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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 1:8

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But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

8. ye shall receive power ] Something different from the profitless speculations to which they had just desired an answer, even “a mouth and wisdom which their adversaries could neither gainsay nor resist” (Luk 21:15). Thus would they be enabled to become Christ’s witnesses.

in Jerusalem, and in all Judea ] To which district all the ministrations of the Apostles were confined till the death of Stephen.

and in Samaria ] Whither the first who went with authority was Philip, one of the seven (Act 8:5), and afterwards Peter and John.

and unto the uttermost part of the earth ] Commenced by the preaching of Paul, Barnabas, Mark, Silas and Timothy, and regarded as placed on a secure footing when St Paul was once brought into the capital city of the world.

The writer keeps before him from first to last the promise contained in this verse, and leaves out of his narrative all that does not tend to illustrate its fulfilment. The work of every agent is followed so far as he is used to bring about this result and no farther. This will be noticed at each stage as we proceed, and it will be seen that it explains why among “Acts of Apostles” some works are included which were not carried on by Apostles, and why the histories of the chief agents are left incomplete.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

But ye shall receive power … – Literally, as it is translated in the margin, Ye shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you. This was said to them to console them. Though they could not know the times which God reserved in his own appointment, yet they should receive the promised Guide and Comforter. The word power here refers to the help or aid which the Holy Spirit would grant; the power of speaking with new tongues; of preaching the gospel with great effect; of enduring great trials, etc. See Mar 16:17-18. The apostles had impatiently asked him if he was then about to restore the kingdom to Israel. Jesus by this answer rebuked their impatience, taught them to repress their ill-timed ardor; and assured them again of the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Ye shall be witnesses – For this purpose they were appointed; and to prepare them for this they had been with him for more that three years. They had seen his manner of life, his miracles, his meekness, his sufferings; they had listened to his instructions, and had conversed and eaten with him as a friend; they had seen him after he was risen, and were about to see him ascend to heaven; and they were thus qualified to bear witness to these things in all parts of the earth. Their number was so great that it could not be pretended that they were deceived; they had been so intimate with him and his plans that they were qualified to state what his doctrines and purposes were; and there was no motive but conviction of the truth that could induce them to make the sacrifices which they would be required to make in communicating these things to the world. In every respect, therefore, they were qualified to be impartial and competent witnesses. The original word here is martures, martyrs. From this word the name martyrs has been given to those who suffered in times of persecution. The reason why this name was given to them was that they bore witness to the life, instructions, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, even in the midst of persecution and death. It is commonly supposed that nearly all of the apostles bore witness as martyrs in this sense to the truths of the Christian religion, but of this there is not clear proof. See Mosheims Ecclesiastical History, vol. i. p. 55, 56. Still the word here does not necessarily mean that they to whom this was addressed would be martyrs, or would be put to death in bearing witness to the Lord Jesus; but that they were everywhere to testify to what they knew of him. The fact that this was the design of their appointment, and that they actually bore such testimony, is abundantly confirmed in the Acts of the Apostles, Act 1:22; Act 5:32; Act 10:39, Act 10:42; Act 22:15.

In Jerusalem – In the capital of the nation. See Acts 2. The great work of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost occurred there. Most of the disciples remained in Jerusalem until the persecution that arose about the death of Stephen, Act 8:1, Act 8:4. The apostles remained there until Herod put James to death. Compare Act 8:1, with Act 12:1-2. This was about eight years. During this time, however, Paul was called to the apostleship, and Peter had preached the gospel to Cornelius, Philip to the eunuch, etc.

In all Judea – Judea was the southern division of the Holy Land, and included Jerusalem as the capital. See the notes on Mat 2:22.

And in Samaria – This was the middle portion of Palestine. See the notes at Mat 2:22. This was fulfilled by the disciples. See Act 8:1, And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria; compare Act 1:4-5, They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. See also Act 1:14; Act 9:31.

And unto the uttermost part of the earth – The word earth, or land, is sometimes taken to denote only the land of Palestine. But here there does not seem to be a necessity for limiting it thus. If Christ had intended that, he would have mentioned Galilee, as being the only remaining division of the country. But as he had expressly directed them to preach the gospel to all nations, the expression here is clearly to be considered as including the Gentile lands as well as the Jewish. The evidence that they did this is found in the subsequent parts of this book, and in the history of the church. It was in this way that Jesus replied to their question. Though he did not tell them the time when it was to be done, nor affirm that he would restore the kingdom to Israel, yet he gave them an answer that implied that the work should advance – should advance much further than the land of Israel; and that they would have much to do in promoting it. All the commands of God, and all his communications, are such as to call up our energy, and teach us that we have much to do. The uttermost parts of the earth have been given to the Saviour Psa 2:8, and the church should not rest until he whose right it is shall come and reign, Eze 21:27.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Act 1:8

But ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you.

