Once when He was eating with them, He commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift He promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 1:4-5
Just two short verses but I reckon they spur a number of questions, right? Do they prompt questions in you?
Here are the questions which immediately come to mind for me.
- “Once when He was eating with them” – why “once”? Is that day in question not linked sequentially?
- Why were they commanded not to leave Jerusalem? It could be concluded from Luke 24:50 that they were in Bethany.
- Is there something highly significant about Jerusalem?
- What was it the Father promised and when?
- Are we talking about more than the gift of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit?
- Why does Jesus place the element “with water” in the emphatic position in the sentence?
- What is the difference between “baptism with water” and “baptism with the Holy Spirit”?”
Allow me to deal with the more natural questions first and then leave you time to think before I add comment on some more technical issues.
Why were they commanded not to leave Jerusalem?
It appears from Luke 24:50 that they were not in Jerusalem but rather were in Bethany. I believe the original statement of Jesus from Luke 24:49 was made in Jerusalem and Luke has simply cut short the action by adding verse 50 to it. It seems that they were in Jerusalem when Jesus told them not to leave, then He took them to Bethany to the Mount of Olives for the events of Ascension. (see Gem 1327). If however they were in Bethany when the statement was made, that is not a problem. It is clear from Acts 1:8 and from other verses in Scripture (Micah 4:2. Isaiah 2:3) that the action of the Word going out and witness being given, would be centred on Jerusalem. It was the place where the crucifixion happened and where the centre of theJewish religious system was found. For this New Way to gain a following it needed to be given credence at the centre of the roots of Judaism. Not only that but as we shall see from Paul’s strategy through the book of Acts, his focus was always the key cities. There was none more key than Jerusalem.
What was it that the Father promised and when?
Jesus makes it clear this was a promise of Father God, not just Jesus Himself. “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift He promised, as I told you before.” So this clearly is something that happened long before Jesus came on the scene. This is linked to the message of the Kingdom of God and the spread of the Good News of the Kingdom. It is linked to God’s salvation history and the message of how mankind’s separation from God was to be handled. Man has been separated from the presence of God and there was a lack of fellowship and hearing from God. Isaiah 32:15; 44:3,4; 59:20-21 as well as Joel 2:28 all talk about the restoration of God’s presence among His people. One way this was to happen was by God restoring the presence of His Spirit to the people and a restoration of their ability to hear from their God directly, and not just through the Prophets who would appear from time to time. God told them a time was coming when He would place His Spirit among them again. Many of the prophets brought this same message. This was the Promise of the Father.
However Jesus also told the disciples, “as I told you before”. Clearly Jesus has mentioned this before and linked the coming events of His death, burial and resurrection to the coming Promise of the Father. Those things were prophesied in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Joel, among others. When did He remind them of these things? Look at: Mark 1:18; Luke 24:49, John 14:16-17, 26, 15:26; 16:7-16; John 20:22, Acts 1:4-5, 8; 2:1-21; 11:16; 16:7. It is clear it is something important that Jesus keeps reminding His disciples about. Not only do all the great festivals of Israel held in Jerusalem remind them of this but Jesus reminded them Himself. If they had paid careful attention to the Scriptures regarding the “Law going forth from Jerusalem”or “the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem” they would have realised they were on the cutting edge of the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy.
Are we talking more than the gift of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit?
Yes, Jesus was talking about the fulfilment of God’s promises for His Word and His witness to be spread abroad in powerful ways. The Gift of the Outpouring of His Spirit signified way more than the manifestation of strange behaviour. This was to be God’s stamp on the events that were about to take place. It was a confirmation that what was about to happen was in accord with God’s plans all along. This was the next stage in the Good News of the Kingdom of God being realised. The Kingdom of God was about to be restored and extended. That which the Scriptures and the Spirit pointed to was about to happen. Ah but what? Now that is the key question.
I am going to give you some time to ponder these things for yourself. I will pick up on some technical grammatical questions in the next Gems. Namely:
- “Once when He was eating with them” – why “once”?
- Is that day in question not linked sequentially?
- Why does Jesus place the element “with water” in the emphatic position in the sentence?
- The astute ones among you will also notice I have not yet addressed the questions I wrote above: What is the difference between “baptism with water” and “baptism with the Holy Spirit”?
That is a key practical question for the life of the church and the practice of faith for each and every one of the followers of The Way. For those of you who don’t know why I am suddenly using this term, you will as we get further into the Book of Acts.
Neither have I addressed the matter of the difference between “baptism with water” and “baptism with the Holy Spirit”. Ian when are you going to address that question? You will see it is an unfolding revelation through Luke’s second book, so why would I preempt it and reveal it before its time? I will leave it as a challenge for you to work out as we proceed. I am very aware that is not what most of you want to hear. But it fits with the Deeper Bible philosophy of “Teaching you to fish and feeding you for a lifetime; rather than giving you fish and feeding you for a day.” You know already when you work out the answers for yourself by taking the time to dig, you retain it far longer. “Easy come; easy go” as they say.
To teach is to learn twice.
Anon
Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t.
Erica Jong
The tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.
Benjamin Mays
There is nothing noble in being superior to some person. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.
Ernest Hemingway