture and the grand thing that He is doing, and yet we get to thinking about some minor issue, or we get thinking about some complex issue, or we get thinking about some speculative questions, or – as here – we start thinking about some important questions that we’re not supposed to know the answer to. At such times, Jesus the faithful Shepherd directs our attention back to the main thing. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing, right?

The apostles ask, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (v. 6) I imagine that some preacher at some time has gotten to this verse, and spent a good deal of time unpacking it and helping people understand why this question made sense and why this question would have been important to the apostles. And perhaps that is well and good. But we have to remember that Luke recounts the question in order to quickly dismiss it and return to the main point. The apostles, being Israelites according to the flesh, were naturally curious as to when God’s promises pertaining to Israel were going to be fulfilled. It is a reasonable question, but it may not be the right question, or the best question. They may not even understand the dimensions of the question that they are asking, since the new covenant inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s spiritual household isn’t something that they fully understood yet. Be that as it may, the point Jesus makes is that they are thinking along a trajectory that is a no-go. Don’t go there. None of your business. The revealed things belong to you, but the hidden things belong to the Father, right? Jesus says, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” (v. 7) Let this free you: it is not for you to be an eschatological guru; it is not for you to be an end-times expert; it is not for you to know the prophetic calendar. Trust Jesus, and don’t attempt to pry beyond your pay grade. Trust Jesus, and keep the main thing the main thing. And the main thing, as far as the Book of Acts is concerned, is that the risen Lord Jesus is returning to heaven, and after He has sat down at the Father’s right hand, He will pour out His Spirit on His people so that they can effectively carry out His mission.

Jesus returns to the main point: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”. One of the striking things in the Gospel of Luke is the authority and power that the Lord Jesus had because the Holy Spirit was upon Him. The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus at His baptism (Luke 3:22). After being baptized, we are told that “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness” (Luke 4:1). After being tempted in the wilderness, “Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee” (Luke 4:14). In the Nazareth synagogue Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah and indicated that His entire ministry would be carried along by the Holy Spirit: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.” (Luke 4:18a) In Luke 10 we learn that “he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit” (Luke 10:21). And even here in Acts 1:2 Jesus “[gave] commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles” (v. 2, italics added). The Holy Spirit directed and empowered Jesus’ earthly ministry. Now, as Jesus entrusts His mission to His followers prior to His ascension to heaven, the same Holy Spirit will come to direct and empower Jesus’ followers to carry out the ministry of the gospel. Once again, the Holy Spirit links the ministry of Jesus to the ministry of His followers.

The Spirit empowers Jesus’ followers for mission

What specifically will the Holy Spirit empower Jesus’ followers to do? “[And] you will be my witnesses”. The Holy Spirit would empower the apostles to tell other people about Jesus. The apostles were eyewitnesses – firsthand witnesses – and they would tell the world what they had seen in Jesus and heard from Jesus. They would testify of His life, His character, His love, His teaching, His suffering, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension into heaven. And they would explain what it all meant, that:

“in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:19-21)

The apostles and other disciples who were eyewitnesses of our Lord had a special and unique role in testifying about the Savior. But all subsequent disciples share in the same mission: as we come to know Christ through the preaching of the gospel, and as the Holy Spirit comes upon us and transforms our lives, then we also must go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit in order to tell other people the good news about Jesus.

Finally, notice that the message of Jesus is to be told everywhere. The end of verse 8 is striking in contrast to the question of verse 6. “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Their vision was focused on Israel. But in verse 8 Jesus makes it clear that their vision must span the globe. Of course, they had to start at the starting point: “in Jerusalem”. But the gospel must keep going out to more and more people in more and more places: “and in all Judea and Samaria”. And don’t stop there: “and to the end of the earth.” By the time we get to the very end of the Book of Acts, the apostle Paul will be far out from Jerusalem in the city of Rome, and there in that pagan city he will be “proclaiming the kingdom of God” (Acts 28:31; remember Acts 1:3!) “and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28:31; remember Acts 1:8!) “with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:31). Until Jesus comes, the heartbeat of the church must be to keep taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to more people in more places – and it all takes place under the direction and empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit-empowered church is a church that is on mission proclaiming the gospel far and wide, because the Holy Spirit is given for that express purpose to publicize the gospel to all peoples everywhere.

JESUS IS TAKEN UP INTO HEAVEN (v. 9-11)

As I bring this message to a close, I want to briefly reference the remaining verses. In verses 9-11, Jesus is taken up into heaven. Notice that Jesus was taken “out of their sight” (v. 9). Notice that he was “taken up from [them]” (v. 11). Two white-robed messengers – almost certainly angels from heaven appearing in human form – tell them that Jesus will come again in like manner at some undisclosed time in the future – and that future day or hour is not for you to know, either. What is especially important here is that after about three years of spending a lot of time with Jesus on earth, including these forty days after His resurrection, now Jesus was physically gone. And it would be ten days before the Holy Spirit would come upon them. What were they to do during this strange ten day period? Answer: follow instructions, and pray in light of Jesus’ promise.

JESUS’ FOLLOWERS WAIT (v. 12-14)

Jesus told them “not to depart from Jerusalem” (v. 4). So after the ascension at the Mount of Olives, the apostles “returned to Jerusalem” (v. 12) and stayed there. The eleven apostles are named for us in verse 13, and then  in verse 14 we are told that they were joined by some women disciples and Jesus’ mother Mary and Jesus’ brothers. And what were they all doing? They were praying: “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer” (v. 14). They were “[waiting] for the promise of the Father” by consciously focusing upon the Father in prayer. Verses 12-14 gives us a beautiful picture of the infant church: a community of disciples that is being shaped by Jesus’ words, that is trusting and obeying Jesus’ words, that is unified in prayer, and that is prayerfully waiting for the promise to be realized – for the Holy Spirit to come upon them.

APPLICATION: ARE WE LIVING IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?

The Holy Spirit’s coming in Acts 2, in fulfillment of the promise and waiting of Acts 1, is a unique historical event: it was the inaugural moment when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Holy Spirit continues to be poured out on every Christian believer of every generation. Every generation of believers – including us – should ask of themselves important questions: if we too have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, are we living and serving and praying and worshiping and loving and fellowshipping and being sanctified by the power of the Holy Spirit? And if the Holy Spirit has come upon us also in order to direct and empower our participation in the mission of Jesus, are we being led by the Spiritto proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people around us? And if we are lacking in any of these areas, then there is nothing better to do than to lock arms with our fellow believers, remember the promise of Jesus, and pray earnestly until the renewal and revival have come.

Our heavenly Father is a good Father, and He wants you to live in the fullness and joy of the Holy Spirit. Jesus taught us:

“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:9-13)

Does anyone feel led to pray that the Holy Spirit would manifest His presence among us to a greater degree, or that the Holy Spirit would rekindle or renew our communion with Him, or that the Holy Spirit would give us fresh power for evangelism and for other acts of service? Does anyone want such prayer to be offered on your behalf? 

Let’s pray.

ENDNOTES

[1] I was previously able to view this quotation via the Google Books online resource (books.google.com). The book itself is J. B. Lightfoot, Philippians (The Crossway Classic Commentaries). Alister McGrath and J. I. Packer, Series Editors. Wheaton: Crossway, 1994 (orig. 1868): p. XVIII.