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Scripture Reading: Acts 1:1-26
The book of Acts has three main sections: the introduction (1:1-2), the preparation (1:3-26), and the propagation (2:1—28:31). The introduction is very brief, consisting of only two verses, and the preparation covers the remainder of chapter one. The section concerned with the propagation covers chapter two through twenty-eight. This section may be the longest section in all of the sixty-six books of the Bible. In this message we shall consider the introduction of Acts, and then go on to consider the preparation. In the introduction this book is presented to us. As we shall see, the preparation involves something both on the Lord’s side and on the side of His disciples.
Acts 1:1-2 say, “The first account I made, O Theophilus, concerning all things which Jesus began both to do and to teach, until the day in which He was taken up, having given command through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He chose.” In verse 1 “I” refers to Luke, the writer of the book of Acts. The early church recognized Luke as the author both of the Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:3) and Acts. Luke’s authorship is evident from the style of composition of the two books. Luke was a Gentile (Col. 4:14), and probably an Asiatic Greek, and a physician. Starting in Troas, he joined Paul in his ministry and accompanied him in his last three ministry journeys (Acts 16:10-17; 20:5-38; 21:1-18; 27:144; 28:1-15). He was a faithful companion of Paul until his martyrdom (Philem. 1:24; 2 Tim. 4:11).
Both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts were written to a person named Theophilus. This name in Greek means “loved by God,” or “friend of God.” Theophilus was probably a Gentile believer who occupied some official position under the Roman Empire.
Acts is the continuation of the Gospel of Luke. This can be proved by comparing 1:1-2 with Luke 1:14. The words “first account” in Acts 1:1 refer to the Gospel of Luke as a “consecutive account” (Luke 1:3) written to Theophilus by Luke.
Acts 1:2 says that the Lord Jesus gave “command through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He chose.” The resurrected Christ has become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), yet still in resurrection He did things through the Holy Spirit (John 20:22).
As we have pointed out, Acts 1:3-26 is concerned with preparation, a preparation both on the Lord’s side and the side of the disciples. In this section of Acts we see Christ’s preparation of the disciples in His resurrection (Acts 1:3-8). He speaks to them things concerning the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3) and charges them to wait for the baptism in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-8). After Christ’s ascension in verses 9 through 11, we have the disciples’ preparation (Acts 1:12-26). The disciples persevered in prayer (Acts 1:12-14) and then chose Matthias (Acts 1:15-26).
Before the Lord went to the heavens to carry out His propagation in His ascension, He did something further to prepare His disciples. Although they had been with Him for three and a half years, they still had not yet been fully prepared. From this we see that we can not do a quick work to perfect the saints in the Lord’s recovery.
We may say that the three and a half years the Lord Jesus spent with His disciples were nearly the equivalent of a college education, which usually lasts four years. Perhaps you are wondering about the last half year of the “college course” for the Lord’s disciples. This last half year took place after His resurrection.
Throughout the centuries, people have learned that in order for a person to be educated properly, he needs to pass through kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school, high school, and four years of college. All the years from kindergarten through high school are a preparation for the college years. We may apply this principle to the Bible and find in the Scriptures various levels of spiritual education. In the Old Testament we go from “kindergarten” in Genesis to “high school” in the Psalms and the Prophets. In between, we have the “elementary school” beginning in Exodus, and “junior high” in the historical books. Coming to the New Testament, we may say that the Gospels are on a “college” level and that the Epistles are on the level of “graduate school.”
The Lord Jesus spent three and a half years with the disciples to give them a “college education.” Although Peter, Andrew, James, and John were fishermen, the Lord’s calling uplifted them and made them “college students.” Gamaliel, however, remained in the Old Testament “high school.” As both “professor” and “chancellor,” the Lord Jesus first spent three and a half years with His “students.” The remainder of their “education” was completed in His resurrection. This means that the Lord was able to carry out three and a half years of education with His disciples when He was in the flesh. Then in His resurrection He completed their training.
We need to read the Bible again and again. This means that we need to know the written Word and be filled with it. Then we need to pray, “Lord, show me what You intend to speak in all the books of the New Testament.” If you pray like this, light will gradually come.
In order to have a more accurate understanding of the words in the New Testament, it is helpful to learn Greek. However, we should not think that to know the Bible it is sufficient to have an excellent knowledge of Greek. Someone may have a thorough knowledge of every word in the Greek New Testament, but still be spiritually blind and not know anything of what is revealed in the New Testament. Even if we have the knowledge of Greek, we still need heavenly enlightenment in order to see the divine revelation in the New Testament.
Today we are fighting against spiritual blindness. Many have doctoral degrees in Greek, but, spiritually speaking, they are utterly blind. They know the Greek New Testament in the way of scholarship, but they do not know what the Lord is speaking in the New Testament. No matter how many degrees we may have or how great our scholarship may be, we still need to humble ourselves and say, “Lord, I do not know anything. I am nothing, Lord. Show me Your revelation.” If you pray like this, the Lord’s revelation will come to you.
In the Gospels the Lord Jesus spent three and a half years with His disciples. During those years He was very patient with them. We may say that the Lord was “playing heavenly music” to His disciples; however, they were not able to appreciate it. We see this especially in the case of Peter.
