Scripture Reading: Luke 24:44-49; Mark 16:15-16, 19-20; Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:1-2
In the foregoing message we pointed out that the book of Acts may be considered the dividing line, or the “backbone,” of the New Testament. This book divides the four Gospels from the Epistles, which include the book of Revelation. The Gospels present a completed Redeemer and His accomplished redemption. In Acts we have the propagation of the completed Redeemer and His accomplished redemption for the producing of the churches. Then in the Epistles we have the edifying of the believers and the building up of the churches.
Having seen the position of the book of Acts, let us now go on to see the subject of this book. The subject of Acts is the propagation of the resurrected Christ in His ascension, by the Spirit, through the disciples, for the producing of the churches — the kingdom of God. Acts is concerned with the propagation of the resurrected Christ. Christ is carrying out this propagation in His ascension, by the Spirit, and through the disciples. The purpose of Christ’s propagation is the producing of the churches — the kingdom of God.
In Acts there is not a single verse that can be taken as a summary of the entire book. The best way to present a summary, or extract, of Acts is to describe its subject. Therefore, once again I would point out that the subject of the book of Acts concerns the propagation of the resurrected Christ. It is of great value for us to have such a phrase as “the propagation of the resurrected Christ.” I do not know of any book on Acts that uses the word “propagation.” Nevertheless, the subject of Acts is the propagation of the resurrected Christ in His ascension, by the Spirit, through the disciples, for the producing of the churches — the kingdom of God.
The propagation in Acts is not the propagation of Jesus. In Acts we do not have the propagation merely of the One who lived in the home of a carpenter in Nazareth. Rather, in Acts we see the propagation of the resurrected One, the propagation of the resurrected Christ.
The propagation of the resurrected Christ is carried out by Christ in His ascension. The Lord Jesus lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years, but now He is in ascension. In His ascension the Lord is very active. We should never think that the ascended Christ is sitting passively on the throne, observing the pitiful situation on earth and feeling disappointed about it. No, in His ascension Christ is active in a very positive way. As the ascended One, He is now doing many things.
The case of the stoning of Stephen is an illustration of Christ’s activity in His ascension. Speaking of Stephen, Acts 7:55 and 56 say, “Being full of the Holy Spirit, looking intently into heaven, he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” As the Lord was looking at the situation on earth in His ascension, He stood up. Perhaps He was saying, “You persecutors may stone Stephen and put him to death. But I will gain one of you — Saul of Tarsus — and make him much stronger than Stephen. What can you do about this? You do your stoning, and I do My observing. Wait for a period of time, and you will be defeated.” Stephen’s case illustrates that the resurrected Christ is very active in His ascension.
The fact that Christ is now in ascension means not only that He is in the heavens; it also means that He has power and authority. In His ascension Christ has all the power and all the authority in the universe. According to Matthew 28:18, the resurrected Christ said to His disciples, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Therefore, with such authority and power in His ascension the Lord is very active. What is He doing? The Lord, as the ascended One, is carrying out His universal and eternal propagation.
Who can explain why the earth today is filled with Christians? Why are there so many believers in the world? Great men have tried to gain control of the earth, but they have failed. Hitler, for example, tried to do this, but eventually he lost everything. Napoleon, after he had been defeated, reportedly looked up to the heavens and confessed that Jesus had beaten him. Napoleon admitted that even though the Lord Jesus did not fight, He gained everything. The point here is that the whole earth is in the hands of the undefeatable One, and this One is carrying out His propagation.
As the ascended Christ is carrying out His propagation, His main work is not fighting. Instead of fighting, the ascended Lord’s work is mainly propagating Himself throughout the earth. In the Lord’s recovery we have people of different colors: black, white, brown, yellow, and red. We all are part of Christ’s propagation. We have been produced by the resurrected Christ in His ascension.
Propagation is a matter of production. To propagate, therefore, is to produce. The propagation of the resurrected Christ in His ascension produces the churches. The churches are the produce of the resurrected Christ in His ascension. Hence, the churches are the produce of Christ’s propagation. The first mention of the word “church” in Acts is in Acts 5:11. Thereafter, this book speaks of the church many times (Acts 8:1, 3; 9:31; 11:22, 26; 12:1, 5; 13:1; 14:23, 27; 15:3, 4, 22, 41; 16:5; 18:22; 20:17, 28).
The churches produced by the resurrected Christ in His ascension are the kingdom of God. Concerning the kingdom, we should not follow the teachings of those who claim that the kingdom of God is not present today. According to such teachings, the kingdom has been suspended and will come after the church age. In the book of Acts we see that the churches and the kingdom of God go together. In fact, the churches actually are the kingdom of God. In Acts the kingdom of God is first mentioned in Acts 1:3, and then in a number of other verses (Acts 8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31).
By now we should be impressed with the subject of the book of Acts, a book that stands as the backbone of the New Testament. Acts unveils Christ in His ascension propagating Himself to produce the churches, which are the kingdom of God on earth today. Following the book of Acts, we have the Epistles. The Epistles, as the continuation of Acts, edify the saints so that the churches may be fully built up as the Body of Christ. The consummation of this edifying and building up will be the New Jerusalem. If we see the place occupied by the book of Acts in the New Testament, we shall realize that this book, the backbone of the New Testament, stands in a crucial position.
