Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.”
(With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)
“For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms:
“‘May his place be deserted;
    let there be no one to dwell in it,’
and,
“‘May another take his place of leadership.’
Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”
So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

• Acts 1:1-26

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Acts 1:1 ‘former account’: “The Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:1-4). That account chronicled the life and teaching of Iesus, through His death, resurrection, and ascension (Luke 24:51). Theophilus. The original recipient of this book. See note on Luke 1:3. all that Iesus began both to do and teach. Jesus taught the disciples by word and deed the truth necessary to carry on His work. On the Cross, He finished the work of redemption, but He had only started the proclamation of its glories.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 1:2 ‘taken up’: “Christ’s ascension to the Father (cf. Luke 24:51). Luke uses this term three other times (vv. 9, 11, 22) to describe the end of the Lord’s earthly ministry (cf. John 6:62; 13:1, 3; 16:28; 17:13; 20:17). through the Holy Spirit had given commandments. The Spirit was the source and power of Jesus’ earthly ministry (cf. Matt. 4:1; 12:18; Mark 1:12; Luke 3:22;4:1, 14,18) and of the apostles’ service (cf. Luke 24:49; John 14:16, 17; 16:7). ‘Commandments’ are authoritative NT truths revealed to the apostles (cf. John 14:26; 16:13-15). He had chosen. The Lord sovereignly chose the apostles for salvation and service (cf. John 6:70; 15:16).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 1:3 ‘presented Himself … by many infallible proofs’: “Cf. John 20:30; 1 Corinthians 15:5-8. To give the apostles confidence to present His message, Jesus entered a locked room (John 20:19), showed His Crucifixion wounds (Luke 24:39), and ate and drank with the disciples (Luke 24:41-43). Forty days. The time period between Jesus’ Resurrection and ascension during which He appeared at intervals to the apostles and others (1 Cor. 15:5—8) and provided convincing evidence of His Resurrection. kingdom of God. Cf. 8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31. Here, this expression refers to the sphere of salvation, the gracious domain of divine rule over believers’ hearts (see notes on 1 Cor. 6:9; Eph. 5:5; cf. 17:7; Col. 1:13, 14; Rev. 11:15; 12:10). This was the dominant theme during Christ’s earthly ministry (cf. Matt. 4:23; 9:35; Mark 1:15; Luke 4:43; 9:2; John 3:3-21).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 1:4 ‘being assembled together with them’: “An alternative reading, ‘eating with them,’ is preferred (cf. 10:41; Luke 24:42, 43). The fact that Jesus ate provides additional proof of His bodily Resurrection. wait for the Promise of the Father. Jesus repeatedly promised that God would send them His Spirit (Luke 11:13; 24:49; John 7:39; 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7; see note on John 20:22).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 1:5-8 ‘The Baptism of the Holy Spirit’: “Luke relates to the recipient of Acts how Jesus, after His resurrection, appeared to His disciples over a period of 40 days, ‘speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God’ (1:3). The ‘kingdom of God’ is not a reference to the church but to the promised messianic reign of the Lord at some future date. More than likely Jesus was explaining to them that the kingdom was yet to arrive in the future, but not now. In fact, the disciples asked, ‘Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’ (1:6). Jesus replied, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority’ (1:7).
“Before His ascension, described in verses 9-11, Jesus gathered His Followers together and reminded them of the promised arrival of the Holy Spirit (verse 4). Jesus had prophesied to them about this in John 14:26 and Luke 24:49. In the Upper Room, the Lord had said, ‘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 said to you’ (John 14:26). Jesus also said, ‘I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high’ (Luke 24:49).”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Acts 1:7 ‘God the Father knows’: “Jesus’s disciples put a question to him about restoring the kingdom to Israel. His reply shows us some things are not for us to know. First, it is not proper for us. It is not our work. We are not sent into the world to be prophets but to be witnesses. A veil hangs between us and the future. We are told to look for the coming of our Lord and to stand in perpetual expectation of his return, but to know the time he will come is not our responsibility.
“Second, it is not profitable for us. Would we be better off if we could make a map of all that is yet to be? In what respect would it alter our conduct for tomorrow? In what way would it help us perform the duties our Master has enjoined on us? I believe it would be a dangerous gift; we would be tempted to set ourselves up as interpreters of the future. Nor do I know that by foretelling the future we would convince our hearers.
“Third, it is not possible for us. We may study as we will and pray as we please, but the times and the periods are not committed to us. Our Lord spoke of one great event of which even he did not know the time—’Now concerning that day and hour no one knows—neither the angels of heaven nor the Son—except the Father alone’ (Mt 24:36).
“Fourth, it is not good for us, for it would distract our attention from the great things on which we are to think. It is enough for our minds to dwell on the cross and the coming glory of our Lord. If we keep these two things distinctly before us, we will not puzzle our brains about the future.
“But there is something better than knowing the times or the periods; it is good for us to know they are under the Father’s authority The events will come to pass in due time. The future is all in God’s hands.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Acts 1:8 ‘receiving power’: “ ‘Ye shall receive power.’  By those words our Lord raised the expectation of His disciples and taught them to look forward to the coming of a supernatural potency into their natures from a source outside of themselves. It was to be something previously unknown to them, but suddenly to come upon them from another world. It was to be nothing less than God Himself entering into them with the purpose of ultimately reproducing His own likeness within them.
“Here is the dividing line that separates Christianity from all occultism and from every kind of oriental cult, ancient or modern. These all are built around the same ideas, varying only in minor details, each with its own peculiar set of phrases and apparently vying with each other in vagueness and obscurity. They each advise, ‘Get in tune with the infinite,’ or ‘Wake the giant within you,’ or ‘Tune in to your hidden potential,’ or ‘Learn to think creatively.’ All this may have some fleeting value as a psychological shot in the arm, but its results are not permanent because at its best it builds its hopes upon the fallen nature of man and knows no invasion from above. And whatever may be said in its favor, it most certainly is not Christianity.
“Christianity takes for granted the absence of any self-help and offers a power which is nothing less than the power of God. This power is to come upon powerless men as a gentle but resistless invasion from another world, bringing a moral potency infinitely beyond anything that might be stirred up from within. This power is sufficient; no additional help is needed, no auxiliary source of spiritual energy, for it is the Holy Spirit of God come where the weakness lay to supply power and grace to meet the moral need.”