The gift of power

At first sight this promise seems to be Christs response to a universal craving. There is nothing which so awakens mans ambition as power. It is sweeter to him than bread to the hungry, or home to the wanderer, or sunrise to the benighted; of all the Divine attributes this is the one he most intensely and incessantly covets. The old classic fable of Prometheus, who made a figure and shaped it after the beauty of a man, and then animated it with fire which he had dared to steal from heaven, is only the thinly-veiled record of mans fierce ambition to create. Powerless to create, he seeks control. He has summoned almost every known element and force in nature to his service, and compelled them to do for him what he cannot do for himself. He has blasted the rock unshaken by the ages, and hurled its ponderous masses into the air as easily as a child throws up its tennis ball. He has tunnelled the mountain and bridged the river to make way for his flying locomotive. He has engirdled the earth with a belt of wire, and through it swifter than thought flashed his messages from pole to pole. From the masterful schoolboy to the statesman on the topmost ladder, and the monarch of a hundred isles, this passion for power is all pervading. The very apostles, to whom these words were addressed, were in this, as in other respects, men of like passions with ourselves. Observe, this love of power may be as legitimate as it is natural. Its quality is determined by its motive. Still power may be beneficent as well as baneful. Now, mark the power with which Christ promises to endow His disciples.

1. Not physical power. Not like that possessed by Samson when he carried upon his back the gates of Gaza, or with the jaw-bone of an ass slew the Philistines heaps upon heaps. It had nothing at all to do with bone, and muscle, and sinew. Men have sometimes forgotten this. They once thought that they could resist the spread of the gospel by physical means. The very efforts which men have employed to suppress the truth have been made the means of exalting it to supremacy. Just as the blast which rocks the giant oak makes it strike its roots deeper and wider in the earth; or, just as the tempest which beats down the tree carries its winged seeds over land and sea to distant continents, there to take root and become trees themselves, so persecution has this twofold tendency–it makes the persecuted cling closer than ever to the truth for which they are assailed, and prompts them to spread it more widely abroad than ever. On the other hand, brute force can no more help the gospel than hinder it. Persecution never made saints ver. If you want to infuse new life into a tree you do not smite it with an axe, but expose it to the genial breath of spring. The weapons of their warfare were not to be carnal.

2. Nor was it the power of logic. The disciples were to convert souls, and mere argument cannot do this. You have all seen sheet lightnings; they flash, they dazzle, but they do not kill. And arguments, after all, are only sheet lightnings, dazzling, enlightening, but seldom or never killing in the sense in which Paul says he was killed.

3. Nor was it the power of eloquence, though that is not to be despised. Oh, yes! there is a tremendous power in words. They breathe, they burn, they fly about the world charged with electric fire and force; but there is one thing they cannot do–they cannot regenerate a soul. You may electrify a corpse. By bringing it into contact with a battery you may make it imitate the living; but it is after all only the semblance, not the reality of life.

