Acts 1 The New Beginning

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”” Acts 1:8 NIV

Acts begins where the Gospel of Luke left off. For 40 days after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples and spoke to them about the kingdom of God. Could you imagine what the disciples had witnessed with their own eyes? They had seen Jesus as the soldiers arrested Him in the garden.  They had seen Jesus as He was beaten and nailed to a cross. They had seen Him as He breathed His last breath.  Then they had seen the empty tomb! They had seen Him, in His risen form, as He showed them the nail prints in His hands. They had shared meals with Him, listened to Him teach them, and then they saw Jesus as He ascended into heaven!

But in all this, Jesus instructed them to wait. Jesus wanted to empower them to be “witnesses.” 

Jesus had already told them that the Holy Spirit was going to come. Jesus came to us as “Emmanuel, God with us”, but the Holy Spirit would come to begin something new — God IN us!

Jesus said “… in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit…” (verse 5) The disciples obeyed the words He spoke to them. They went to the upper room and were “constantly in prayer.”  (Verse 14)

The New Beginning was soon to come!