first devotional on acts 1
Acts 1
The book is addressed to Theophilus, which I discovered can have the meaning friend of God or loving God or loved by God. The author starts the chapter by summarizing his earlier book which told of all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven (I assume this means his crucifixion and death). The book tells about how Jesus appeared to his disciples showing that he is resurrected by God. Jesus is said to have taught about the coming of the holy spirit and to have given instruction to the disciples to wait in Jerusalem.
The author describes Jesus being taken up into the sky and a cloud hiding him from the disciples while two men wearing white (very stylish and modern) appear beside them. The men in white inform the disciple that Jesus will come again in the same way he left. Do I detect religious overtones and references? Perhaps, but I don't know where from.
The chapter then describes Peter addressing a crowd of 120 believers in Jerusalem, explaining how Judas betrayal fulfills words of David in the psalms "may his place be deserted" and "May another take his place of leadership" by which Peter and the group then select two possible candidates and then throw dice to discover which one God has chosen to fill Judas' place in the inner circle.
The chapter also describes the fate of the rather unpopular Judas who is said to have died, having fallen headlong spilling his guts in the field, called the field of blood, that was purchased by money earned for betraying Jesus. This is an interesting account of the early community of believers. In Acts the account of Judas' death appears somewhat different than the only other account found in Matthew which has Judas give back the money to the religious authorities and go hang himself.
In the chapter I gained a brief look into time Jesus spent with his disciples after he was taken up into heaven. The disciples must have been rather confused about where Jesus had gone and when he would return. I can only imagine the state of Jesus disciples; after all, Jesus had just been crucified and died, his body gone from the tomb and then after they thought that was it, he is witnessed by his disciples to be alive having been raised from death. Those who had seen must have been both ecstatic and freaked out, and the those who hadn't must have been very confused.
The passage describes Jesus showing up to announce the coming of the holy spirit and the kingdom of God and ministering to his grieving followers and then he up and disappears again into the clouds, and his disciples are left looking into the sky until the men in white appear beside the disciples to let them know that Jesus who has been taken into heaven will come back in the same way they have seen him go into heaven. Wow, I would be amazed! Praise God for turning the world upside down in a truly undeniable way.
I have many more questions than I have answers but the book of acts is something else all together. Acts seems to be written much different than John and appears to be full of excitement and intrigue. It seems that there is cultural significance to what is told but sadly I lack the understanding of the culture which I am sure would help to illuminate much more about the book.
That is all I can say about that. God bless you, may he make his light shine upon you and keep you always.
p.s. This took me 4 hours sadly, thats why I don't do this very often.... actually this is the first time I've done this at all.
--
The book is addressed to Theophilus, which I discovered can have the meaning friend of God or loving God or loved by God. The author starts the chapter by summarizing his earlier book which told of all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven (I assume this means his crucifixion and death). The book tells about how Jesus appeared to his disciples showing that he is resurrected by God. Jesus is said to have taught about the coming of the holy spirit and to have given instruction to the disciples to wait in Jerusalem.
The author describes Jesus being taken up into the sky and a cloud hiding him from the disciples while two men wearing white (very stylish and modern) appear beside them. The men in white inform the disciple that Jesus will come again in the same way he left. Do I detect religious overtones and references? Perhaps, but I don't know where from.
The chapter then describes Peter addressing a crowd of 120 believers in Jerusalem, explaining how Judas betrayal fulfills words of David in the psalms "may his place be deserted" and "May another take his place of leadership" by which Peter and the group then select two possible candidates and then throw dice to discover which one God has chosen to fill Judas' place in the inner circle.
The chapter also describes the fate of the rather unpopular Judas who is said to have died, having fallen headlong spilling his guts in the field, called the field of blood, that was purchased by money earned for betraying Jesus. This is an interesting account of the early community of believers. In Acts the account of Judas' death appears somewhat different than the only other account found in Matthew which has Judas give back the money to the religious authorities and go hang himself.
In the chapter I gained a brief look into time Jesus spent with his disciples after he was taken up into heaven. The disciples must have been rather confused about where Jesus had gone and when he would return. I can only imagine the state of Jesus disciples; after all, Jesus had just been crucified and died, his body gone from the tomb and then after they thought that was it, he is witnessed by his disciples to be alive having been raised from death. Those who had seen must have been both ecstatic and freaked out, and the those who hadn't must have been very confused.
The passage describes Jesus showing up to announce the coming of the holy spirit and the kingdom of God and ministering to his grieving followers and then he up and disappears again into the clouds, and his disciples are left looking into the sky until the men in white appear beside the disciples to let them know that Jesus who has been taken into heaven will come back in the same way they have seen him go into heaven. Wow, I would be amazed! Praise God for turning the world upside down in a truly undeniable way.
I have many more questions than I have answers but the book of acts is something else all together. Acts seems to be written much different than John and appears to be full of excitement and intrigue. It seems that there is cultural significance to what is told but sadly I lack the understanding of the culture which I am sure would help to illuminate much more about the book.
That is all I can say about that. God bless you, may he make his light shine upon you and keep you always.
p.s. This took me 4 hours sadly, thats why I don't do this very often.... actually this is the first time I've done this at all.
--
posted by Michael at 7:18 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home