Tasks in the Tween Times: The Disciples Between Ascension and Pentecost (Acts 1:12-26)
Note the corresponding kids' talk on Acts 1:12-26.
Introduction: Look Forward, Back, and Act Now
You’ve just had the engagement party, and you are still cleaning up. It is three months to the wedding.
What do you do?
You look back at the celebration you’ve just finished, you take stock, you look forward with fear and trepidation to the flurry of activity, anticipation and excitement that lies ahead, you take a deep breath, and you take those first tentative steps at climbing the mountain in front of you.
You’ve just finished Christmas and new year. The Cricket season is finished. The overseas relatives have all gone home. You’ve eaten the last of the Christmas puddings, packed away the Christmas trees, and popped the the remaining balloons.
What do you do?
You sigh, partly tired, partly sad, and start thumbing through the back to school catalogues, cleaning out the kids cupboards out to make sure their school uniforms fit, and go and buy the new school books and uniforms in preparation for the school year.
You look forward, you look back, and you act in the present.
That is what you do when you find yourself plonked down between two momentus times, two great moments in family life, with a little bit of time in between.
Context
That is the situation of the 120 disciples. The find themselves wedged between Ascension and Pentecost. They know they have a little while, but not too long (Acts 1:5). Both Ascension and Pentecost are once in an aeon moments.
Behind them lies the Ascension. The Ascension sees God’s Christ, the Messiah, God become Man, after being vindicated and justified by his resurrection from the dead, return to his Father, the Ancient of Days, to receive all glory, honour and sovereign power. Jesus had been declared unreservedly the Son of God and judge of the World by his resurrection from the dead and Ascension to the right hand of the Father.
But what lies ahead? Pentecost, and the ‘Promise of the Father’, the long predicted ‘Baptism of the Holy Spirit’. What lies ahead is a promise of new empowerment for witness.
The Holy Spirit is on his way, an old friend come to do a new Job with new power. The Holy Spirit will give his own witness to the coming of the Christ. And this new powerful coming for witness will mark a new epoch in salvation history. It will mark the beginning of the end of the curse of Babel, the tearing down of the wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, and the beginning of the Gentile Mission in earnest.
For Jesus in the flesh was only sent to the Lost Sheep of Israel. But with Pentecost, and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Gospel will begin its unstoppable and inexorable progress to the end of the earth, a journey that will continue as long as this world endures, and a journey which has both brought us into being, and which we will assist.
Looking Forward: The Promise of Pentecost Prompts Prayer (verses 12-14)
In my last talk, we saw that the Apostles, the 12, were commissioned for mission during the intermission. The 12, or the 11, as they then were, would testify to all that Jesus said and did. They testified to Jesus Christ’s his life, death, resurrection, ascension, and promise to return.
But verses 12 to 14 remind us that there was a wider group. There were 12 (or 11) apostles[1], but they had always been part of a larger group of disciples. And 120 of these disciples were in Jerusalem at this time.
Now, these were just the disciples who came with the risen Jesus Christ from Galilee to Jerusalem[2]. After Jesus rose from the dead, there were plenty of other believers that saw him. Paul tells us that over 500, that saw the Risen Christ. This more than likely occurred in Jesus’ home region of Galilee. And Matthew, Mark and John both record the Risen Christ’s appearances in Galilee. Jesus returned to his home province between his resurrection and ascension. And it is most likely that the vast majority of those over 500 ‘brothers’ who saw the risen Christ remained in Galilee. Most of those believers were not in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.
Their commission for mission during the intermission was probably the famous Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28:19-20. That was delivered on a mountain in Galilee. Therefore, probably most of Jesus’ disciples didn’t get the ‘do list’ of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. They got the command, ‘Go into all the world and make disciples’,
The Risen Christ had a mission for Galilee, too. The 500 brothers also would testify to his resurrection (cf 1 Cor 15:6). That is probably why Luke doesn’t mention Galilee in Acts 1:8. The gospel had already reached Galilee, taken by the Risen Christ himself, to his kinfolk, and they would take it on.
Paul tells us that the risen Christ appeared to James (1 Cor 15). And I suppose nothing else would explain the fact that the brothers who so consistently did not believe in him during his earthly ministryare now joined with their mother in prayer. For the Risen Christ appeared to his human half brother James. And afterwards, James would call himself, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the leader of the Christians in Jerusalem. It was as the Risen Christ that the prophet would be received in his hometown, among his relatives, and they will then listen, after they see his pierced hands and feet.