• A. W. Tozer, God’s Pursuit of Man

Acts 1:9-11 ‘The Bodily Return of Christ Prophesied’: “Immediately after the Lord’s promise of the coming Holy Spirit, He was ‘lifted up,’ and ‘a cloud received Him out of their sight’ (verse 9). Suddenly ‘two men in white clothing’ stood beside the apostles (verse 10). Virtually all commentators agree these men were angelic beings sent to interpret the Lord’s departure back to heaven. The angels asked the disciples why they were gazing into the sky. Then the angels said, ‘This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven’ (verse 11).
“Christ departed from the Mount of Olives, and when He returns He will come back to the same place. Zechariah 14:4 says, ‘In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley.’ Then the Jewish people who will inhabit Jerusalem (12:6) will mourn and weep because it was they who pierced Him (verse 10). At this time some nations will come to war against Jerusalem, and the Lord will come to defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem (verse 8) and will ‘set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem’ (verse 9). This will happen at the end of the Tribulation, just before Christ establishes His earthly rule in Jerusalem.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Acts 1:9 ‘taken up’: “See note on verse 2. God the Father took Jesus, in His Resurrection body, from this world to His rightful place at the Father’s right hand (Luke 24:51; cf. 2:33; John 1721-6). a cloud. A visible reminder that God’s glory was present as the apostles watched the ascension. For some of them, this was not the first time they had witnessed divine glory (Mark 9:26); neither will it be the last time clouds accompany Jesus (Mark 13:26; 14:62; see … Rev. 1:7).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 1:11 ‘the ladder of light’: “Four great events shine out brightly in our Savior’s story. All Christian minds delight to dwell on his birth, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension. These make four rungs in that ladder of light, the foot of which is on the earth, but the top reaches to heaven. As for his ascension, he could not a second time descend if he had not first ascended. But having perfumed heaven with his presence and prepared a place for his people, we may rightly expect that he will come again and receive us to himself, that where he is there we may be also.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Acts 1:12, 14 ‘Waiting and Praying’: “Desire power for your life? … It will come as you pray. For ten days the disciples prayed. Ten days of prayer plus a few minutes of preaching led to three thousand saved souls. Perhaps we invert the numbers. We’re prone to pray for a few minutes and preach for ten days. Not the apostles. Like the boat waiting for Christ, they lingered in his presence. They never left the place of prayer. …
“The Upper Room was occupied by 120 disciples. Since there were about 4,000,000 people in Palestine at the time, this means that fewer than 1 in 30,000 was a Christian. Yet look at the fruit of their work. Better said, look at the fruit of God’s Spirit in them. We can only wonder what would happen today if we, who still struggle, did what they did: Wait on the Lord in the right place.“

