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Acts 1:1-11 If you haven’t read it yet, this link will take you there.  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%201%3A1-11&version=NLT

Luke, like any good story teller, is setting the stage.  He points back to his previous book in which he took Theophilus to the day Jesus was taken up to heaven.  But he wants to back it up for a second. He reminds Theo that in the last book, Jesus suffered and died and then proved he was alive again by spending 40 days in and around Jerusalem during which he continued to teach.  He also left one very specific instruction.  “Stay in Jerusalem until the gift I’m sending you arrives. You are going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”  

And the disciples, who have no clue what that means and still have very little understanding of what Jesus really is up to ask hopefully. “Oh awesome! Does that mean you are throwing out the Romans and setting up your kingdom now?”

And Jesus, gently, graciously, without so much as a facepalm, says, “The father is in charge of that stuff.  It’s not your concern.  But when my gift comes you will receive power, not the political authority you are hoping for, but divine power.  With that power you are going to travel to the ends of the earth to boldly proclaim what you have seen me do and heard me teach.”  Did Jesus have to suppress an excited grin at the thought?  

Before they could say another clueless thing, Jesus just ascended into the sky.  They are all just standing there, watching him go.  I mean, I think I would have done the same.  But he had disappeared from sight and they were still standing there when a couple of guys dressed in white are suddenly among them.  “He’s coming back you know.  He’ll come back the same way he left.”  Read: So you might want to do what he told you in the meantime, so you’re ready when he comes back.  Or, you could just stand there staring till your necks ache.”

For those joining us for the first time as we start into the book of Acts, I usually start looking at each passage by wrapping my head around what actually happened. I’m not necessarily analyzing it in detail, I’m just kind of listening.  What is God saying to me today?  

I think this morning my attention is drawn to the way Jesus was so excited about the Holy Spirit coming to live with his disciples.  It seems like in those 40 days, the conversation came around to this a lot. 

“Don’t leave Jerusalem until you are baptized in the Holy Spirit”, 

“The Holy Spirit is going to give you the power to do the work I have given you to do.” This was something new. The Holy Spirit had never interacted with humans the way he would now. Jesus had said before to his disciples that it was “better for you that I go so that the Holy Spirit could come.” That must have sounded crazy, but Jesus could see that the Holy Spirit living in a believer was a seal, a promise, a guarantee. He wanted his disciples to have that. I know for a fact I do not fully, or maybe even remotely, grasp what a gift it is that I have the Holy Spirit living in me. I wish I could see it through Jesus’ eyes. Jesus was excited to leave them so that they could have his Spirit. That’s just wild!

So later when Jesus is taken up into heaven and they are standing around going, ok, what now? It’s not weird that the angel would be like, “Giddyup boys!”

Other things that are cool for me to note? Luke attests to the truth of the resurrection here again.  It really is the pin in history around which everything rotates.  When Jesus was raised from the dead, everything changed. Without this, we are just floating through time towards an uncertain destiny.  Because of this, we have hope, we have purpose, we have the freedom to choose to be victorious children of God. So this morning, once again, I thank God for the resurrection.