We have emphasized the fact that the subject of Acts is the propagation of the resurrected Christ in His ascension, by the Spirit, through the disciples, for the producing of the churches — the kingdom of God. We have seen something concerning the propagation of the resurrected Christ (2:24; 3:15; 5:30; 13:33). Now we need to see that this propagation is carried out by the Lord from the throne in the heavens. This means that His work of propagation is in ascension. However, much of today’s so-called Christian work is not a work in ascension. We hope that the work in the Lord’s recovery will be in His ascension. The ascension is the nature and the sphere of the Lord’s work on earth. Therefore, the work of the Lord today should have a heavenly nature and should be in a heavenly sphere.
It is in His ascension that Christ is propagating Himself. We know that His ascension came after His death and resurrection. Christ’s work in His ascension takes place in the nature of His resurrection. Therefore, this work is not natural; it does not have anything of the natural man. Rather, it is of the divine life in resurrection, and it is carried out in the atmosphere and condition of His ascension. Where are we working today? We all should be able to say that we are working in Christ’s ascension.
The propagation of the resurrected Christ in His ascension is by the Spirit. His propagation is not by any gimmick or human technique. But consider the situation among Christians today concerning the propagation of Christ. Where is the propagation by the Spirit? In many instances, there is very little of the Spirit but much use of human methods and techniques. For example, some even use rock music in their preaching of the gospel. We need to realize that the propagation of the resurrected Christ is by the Spirit, in particular, the economical Spirit. In the book of Acts we see the economical Spirit for the carrying out of Christ’s propagation.
Christ’s propagation is through the disciples. Who are the disciples? As we shall see, the disciples are not merely preachers, and in Acts they are not called preachers. Rather, the disciples are witnesses. The Lord’s disciples in Acts are witnesses of a wonderful Person, the One who was conceived of God the Spirit, who was born of a human virgin, who lived on earth and ministered, who entered into death and conquered it, and who came out of the tomb in resurrection, becoming the life-giving Spirit. This resurrected One has ascended into the heavens, where He is sitting on the throne. As He is sitting there, He is very active and aggressive in doing the work of propagation. The disciples are witnesses of such a One. This was the reason the Lord said concerning them, “You shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the remotest part of the earth” (1:8).
Through His witnesses the resurrected Christ in His ascension propagates Himself for the producing of the churches. This indicates that the churches should not be raised up and established merely by human hands. Every local church should be produced by Christ’s propagation. Every local church must be born of Christ, brought forth by Christ’s propagation in His divine and resurrected life.
The churches produced by Christ’s propagation are the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is a sphere of life produced by the propagation of Christ. Actually the kingdom is the expansion of this resurrected, propagating One. The resurrected Christ, who is propagating Himself in His ascension, by the Spirit, and through the disciples, is the reality of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is His expansion.
We may use the kingdom of man, the human kingdom, for an illustration of the kingdom of God as the expansion of Christ. In the beginning, there was just one man, Adam. Then Adam began to expand, to increase. The kingdom of man was a couple, and then this couple brought forth children. In this way the kingdom of man expanded from one man to a family. Now the entire human race is part of the kingdom of man. The kingdom of man is simply mankind as the expansion of the man, Adam. From this we see that the kingdom of man is man’s expansion.
What is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is the expansion of God, whose embodiment is Christ. This expansion of Christ is the churches. The churches are the expansion of Christ as the One who came to sow Himself as the seed of the kingdom of God. This is revealed in the four Gospels. In the Gospels Christ was the seed of the kingdom. In the book of Acts we have the propagation of this seed to produce the churches as the kingdom of God.
Can you say how many chapters are in the book of Acts? Perhaps you would say that Acts has twenty-eight chapters. This, of course, is correct. However, it is also true to say that the book of Acts is still being written because the propagation of the resurrected Christ is still taking place. By now Acts may have thousands of chapters. Even today a portion of a chapter may have been written. This writing is the propagation of the resurrected Christ, and this propagation is the expansion of Christ to be the kingdom of God. We in the churches are the propagation of Christ and the expansion of Christ, and we are enlarging the kingdom of God.
I hope that we all shall be able to say from memory the subject of the book of Acts: the propagation of the resurrected Christ in His ascension, by the Spirit, through the disciples, for the producing of the churches — the kingdom of God. Here three words are synonyms: propagation, churches, and kingdom. The kingdom is the churches, and the churches are the propagation of Christ.
The more we are impressed with the subject of Acts, the more we shall say, “Lord, we worship You as the resurrected One and the ascended One. We praise You for Your propagation. We thank You, Lord, that we are Your propagation today. We thank You that we are with You in the heavens and that the churches are the kingdom of God.” Let us declare to the whole universe that the Lord Jesus is now in the heavens, and that as the exalted One He is now propagating Himself on earth through us as His witnesses.