• Max Lucado, Come Thirsty

Acts 1:13 ‘upper room’: “Where the Last Supper may have been celebrated (Mark 14:15) and where Jesus had appeared to the apostles after His Resurrection. Bartholomew. This disciple is also called Nathanael (John 1:45-49; 21:2). James the son of Alphaeus. See Matthew 10:2. The same person as James the younger, also called ‘the Less’ to distinguish him from James, the brother of John (Mark 15:40). Zealot. See … Matthew 10:4. Judas the son of Iames. The preferred rendering is ‘the brother of.’ See … Matthew 10:3. He was also known as Thaddaeus (Mark 3:18).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 1:14 ‘continued … in prayer’: “The pattern of praying in the name of Jesus started at this time (cf. John 14:13, 14). with the women. Doubtless they included Mary Magdalene, Mary the wife of Clopas, the sisters Mary and Martha, and Salome. Some of the apostles’ wives also may have been present (cf. 1 Cor. 9:5). Mary the mother of Iesus. See … Luke 1:27, 28. Mary’s name does not appear again in the NT. brothers. Jesus’ half-brothers, named in Mark 6:3 as James, Joses, Judas, and Simon. James was the leader of the Jerusalem church (12:17; 15:13-22) and author of the epistle that bears his name. Judas (Jude) wrote the epistle of Jude. At this time, they were new believers in Jesus as God, Savior, and Lord, whereas only eight months earlier John had mentioned their unbelief (John 7:5).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 1:16-20 ‘The Prediction of Juda’s Betrayal’: “Psalm 41 predicted Judas’s betrayal of Jesus ‘Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who are my bread, has lifted up his heel against me’ (verse 9; Acts 1:16). Judas was paid 30 pieces of silver to point Christ out to the authorities who arrested Him, though afterward, in bitterness of soul, he tossed the coins back into the temple sanctuary and ‘went away and hanged himself’ (Matthew 27:3-5). The leaders of Israel were afraid to put the money into the treasury because it had become blood money (verse 6). So they used the funds to buy a burial place in the Potters Field, which was where poor people who had no family plots were laid to rest (verses 7-9). This fulfills several scriptures that Matthew pieces together in a prophetic pattern about the death of Judas (Jeremiah 18:2; 19:2,11; 32:6-9; Zechariah 11:12-13).”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Acts 1:22 ‘baptism of John’: “Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist (Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-23). a witness with us of His Resurrection. A second requirement for Judas’ successor was that he had to have seen the resurrected Christ. The Resurrection was central to apostolic preaching (cf. 2:24, 32; 3:15; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30-37).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 1:23 ‘Barsabas … Justus’: “Barsabas means ‘son of the Sabbath.’ Justus (‘the righteous’) was Joseph’s Latin name. Many Jews in the Roman Empire had equivalent Gentile names. Matthias. The name means ‘gift of God.’ The ancient historian Eusebius claims Matthias was among the seventy of Luke 10:1.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics

Acts 1:25 ‘freedom to choose’: “What does all this mean to you and me? It means that if you walk out of church contrary to the will and way of God, God does not will that you should do it, but He wills that you should be free to do it. And when you freely choose to walk against the way of God, you choose freely to go on the road to perdition. That’s one thing about heaven and hell—no one is in either place by accident. Hell is populated by people who chose to go there. They may not have chosen the destination, but they chose the highway. They are there because they love the way that leads to darkness. And they were free to take it because the Sovereign God had granted them that much freedom.
“Everyone in heaven above is there because he chose to go there. No one wakes up to find himself in heaven by accident, saying, ‘I never planned to come here.’ No! It says that the rich man died and in hell he lifted up his eyes; the poor, good man died and went to Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22-23). Each of them went where he belonged. When Judas died he went ‘to his own place’ (Acts 1:25). And when Lazarus died, he went to his place—places they had chosen. So remember this: Whoever is not on God’s side is on the losing side.”

• A. W. Tozer, The Attributes of God II

Acts 1:26 ‘cast their lots’: “A common OT method of determining God’s will (cf. Lev. 16:8-10; Josh. 7:14; Prov. 18:18; see … Prov. 16:33). This is the last biblical mention of lots. The coming of the Spirit made them Unnecessary.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

 

My Thoughts

Personal Note: I talked to my son about what to start with these Thursday Bible Studies once I finished the Major Prophets.  I told him that I had not done anything in the New Testament for a while, but what I had done was 1 Thessalonians through the end of Revelation.  I told him that I wanted to do something special for the Gospels, but it had not congealed in my brain, and he said “Acts.”

