Books of the Book: Acts

Introduction to the Acts

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Jim & Mark Howard

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Series Code: ABOTB

Program Code: ABOTB00001B


00:01 Welcome back to Books of the Book.
00:03 Before the break, Mark, we were taking a look at Jesus'
00:07 instruction in the scriptures pointing to his proof of
00:12 messiahship right in the Bible.
00:13 Right, the emphasis of the word.
00:15 The emphasis of the word and the clear evidence in the word and
00:19 this is reflected in both the beginning of Luke and the
00:22 beginning of Acts. So before we dive into that second motivating
00:25 factor, let's go to the beginning of the book of Luke.
00:28 I just want to point something out here. We're beginning in
00:32 Luke chapter 1 and verse 1; it says: Inasmuch as many have
00:35 taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things
00:38 which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the
00:41 beginning were eye witnesses and ministers of the word delivered
00:44 them to us, it seemed good to me also (Luke is referring to
00:48 himself) having had perfect understanding of all things from
00:52 the very first, (so he's saying I've had perfect understanding
00:55 and I know exactly the order of things) to write to you an
00:58 orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know
01:01 the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.
01:04 So in the beginning of the book of Luke he makes his point clear
01:08 that he's writing this book so that Theophilus can have a
01:13 certain factual evidence for his faith. Then you get to the
01:17 beginning of the book of Acts and you find something that's
01:22 very similar. Sorry, it took me a moment here. But in the book
01:26 of Acts in chapter 1 it says the former account I made (he's
01:29 referring to the book of Luke) Oh Theophilus, of all that Jesus
01:33 began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up
01:36 after he through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the
01:40 apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself
01:43 alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs.
01:49 Again he points to this concept of proof or evidence or
01:54 certainty. I like my margin. It says
01:57 unmistakable proof. Unmistakable proofs. And I
02:00 believe that Jesus gave the disciples that confidence to be
02:04 able to write that way. When at the end of the book of Luke,
02:08 right before his ascension, he opened to their understanding
02:12 the scriptures and gave them such a clear conviction of the
02:16 truth of his messiahship that they were ready and excited to
02:19 share that message with the world. So now there's a second
02:23 motivating factor there in the book of Luke and I wonder if you
02:26 could take us through that.
02:27 Sure. So as you mentioned the first motivating factor is the
02:31 word of God is the foundation for the proof of their faith,
02:34 for the confidence that they're to have. The other factor that
02:38 we see, and I want to go back to Luke again, Luke chapter 24
02:43 and we're going to look at verse 45. One of the things we find,
02:47 Jim, at the end of Luke is that the last part of Luke, the very
02:51 last verses of Luke, are actually the experiences
02:55 repeated in Acts chapter 1. So Luke reiterates the same
02:59 picture again. He doesn't word it exactly the same, but in Luke
03:04 24 verse... of course, verse 45 we looked at him opening their
03:09 understanding and then he says in verse 46: Thus it is written
03:14 and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise
03:18 from the dead the third day (as you just read) and that
03:20 repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name
03:24 to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Now I can almost
03:31 imaging the apostles thinking here, wow, preached in all the
03:34 nations. Who's going to do that? Something we don't necessarily
03:38 pick up on is that these guys, we don't see them established
03:42 as preachers in the gospels. You know, even though we see Jesus
03:46 sending them out here and there, we see a commission being given
03:50 and we see the same commission in Matthew and Mark, and worded
03:53 in different ways; go preach the the gospel to all creatures.
03:57 Matthew says, Go ye therefore and teach all nations. So we see
04:01 this commission. Luke's recording it this way, Jesus
04:04 says that the repentance, the remission of sins should be
04:07 preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem
04:10 and you are witnesses of these things. Behold I send the
04:13 promise of my Father upon you. But tarry in the city of
04:17 Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.
04:20 Now I want to look at that again in the book of Acts. As I said,
04:23 he repeats the thought and we see a similarity here in Acts
04:28 chapter 1 right after you were reading there in verse 3 about
04:33 how he presented himself alive and gave the infallible proofs.
04:38 In verse 4 of Acts chapter 1 it says: Being assembled together
04:42 with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to
04:46 wait for the promise of the Father. Now we just read that.
04:49 Now why are they waiting for the promise of the Father? Because
04:52 they have been given a responsibility and that
04:55 responsibility is to preach the gospel. We're going to see that
04:58 reiterated here. But I'm going to say right now before we even
05:01 look at this again that the second motivating factor of the
05:05 church in the book of Acts is their, I was going to say
05:09 understanding, but it's not just their understanding, but their
05:12 embracing of the mission to preach the gospel to the world.
05:16 Because of them embracing that mission, and keep in mind this
05:20 is a mission that they knew was way bigger than they were, but
05:24 they embraced it anyway. But because they saw it was more
05:27 than they could do it drove them to their knees pleading with the
05:31 Lord for that promise. And of course we find as we go through
05:34 the book of Acts the Holy Spirit poured out in power and then
05:37 we see the church just expanding all the way through the book of
05:39 Acts but none of it ever would have happened if these
05:43 disciples of Christ did not embrace the mission of the great
05:47 commission. So we see it here. Jesus says wait for the promise
05:52 which you've heard from me, verse 5, for John truly baptized
05:55 with water but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit
05:59 not many days from now. Now verse 6 says: Therefore when
06:02 they had come together they asked him saying, Lord will you
06:06 at this time restore the kingdom to Israel. And this goes back to
06:10 their misunderstanding of the role of the Messiah and we see
06:12 that all through the Jewish nation, even the disciples of
06:15 Jesus, even after he opened their understanding of the
06:18 scripture. They had a tendency to think that the Messiah's role