These 120, the core of his followers, those who accompanied the Risen Christ from Galilee to Jerusalem, are the start of the mission that Luke will record. Luke doesn’t record the mission that starts from the Mountain in Galilee. He records the mission that starts from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
And in time we will see that all 120, all in the upper room, will be baptised by the Spirit – men, women, young and old. A number of these, at least two men, had followed Jesus and been with the 12 during the whole of Jesus’ ministry. There had been understudies, and the up and coming talent nurtured by their head coach.
The Australian National Cricket team chooses from the 25 or so contracted players but also all of the uncontracted domestic cricketers who play for their state. St George NRL Team chooses their 13 players from a squad of 31 seniors, 25 Toyota Cup Under 20 National Youth Competition players, 4 Under 18 Junior Rep teams that play in the NSWRL competition, and if that is not enough they go to their feeder clubs in the Illawarra and St George areas.
And Jesus didn’t just have the 12. He also had the 70, and the 120, and the 500 in Galillee, and the women who supported him financially and practically. And he also had his kin, his family, including his mother and his brothers. All of these are part of a larger movement that will now be called on for mission.
The Apostle’s might be the legal witnesses of the resurrection, but all will speak of what they have seen and heard. And all will praise God in other languages. Just as all the disciples scattered by Stephen’s stoning will speak the gospel as they flee (Acts 8:1. 4)
But what do the 120 do now, with the 11 apostles? They sit tight, they hang together, they wait, and they pray.
They sit tight and wait, because that’s what the risen Jesus told them to do (Acts 1:4; compare Luke 24:49).
And they pray with one accord, well, because that’s what Christians do. Especially when they’ve been given a promise. The promise prompts prayer. Jesus says, ‘I’m going to give you this gift, so wait’. And what do the disciples say?
Can I have the gift now? Is it time yet? What about now? How about now?
Please give us the gift you promised. Please send us the Holy Spirit to enable what you command.
The promise prompts prayer in accordance with the promise. That’s always the case.
So Daniel reads in Jeremiah the Prophet (Jer 25:11-12; 29:10-14) that they will only be exiled 70 years (Daniel 9:1ff). And what does Daniel do when he understands this? He confesses his sin, affirms God’s justice, and prays that God would do what he said he would do (Daniel 9:17).
God tells Elijah that there will not be rain (1 Kgs 17:1). And then in the third year God says to Elijah, ‘Show yourself to Ahab, for I will send rain’ (1 Kgs 18:1). What does Elijah do? He meets the King on Mount Carmel, shows that Yahweh is the true God, and then tells the King Ahab to go off and have dinner, because the rain is coming (1 Kgs 18:41). And then he stays there, bowed to the ground, face between his knees (1 Kgs 18:42). What’s he doing? Praying! That’s what James says his doing! (James 5:18).
He’s praying that what God told him would come true. That’s how faith works. Faithfull praying is thinking God’s thoughts after him.
What has God promised? Right I will pray for that.
God’s kingdom is coming. Right, ‘Your kingdom come!’ God wants me to do his will. OK, ‘Your will, not mine, be done on earth by me, just like angels do.’ God promises, ‘seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you’ Good, I’ll pray for that. Give us today our daily bread.
God does not desire the death of the sinner but that he might turn and live. God wills all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. Right, Father, have mercy on him, and him, and her, and them. Father, do your mighty work of salvation. Grant him repentance unto eternal life. Give him faith in Jesus Christ. Work in him, to will and to act according to your good purpose. For this is in accordance with your will.
And Jesus says, ‘If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask’. (Luke 11:13) So there are the 120, huddled together, confident in their Risen Lord’s promise, earnestly asking him to give them the very gift that he has already promised.
The promise prompts prayer. And prayer is thinking God’s thoughts after him. And that seems to be what the 120 are doing.
That is why they can all pray with one accord. Because they are praying in accordance with God’s word and Jesus’ promise.
What about us? Are we praying with one accord? If not, then lets base our prayers on God’s sure promises, or on God’s revealed will. God’s promises prompt prayer. God’s purposes prompt prayer. And If God promises to give us something, or purposes something, let’s pray and pray and not give up until we get it.
Perhaps it is good health. Well, God has promised it. We will get it... in the new heavens and new earth, where there is no more death, or mourning or crying or pain, and the New Jerusalem, where the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations. So let’s pray and persevere with one accord until we reach it. Because we can all agree that Jesus will give us the things he promises and purposes. Just as the 120 did for the Spirit.
