Acts 1 – 2
Luke was the writer of Acts and is considered the history of the Christian movement after Jesus’ death. Where Matthew, Mark, John and Luke were the story of Jesus’ life, Acts is the “rest of the story”. Verse 1:7 talks about our understanding of timing and history:
Jesus: 7 The Father, on His own authority, has determined the ages and epochs of history, but you have not been given this knowledge.
Many Christians focus on the “end times” and the prophecies of John in Revelations and other places in the Bible. We tend to get all caught up in what is happening in our world today and miss the smaller, bigger picture that we just don’t know. Instead of focusing on what may happen tomorrow, we should be focusing on what IS happening today. In recent years my focus has been on “end times” since they appear to be here now.
In reality I will never know. Heck we have seen times that were much worse and could have been a start, but we have to go back to Jonah and Nineveh to see God’s compassion at work. Heck WWI or WWII may have been “it”, but when the people rallied behind God the wrath quickly shifted to compassion and it was delayed. Our focus should be on what has been done on the cross and what is happening in our lives today!
Verse 1:20 has Luke deciphering prophecies in scripture:
In this way, one of David’s psalms was fulfilled: “May their camps be bleak, with not one left in any tent.” But the psalms also include these words: “Let his position of oversight be given to another.”
Often we read scriptures one way for decades and something happens to reveal to us the true meaning. In this case David’s psalm had been deciphered one way for generations, until Jesus actually fulfilled it. Many may call this a “Babushka Doll” where it has two meanings of his “generations” watching over and Jesus physically doing what was considered the impossible. Or it may just have been a misinterpretation of David’s words until Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Luke continues to point out hidden prophecies of Jesus in ancient scriptures that were fulfilled. In verse 2:38 Peter talks to the crowd:
Reconsider your lives; change your direction. Participate in the ceremonial washing of baptism in the name of Jesus God’s Anointed, the Liberating King. Then your sins will be forgiven, and the gift of the Holy Spirit will be yours.
In verse 41 we see 3000 came to the faith and followed Jesus. Imagine that happening today!! Was it Peter had an audience that had direct knowledge of Jesus and the scriptures who could not deny the truth or was the crowd clueless? I read turns like this and wonder how this would happen today. We no longer boldly go into places where we would be persecuted with the same passion. I think of the Middle East where Christianity once had a strong hold and is now a place where Christians die for their faith. Heck, we often avoid ridicule from speaking our faith in science class, much less in a place where we could die. Peter eventually died converting Jews and Gentiles, we need to become more bold in a very safe place here in the USA. Maybe then we will see numbers change for GOOD!!