Day 40 - Acts 1-3

The word "witness" is a very important word in the book of Acts. It occurs more in Acts (13x) than all four Gospels combined (5x) and more than all of the epistles combined (12x). It occurs three times in the first three chapters of the book of Acts. The first occurrence is in 1:8 where Jesus tells His apostles that their job is to bear witness concerning Him in Jerusalem (their home town), Judea (their surrounding region), Samaria (their neighboring region) and to the end of the earth! We will see this progression laid out for us throughout the book. It is a good pattern for us to follow as we seek to bear witness to Christ ourselves. We should start first with those who are near us and then seek to expand that witness incrementally, both through our own personal efforts as well as encouraging and funding the efforts of others (e.g. missionaries).

Chapter one gives the account of the apostles seeking to fill the vacancy among the twelve left by the betrayal and death of Judas. They do so by seeking qualified men (1:21-22), narrowing it down to two (1:23), seeking direction from God (1:24-25) and then by casting lots (1:26). I think this is a good mix between using wisdom and reliance upon God (although, I'm not really comfortable with using the "casting of lots" as a regular and normal way to determine the will of God on a particular matter). The bigger question is this, did Matthias truly take the place of Judas among the 12 apostles? Some would argue, "Yes." However, it seems interesting to me that we never hear of him again, yet the majority of the book of Acts tells the story of the conversion and ministry of another apostle, the Apostle Paul, whom God used to start many churches and write a good portion of the NT. It seems to me that Paul would most likely be the one to fill the position of Judas, although it certainly is possible that there were to have been more than 12 apostles.

The record of the events of the day of Pentecost reveals the glory of God in so many ways. First, the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit. I believe this to be the start of "the Church" - the coming of the Holy Spirit to remain on those who would repent from their sins and believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Second, the result of this particular filling was their ability to speak in tongues - in this instance, these were actual languages that the apostles did not already know, yet they were able to communicate the truth of the Gospel to all kinds of men in their native tongues. Third, the result of this powerful, supernatural proclamation resulted in a massive conversion about 3,000 souls! Fourth, the result of conversion was the unity and fellowship of these first believers (2:42-47). In all of this, I see the centrality of the Word of God. It was the Word of God that was proclaimed in tongues. It was the fulfillment of the Word of God that was the focus of Peter's sermon. The Word of God, as taught by the apostles, was the primary focus of this newly reborn group of people. The Word of God must be central to our communication with both unbelievers and believers alike!

When Peter healed the lame man in chapter 3, he could have taken the credit for himself. From all outward appearances, this miracle was done by Peter. But Peter used the opportunity to deflect the attention away from himself and onto Jesus Christ. He proclaims very clearly that the reason this lame man was healed was because of faith in the Name of Jesus (3:16). In this proclamation of Peter (as well as the one in the previous chapter - 2:38), repentance is the central theme in his exhortation (3:19). This is a continuation of the theme of repentance in the preaching of John the Baptist, Jesus and the disciples as recorded in the Gospels.