4. It was spiritual power–the power of the Holy Ghost. We can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us. In other words, it was the power of a living union with a living God. Need I say that this promise of Christ is as much ours as it was the apostles? It has been fulfilled, but not exhausted. There is an essential difference between the two. A postage stamp once used can be used no longer; but it is not so with a bank note. The note may be old and torn, stained and soiled; it may have been cut in halves and pasted together again. It does not matter; whoever holds it can present it and demand its equivalent in sterling gold. So is it with a Divine promise. It may pass from lip to lip, and from age to age, and be fulfilled a thousand times; still you may present it and plead it before God in the assurance of success. The light of the sun may fail, the waters of the ocean may be dried up, but the riches of Christs fulness are the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. And we need this promised power as much as the apostles did. Nothing else can supply its place. It is to the Church what steam is to the machinery. Suppose you are examining the propelling powers of the Majestic or the Teutonic–the two most magnificent specimens of naval architecture the world has ever seen. You look down into the engine-room on the polished levers, and cranks, and shafts, and the innumerable wheels made to revolve there; and you go home amazed at the inventive power which they represent. And yet in reality you have seen no power. There must be put into that machinery a power, a hidden power, and then, and not till then, will those wheels revolve majestically, and the vessel speed over the water lightly and swiftly as a bird with outspread wings. Who amongst us dare assert that the Churchs successes are equal to her opportunities? Why, then, is it we are making so little impression on the world? Is it not because we are too much under its influence? The fabled giant Animus was invincible so long as he was in direct communication with his mother earth. Overthrown by the wrestler, the moment he touched the ground out of which he was born his strength revived. Hercules discovered the secret of his invigoration, and, lifting him from the earth, crushed him in the air. We are in the same danger from the world, and to escape it we must get nearer to the source of our spiritual strength. Away from Christ she is like an army without ammunition and cut off from its base of operations. Near to Him she will breathe the air, and walk in the light, and wield the might of heaven. She shall receive power–power to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. And does not the Church need more power to deal with the manifold evils and enemies by which she is surrounded? There is scepticism. We live in an age of doubt–doubt all the more dangerous because it is courteous rather than coarse. Well, then, another evil with which, as Churches, we have to contend is indifference to spiritual truth. Men are absorbed in material pursuits and enjoyments. It is sometimes argued that the Church is trying to do too much; that she is unequal to the work she is undertaking; that Christian service is already so overgrown that, like a man with a large frame and a feeble heart, we are staggering under the weight of the tasks we have undertaken; that the spiritual power of the Church is unequal to the vast and varied machinery it has to keep in motion. This is, doubtless, true when the resources which the Church possess in itself are alone considered; but add Christ to them, and then the disproportion is turned the other way. All power–power of every kind and without limit–is given unto Him, There cannot be too much work when there is so much Divine power to sustain it. When the tide is out the estuary seems far too wide for the tiny stream which crawls through the centre; but when the tide comes in the whole expanse is covered and the water rushes right up to the greensward. Brethren, do we desire this power? Then let us ask for it. Remember that it has its source outside the Church and human life altogether. Ye shall receive power–receive it as a gift; not generate it from within; not attain it by straining present powers or enlarging present capacity. Sometimes we forget this, and talk about getting up a revival. You might as well talk about getting up a thunder shower. Having this power, let us use it. The disciples received it that they might be witnesses unto Christ. Divinely bestowed power always brings responsibility; it is always given for use. Keep any of Gods gifts for your own selfish purposes, and they will speedily get the canker and the rot. (J. Le Huray.)

The Lords last promise to the apostles

Christs last words are a promise and declare the vocation of all Christians of every station and class. They are all called to testify to Christ, but they are not all equally qualified for the duty. The text shows–

I. That there is a condition of attachment to Christ in which due fitness for this vocation does not exist. The apostles were in this condition. They had personal acquaintance with Christ, believed in Him, had knowledge of the facts, and had natural ability. Still these did not confer the testifying power. So with many Christians now. They know, believe, desire, are eloquent, etc., but lack the mystic energy in the absence of which sermons fail to convert.

II. That due fitness for the great vocation comes by a Divine bestowal. After that the Holy Ghost is come. The bestowal came in a miraculous manner but in answer to prayer. Thereupon the apostles were constrained to de what the Lord had commanded. So nowadays. When God has given special ability, and adds an influence which constrains to its exercise, no wonder that striking results follow.

III. That this power should be exercised when and where it is received. They were to wait at Jerusalem until they received a Divine gift, and there employ it. Had they been permitted to seek their own pleasure they would have chosen another place. So we must begin where and when God blesses us, however disagreeable the effort may be.

IV. The manner of spreading the gospel. Here we have a plan of the acts of the apostles.

1. Jerusalem (Act 3:1-26; Act 4:1-37; Act 5:1-42; Act 6:1-7).

2. All Judaea (Act 6:8-15; Act 7:1-60; Act 8:1-3).

3. Samaria, which had long been White unto harvest (Act 8:4-40).

4. The uttermost part of the earth (9 to close).

This view suggests the importance of evangelising cities. If Paris were made Christian how great would be the blessing to Europe; if London how easy the conversion of the world. (W. Hudson.)

