Day 90 – Tuesday, May 6, 2025

One Year Journey Through the New Testament

Acts 1

Welcome to our journey through the New Testament!

Prologue

1 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, ² until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, ³ to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. 

(Acts 1:1–3, NKJV)

Points to Ponder:

• Luke the physician, traveling companion of Paul the Apostle, wrote the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts.
• In this preamble, He explains to his audience, as he did in Luke, the purpose of his writing. It was to present the works of Christ to the world, and now to present the acts of the church after Jesus’ ascension.

The Holy Spirit Promised

⁴ And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; ⁵ for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” ⁶ Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. ⁸ But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 

(Acts 1:4–8, NKJV)

Points to Ponder:

• In this passage, it is recorded what Jesus told His disciples to do after He was gone back to heaven.
• He wanted them to wait in the upper room until the promise of the Father, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, came down from heaven.
• He explained the purpose of this gift of the Holy Spirit: to be endowed with power to witness locally and around the world.

Jesus Ascends to Heaven

⁹ Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. ¹⁰ And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, ¹¹ who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” 

(Acts 1:9–11, NKJV)

Points to Ponder:

• After these instructions, Jesus was taken up into the sky, and a cloud received Him and took him away.
• As this happened, two angels appeared and explained that Jesus would come again in the same way, just as He left.

The Upper Room Prayer Meeting

¹² Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. ¹³ And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. ¹⁴ These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. 

(Acts 1:12–14, NKJV)

Points to Ponder:

• The disciples returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.
• They entered the upper room and prayed together.

Matthias Chosen

¹⁵ And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said, ¹⁶ “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; ¹⁷ for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.”

¹⁸ (Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out. ¹⁹ And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood.)

²⁰ “For it is written in the Book of Psalms:

‘Let his dwelling place be desolate,

And let no one live in it’;

and,

‘Let another take his office.’

²¹ “Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²² beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”

²³ And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. ²⁴ And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen ²⁵ to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.” ²⁶ And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles. 

(Acts 1:15–26, NKJV)

Points to Ponder:

• Peter stood, as de facto leader of the group, and suggested that they must replace Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus and killed himself.
• Peter quoted a passage from the Psalms as justification for this action.
• Two men seemed to fit the requirements of having traveled with Jesus from the time He was baptized by John the Baptist.
• They chose Joseph and Matthias as candidates. They voted, and Matthias was chosen to replace Judas.
• Some think that this was an unnecessary move, but it made sense to fulfill the original purpose of God. Some, however, feel that Paul was actually the rightful replacement for Judas. Either way, this business took the concern for the loss of Judas off their minds.
• With this move, the disciples and apostles began to move into the era of the church post-Jesus. He was not gone, but He no longer walked among His followers.

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All Scriptures from New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

Join us this afternoon at 5:00 pm for a discussion of this chapter live online. Live@5 with Dr. Greg Sloop can be found on Facebook on the Dr. Greg Sloop page or on the Kannapolis Church of God Facebook page or Youtube page. Another blog will be posted each weekday at 6:00 a.m.