New Testament History – 1 Book

The Gospel books we have recently “walked through” gave us 4 perspectives on the biography of the God-Man, Jesus Christ. They do not contradict one another. They mesh into a complete portrait of God the Son in His human incarnation. In the gospels, Jesus was introducing Himself to Israel as their long anticipated king and introducing the Kingdom of God as God Himself has designed it. His challenge to those who were positive toward Him was “follow me.” Pay attention. Imitate. Learn My ways and serve as my assistants in this mission. Those who believed in Him were born anew and remained with Him through His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. That all occurred during the Age of Israel. It had to be accomplished before the Church could come into existence.

Our next category of New Testament book is the only one that gives a historical record of the birth of His Church and her early development as His Body in the world, conceived by the Holy Spirit, nurtured by the Holy Spirit and the Eternal Word, commissioned to continue His work until He calls her home to be His eternal Bride. Since the Day of Pentecost, those who have believed in Jesus are IN HIM. That is the permanent position of the Church. One is not following the body in which one resides. I believe that technical detail makes the difference in how the individual believer relates to Jesus and all things regarding the Kingdom of God. That technical detail will also help us get a good grasp on the importance of the enormous transition which took place in one generation of God’s people after the resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts is the historical link between the Gospels of Jesus Christ and the Epistles to the Church. The whole title is The Acts of the Apostles. It was written by Luke as part of his report to his friend, Theophilus. The first part of the report is the Gospel of Luke. He shows in his report that the men in the gospels who had left careers and trades to follow Jesus became apostles (messengers) to Israel and then to Jesus’ new creation: the Church.

Acts traces important events in the early history of Christianity from the ascension of Christ to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the rapid progress of the gospel, beginning in Jerusalem and spreading throughout the Roman Empire.

Acts is a pivotal book of transitions: from the Gospels to the Epistles, from Judaism to Christianity, from law to grace, from Jews alone to Jews and Gentiles, and from kingdom to church. 

Key Chapter: Acts 2—Chapter 2 records the earth-changing events of the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came, fulfilling Christ’s promise to wait until the Holy Spirit arrived to empower and direct the witness. The Spirit transformed a small group of fearful men into a thriving, worldwide church that is ever moving forward and fulfilling the Great Commission. 

Nelson, Thomas (2006-04-11). Open Bible, NKJV (Kindle Locations 113708-113711). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Acts contains 28 chapters of dramatic action, beginning immediately after the resurrection of Jesus. He spent forty days with the saints at Jerusalem, teaching them and preparing them to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which he commanded them to await together. They had no idea what that would be like, and expected Him to restore the Kingdom to Israel NOW. He told them that times and epochs were not to be their concern right now, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Please notice this is not a command or a request. It is a statement of fact. “you WILL receive power.” “you WILL be my witnesses.” Then they watched as He was taken into heaven. As they stood with their mouths agape, staring into the sky, “behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:10-11). This Jesus, not another. In this same way, just as He went. What could be plainer than that?

These believers, who were recovering from their shock and confusion of having seen their Lord crucified, buried and resurrected, were now about to receive in themselves a miraculous transformation. They stayed together, as Jesus had commanded them, praying and becoming organized under Peter’s leadership. He reminded them of all they had experienced with Jesus and they “elected” Matthias from among their ranks to replace Judas, who had betrayed the Lord and then committed suicide. According to the apostles’ standards for this office, Matthias must have been a fine believer, but nothing more is ever said about him in the scriptures.

Then came the day they had waited for: Pentecost. It means 50, and it occurred 50 days after Passover, when the Lamb of God had been sacrificed for our sins. It is familiar to all students of the New Testament. A mighty rush of wind. Tongues of fire. Languages spoken by these men which they had not learned. Specific languages, not unknown ones.  Real languages, not ecstatic gibberish. The languages were unknown only to those who were speaking them, for there were Jews in the audience that day who spoke those languages and heard the gospel of Jesus Christ in the languages of the Gentile nations from which they came. There were at least 14 national languages listed in Acts 2:9-10. This helped to jump-start the evangelism to those nations as those pilgrims returned home with the amazing sermon they had heard.

For with stammering lips and another (Gentile) tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. Isaiah 28:11-12. Another important prophecy to stiffnecked Israel (THIS people) fulfilled.

Now organized and empowered, the Church began her work under hostility from the Jews and oppression from Rome. The persecution served to keep believers in close fellowship with one another as it scattered them into the surrounding communities and nations, carrying the gospel message wherever they went. Thousands of souls were added to the Church in the times and events Luke wrote about in Acts. Those thousands bore testimony to thousands more, and the Church grew.

As the Church Age began, the apostles and other saints were gifted with certain miraculous “sign” gifts, which enabled them to perform healings, resuscitations, and speak in foreign languages as they presented the gospel of Jesus Christ to any who would listen to their message. These gifts certainly attracted the attention of those who witnessed them, and gave credibility to the apostles as representatives of Jesus Christ. As time went on, and the New Testament canon was written, these miraculous “apostolic” gifts diminished, for they were no longer needed. God’s perfect Word is its own witness. Signs and wonders are not needed to validate that which is “alive, powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword” – Hebrews 4:12 –it “shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” – Isaiah 55:11.

They preached. They traveled. They healed. They shared their worldly goods. They told the world about the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the only Savior of mankind. “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

Moving through the infancy of the Church: in Acts chapter 6 the Church appointed deacons to help with the chores of the Church, so the apostles could devote their time to praying, studying and teaching. One of those deacons, Stephen, became the first martyr of the Church age, when the crowd to whom he witnessed stoned him to death (ch. 7).  Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who had stood by and watched with approval the stoning of Stephen, conducted a mission to put a stop to all Christian activity. On the road to Damascus this religious zealot was clobbered and blinded by the risen Christ (ch. 9). He left that traumatic scene a man forever changed, having been saved and commissioned to preach Christ to the Gentiles. From that time, he is called Paul (his Roman name). Peter and Paul were the most prominent apostles throughout the book of Acts, as they worked toward the spread of Christ’s message to the whole world. There were many other apostles and believers at work, too, but those two seemed to project the most authority regarding Christian doctrine.

The Holy Spirit very quickly led Peter and Paul into evangelizing the Gentiles, some of whom were waiting to be taught about Jesus and receive His baptism. J. Vernon McGee lists 3 representative conversions seen in Acts: in chapter 8, the Ethiopian eunuch – Son of Ham; ch. 9, Saul of Tarsus – Son of Shem; ch. 10, Cornelius, Roman centurion – Son of Japheth. Those 3 names represent the sons of Noah, who were the fathers of all the nations on the earth (Genesis 10:1).

The mission of the Church was a huge undertaking, and those early evangelists were equipped by the Holy Spirit to get the job done, no matter the obstacles they faced. They preached in the synagogues, in the streets, on mountaintops and in prisons. They faced opposition and danger almost everywhere they went. They even had some mimicking their message to ridicule and embarrass them. Their attitude was that of grace, as expressed by Paul in Philippians 1:18:

What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.