The call to apostleship

This verse is of interest as involving the condition of all success, which in every line of occupation is made out of power converged upon an object. Means in our hand, an end in our eye, resources and purposes, are the alpha and omega of success. Our failures, therefore, are due sometimes to our attempting too much, but our saddest failures are due to the indecision of our aim. Men, especially in the higher relations of life, are unproductive, not because they are feeble, but because they are purposeless. A purpose lying athwart the track of a mans energies is what a burning glass is lying across the path of the sunbeam, a means of tension and the pledge of result. At this solemn moment, then, in which Christ turns over mankind into the hands of the eleven, His last service is to tell them of the power which shall be wrought in them by the Holy Ghost, and what they shall do with it. Christ had spent three years and a half in making Himself the most real of all real things, and now as He ascends He says, What is real to you, go out into the midst of men and make real to them; and so soon as the power of the Holy Ghost is come upon you, ye shall be witnesses unto Me, etc. On this basis there are some things proper to be addressed to–

I. Christians as individuals. The science of mechanics is reducible to statics which concerns itself with forces in equilibrium, and dynamics which treats of forces in motion. One gives us physical condition; the other physical agency. The New Testament is an inspired treatise on spiritual mechanics, and expounds the doctrines of spiritual statics and dynamics, and exhibits to us Christianity as a splendid equilibrium of the soul, and as an energy that upsets equilibrium. The trouble with a great many of our Christians is that they never get beyond the statics. They stop with Christianity as an inward composure. They do not reach the point of seizing Christ s peace, and hurling it in all its holy equipoise into the midst of unholy men to their unutterable discomposure. They stop with reading the Four Gospels of condition without going on to read the fifth Gospel of Acts. And if we have not the serenity of spirit which the apostles had, and the same passionate ambition to make Christ a reality in the minds and hearts of those about us, it is not because we are not their equals, but because we have not let Christ become as real to us. If they had stopped with being disciples, then we should have said that Christianity meant nothing but discipleship. But inasmuch as they went on from being absorbent disciples to radiant apostles, then Christianity means purpose as much as power; making others Christians as much as being Christians ourselves. These things when prayerfully considered will create a deep sense of individual responsibility. The anointing of the Holy Ghost sets each one of us in the line of the true apostolic succession; and, as after the ascension of Christ mankind lay in the hands of the original apostles for them to convert, so to-day the conversion of the world pertains to us as their spiritual successors. If each Christian were to make one convert each year, within eight years the whole population of the globe would be at the foot of the Cross!

II. Christians in the associate relation of a Church. Individual Christianity means individual apostleship. What advantage does Christianity gain by being organised?

1. Negatively. A church does not exist, properly–

(1) for the sake of its sanctuary ministrations. Supposing that after the ascension the apostles had made the Church to consist as a permanency, in praying and singing and preaching to each other once a week. But there are churches where spiritual laziness is induced by excess of sanctuary nourishment, and who do not bestir themselves sufficiently to prevent even the bread of life from working within them as a slow and subtle poison. There are churches that have had the gospel preached to them for fifty years, and yet have not begun to produce such a flame as was kindled within fifteen days after the Lords ascension.

(2) For the sake of sustaining its weaker members. Of course there is a great deal that it ought to do in that direction. Christ said to Peter, When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. But a large number of those who now apply for admission to the Church want, not to strengthen the brethren, but to have the brethren strengthen them. When an army is quartered in the enemys country, the safest place is inside of the camp; but a regiment recruited for the purpose of having its members protect each other is a poor addendum to the fighting resources of the brigade. We learn heroism in the face of danger; children learn to swim by being thrown into the water; and the original Church never flinched after once it had taken up its position in the open field.

(3) For the sake of its denomination. Denomination is harness worn by us for the purpose of dragging the chariot of the gospel. It may chafe some–all harness is liable to–but it is a necessity. Still the harness exists for the sake of the chariot, and not the chariot for the sake of the harness; and he serves his denomination best who serves the Church of Christ best.

2. Positively. By indicating what the Church does not exist for, we have already implied the object for which it does exist. A Church, as an efficiency of God for the conversion of men, is the interweaving of the individual strands of strength fused into a solid bolt of force and hurled at the adversaries of the Lord; and no desultory skirmishing of individual Christians will begin to take the place of the grand concentrated bombardment of a confederate Church. We regularly proceed upon that principle in the achievement of large secular results. We organise for purposes of government, warfare, improvement, revolution, and discovery. Why not for Christ? (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)

Power

I. The preparation for power (verses 1-3).

1. The training which they had received. They were with Jesus when He began both to do and to teach.

2. The facts that made their faith in Him unwavering, courageous, conquering–He also showed Himself alive after His passion by many proofs, etc. Faith in a risen Christ gave to their preaching a tremendous power.

