Acts 1:1

Acts 1:1 says, The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,  The Book of Acts was written by Luke, who also wrote the Book of Luke.  It was addressed to Theophilus and was about the actions of the early church.  Though Luke penned these two books, God was the Author.  We really know nothing about the earlier letter written to Theophilus.  Not everything that the disciples and early Christians wrote and did became a part of the Bible. Verse two adds, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:  These actions of the church occurred after the ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell all believers.  This includes us today as followers of Christ.  Verse three continues, To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:  Luke said Jesus had shown Himself alive to many people after His crucifixion and that this was an infallible proof that He was Who He said He was.  Though we will never see Jesus Christ physically, we must accept by faith that He is indeed the Savior of mankind if they believe in Him.  Verse four states, And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.  Sometimes, following means waiting.  In the military, there is an expression, "Hurry up and wait."  Strange as it may seem, the hurrying up was easy, but the waiting was excruciating. In the first chapter of Acts, the disciples were told to wait.  Now, it seems they were ready to share the Good News, but they weren't equipped to do so.  Verse five adds, For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.  They may have been physically baptized, but they were yet to be baptized, or indwelled, by the Holy Spirit.  They had to wait on the coming of the Holy Spirit to be equipped to take on the task of reaching the world.  We today, once we do accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord do not have to wait for a later coming of the Holy Spirit into our life, but we are immediately indwelled by the Holy Spirit, even before we are physically baptized.  Still, we today must wait on God's direction before we undertake any task for Him.  Yes, though we don't have to wait on the coming of the Holy Spirit, we do have to wait on His empowerment.  There is an urgency to fulfill the Great Commission, but even if we feel the need to hurry up, we must always wait until we have the power and direction of the Holy Spirit before we go.  The hurry up in the military was to make sure we were ready to move, and though the waiting was hard to bear, it was necessary to ensure that we knew where we were moving to and for what purpose.  As we follow Christ today, we must wait until we know His purpose for us, then we must go forth prepared.  Verse six continues, When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?  The disciples were still looking for the physical restoration of the kingdom of Israel, but God’s kingdom is a spiritual one. This world will never be our everlasting home.