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Acts, as we know, is essentially a continuation of the gospel of Luke . . . and it begins by recounting Jesus’ last instructions and Jesus’ ascension to heaven, with more detail than is found in Luke. Jesus’ instructions are the central message of this chapter—and, in fact, the central message of the book of Acts.

I refer, of course, to Acts 1:8:

But there are some other things of interest in Acts 1, which I’ll touch on first. The first is verse 3:

The resurrected Jesus is not a ghost or a spirit. He has a physical body; He can eat and drink. I won’t go through gospel quotations on this; we’ve heard them before . . . but the situation with Jesus is so special and unique that perhaps we need to keep reminding ourselves of it. The closest analogy I can think of is the Transporter in Star Trek . . . the famous "Beam me us, Scotty" line. Like the Trekkies, Jesus could appear and disappear . . . and when he’s there, he’s really there: in the flesh. By contrast, although we believe we are resurrected to heaven when we die, none of us expect our dear, departed Aunt Mary to join us for Thanksgiving dinner . . . or tell us where she hid her jewels. I think we sometimes overlook the physical component of the resurrected Jesus. Perhaps it not a big deal—except that it illustrates the uniqueness of Jesus the Messiah, Son of God.

The second point is two verses about the "kingdom," which I’ll run together—for effect:

We know the stories in the gospels . . . that while Jesus was alive, He repeatedly taught the disciples biblical prophesy that the Messiah would suffer and die. But they never seemed to learn! They expected the Messiah to be a conquering hero! We should cut them a break: Jesus was introducing a paradigm shift into their thinking . . . he was telling them that an essential element of Jewish tradition about the Messiah was wrong. That’s hard for any of us to take . . . to learn that certain church traditions are contrary to the bible—as some are!

The fact is, 1^st century Jews were right in their understanding of the Messiah as prophet, priest, and king. We know Jesus was a prophet—even Moslems believe that. We know Jesus is a priest in the order of Melchizedek—as we discussed at length in our study of Hebrews last spring. We know Jesus—a descendant if King David—was qualified to be a king reigning on the eternal throne of David, promised by God.

But the issues are: "What’s a king?" . . . and "King of which kingdom?" The Jews’ only concept of a king is like David and Solomon . . . and Herod . . . and people like that. A king is a military ruler. The Jews’ only concept of a kingdom is a political and geographical entity here on earth. The 1^st century Jewish tradition of the Messiah was a military leader, who would throw off the yoke of foreign oppression, and re-establish the nation of Israel, with Jerusalem as its capital, like the Maccabees had done almost 200 years earlier. Messianic pretenders—Judas of Gamla and Simon bar Kochba for example—were such military leaders.

On Palm Sunday, the disciples had watched Jesus the Messiah enter Jerusalem in triumph like a traditional Jewish king. They knew His awesome power. They expected the Messiah to overthrow the Romans and the Sanhedrin and become king of a new Jewish nation. Instead, they saw him crucified, dead, and buried. But then he was resurrected! . . . their despair turned to optimism!! And now Jesus is with them again . . . endowed with an even greater power, which I flippantly call the "beam me up, Scotty" power. The disciples fall back on their old paradigms. They forget how many times Jesus told them he was leaving, and was sending the Holy Spirit as their counselor. Now, once again, they expect Jesus to establish a Messianic kingdom on earth. Why else would He tell them not to leave Jerusalem? Why else would He talk about the power they would receive from the Holy Spirit? But they have it wrong again.

But lest we be too critical . . . how good are we at predicting what God’s going to do? We’re much better explaining what God does after it happens . . . how bad things that happen to us build character . . . how it’s good that our plan didn’t work, because God had a better plan.

So, in summary, even though the resurrected Jesus has been instructing the disciples about the kingdom of God—instructing them that king Messiah will not reign over an earthly Jewish kingdom of David, but over God’s heavenly kingdom—this new paradigm hits "tilt" between their ears and their brains. They just don’t get it.

So they ask Jesus if now is the time He will throw off the Romans and the Sanhedrin and set up His Messianic kingdom. And He answers—and I’m paraphrasing: "No, no. Like I told you, I’m outta here. I’m sending the Holy Spirit to speak for me while I’m gone, and to empower you to do my work on my behalf. Get with the program! Wait here ‘til the Holy Spirit comes."

And then, while they watch, Jesus is taken up to heaven before their eyes. You can imagine how they might feel. I compare them with unlikely Presidents—like Andrew Johnson or Gerald Ford—suddenly the full weight of the office is thrust upon them unexpectedly . . . or perhaps like Queen Victoria, who is told, at the age of 18: "Guess what, you’re Queen of the British Empire." The disciples are both awestruck and terrified. They are transfixed watching Jesus go up into the heavens . . . and two angels need to straighten them out: "Quit looking up at the sky, guys. Jesus is gone. Get your act together; get ready to do what he told you to do."

