O Theophilus, Jesus Suffered, Died, and Arose

Acts 1:1-11

Prologue

1 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

The Holy Spirit Promised

4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Jesus Ascends to Heaven

9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."

O Theophilus, Lover of God, this is the account of the acts of God the Holy Spirit working in and through the lives of those who first believed, chosen followers who were the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, and all who would join in following Him with them.  This writer Luke had previously made an account of the birth of Jesus as the long-expected Messiah in his gospel book and now documented all He accomplished through the chosen ones and others He called through them (Romans 10:14-15) whom He sent to continue the work of the proclamation of the good news of the sacrificial atonement of Jesus in His suffering, His death which nailed our need to perfectly keep God’s word to enter heaven (Colossians 2:14), His resurrection from death to life (John 5:24), and now His ascension back from the lower parts of the earth (Isaiah 44:23, Ephesians 4:9-10) back far above the visible heavens to His Father and ours now after accomplishing the work of our salvation.  Jesus rose from the grave to prove and seal the hope of our own resurrection to eternal life and then stayed to teach them of the things pert to the kingdom of God to which they were called, remaining for forty more days until He was taken back into heaven before their very eyes.  Before Jesus left them bodily, He again promised to send the Promised Spirit (John 16:7) to help them who would come and be in them to empower and reveal those things which He spoke (John 14:26).  First He had to ascend, then He would send the Paraclete who would help and enable them (John 15:26) for the continued work of bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to the very end of the earth.  Only then would Jesus restore the Kingdom of God on earth after convicting the world  of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8-11).   He would convict us of our sin of disbelief in all God said in His written word and the Word come as a man (John 1:1, 6:29) to tell us personally, of righteousness found only in the One going back to His Father, and of judgment on the temporary ruler of this world on the final day when all are held accountable.  We can only be in this Kingdom through repentance by faith in God’s Word who became a man as the Anointed Christ and Son of God among us, Immanuel.  Those who vainly attempt to earn a place in heaven by marred good works that always come short of the mark (Romans 3:23, 6:23) will not and cannot ever enter His presence apart from receiving Jesus and His work alone for them.  This is the witness we are to bear to the end of the world until He comes back, salvation by faith alone in Christ alone for God’s glory alone and for no one other.  After Jesus said these things and charged the disciples to wait for God’s enabling and empowering Spirit to come permanently into them and all others afterwards who believe and receive Him (John 1:12, Ephesians 1:13-14) by trusting in Him and in all He told us.  Our hope lies also in His bodily return to judge the living and dead and set up His Kingdom on earth in the New Jerusalem with His very presence to behold every moment into eternity.  As we then are about our Father’s business proclaiming this gospel to the end of the world we also cry out, “Come quickly, Lord (Revelation 22:20)!”