Acts
Bible Study
Lesson 4
ACTS
1:15—26 BETWEEN THE ASCENSION
AND PENTECOST
¥ Peter, as leader to the Hebrew church,
addresses the 120 in the upper room.
- Peter was given the
keys to the Kingdom by Christ as soon as he realized that Jesus was
their Messiah.
Matthew 16:18—19 18"I also say to you
that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of
Hades will not
overpower it. 19"I will give you the
keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been
bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in
heaven."
-The Disciples, with Peter as their
leader, were given the authority to act in ChristÕs behalf in His absence
John 20:21—23 21So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as
the Father has sent Me, I also send you." 22And when He had
said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
23"If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven
them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."
-- They were able to do this supernaturally
through the power of the Holy Spirit (as we see at Pentecost). See Acts 5
concerning Ananias & Saphira.
- This church (called-out group) will be
a Millennial Kingdom church.
- Peter will have the power to admit or
deny entrance into the Kingdom.
-- This makes perfect sense when we see
that the Disciples will be sitting on 12 thrones as judges.
Matthew 19:28 And Jesus said to them,
"Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration
when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
¥ Through the Holy Spirit, Peter
interprets scripture, relating O.T. passages to the death of Judas.
¥ Since there
were now only 11 Disciples, they needed to choose a replacement Disciple.
- This was necessary because God was
still dealing with Israel as His favored nation.
- The message was still the Gospel of the
Kingdom.
- There will be 12 sitting on thrones
judging Israel (Matthew 19:28)
- They needed to choose a replacement
right away because the coming of the Holy Spirit signaled the coming of the
Millennial Kingdom.
¥ The
replacement Disciple needed to be with the group from the baptism of Jesus by
John until the ascension.
- They had to be close followers of Jesus
to be a Disciple (Matthew 19:28)
¥ Paul was not qualified because:
1. He did not become a believer until
after the selection.
2. He was not a close follower of Jesus
during His ministry.
3. Paul was reserved for a special
ministry among the Gentiles.
Galatians1:1 1Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but
through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), 15But when God, who
had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called
me through His grace, was pleased 16to
reveal His Son in me so that I might preach
Him among the Gentiles,
ACTS 2:1—4 The Day of Pentecost, introduction
¥ A
study of the Jewish feasts will help in our understanding of the events on the
day of Pentecost.
¥ All
feasts are IsraelÕs and do not belong to the Church, the Body of Christ nor
relate to it.
¥ Many
say Pentecost is the beginning of the Church and feast of Trumpets is the end
of the Church.
- Pentecost was given to the
Jews and was a shadow of what was to come.
¥ The
coming of the Holy Spirit as we see in Acts was foretold—a part of
prophesy.
Isaiah 32:15 Until the Spirit
is poured out upon us from on high, And the
wilderness becomes a fertile field, And the fertile
field is considered as a forest.
Isaiah 44:3 'For I will
pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour
out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants;
Ezekiel 36:26—27
26"Moreover, I will
give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the
heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27"I
will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you
will be careful to observe My ordinances.
Ezekiel 39:29 "I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My
Spirit on the house of Israel," declares the Lord GOD.
Joel 2:28—29 28"It will come about
after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will
prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions.
29"Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in
those days.
¥ Everything
happening on the day of Pentecost are signs pointing Israel in the direction of
the coming Millennial kingdom.
¥ No Scripture points to this event as
being the beginning of the Church, the Body of Christ.
¥ We will see
that only Jews are addressed by Peter in his sermons. With the Church the Body
of Christ there is no Jew or Gentile
Ephesians
2:14—16 14For He Himself is
our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the
dividing wall, 15by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the
Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make
the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16and might
reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to
death the enmity.
¥ They were
baptized by Christ into the Holy Spirit. We are
baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit.
Mark 1:7—8 7And he was preaching, and saying, "After me One is
coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the
thong of His sandals. 8"I baptized you with water; but He will
baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
Galatians 3:27 For all of
you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit we
were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or
free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
¥ At Pentecost only Jews received the
Holy Spirit. This would go against the idea that we are all one body whether
Jew of Gentile. In fact, we donÕt see a Gentile getting saved until about 10
years later!
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