written by Mark Keown, Director of City to City New Zealand
I love Acts 1:6–11! This passage tells us so much about who we are and what we exist to do as God’s people in the world. Alongside other texts at the end of Matthew (Matt 28:16–20) and John (John 20:21–23), we learn what lies at the heart of the mission God has given us.
In these verses, Luke retells what he had written in Luke 24:46–49. There, Jesus “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” that pointed to his suffering, death, and resurrection. Then he told them what was going to happen next. Starting in Jerusalem and beginning with his church or 120 people, they would go into the world and call the people of every nation to repentance. Here, repentance describes what it means to become a follower of Jesus. As Keller stresses, this repentance is a complete change of mind and the orientation of our hearts and lives to the gospel of grace. Rightly, he tells us, “Repentance is not just the way into salvation, it is the way of salvation.” It is not something religious, but our rightful response to the grace of God.
Jesus tells them that this repentance is “for the forgiveness of sins.”
The central problem of the cosmos is human idolatry that elevates the self and all our loves over the love of God. Sin is destructive and traps us. We are trapped in it and its consequences are destruction. Jesus’ people are to proclaim that by Jesus’ redemptive death, God has completely and utterly dealt with sin. He calls people to turn from it, experience complete forgiveness, and reorder their loves in a rightful way.
Jesus then tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promised Spirit to come. He then ascends into the heavens, and they joyfully return to Jerusalem where they worshiped Father and Son in the temple courts.
In Acts 1:6, the disciples ask Jesus whether now is the time that he will restore the kingdom to Israel. Scholars are divided over whether this question reflects their lack of understanding of the cosmic scope of God’s mission. Considering the way God must open their minds to Gentile mission through Acts climaxing in the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), this interpretation seems appropriate. God’s plan was not merely a kingdom of Israel, but a Kingdom of God that would salt all the nations!
In a manner like his refusal to give a date for his own return (Matt 24:36–24) and who gets the seats either side of Jesus in his glory (Mark 10:35–40), Jesus tells them that such things are God’s business. We should take heed! We do not need to know the specific times of Christ’s return but get to work!
Then, in v. 8, he gives them their marching orders.
First, he promises them that they will receive the power when the Holy Spirit has come upon them. They will be clothed with God’s power from on high (Luke 24:49)! They will receive “the promise of the Father” and will be “baptised with/in/by the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4–5). As Keller puts it, they would receive the spiritual power to make Jesus a reality in a world dominated by military and political powers. As I put it, they will receive the spiritual power of the New Joshua to make him known, not through weapons of war, but those of humble service, compassionate action, and wise, gracious proclamation. As Jesus’ witnesses, they will testify to him before the world.
It is noticeable that neither Luke 24 nor Acts 1 involves an actual command from Jesus. He does not use the imperative, but the indicative—this will happen! Jesus can say this confidently because God is the agent of this mission. He leads and brings the growth; we merely follow and plant and water (1 Cor 3:6–7).
Luke begins Acts stating that his first volume (Luke’s Gospel) includes what Jesus began to do and teach (Acts 1:1). Now, by the Spirit, Jesus will continue to act and speak through the testimony of believers in the world!
Also notable is the sequence of their mission. They will begin at home, in Jerusalem. Then, they will radiate out into “all Judea and Samaria.” This phrase speaks of the Holy Land now under the sway of Rome. Without any attempt to literally overthrow Rome and its allies and drive them from the land (a la Joshua Son of Nun), the disciples will testify that Jesus is “both Lord and Christ.” They will do so through apparent defeat even to the point of death, as in the cases of Jesus, Stephen, and James, son of Zebedee (Acts 7; 12:1–2). Yet, through their cross-bearing, the gospel of grace will permeate the empire and world.
Jesus then tells them that they will go to the ends of the earth. As Schnabel has shown, at the time of Jesus, “the [known] ends of the earth” stretched west to Spain, north to Great Britain and Scandinavia, east to the Russian Steppes, China, and India, and south into sub-Saharan Africa. That’s a lot of real estate to cover! Later, European Christians would learn there were others in the Americas, the Pacific, and South-East Asia and so the mission would go on.