Yes, the angels also mention—for the first time—the 2^nd coming of Jesus. (For more detail on that, see 1 Thes 4:16.) But that’s not my point.

The apostles are not only looking at the sky because it’s such a fantastic sight. They don’t want Jesus to leave; and now they experience frustration and loneliness, perhaps similar to what they experienced when Jesus was crucified, but without the "fear factor." Jesus is gone; the Holy Spirit has not yet come to guide and empower them. So what do they do? They pray! Traditionally, they go to Mount Zion in Jerusalem . . . to the Upper Room where Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples just prior to his arrest. There they pray . . . and wait for the Holy Spirit.

A quick comment about the "Sabbath day’s walk" (v 12): Jews were not allowed to work on the Sabbath, and walking is work—but they had to get to and from the synagogue. So the rabbis agreed Jews could walk about ¾ mile to a synagogue and back without committing the sin of Sabbath work . . . another legalistic regulations of the oral law.

The followers of Jesus now number 120. While they pray and wait, they decide to select a replacement for Judas. Did Jesus instruct them to do this—as some commentaries suggest—or did they decide on their own? We don’t know—and it doesn’t really matter.

I’m not going to discuss the selection of Matthias as Judas’ replacement . . . nor the suicide of Judas. These are footnotes to the big picture. Nevertheless, there are numerous examples in the Old Testament of casting lots to determine the will of God, so using this method to choose Matthias over Joseph Barsabbas Justus is biblical.

I do want to mention that we learn for the first time that Jesus’ family—mother and brothers—are now believers. One of the questions for this lesson notes that Jesus’ family opposed Him while he was alive. What changed their attitude? Probably the resurrection . . . but the "why" is less important than the "what": Jesus’ family have become believers. And that leads to an interesting point . . . here in Acts 1 Peter is clearly the leader of the church, and he insists that Judas’ replacement be—quoting verses 21-22—"one of the men who have been with us the whole time . . . beginning from John's baptism." Yet in Acts 12, Jesus’ brother James—a Johnny-come-lately to the faith—is head of the Jerusalem church, and in Acts 15 we learn that James is arguably the most powerful and influential leader of the church. Why is that? We’ll talk about it later . . . but I want to introduce that thought now.

We’ll close by revisiting Jesus’ last instructions from Acts 1:8:

When the Holy Spirit comes, the disciples will receive the power to continue Jesus’ work. Then they will spread the good news about Jesus the Messiah . . . beginning with the Jews living near the temple in Jerusalem, who are the ones most closely affiliated with the organized Jewish religion. Next, the disciples are to go to Judea: an area where Jews are in the majority, and religion is focussed on the synagogues, dominated by legalistic Pharisees. They are also to go to the Samaritans, half-Jewish outcasts who are despised by Jews, yet believe in the Jewish Messiah. Lastly, the disciples are to go to Gentiles throughout the world, most of whom have never even heard of the Jewish Messiah. Each challenge is greater than the one before; we talked last week about how difficult it was—culturally—for these Jews to even associate with Samaritans and Gentiles. To minister to them? . . . that will obviously require the assistance of the Holy Spirit for them to accomplish it. But step by step, Jesus sends them to out . . . to change their own hearts, and then to change the world.

Next week in Acts 2, we will read about how Holy Spirit comes upon the believers . . . witnessed by non-believing onlookers. I’ll post on the web a map identifying the places these onlookers came from. But the most important thing to remember is that they are all Jews. They are what’s called "Jews of the dispersion," Jews living outside Israel.

We Christians act as if Pentecost is our own special day. Actually, it’s a Jewish festival held 50 days after Passover, celebrating the first fruits harvest . . . and commemorating the day God gave Moses the 10 commandments on Mt. Sinai. On Jewish feast days—Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (which Jews are celebrating now)—Jews from all over the world came to Jerusalem. The population increased tenfold; streets and shops were jammed. Tents covered the Mount of Olives; homes overflowed with relatives.

As you read about Peter’s speech to the multitudes at Pentecost, think about them as devout Jews, celebrating God’s giving of the Law of Moses. Remember that devout Jews expect the Messiah to come soon. Think of Peter’s speech in that context. Also, recall from verse 19 that everyone in Jerusalem knows the big news of Jesus’ death . . . and the empty tomb . . . and the betrayal and suicide of Judas. The news of the arrival of Holy Spirit and Peter’s speech will likewise spread. Think of the impact this will have on the spread of the gospel. Perhaps Jesus’ instructions to stay in Jerusalem has implications we didn’t expect.