Jesus commissioned His disciples to make disciples of all nations and was taken up into heaven. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit came, Peter preached, and the church was born. The story is still unfolding, and it ends with a promise: He will come again, and God will dwell with His people.
16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” The Gospel did not stay in Jerusalem. Jesus told His disciples they would be His witnesses to the ends of the earth, and then He ascended. Ten days later the Spirit came with wind and fire, and Peter explained it with the prophet Joel. Three thousand people were baptized that day.
The rest of the New Testament tells how the news spread and what it means. The last book ends with a vision of a renewed creation where God wipes every tear away.
If you have followed the Journey this far, the next page is for you: the Gospel in plain words, and what it means to respond.
Events in this chapter
- Event
The ascension of Jesus
Forty days after the resurrection, Jesus led His disciples out near Bethany, promised the Holy Spirit, and was taken up into heaven as they watched. Two messengers told them He would return in the same way.
Open record - Event
Matthias is chosen to replace Judas
Returning from the Mount of Olives after the ascension, about a hundred and twenty believers gathered in Jerusalem. Peter cited the Psalms about the vacancy left by Judas, two men who had been with Jesus from His baptism were proposed, and the lot fell to Matthias, who was added to the eleven.
Open record - Event
Pentecost
On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon the gathered disciples in Jerusalem with the sound of wind and tongues of fire, and they spoke in other languages. Peter preached that Jesus, crucified and risen, is Lord and Christ, and about three thousand were baptized.
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The healing at the Beautiful Gate
Going up to the temple to pray, Peter and John healed a man lame from birth in the name of Jesus. Peter preached that the God of Abraham had glorified His servant Jesus, the council arrested them, and the church prayed and was filled again with the Spirit and with boldness. The number of believers grew to about five thousand men.
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Stephen's martyrdom
Stephen, one of seven men chosen to serve the Jerusalem church, worked wonders and debated in the synagogues until he was accused of speaking against the temple and the law. His defense retold Israel's story from Abraham to Solomon, he saw Jesus standing at God's right hand, and he was stoned while praying for his killers. A young man named Saul approved.
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Philip and the Ethiopian official
Sent by an angel to the road toward Gaza, Philip met an Ethiopian court official reading Isaiah 53 in his chariot. Starting from that passage Philip told him the good news about Jesus, and at the official's request Philip baptized him in water beside the road.
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The conversion of Paul
Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who had approved Stephen's death, set out to arrest believers in Damascus. Near the city a light from heaven threw him down and the risen Jesus spoke to him. Blind for three days, he was healed and baptized by a disciple named Ananias and began at once to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues.
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Cornelius and the first Gentile believers
A Roman centurion at Caesarea named Cornelius was told in a vision to send for Peter. Peter, prepared by his own vision at Joppa, went and preached, and the Holy Spirit fell on the whole Gentile household while he spoke. They were baptized, and the Jerusalem church concluded that God had granted repentance to the Gentiles as well.
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The church at Antioch
Believers scattered by the persecution after Stephen preached to Greeks in Antioch and many turned to the Lord. Jerusalem sent Barnabas, who brought Saul from Tarsus, and the two taught there for a year. In Antioch the disciples were first called Christians, and from Antioch the church later set apart Barnabas and Saul for their mission.
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The council at Jerusalem
When some taught that Gentile believers must be circumcised to be saved, the church at Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem. After debate Peter recalled Cornelius, Paul and Barnabas reported what God had done among the Gentiles, and James cited Amos to conclude that the Gentiles should not be burdened beyond a few essentials. A letter carried the decision back to Antioch.
Open record - Event
The promise of His return
As Jesus was taken up, two messengers promised that He would come back in the same way. Paul wrote that the Lord will descend, the dead in Christ will rise, and believers will be with Him forever. John saw a new heaven and a new earth where God dwells with His people and wipes away every tear, and the book closes with the prayer that the Lord Jesus come.
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Old Testament threads 14
Promises and patterns in this chapter
Acts 2:17-21 quotes Joel 2:28-32
Direct quotationHigh confidencePeter explains the events of Pentecost by quoting Joel's promise that God would pour out His Spirit on all people.
Evidence:Acts 3:22-23 quotes Deuteronomy 18:15-19
Direct quotationHigh confidencePeter cites Moses' promise of a prophet like himself and warns that those who do not listen will be cut off.
Evidence:Read this connectionFollow Deuteronomy 18:15-19 in the graph
Acts 4:11 quotes Psalms 118:22
Direct quotationHigh confidenceBefore the council Peter calls Jesus the rejected stone that became the cornerstone.
Evidence:Acts 4:25-26 quotes Psalms 2:1-2
Direct quotationHigh confidenceThe praying church quotes the psalm about rulers gathering against the LORD's Anointed.