06:22 was to come and establish them now as a kingdom. But that time
06:25 hadn't come yet and Jesus says in verse 7: It is not for you to
06:29 know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own
06:33 authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has
06:37 come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem
06:42 and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. So we
06:46 start in Jerusalem, Judea, the surrounding area, Samaria,
06:49 further out and we see these concentric circles rippling
06:52 outward and Jesus says basically start at home and then preach
06:56 this gospel to the whole world. So once again we see this
07:00 commission. It's interesting to me, Jim, that he says it's not
07:04 for you to know times or seasons. This is the same Jesus
07:10 who in Matthew 16 actually rebuked the religious leaders
07:14 and said: You hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of
07:18 the sky but you can't discern the signs of the times. And what
07:22 he's saying here is Jesus is not negating the importance of signs
07:27 Matthew 24 we know is one of the most well-known chapters
07:30 for the signs of his coming. But the point he's making here is
07:34 don't get so focused on the signs that you forget the work
07:38 that I've given you to do. Don't forget the mission. So we see
07:42 that the second motivating factor here in the early church
07:46 is, and I maybe want to flesh this out a little bit further,
07:51 it was the passion for souls that their master had. That love
07:56 for souls drove them forward and drove them to their knees and
08:01 drove them to preach the gospel and give the opportunity for the
08:06 world to come to know Jesus Christ and be saved.
08:08 That's powerful. And both of those motivating factors were
08:14 basically Jesus instilling them in the apostles. So before the
08:19 book of Acts could become a reality Jesus had some important
08:22 business he wanted to take care of right there at the end.
08:26 How valuable those last moments after his resurrection but
08:30 before his ascension were with his disciples where he opened up
08:34 the scriptures, gave them clear conviction for their faith so
08:38 that they were ready and had the resources in their heart to go
08:42 and then gave them a clear mission. I love what you said,
08:46 they embraced the mission. They accepted the mission. It was
08:51 something that seemed impossible or seemed beyond their reality
08:55 but because of their growing faith in Jesus they were willing
08:59 to accept it. Absolutely.
09:00 Well I think about another aspect of this and that is that
09:05 as Seventh-day Adventists, we're both Seventh-day Adventist
09:09 ministers and many of our viewers are Seventh-day
09:11 Adventists, the book of Acts has a very special significance
09:16 as well. I want to explore this a little bit by going to the
09:20 last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. Let's go to
09:24 Revelation chapter 12. Revelation chapter 12 and in
09:29 Revelation chapter 12 we see a symbolic picture of the church
09:35 and the church is described using the symbol of a woman.
09:39 and in the beginning of chapter 12 it says: Now a great sign
09:42 appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun with the
09:45 moon under her feet and on her head a garland of 12 stars.
09:49 So this pure woman the Bible speaks about how we are the
09:53 bride of Christ. The apostle Paul talks about being presented
09:57 as a chaste virgin to Christ and so we understand that in Bible
10:02 prophecy a woman represents the church. So this church that in
10:05 fact is talking about the early church because later it goes on
10:09 to say that she gives birth to a male child who will rule all
10:12 nations with a rod of iron which is talking about Jesus himself.
10:15 So this would be the church at the time that Jesus came.
10:18 That's right. This is a transitional moment where we see
10:21 the birth actually of the New Testament church.
10:23 There you go. And if you follow the narrative here, the account
10:27 here in the prophecy, something fascinating happens. I'm going
10:32 take us all the way to the end of chapter 12 in Revelation and
10:36 it says in verse 17: And the dragon was enraged with the
10:40 woman. Now if we were to look at verse 9 in Revelation 12 it
10:43 would tell us that the dragon is that serpent of old, the devil
10:48 and Satan. And the dragon was enraged with the church and so
10:53 he went to make war with the rest of her offspring. Now if
10:58 the woman is the church and it describes her as existing for
11:01 this period, or being nourished for this period of a time, times
11:05 and half a time, or 1260 days and in prophetic time that's
11:10 actually a day which equals a literal year, so that's 1260
11:14 years. During the whole period of the middle ages we see the
11:19 picture of the church as the woman. But then it speaks of the
11:24 woman having offspring and not only offspring but the rest of
11:28 her offspring. It gives a clear indication that the rest of her
11:32 offspring would be the last church, the church at the end
11:36 of time. Well another reason for the rest
11:38 is because in Revelation 12 it shows the devil trying to
11:41 corrupt and extinguish the church.
11:45 That's exactly right and these are the ones who remain. In the
11:49 King James in this verse it says the remnant of her seed and
11:53 that's an interesting rendering because remnant is not a word we
11:57 use very often anymore, but we sometimes refer to a remnant of
12:01 cloth. It's a piece of cloth that may be the last remaining
12:05 piece of an original bolt of cloth. It helps give us an
12:08 understanding that the Seventh- day Adventist Church and the
12:14 church at the end of time should ultimately be a piece of that
12:18 original, it should look like that original church. So when
12:21 we're reading the book of Acts we need to recognize that it
12:25 is a prescription, it's very helpful to us to know what the
12:30 church today should look like. It's a model for us. And you
12:33 know when I look I think does the church look like that today?
12:36 Not totally, when you see the power in the book of Acts.
12:40 But I'd like to share a statement in closing that I find
12:44 very encouraging from a book called the Great Controversy.
12:48 It's a wonderful statement. It says: Before the final
12:52 visitation of God's judgments upon the earth there will be a
12:55 revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since
12:59 apostolic times. There will be a revival in the church at the
13:03 end of time that hasn't been seen since the book of Acts.
13:06 That's right. So we're looking forward to
13:09 seeing that revival in the book of Acts. But for today we're
13:12 out of time. So thank you for joining us today for our study
13:16 on Books of the Book. Join us next time as we continue and
13:19 dive into the book of Acts


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Revised 2014-12-17