3. Special instruction speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God. Samples of this speaking may be found in Luk 24:25-28; Luk 24:45-49.

II. The baptism of power (verses 4,5).

1. This was the baptism that long had been promised. It was the promise of the Father (Isa 44:5; Joe 2:28, etc.)

2. This was that which had been promised by Christ, when He said it was expedient that He should go away (Joh 14:16; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7-15).

3. This was to be unlike the baptism of John. Water was the symbol–this the reality.

4. For this baptism the apostles were to wait. The ship can afford to wait for its sails, the army for its general, the traveller for his compass. Why at Jerusalem? (Isa 2:1-4; Mic 4:1-3).

III. The source of power (verses 6-8).

1. The false idea. Lord, dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? The old thought of a temporal kingdom still uppermost!

2. The true idea. But ye shall receive power, not temporal such as they had coveted, but spiritual and supernatural. That power is worth coveting and waiting for.

IV. The result of power (verse 8). Ye shall be My witnesses. There is no successful witnessing for Christ without this power. Christs disciples are all-powerful with it.

V. Ascending to power (verses 9-11).

1. The ascension. The reception of power by the disciples depended upon His ascension (Luk 24:49; see also Act 2:33; Joh 16:7).

2. The return. Shall so come, etc. No need, however, to stand idly gazing into heaven. Before He went, Christ gave to each one his work (Mar 13:34). Three watchwords He has given–watch, pray, work. The harvest is hastened by cultivation–not by counting the days from the time the seed was sown.

VI. Praying for power (verses 12-14). The disciples had the promise of power, not many days hence, but they did not wait in idleness for it to be fulfilled. The promise is ours to-day as much as then it was the disciples. Praying, as they did, a Pentecost may come to us as certainly and as bounteously as it came to them. (S. S. Times.)

Power

The Church to-day has many things, but she lacks one thing–power. Peter bade the lame man rise and walk. To-day, Christian men say, Gold and silver have I; such as I have give I thee. We buy crutches for cripples, and write apologetics for Christianity. Peter gave strength, and the man was an argument no one could answer.

I. We feel this want of power in our own lives; we lack grip when we seize a great subject, or a sinning soul. This consciousness of weakness palsies action, compels compromise, cautions delay. Paul lived, yet no longer he but Christ in him. We live, but not Christ. When the heart is weak in its action, the members suffer, lack warmth and vigour; all we come in contact with, home, business, city, nation, feel our lack of power; children grow up uncontrolled, business leans to the side of dishonesty, government is corrupt. The type of Christianity of to-day is that of the disciples before Pentecost–in the temple praising and blessing God, and intellectually busy about times and seasons. In the business world everything is quiet; men say manufacturing has been overdone; the mills have glutted the markets. So in the religious world, some tell us the market is overstocked with creeds and denominations; there is no call for religion. That is not true; the needs are as many and as real as ever. The Church is like a great mill by the river side–machinery, raw material, market all right, but the water-courses are dry–the power is wanting. On the other hand, it is the business of Christianity to make a market, not wait for one. The Shepherd sought the lost sheep. Salt and light are to be aggressive, making a market. Plant a post; you wouldnt suppose there is anything in the soil to furnish a market, a mass-meeting of posts would decide there is no call for us here. Take up the post and plant a tree; what a commotion there is below the surface; the rootlets push out in every direction and lay hold of the properties of the soil; above the soil buds broaden into leaves, the air is broken into currents and eddies, beasts of the field gather under the helpful shadows, birds are able to find building sites. The tree finds a market in earth and air and animals. A measure of meal finds no market; a handful of leaven makes one. We are not simply to be stirred up and mixed with the world, as lifeless and dry as others, but are to carry leavening power with us. An iron post placed in a public park does not disperse darkness. String the electric wire across it, fix the carbon points, now it is a fountain of light. Ye are the light of the world. Light compels recognition, all hail, it, it meets need. The first sign of power in the tree is life in itself, in the posts of light on itself; the first proof of power in a disciple is power over himself. From this nerve-centre of self the power thrills along the family, and business and body politic. The word power, dunamis, carries the thought; from the word comes dynamics, the science of moving forces. Another word comes in here too–dynamite. A glance at the family of words will show us what is bound up in the promise. In a Wesleyan chapel a mighty revival was in progress. A visitor scandalised by the excitement rebuked the zealous Wesleyans, saying, This is all wrong. When Solomon built his temple there was heard neither the sound of hammer, nor saw, nor chisel. You make too much noise here. The preacher made reply, Oh, but we aint building, we are blasting. The preacher was right; he was using dynamite, destroying the kingdom of darkness. Oh for the promised dynamite of the Holy Spirit!