Having given them their marching orders, Jesus then walked a km or so to the Mount of Olives. There, he ascended to the right hand of God in heaven to fulfil Psalm 110:1 and rule the world as Lord until all God’s enemies are subdued. The disciples are told that Jesus will come back in the same way—no doubt when the mission is complete (cf. Mark 13:10; Matt 24:14).
Then, fifty days after the resurrection, the Spirit was poured out from heaven at Pentecost. The disciples were filled by the Spirit and propelled into the street proclaiming the “mighty works of God” in the languages of the nations (Acts 2:1–11). This his people continue to do today. Through God’s people, the prophecy of Jesus in Acts 1:8 has been coming to pass for 2000 or so years.
We live “Down Under” as ANZAC Christians enlisted by the new Joshua to continue this work of witnessing to his name here and into the nations. The words of Acts 1:8 are as much our marching orders as they were the first disciples in AD 30/33. We who name Jesus as Lord have received the Spirit! We have been given Christ’s absolute authority (Matt 28:18) and power to be his witnesses. We have no excuse!
Still, if we are afraid and have lost our voice, we know what to do. We emulate the disciples after being prohibited by the Sanhedrin from preaching Jesus. We pray with them:
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus (Acts 4:29–30).
As we pray, we too will find ourselves shaken by the Lord, filled again with the Holy Spirit, and impelled “to speak the word of God with boldness.” It won’t be easy! But every lost sheep and coin found will cause heaven and earth to break out in rejoicing (Luke 15:7).
Every church exists to give witness to Christ by the power of the Spirit. We do so with heartfelt worship in which we carefully listen to the word of God, koinonia shaped by the fruit of the Spirit, works of justice and compassion, and wise proclamation that is full of grace and seasoned with salt.
And the geographical agenda of Acts 1:8 remains our agenda. First, we must give witness to the community in which our church dwells. Here, the old notion of a parish is helpful—these are our people, and we live to serve them with the gospel. Second, we are to give witness throughout our nation as we make disciples, they are sent, and churches are planted and revitalised. Third, we are to do so as led throughout God’s world.
In a literary sense, the two-volume work, Luke-Acts, ends in Acts 28:30–31 with Paul in Roman incarceration doing exactly what Jesus envisages in Acts 1:8: “proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” to all who came to see him. However, in a salvation-historical sense, Luke-Acts goes on today. Its final chapter is signalled in Acts 1:11 when Jesus returns.
In the meantime, each Christian, church, parachurch organisation, or denomination, is a footnote, sentence, paragraph, chapter, or section in the ongoing saga of God’s mission. The question for us is, what are we writing? What will our “chapter” look like?
In Luke-Acts there are villains like Judas, the Herods, Pilate, Simon Magus, Elymas, and many others. There is also Simon Peter who, full of fleshly bravado, fell away, only to repent and became one of the most significant leaders in the early church. Or Paul, who went from murderous persecutor to life-giving preacher, missionary, and church planter. Then there are the women and men who mark the narrative like Anna, Simeon, the Apostles, Barnabas, Priscilla and Aquila, and Apollos who served God faithfully; not to mention the many unnamed saints who invited their friends to Jesus.
The question for us is, how will our part in the story read? What chapter are we writing?
As City to City does in over 75 nations, City to City New Zealand exists to help churches and its people become increasingly aligned to the commission of Jesus. We are fellow, experienced sojourners on “the Way” who are utterly determined to become a great chapter in the book of God. We exist to help others do the same.
Our passion is gospel renewal expressed in helping in any way we can for church planting, the revitalisation of churches, a movement for the gospel in every part of Aotearoa New Zealand, and evangelism that leads to disciple-making disciples.
If you would like us to come alongside you on the journey, feel free to make contact.