11-10 Introduction to the Book of Acts

The book of Acts begins with this statement, chapter 1, verse 1, the first account I composed Theophilus about all that Jesus began to do and teach. And that introduces us to the fact that the writer of the book of Acts has written something else. In fact, the writer is no other than Luke. Luke is the historian who wrote the Gospel of Luke and directed it to the same person, Theophilus. The Gospel of Luke includes in the opening verses this statement, It seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the exact truth about the things you’ve been taught.

So, Luke, the beloved physician companion of the Apostle Paul, wrote the Gospel of Luke, and by that opening statement in the book of Acts, we note that he also wrote the book of Acts. For him, it was one long, long history that engulfs a huge chunk of the New Testament, the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. So just to establish in your mind that Luke is the writer, and I’m not going to go further than that into detail, that’s enough for us to know tonight. While you have one writer, and essentially one history, starting with the beginning of the Gospel of Luke and ending with the end of the book of Acts, one great sweeping history, it is clear that it is the Holy Spirit’s design to split these into two volumes, because there is such a dramatic change between the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts.

And that dramatic change primarily occurs in the transformation of the Apostles, the transformation of the Apostles. What strikes you is that the Gospel of Luke concludes with bewildered Apostles, a fearing Apostles, hiding Apostles, confused Apostles, reluctant preachers of Christ. Yes, the resurrection, of course, energises them. And yes, early in the book of Acts, we read the history of the coming of the Holy Spirit. That explains, of course, a great measure of the transformation of these Apostles. But when you shut down the Gospels, you still wonder what the future of these men will be, whether they will be bold, or whether they will be cowards.

But as soon as you get into the book of Acts, you find that they are not only bold, they are downright courageous, something dramatic has happened in their lives. It could be explained by the resurrection, certainly that’s part of it. It could be explained, as we will find out in chapter 2, by the coming of the Holy Spirit who empowers them. But there’s another element to this transformation that is very often overlooked, and I think it plays an equally critical role in the transformation of these men from cowards who were hiding in fear of their lives, to bold preaching of the Gospel of Christ in the city of Jerusalem, in the open streets, and even in the temple, the very domain of the leaders of Israel who had killed Jesus.

Not only did they preach Jesus and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but they indicted the rulers of Israel for murdering their own Messiah. The dramatic transformation of these men from the OU of Little Faith Association, from the struggling, fearful disciples that we’re so familiar with, to these emboldened, empowered, courageous preachers who hold back nothing, have occurred because of one other critical reality. And it is this. For the first time, they now understand the Old Testament. They understand the big picture. They understand that the plan of redemption that God has set in motion all the way back at the beginning of the Old Testament, after the fall of man, is working out through Jesus Christ.

We could say, yes, the resurrection emboldened them, yes, the coming of the Holy Spirit empowered them, but it was also this grasp of the reality of redemption history and the understanding of the Old Testament. It wasn’t until after the resurrection that they understood the Old Testament, and by that I mean that they understood that Jesus was the fulfilment of the Old Testament. In fact, if you go back into the Gospel of Luke, you are made very much aware of the fact that they were confused even about that. They were confused about who Jesus was, because they were confused about the Old Testament.

In chapter 9 of Luke, verse 43, everyone was marvelling at all that he was doing, so he said to his disciples, let these words sink into your ears, for the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. That is to say, to be killed. But they did not understand this statement. They did not understand this statement. That could be said pretty much most of the time. When Jesus spoke about his death, they never did understand that. Later on in chapter 18 and verse 31, he took the twelve aside and said to them, behold, we’re going up to Jerusalem and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished.

For he will be handed over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. And after they have scourged him, they will kill him. And the third day he will rise again. Then verse 34 says, but the disciples understood none of these things. And the meaning of this statement was hidden from them. And they did not comprehend the things that were said. They didn’t understand the suffering of the Messiah because they couldn’t connect it to the Old Testament. They had a truncated view of the Old Testament that had been filtered by their traditional Judaism, which left out the most important elements, the suffering and atoning death of the Messiah and his subsequent resurrection.

They didn’t grasp the Old Testament, so they were struggling, whatever Jesus was doing and whatever he was saying, to connect it with their expectation because their sense of Messiah didn’t come purely from the Old Testament, but rather from their tradition. However, after his death and after his resurrection, there was an incident that happened back in Luke 24. Turn back to Luke 24 and the last chapter of volume one of Luke’s history. And you remember some of the disciples were on the road to Emmaus. They didn’t know that Jesus had been raised from the dead.

They were very sad because they had hoped that Jesus would be the Messiah. They believed him, they say, to be a prophet, mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people. But in verse 20, they recognized the chief priests and rulers delivered him to the sentence of death and crucified him. And we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Well, if they knew the Old Testament, they would have known that when he was put to death, that was what God intended to be the redemptive work for Israel and the world.

But they were confused about what the Old Testament taught regarding Messiah until they met the risen Christ. And in verse 25, he said to them, Oh, foolish men and slow of heart, to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? And then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures, meaning the Old Testament. So on the road to Emmaus, he gave them really for the first time, an understanding of the Old Testament that encompassed his suffering, his death, the atonement and his resurrection.

For the first time then, they began to understand the Old Testament. That was the few on the road to Emmaus. Later that evening, he met with all the rest of the disciples in the upper room. And verse 45 of Luke 24 says, he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, meaning the Old Testament. And he said to them, Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day. And that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem.

Jesus explained to them from the Old Testament when they were all gathered together, that Messiah would suffer and die and rise again. And then that the gospel concerning him would be preached. The message of repentance, the promise of forgiveness of sins to all the nations beginning at Jerusalem and extending across the globe. Jesus then says in verse 49, I’m sending forth the promise of my Father upon you, meaning the Holy Spirit. To enable you to do that, Acts begins, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth.

They weren’t sent out until the Spirit came. The Spirit didn’t come until they had come to understand the Old Testament teaching regarding Messiah. So what empowered them? Yes, the reality of the resurrection. Yes, the coming of the Holy Spirit. But I think overall what liberated them to preach with power was the sense that Jesus indeed was the fulfillment of the Old Testament, that God’s redemptive plan was on schedule and being fulfilled through him. So when you come to the book of Acts, you begin to notice right away when you look at your Bible, just drop your eyes down to the first couple of pages of the book of Acts.

And I don’t know how it’s structured in your Bible, but in many Bibles where you have an Old Testament quote, it’s set off in different font. And you don’t read very far in the book of Acts. In chapter one, you see a quote from the Old Testament. In chapter two, you see a long quote from the Old Testament. And again in chapter two, you see another long quote from the Old Testament. And you come over to chapter four and you see another significant quote from the Old Testament. What has happened here? All of these quotes from the Old Testament come out of the mouth of the apostles.

For the first time, they understand the Old Testament, and they are referring to the Old Testament prophecies regarding Christ. This was exhilarating for them. This was empowering to them because they had all this hesitation and all this confusion and all this wonder and all this doubt and all this mystery about the fact that Jesus was sent from God, was a mighty prophet, claimed to be the Son of God, was in fact the Holy One of God. But he didn’t fit their traditional messianic image. Once it became clear on the road to Emmaus, and then the upper room, that the Old Testament was being fulfilled through his suffering and his death and his resurrection, and that they would be empowered to spread the message and that the redemptive purpose of God from eternity past was on schedule.

And the next phase was going to come through them as they proclaimed it into the future. They were set free from doubts and questions. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of the introduction to the Book of Acts. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].