II. This power has its source outside the Church and human life. Ye shall receive power; not generate it, nor attain to it by straining present powers, or enlarging present capacities. We cannot whip ourselves into a state of power, as though we were eggs, strike the fire from ourselves by any flint and steel arrangement, lift ourselves into it by force of will, educate ourselves into it by culture of heart or head.

III. The conditions of realising the power. The great discovery of modern science is law. By the study of phenomena we learn the law, by obeying the law we control phenomena. Studying the appearance of the Spirit, the conditions of the appearance, we can learn the law of His appearing; conforming to the law thus learned we can receive the power. There are two instances of His appearing of special interest;

1. When Christ received the Holy Ghost. Christ stands unique in His power. His thoughts give life to every language embodying them; His teachings transform every character embracing them. All this is true of Him after the Spirit came upon Him, not before. John Baptist knew Him not until he saw the Spirit descending. Two simple facts give us the key: Obedience and prayer. When John rebuked Him, He replied, Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Jesus also being baptised and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended.

2. In the case of the disciples we read that Christ commanded, Tarry ye in Jerusalem, and they obeyed; and all continued in prayer and supplication. Then when Pentecost came they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Here we touch a law of nature as well as of spiritual power. He who obeys known law and communes with nature, masters her secrets. In the home the obedient, sympathetic child has power given it by the parents. In your stores the clerk who obeys and communes with you is the one to whom you give power. To the obedient and prayerful now as truly as then, will the Holy Ghost be given, and after that power will come.

IV. When the power comes it must use us. Christ is driven into the desert, and the disciples are scattered, sown broadcast in the waiting world-field of thought and action. Simon Magus offered money for Peters power. We cannot control this power; it must control us. (O. P. Gifford.)

The might of the gospel

The gospel is a mighty engine, but only mighty when God has the working of it. (T. Adams.)

Christianity diffused by the apostles

How wonderful is God, in that He can accomplish great ends by insignificant means! Christianity, for example, diffused through the instrumentality of twelve legion of angels, would have been immeasurably inferior as a trophy of omnipotence, to Christianity diffused through the instrumentality of twelve apostles. When l: survey the heavens, with their glorious troop of stars, and am told that the Almighty employs to His own majestic ends the glittering hosts, as they pursue their everlasting march, I experience no surprise; I seem to feel as though the spangled firmament were worthy of being employed by the Creator; and I expect a magnificent consummation from so magnificent an instrumentality. But show me a tiny insect, just floating in the breeze, and tell me that, by and through that insect, God will carry forward the largest and most stupendous of His purposes, and I am indeed filled with amazement; I cannot sufficiently admire a Being who, through that which I could crush with a breath, advances what I cannot measure with thought. (H. Melvill.)

Power indescribable but appreciable

All power is indescribable, but at the same time appreciable. What it is, where it is, how it came, where it goes, its measure, movement, nature, form, or essence, no human skill can discover. We may ask the sunbeam which has such power to fly and to illuminate, the lightning which has such power to scathe, the dew-drop that has power to refresh, the magnet, the fire, the steam, the eye that can see, the ear that can hear, the nerve that can convey the messages of will, we may ask all the agents we see exerting power to render us an account each of its own power, and all will be dumb. Not the cannon ball on its flight, or the lion in his triumph, not the tempest or the sea, not even pestilence itself, can tell us what is power. If we ask Death who has put all things under his feet, even he has no re.ply; and after we have passed the question, What is power? round a mute universe, we mast say, God has spoken once, yea, twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God. Yet power, in itself so hidden and indescribable, is ever manifest by its effects. An effect demonstrates the presence of a power. Where gunpowder explodes, there must have been fire; where water shoots up through the atmosphere in steam, there must have been heat; where iron moves without mechanical force, a magnet must be; and the absence of the effect is conclusive evidence of the absence of the power from which the effect would have followed. The intellect at once recognises the presence of intellectual power. The feelings, also, faithfully tell whenever an emotional power is brought to bear upon them; and no less surely does the conscience of a man feel when a moral power comes acting upon it. (W. Arthur, M. A.)

