Acts 1

SUMMARY.--The Preface. The Promise of the Father. The Command to Witness in Jerusalem, and in All Judea, and Unto the Uttermost Parts of the Earth. The Ascension. The Charge of the Angels. The Week of Prayer. The Fate of Judas. The Choice of an Apostle.

      1. The former treatise. Luke's Gospel. Theophilus. See note on Luke 1:3. Luke, whose history of Acts is really a continuation of the history of his Gospel, very naturally refers to the former.

      2. Through the Holy Ghost. Jesus received the Spirit without measure, and all he did was in the Spirit. He also imparted a measure of the Spirit, before he ascended, to the apostles to help them in their work ( John 20:22 ). Commandments. The Great Commission. ( Matt. 28:18-20 Mark 16:15, 16 Luke 24:49 ).

      3. To whom he shewed himself alive. He is a living Savior. Otherwise he could no more be a Savior than Socrates, Buddha, or any other sage. After his passion. Suffering on the cross. Seen of them forty days. At various times during forty days. Eleven appearances are recorded. There were probably others. Pertaining to the kingdom of God. His church, about to be established on the earth.

      4. Commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem. Because, right in the citadel of his enemies, where he had been slain, the Risen Lord was to be first proclaimed, his Gospel preached, the Holy Spirit shed forth, and his kingdom established. Because, too, the prophet ( Isaiah 2:3 Isaiah 2:5 ) had declared that Jerusalem should be the place where the Gospel should be first preached. But wait for the promise of the Father. Joel 2:28 Zech. 2:10 John 14:16 John 15:26 15:26 . They must wait for the Spirit, that they might speak, on the great day of the inauguration of the kingdom, as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance ( Acts 2:4 ). The conditions of citizenship in the kingdom must be spoken by the Spirit.

      5. John truly baptized with water. They had received John's baptism; they were now to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Not many days. Only ten days after these words were spoken.

      6. Wilt thou at this time, etc.? They still held to their old ideas of a worldly restoration of the kingdom of Israel. Their only question was, "Wilt thou restore it now?" After the Holy Spirit was given, this delusion was dismissed, and they understood that Christ's kingdom is not of this world.

      7. It is not for you to know. This was a reproof, not only to them, but to those in all ages who seek to know "the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power."

      8. Ye shall receive power. Not temporal power, such as they dreamed of, but spiritual and moral power. Shall be witnesses unto me. Testify of him of their personal knowledge. They all knew personally of his life, his miracles, his death, his resurrection, and the Great Commission. There could be no mistake. Their witness is true, unless they were deceivers. In Jerusalem. First, in the headquarters of Judaism, the capital of their own country, the place where the Lord was crucified; then in an ever-widening circle from that center; in Judea, then in Samaria, then to the uttermost parts of the earth. This order was followed exactly. It should always be followed in our efforts to evangelize the world.

      9. He was taken up. See Luke 24:51 , and the notes there.

      11. Ye men of Galilee. The apostles were mostly, if not all, Galileans. This same Jesus . . . shall so come. The cloud received him from their sight. He shall come in the clouds of heaven ( Dan. 7:13 Matthew 24:30 Matthew 26:24 ).