Evidence:Acts 8:32-33 quotes Isaiah 53:7-8
Direct quotationHigh confidenceLuke records the Ethiopian official reading the servant song, and Philip explains it as being about Jesus.
Evidence:Acts 15:16-17 quotes Amos 9:11-12
Direct quotationHigh confidenceJames cites Amos to show that the prophets agree with God taking a people from the Gentiles.
Evidence:Other responsible views
- Hebrew and Greek wording: Acts follows the Greek Old Testament, where the nations seek the Lord; the Hebrew reads that Israel will possess the remnant of Edom. Both speak of the nations coming under God's name, and James's point rests on that shared sense.
Acts 13:47 quotes Isaiah 49:6
Direct quotationHigh confidencePaul and Barnabas take the servant's commission to be a light for the nations as their own marching orders.
Evidence:Romans 1:17 quotes Habakkuk 2:4
Direct quotationHigh confidencePaul grounds the Gospel of righteousness by faith in Habakkuk's line that the righteous will live by faith.
Evidence:Romans 4:3 quotes Genesis 15:6
Direct quotationHigh confidencePaul builds his argument about justification on Abraham believing God and being credited with righteousness.
Evidence:Hebrews 5:6 quotes Psalms 110:4
Direct quotationHigh confidenceHebrews cites the oath that appoints a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek and applies it to Christ.
Evidence:Acts 1:20 quotes Psalms 69:25
Direct quotationHigh confidencePeter cites the psalm's curse on a deserted dwelling to explain the vacancy left by Judas; Acts applies the plural of the psalm to one man.
Evidence:Acts 7:49-50 quotes Isaiah 66:1-2
Direct quotationHigh confidenceStephen closes his survey of the tabernacle and temple by quoting Isaiah that heaven is God's throne.
Evidence:Acts 7:42-43 quotes Amos 5:25-27
Direct quotationHigh confidenceStephen quotes Amos on Israel's idolatry in the wilderness. Acts follows the Greek Old Testament, which names Rephan and says beyond Babylon, where the Hebrew names Sakkuth and Kaiwan and says beyond Damascus.
Evidence:Other responsible views
- Wording of the Greek and Hebrew texts: The names of the idols and the place of exile differ between the Hebrew text and the Greek version Stephen cites. The charge of wilderness idolatry and the sentence of exile are the same in both.
Acts 7:32 quotes Exodus 3:6
Direct quotationHigh confidenceStephen retells the burning bush and quotes God's self-identification to Moses.
Evidence:
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People, places, themes, and passages in this chapter
- Event
The resurrection of Jesus
On the first day of the week the tomb of Jesus was found empty, and He appeared alive to Mary Magdalene, to the disciples, and, according to Paul, to more than five hundred people at once. The New Testament proclaims that God raised Him bodily from the dead.
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Matthias
Matthias was one of two men proposed to fill the place of Judas among the Twelve, having been with Jesus from the baptism of John to the ascension. After prayer and the casting of lots he was added to the eleven apostles. Acts does not record his later ministry.
Focus this layer - Person
Peter
Peter, originally Simon, was a fisherman from Galilee whom Jesus called to follow Him and renamed Peter. He confessed Jesus as the Christ, denied Him during the trial, was restored after the resurrection, and preached the first sermon at Pentecost.
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Jerusalem
Jerusalem is the city David made his capital and where Solomon built the temple. In the Gospels it is where Jesus taught in the temple, shared the Last Supper, was tried, crucified, and rose, and where the church was born at Pentecost.
Focus this layer - Theme
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is God present and active among His people. He hovers over creation, fills prophets and craftsmen in the Old Testament, descends on Jesus at His baptism, is promised by Jesus as the Advocate, and comes on the church at Pentecost, giving power to witness, new birth, gifts, and fruit.
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Joel 2:28-32
Open this Scripture reference and the relationships connected to it.
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John the apostle
John was a Galilean fisherman, the brother of James and son of Zebedee, called by Jesus beside the Sea of Galilee. With Peter and James he witnessed the raising of Jairus's daughter and the transfiguration, and Christian tradition identifies him with the disciple whom Jesus loved and with the author of the fourth Gospel.
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The temple in Jerusalem
The temple in Jerusalem was the house of God at the center of Israel's worship, rebuilt after the exile and greatly enlarged by Herod the Great. Jesus was presented there as an infant, taught in its courts, drove out the traders, foretold its destruction, and was accused at His trial of threatening it.
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Paul
Paul, first known as Saul of Tarsus, was a Pharisee who persecuted the church until the risen Jesus met him on the road to Damascus. He became the apostle to the Gentiles, planted churches across the Roman world, and wrote the letters that make up much of the New Testament.
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