Power not in mechanism but in fire

Suppose we saw an army sitting down before a granite fort, and they told us that they intended to batter it down: we might ask them, How? They point to a cannon-ball. Well, but there is no power in that; it is heavy, but not more than perhaps a hundred weight: if all the men in the army hurled it against the fort, they would make no impression. They say, No; but look at the cannon. Well, there is no power in that. A boy may ride upon it, a bird may perch in its mouth; is is a machine and nothing more. But look at the powder. Well, there is no power in that; a child may spill it, a sparrow may peck it. Yet this powerless powder, and powerless ball, are put into the powerless cannon; one spark of fire enters; and then, in the twinkling of an eye, that powder is a flash of lightning, and that ball a thunderbolt. (W. Arthur, M. A.)

Prayer the means of obtaining spiritual power

When John in the Apocalypse saw the Lamb on the throne, before that throne were the seven lamps of fire burning, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth; and it is only by waiting before that throne of grace that we become imbued with the holy fire. When a lecturer on electricity wants to show an example of a human body surcharged with his fire, he places a person on a stool with glass legs. The glass serves to isolate him from the earth, because it will not conduct the electric fluid; were it not for this, however much might be poured into his frame, it would be carried away by the earth; but, when thus isolated from it, he retains all that enters him. You see no fire, you hear no fire; but you are told that it is pouring into him. Presently you are challenged to the proof–asked to come near, and hold your hand close to his person; when you do so, a spark of fire shoots out towards you. If thou, then, wouldst have thy soul surcharged with the fire of God, so that those who come nigh to thee shall feel some mysterious influence out from thee, thou must draw nigh to the source of that fire, to the throne of God and of the Lamb, and shut thyself out from the world. As this is the only way for an individual to obtain spiritual power, so is it the only way for churches. (W. Arthur, M. A.)

Spiritual power recognised

Often when I have had doubts suggested by the infidel I have been able to fling them to the winds with utter scorn because I am distinctly conscious of a power working upon me when I am speaking in the name of the Lord, infinitely transcending any personal power of fluency, and far surpassing any energy derived from excitement such as I have felt when delivering a secular lecture or making a speech–so utterly distinct from such power that I am quite certain it is not of the same order or class as the enthusiasm of the politician or the glow of the orator. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Natural gift no substitute for spiritual power

No natural gift can suffice, and when any men have the power of God, failure is impossible. Yet do not let us suppose there is no room for gifts. If some people make the Cross of Christ of none effect through wisdom of words, others make it of none effect through lack of wisdom. There are some persons who put dulness for piety. Of the wise man we read that he sought to find out acceptable words–words of delight, as it is literally. And of a greater than Solomon it is recorded that the people heard him gladly. Christianity invites and consecrates every gift of God and every grace and art of which man is capable. There is room for money, enterprise, methods, learning, and genius. All gifts are good when they are lost in the great purpose of the gospel; but any gifts are perilous, just in proportion as preacher or people are conscious of them. In a sham fight everybody admires the uniforms, the music, the horses, the precision of the march. But in a real fight there is a desperate earnestness that cannot stay to admire anything–that just girds itself up for death or victory. If there be the intensity, the downright earnestness, the baptism of fire, which longs to make Christ the conqueror, then the more gifts the better. But if that baptism be lacking, gifts are a peril and a snare. (M. G. Pearse.)

The reception of spiritual power

I was in the train some time ago, and was thinking of this higher life, and it seemed so bright and beautiful–like a star far above me–and my eye fell on the word receive, and I saw it was not my climbing up but the Lord coming down. It was early spring, and as we stopped at a station it was raining, and I noticed a little cottage where an old woman had put out a pitcher to catch the water, and it was filled to the brim; I said to myself, My poor heart can never make a garden for my Lord, but at least He can take my broken pitcher of a heart and fill it abundantly. Ye shall receive power. Do you see that this is His purpose? Then surrender yourself. (M. G. Pearse.)

The pleasure of realised power

There are few things more pleasant than to work with power. A little child balancing itself upon its tiny feet and running alone, a schoolboy making the treasures of knowledge his own, a lad learning a trade easily and yet accurately, a tradesman conducting an extensive concern with complete system and perfect order, an artist colouring canvas or chiselling marble, a man of letters writing books that shall never die, a man of science unlocking the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, an orator taking captive by his words the eyes, ears, thoughts, and souls of a multitude of hearers, diplomatists and politicians arousing and hushing the voice of the people and turning the hearts of princes whither they will, the commander leading a fleet or an army to victory, are illustrations of working power, upon which we cannot look without interest, and of which we cannot speak without excitement. And as more power is needed to deliver than to direct, to redeem than to sustain, we look with greater interest upon the physician healing sickness, and upon the surgeon removing diseased flesh or bone. It is a glorious sight, power employed to save! A fireman entering a burning dwelling and plucking the sleeping inmates from the flames, even the water-dog snatching a child from a watery grave, are great and glorious illustrations of power put forth for salvation–but a greater than these, a greater than all, is here. (S. Martin.)