Looking Back: Jesus’ Betrayal by Judas Part of God’s Plan (verses 15-20)
But the disciples also need to make sense of what has gone before. They need to look back. For all that time, there had been a traitor among them.
Consider when there has been a terrible crime committed. A household is cordoned off with chequered police tape. And the news cameras interview the neighbours. ‘No-one saw this coming. He was a family man. I don’t understand this, he was quiet and kept to himself. He was friendly, he used to say hello in the street’.
And people begin to go back through all their interactions with the person, trying to make sense of it. Trying to see if there were nest eggs of the disaster that they now have to deal with.
It’s the same after every exposure of someone who has led a double life.
One of the understandable thoughts is, ‘How did he get away with it for so long?’ Didn’t those around him know him? Where they so obtuse as to have been so badly deceived? Why did all the checks and balances fail?
And then comes the period of introspection. The Royal Commission, to see how far the rot has spread. And then the purge.
Well, Peter stands up. Jesus had said to him at the last supper, that after he turned back, he must strengthen his brothers (Luke 22:32). And he strengthens them by interpreting Judas’ betrayal.
And the brothers need not fear that Jesus was deceived. Betrayed, yes, but not deceived. After all, in verse 24, Jesus is most probably referred to as ‘the Lord’ who ‘knows the hearts of all’, Jesus knew exactly what Judas was, or what he became.
His betrayal was yet another instance of the way sinners treat God’s anointed. And it became the definition of rebellion against God’s Christ. But God and his Christ knew all this in advance. Judas’ betrayal, for which he is utterly responsible, is all part of God’s predetermined plan and purpose.
So Peter describes it as the fulfilment of Scripture. Verse 16
"Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus--
Even this indignity, the betrayal by one of the 12, was planned and prepared beforehand. Just as Jesus’ betrayal was not his defeat, but his great victory, so also Judas’ betrayal of Jesus was not his making, but his undoing.
And the gory details of his death convey God’s judgment on him and his sin, as they will do later on Annanias and Sapphira, and Herod.
Acting Now: The 12th Man (verses 21-26)
And just as the Scripture prophesied that Jesus would be betrayed, so also the scripture prophesied that another would take his place of ministry. For Jesus just didn’t choose 12 because they could pair up nicely for door knocking. Jesus was reforming the people of God. These twelve, the Apostles, would be the foundation of God’s New Testament people. Just as the Old Testament Israel came from the bodies of the 12 sons of Jacob, so the New Testament Israel of God, the church, would be built on the foundation of the witness of the 12 Apostles. They were the legal witnesses to Israel and the world beyond of the resurrection of the Christ.
So Paul says the church is ...
...built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. (Ephesians 2:20 NIV)
And the wall of the New Jerusalem that John sees come down out of heaven has twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (Rev 21:14)
That is what the Apostolic witness does to the church. The Apostles witnessing and testifying to the truth of the resurrection is the foundation and bed rock of our faith. If they were wicked liars and charletons, and Christ be not raised, it is a house built on sand. But if what they lived and died for was no lie, as we believe, but the truth they sealed with their blood, these are the footings of our eternal kingdom that can never be shaken.
So, you see, Matthias is hardly like the 12th man in Cricket. Not a real player, can’t bat, bowl or field, only comes in to make up the numbers, when one of the first eleven gets hurt. He gives real testimony and is a real load bearing pillar of the church. And though we don’t see him act in the Book of Acts (for we only see Peter of the 12, and only that John Zebedee is his sidekick, and we only see James beheaded), he bears as much weight as them and Andrew and Phillip and Thomas and Matthew and the rest.
Conclusion: Look forward, look back, act in the present
We too stand between two great moments: the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, his return.
We too, look forward to receiving the promise of God. According to Christ’s promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth. What are we to do while we wait? We are to live a godly and holy life. We are to snatch people from the fire. We are to get on with the mission during the intermission. We look forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This changes everything about the way we live
We also look back. We look back at the difficult and hard things in our lives and say with Joseph, ‘people meant it for evil, perhaps even I meant it for evil, but God meant it for good’. God was in control, just as he was in control in what Judas did, meaning it for good. Through Judas evil thing – betraying the sinless Son of God – God brought about a good thing – my salvation and yours. For God works for the good in all things for those who love God.
And in the present we rest on the Apostolic witness of the risen Lord.
