Author Archives: Phillip

Sat 5^th September                Read Acts chapter 2:42-47:

V42:  The chapter ends with a glimpse of the priorities in the early church. They “devote themselves” – give themselves whole-heartedly and without reserve – to 4 things in particular: the Apostle’s teaching – literally for them, of course – what the Apostles teach them, under the leading of the Spirit ( preserved for us in the NT ); the fellowship ( i.e. to one another in Christian love ); the breaking of bread – probably the Lord’s supper, in obedience to His command (  1 Corinthians 11 :23-25.); and to the prayers, suggesting specific times of gathered prayer. These should still be our priorities!

V43:  God continues to work through the Apostles, confirming His work with ” wonders and signs”, and causing a holy awe in many who see this.

V44-45:  The oneness of that early  church is emphasised – they loved being together, they shared everything, and the wealthier among them used their wealth now to benefit others – many of them were no doubt poor and had little, if some were slaves, they had nothing.. The specifics of this practice were for that age, but the principles behind them should always mark the church of Christ.

V46-47: As yet, they still worshipped in the temple, as well as fellowshipping together in their homes. They saw everything they had as God’s blessing, and received it thankfully and joyfully – Do we? Their lives were full of praise, and this was clearly part of their witness, and people were touched by it and responded to them positively. And God used their faithful witness to bring others to faith every day. Oh that it might yet please Him to work like this again, to His glory.

Fri 4^th September                  Read Acts chapter 2:36-41:

V36:  So, let these Jews, representing in some sense all of Israel, truly know that the One they crucified has indeed been raised, exalted and vindicated by God the Father, showing Him to be the true Christ, the promised One, the Lord – only to God does this title truly belong in the NT – and to His Son, equally God with the Father ( and the Holy Spirit.)

V37:  Under the power of the Holy Spirit, at work through His Word, the hearers are ” cut to the heart” – convicted of their sin in rejecting Jesus. They cry out to Peter and the others, as “brothers” – fellow Jews – ” what shall we do?”  Oh to see God work like this in our day, convicting people of their sin, causing them to ask believers what they should do!

V38-39:  The answer is uncompromisingly declared – Repent and turn to Christ in faith ( clearly implied in the command to be baptised, for this is more than John the Baptist’s baptism of repentance, it is “in the name of Jesus Christ”, speaks of forgiveness of sins, and with it the promise of the Holy Spirit given to them, and to all who believe – all future generations, all from afar, whom God will call to Himself in living faith. It is clear, then,  that the Holy  Spirit is given to all believers.

V40:  Much else is said, though not recorded here. In it all, Peter earnestly exhorts his hearers to believe and be saved. God’s grace is sovereign in salvation, but never forget He works through the faithful witness and gospel testimony of His people. ( See Romans 10:13-15 )

V41:  And in a wonderful work of grace ” about 3000 souls” believe, repent and are saved that day, and added to the company of believers – remember, just 120 before this happened ( ch1:15.) What an increase! Oh that God would do such a work again in our day – but how would we receive it, if He did?

Thurs 3^rd September            Read Acts chapter 2:29-35:

V29:  David could not be the one these verses really spoke of, Peter says, for he died, was buried, and they know where his tomb is. ( Long gone, of course, after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70.)

V30-31:  But David was inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak prophetically of his great descendant, Jesus, the true Christ, the real “Anointed One of God”, who would be raised from the dead and know no bodily corruption.

V32:  Peter and those who stand with him are the witnesses to the truth of Christ’s resurrection ( one of the qualifications for an Apostle in the full sense of that word.) They testify to what they have seen and experienced. The NT emphasises the vital importance of this first-hand witness as the historic foundation of our faith. ( See John15:26-27; 1 Corinthians 15:4-8; 2 Peter 1:16-18; 1 John 1:1-3.)

V33:  Jesus, now ascended to the Father, in the place of highest exaltation ( compare Philippians 2:9-11 ) has poured out His Spirit upon His people, as promised and as His Father has given through Him. ( John14:16-17; 15:26.) Those he speaks to now witness this.

V34-35:  Again, he quotes David’s words in Psalm110:1, clearly speaking of the exaltation of One who is HIS Lord, ” great David’s greater Son”, as the hymn says.

Wed 2^nd September              Read Acts chapter 2:22-28:

V22:  He takes them at once to Jesus – how God testified to who He was by the ” works and wonders and signs” He did through His Son – they know of these, they were public knowledge. We remember that John’s gospel always speaks of Christ’s miracles as signs – signs point to something or someone – the signs of the Lord’s ministry said ” look who is here!”