Full of patience and sympathy, the Lord Jesus did what He could with Peter. In Matthew 16 Peter received a heavenly vision and declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16). The Lord answered and said to him, “You are blessed, Simon Bar-jona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in the heavens” (v. 17). After the Lord spoke about the church and the kingdom, He went on to “show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised on the third day” (v. 21). But Peter began to rebuke Him saying, “God be merciful to You, Lord; this shall by no means happen to You!” (v. 22). The Lord then turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men” (v. 23).
We may feel sympathy for Peter as we read the account in Matthew 16. Although Peter was pitiful, the Lord Jesus did not let him go. Peter was not a “dropout” from the Lord’s “college.” As the chancellor of this college, the Lord Jesus patiently kept Peter with Him.
The Lord Jesus was patient even when Peter denied Him. On the night the Lord Jesus was betrayed, Peter said to Him, “If all shall be stumbled in You, I will never be stumbled” (Matt. 26:33). The Lord said to him, “Truly I say to you, that this night, before a cock crows, you will deny Me three times” (v. 34). Later Peter did deny the Lord three times. Nevertheless, the Lord was not disappointed, for Peter’s experience was part of the “college course.”
Eventually, Peter received the understanding of the heavenly music the Lord Jesus was “playing.” He received this understanding, not during the three and a half years he was with the Lord, but after the Lord had been transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit. When He was in the flesh, He was not altogether successful in teaching Peter, because He was not able to enter into him. He had, of course, a way to correct and adjust Peter, but no way to regenerate and recreate him and dwell in him. In other words, with Peter and the other disciples, the Lord Jesus did not have a way in His flesh to propagate Himself. For the Lord to propagate Himself is for Him to impart Himself into others as life.
The Lord Jesus knew when He was taking His disciples through their “college course” that it was necessary for Him to enter into them. Of course, as long as He was in the flesh, He was unable to be in the disciples. Therefore, in the Gospel of John He indicated to them that it was expedient for them that He die and then be resurrected. In resurrection He would then be able to enter into the disciples as life and remain in them as their person and thereby propagate Himself.
After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus came back to the disciples as the life-giving Spirit and breathed Himself into them (John 20:22). Instead of teaching the disciples or giving them a lecture, He breathed Himself into them. That was the initiation of the last part of their four-year “college course.” The Lord’s breathing of Himself into the disciples was His propagation of Himself in them as life.
After the Lord breathed Himself into the disciples, He stayed with them economically for forty days. Concerning this, Acts 1:3 says, “To whom also He presented Himself alive after His suffering by many convincing proofs, through a period of forty days, appearing to them and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God.” The Lord’s presenting Himself alive was for the purpose of training the disciples to practice and enjoy His invisible presence. In the Gospel of John there is no word or hint indicating that the Lord left the disciples after breathing Himself into them. Actually He stayed with them, although they were unconscious of His presence. The Lord’s further appearing to them was His manifestation. Before His death the Lord’s presence was visible in the flesh. After His resurrection, His presence was invisible in the Spirit. His manifestations, or appearings, after His resurrection were to train the disciples to realize, enjoy, and practice His invisible presence, which is more available, prevailing, precious, rich, and real than His visible presence. The Lord’s invisible presence is just the Spirit in His resurrection, whom He breathed into the disciples and who would be with them all the time.
After the Lord breathed Himself into the disciples, He never left them essentially. However, economically He would appear and then disappear. The Lord appeared and disappeared economically in order to train the disciples, to finish the last half year of their education. Regarding this, we should not speak of His going and coming but of His appearing and disappearing.
For a period of forty days the Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples. In the Bible forty days are a period of trial and testing. We know from the Old Testament that forty days were a time of testing and suffering (Deut. 9:9, 18; 1 Kings 19:8). When the Lord Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil, He fasted forty days and forty nights (Matt. 4:1-2). Also, the children of Israel were tested, educated, by God in the wilderness for forty years. Forty, therefore, is the number of testing, proving, trying, educating. In Acts 1 the Lord appeared and disappeared during a period of forty days in order to test and train His disciples.
From the time He breathed Himself as the Spirit into the disciples on the day of His resurrection, the resurrected Christ dwelt in them. His appearing spoken of in Acts 1:3 does not mean that He ever left the disciples. It simply means that He made His presence visible to them, training them to realize and enjoy continually His invisible presence.
The disciples had become accustomed to the visible presence of Christ. For three and a half years He had been with them visibly in the flesh. They saw Him, touched Him, and ate with Him. One of them even reclined on His bosom (John 13:23). Suddenly His visible presence was taken away. Then the Lord came back to the disciples to breathe Himself into them. From that time onward the Lord’s presence with the disciples became invisible. It was no longer a physical presence but a spiritual presence.
Although the Lord’s spiritual presence is invisible, it is more real and vital than His visible presence. The Lord’s visible presence involved the elements of space and time. But with His invisible presence there is neither the element of space nor the element of time. His invisible presence is everywhere. Wherever we are, the Lord’s invisible presence is with us. Actually, His invisible presence is not merely with us — it is within us. When the Lord was with the disciples in the flesh, His presence with them was outward and visible. But after He breathed Himself into them as the life-giving Spirit, His presence became inward and invisible.
Because the disciples were not used to the Lord’s invisible presence, the Lord stayed with them economically for forty days, appearing and disappearing. In this way He trained them to practice and enjoy His invisible presence.