Let’s pray
[1] Noteworthy in 1 Cor 15 is that Paul (and Luke: Acts 14:4, 14) considered the term ‘Apostle’ to apply more widely than the Twelve.
[2] When Paul speaks of Jesus’ resurrection appearances, he says that the risen Christ appeared to Peter, to the Twelve (1 Cor 15:5), after that, to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time (1 Cor 15:6), and then to James (1 Cor 15:7).
When did Jesus appear to the 500? Was it before Pentecost? If so, why were there only 120 of the brothers in Jerusalem in the upper room (Acts 1:15). Was it after Pentecost? This would be very unusual but not impossible, as Jesus did appear to Paul after Pentecost (cf Acts 9). However, that would then mean that either Paul does not list the appearance to James in chronological order (but that is highly unlikely), or there was another appearance to James that Paul doesn’t mention, or that James was perhaps not among the disciples prior to Pentecost. Consider 1 Corinthians 15:5-8 RV:
5 and that he appeared (kai. o[ti w;fqh) to Cephas; then (ei=ta) to the twelve 6 then he appeared (e;peita w;fqh) to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until now, but some are fallen asleep; 7 then he appeared (e;peita w;fqh) to James; then (ei=ta) to all the apostles; 8 and last of all (e;scaton de. pa,ntwn), as unto one born out of due time, he appeared to me also (w;fqh kavmoi,).
ei=ta, is an adverb of time, then; next; after that. It stands in enumerations, to mark a sequence depending either on temporal or logical succession. However, it seems that this is a chronological list.
The best solution to this problem is that the appearance to over 500 brothers occurred in Galillee during the 40 days and after Jesus’ resurrection but before the events on the Mount of Olives that Luke describes: See J Wenham, Easter Enigma, 110ff. The Jerusalem group between Ascension and Pentecost does not represent all of Jesus’ followers (there were hundreds that remained in Galilee), but only those who came with him to Jerusalem. Wenham further wonders whether Luke doesn’t mention Galillee in Acts 1:8 because probably Galillee had already many hundred ‘brothers’: Wenham, Easter Enigma, 115. Note the movement from Galilee to Jerusalem in Acts 13:31:
Acts 13:30-31 30 But God raised him from the dead: 31 and he was seen for many days of them that came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses unto the people.
Likewise, Wenham takes the appearance to James after the meeting with the 500 (in Galillee) and before the Ascension (on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem and Bethany). It was probably in Galillee, hence the Lord’s brothers end up in Jerusalem: Wenham, 116-7.
Luke doesn’t record the Risen Christ’s ministry in Galilee. Luke 24:1-43 certainly occurs on resurrection Sunday. But it is possible that Luke 24:44-49 did not occur on resurrection Sunday nor in Jerusalem: See Plummer, Luke, 561, for discussion and also Geldenhuys, 643-4. Unless we posit two ascensions, or that Luke contradicts himself (which is not the Christian way to read Scripture; as Augustine says, we are to see how they agree, and assumes of Luke great incompetence), Luke 24:50-53 runs ahead 40 days to the Ascension (cf Acts 1:9-12), and perhaps also verses 44-49 occurred on some other day between the Risen Christ’s return to Jerusalem from Galilee to Jerusalem. Luke is aware that the Risen Christ witnessed in Galilee, as show in Acts 13:31-31, cited above.
Luke 24: 49, Now you, sit in the city [of Jerusalem] until which time you are clothed with power from high’ (u`mei/j de. kaqi,sate evn th/| po,lei( e[wj ou- evndu,shsqe du,namin evx u[youjÅ).
This saying must not be read so as to preclude the Risen Jesus and the Apostle’s visiting Galilee. The particle ‘de’ is not time specific. This word of Jesus was probably spoken after Christ’s Galilean resurrection appearances and before his return to Jerusalem and ascension. Plummer says, ‘to suppose that it was spoken on Easter Day involves a contradiction with Mt 28:7,10,16, Mk 16:7, Jn 21:1: Luke, 564.
John records that 8 days after the resurrection, Jesus’ appeared to Thomas in Jerusalem in the upper room: See John 20:19, 26. Some time later disciples returned to Galilee at the close of the festival of unleavened bread, and Jesus appeared to them there: John 21:1. John calls this was the Risen Jesus’ third appearance to the disciples: Jn 21:14. Neither John, Matthew, nor Mark record the return of the risen Christ and his disciples to Jerusalem. Only Luke records this, and does so in both Luke and Acts.