V23:  He speaks of the crucifixion, that it was the responsibility of all who rejected Jesus, and applying this to his hearers directly, but also emphasising that it was God’s plan and purpose, fully known beforehand – though this does not negate the human responsibility of unbelief and rejection.

V24:  But God has raised Jesus from the dead – indeed it was not possible for death to hold Him, for it had no claim on His sinless life.

V25-28:  Again, he supports this from OT Scripture, quoting the words of David from Psalm 16:8-11. As so often, these verses had an initial application to David, God’s anointed in his own generation, but their ultimate fulfilment was in Jesus, and His resurrection.

Tues 1^st September  Read Acts chapter 2:13-21:

V13:  Some mock, suggesting the believers are drunk – though how that would explain their speaking clearly in many languages is mystifying! But there will always be those who, sceptical of any manifest work of God, seek to explain it away, however implausibly.

V14:  Peter, the other Apostles standing with him, calls on the crowd to listen to him. Some suggest there was a further “miracle of hearing”, and each heard him in their own tongue, but there is no real indication of this in this verse. More likely, he addressed them in a “common language”, either Aramaic or Greek, both of which most Jews of that day would know.

V15-16:  He brushes aside the suggestion that they are drunk ( almost sarcastically saying it is much too early for that.) But he comes at once to the serious truth – this is a fulfilment of what the prophet Joel foretold.

 V17-21:    He quotes fully and accurately Joel ch 2:28-32 – a prophecy of what God would do in ” the last days.” Biblically, the “last days” often speaks of the whole period between the Ascension and the Second Coming of Christ. In this OT prophecy, God spoke of the pouring out of His Spirit upon all His people, young and old, male and female, with accompanying signs and wonders. Perhaps there is a further fulfilment of some of these things to come at the end of the age, when Jesus returns, but many were clearly fulfilled at the time of the crucifixion – remember the 3 hours of supernatural darkness – and resurrection. Note the promise, so long before, that ” everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved” – saved through faith in Christ, as the later verses of this chapter make clear.

Mon 31^st August        Read Acts chapter 2 :5-12:

V5:   In God’s overruling providence, Jews from many nations are gathered in Jerusalem on this significant day. They were already a scattered people, spread throughout the Roman world. These were probably pilgrims, in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Weeks, some may have been there since the Passover, 7 weeks before. ( We are told they were ” devout men.“)

V6-7:  They were amazed to hear these Galileans speaking in their own languages – and the sheer number of those gathered may suggest that this supernatural endowment with languages never learned humanly happened to the wider company of believers, not just the 12. Remember, this was a unique event to demonstrate the coming of the Spirit on that day.

V8-11:  Those present cover much of the Roman empire. Surely many of them – among the 3000 saved that day ( v41.) – would have returned to their own countries as witnesses for Christ. What Acts records is only a tiny part of the early spread of the gospel.

V12:  Of course, they can find no logical human explanation for what they are witnessing, for there is none. Only a Sovereign work of God’s Spirit explains what happened that day.

Sat 29^th August    –   Read Acts chapter 2:1-4:

V1:  Now comes the day of Pentecost, originally the Jewish ” feast of weeks”, long held to commemorate the giving of the Law, and now to become the day God would give the Holy Spirit to his NT people, first to the Apostles. The believers were still gathered together, still totally obedient to theLord’s command – are we?

V2:  Outward physical signs are given – first, a sound like a powerful wind – that is, not just a natural wind, but only describable as ” like” one. Both in OT Hebrew and NT Greek it is surely significant that the same word can mean wind or spirit. The noise fills the house where the believers are.

V3:  Again, we are told of the appearance of ” tongues as of fire”. What occured is compared to things in normal human experience – not exactly these things, but they help us to visualise what they experienced – physical likenesses to spiritual realities.These “tongues” are seen to rest on each of the Apostles.

V4:   The reality behind the appearances is now declared – the Holy Spirit comes upon them and fills them. It is not quite clear whether this speaks of just the Apostles or all the believers who were gathered. All would receive the Spirit, as would all believers since that day ( v 38-39.) but perhaps the next stage – the speaking in other tongues as the Spirit enables them to do – was just the Apostles. Note, these are not the ecstatic (“charismatic”) tongues of which other NT Scriptures speak, which some claim still happens in worship. Clearly, as the next verses show, these are ordinary human languages, but supernaturally given to men who have never learned them, for the proclamation of the gospel, a “one-off” for that day, evidence of the Spirit filling these believers, for others to hear and understand the gospel on this seminal day.