There are two references to Theophilus in the Bible, as the first recipient of the Gospel of Luke and Acts.  Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins may have written the Left Behind series, but they also wrote four novels about the writers of the four Gospels.  In Luke’s Story, Luke is a slave to Theophilus.  Theophilus sends him off to complete his medical training, and he essentially never returns due to meeting Paul, someone he had previously met before Paul, then Saul, had his Damascus experience.  It was a very amusing way to explain who Theophilus was, but mere fiction.  Luke wanted Theophilus to know about Jesus, and it must have been a successful witness since the book did not die in a thick layer of dust on a Theophilus end table, like the fate of many Bibles these days.

There is so much of the Trinity that we do not understand, but it says that with the help of the Holy Spirit, Jesus taught the disciples during those forty days.  His appearances to prove that He had truly been resurrected are mentioned, but Jesus was with them for three years, yet, in these forty days, the Holy Spirit seemed to be storing the information in their minds for instant recall when, once filled with the Holy Spirit, the teachings of Jesus would be at the ready.

Of course, the restoration of the kingdom was what the Twelve had thought Jesus would do.  Could this be Judas’ plan, to force Jesus’ hand and restore the kingdom through His miraculous might, or was Judas simply greedy?  If the idea was to force Jesus’ hand, Judas would have wanted a high position in the government, but then the thirty silver coins was good payment if the plan did not work.

But Jesus retells the Eleven what He had said previously, that only the Father knew the time.

Then Jesus commands them to spread the Gospel in ever expanding circles, ending with to the ends of the earth.  This command is passed on to us.  We must find the elect and bring them to Christ.  That could mean going to far-flung places around the globe, but it could mean talking to the next-door neighbor.

Jesus is taken up and then hidden by a cloud.  Jesus will return from the clouds.  Tim LaHaye speaks of it being precisely to the Mount of Olives, but in some way, everyone on earth will know of His return.

The men dressed in white, most thinking them to be angels, make me wonder about professions where the people all wear white.  In this case, truly white garments were probably hard to find.  While dyes were hard to find to obtain vibrant colors for clothing, getting something truly white would be equally as hard without the modern bleaching materials.  Yet, with God anything is possible, and the truly white clothing made these people stand out.  But, they had not seen them before Jesus was taken up, or at least the narration gives that impression.

The eleven went back to the upper room, maybe the same as the location of the Lord’s Supper.  Then it says that there were 120 followers.  If all were in the upper room, it would have been a huge room.

Peter tells this group that Judas betraying Jesus was in Old Testament prophecies.  And even Psalm 109:8 states that he must be replaced.  This must have been some work of the Holy Spirit before Pentecost for Peter to piece this together.

Three were chosen.  Each of the three had been with the other followers ever since Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.  These three had all seen Jesus after He was resurrected.

And after having three candidates, the eleven cast lots and the lot fell to Matthias.  I like the Rev. MacArthur comment that you do not see lots being cast after this point.  The Holy Spirit makes it unnecessary.

But that gets me to thinking.  In many denominations these days, we do not cast lots, and we do not rely on the Holy Spirit.  But thinking of casting lots, my father’s father never allowed us to use dice in playing any kind of game (board games mostly, which means we simply could not play the game), but he quoted Scripture all day long.  Odd how with the Urim and Thummim they cast lots, and that is in the Levitical Law.  These days we put things to a vote and the majority, or in some cases the group that yells louder, gets the decision in their favor.  And with major decisions within a church, you cannot get them to do a 12-hour or 24-hour prayer vigil.  But the disciples, now Apostles, prayed for ten days and then when they decided to cast lots, they prayed even more.

The Pogo line about polluting the swamp is true about dysfunctional churches these days.  “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

Some Serendipitous Reflections

“Acts 1:1-11Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven 1. What proofs do you have of Jesus’ resurrection that would make sense to your non-believing friends?
“2. Where is your ‘Jerusalem’ to which you are called to bear witness? How do you sense a need for the Spirit to help you?
“Acts 1:12-26 Matthias Chosen To Replace Judas 1. What have been your best experiences in group prayer? How can praying with others for a common mission (one that is beyond your natural ability) enhance your own prayer life? How does verse 8 provide that for you?
“2. How does the pattern of decision-making here compare with the way you, your family, or your church make important decisions? Which of the ingredients listed here do you need to utilize more?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Acts 1 is divided into two sets of questions as noted above.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.