Power from on high

Let us look upon the subject–

I. On its negative side. It is not–

1. Physical power. Current literature speaks of muscular Christianity; but that is not the Christianity of the New Testament. Subsequently, men thought they could assist the gospel by bringing it into alliance with political organisations. But no. Persecutions never made saints yet. The axe can never infuse new life into the tree. But the spring can.

2. Miraculous power. They were already endued with this. But this cannot save men. Men saw Jesus performing miracles, and still remained in their unbelief.

3. The power of eloquence. I have seen, under powerful sermons, stout-hearted sinners weep and pray, but when the electric current which flowed from the preacher subsided, they fell back to their former torpor. Many so-called revivals are but electric shocks disturbing the dead, but leaving them dead notwithstanding. Eloquence, like the wind, moves the sea from without, but that which saves must move it from its own depths. Eloquence works upon the soul; that which saves must work in the soul. One can compose a sermon in which the most critical hearer cannot detect a flaw: but he will-forget it in half an hour. It is so refined that it shoots right through the soul instead of entering into it and remaining there. Polish is commendable up to the point of showing instead of concealing the material underneath. I never like to see an article of furniture so highly polished that I cannot say of what timber it is made.

4. The power of logic. Conquer a man in argument, and, as a rule, you only confirm him in his error. I saw a picture entitled, Conquered but not Subdued. The young lad was evidently conquered by his mother. There he stood, with his face half-turned towards the wall: but there was determination in the mouth, defiance in the eye, anger in the nostrils. Drive a sinner in argument to a corner, so that he cannot move, yet he can sink, and sink he will to his own hell. Sheet-lightnings dazzle, but never kill. And arguments after all are only sheet-lightnings.

5. The power of thought. The Bible does not claim superiority on account of its ideas, although it contains the sublimest. You may be the best Biblical scholar in the land, and be at last a castaway. The history of preaching abundantly proves this. Read the sermon by Peter on the day of Pentecost, and it will not astonish you with the profundity of its thoughts. The sermons on the Mount and on Mars hill stand higher on the intellectual side; and yet they made but few converts. Look again from the pulpit to books. Take the Analogy by Butler; no book perhaps displays more intellectual power; yet who can point to it as the means of bringing him to Jesus? But read the Dairymans Daughter, or the Anxious Inquirer, without a millionth part of its mental power; but there are thousands who trace their conversion to these books. I do not wish to cast discredit on any of these excellences. They are very valuable in their own places. If a man is possessed of them he can do nothing better than consecrate them on the altar of Christianity. But if man is to be saved, a new power must come to the field.

II. On its positive side. In the Gospel it is called power from on high.

1. The great want of the world was a power to uplift it out of its state of degradation and sin. Previous to Pentecost the world was sinking lower and lower in the scale of morals. But since humanity has been gradually ascending. Physically we know that this earth is subject to the attraction of other planets. The same fact holds true spiritually. There is a power working mightily in the children of disobedience, and the source of it is in darker regions than our own. But another power has come to the field, a power from on high; the contest must be long and terrible; but the higher power is gradually winning, and will deliver the world from the grasp of evil. Here it is called the power of the Holy Ghost. We often picture God as looking down pitifully upon us from His heaven. But we are also taught that the great God has descended upon men, and thrown into their hearts the infinite impulse of His own eternal nature. The disciples, as we see them in the Gospel, are cowards; in the Acts they are heroes. The Christian life is Divine. Christianity is not a remembrance of the supernatural in the past, but its perpetuation throughout all ages. Every true ministry is heavy with supernatural influences. We do not perform miracles, but if our ministry is not a continuation of the supernatural in the realm of matter, it is a continuation of it in the realm of mind; and of the two, the latter is the higher kind. Luke tells us that in his Gospel he narrated what Jesus began both to do and to teach; here he goes on to tell what Jesus continued to do and to teach through men; and Church history continues the tale. The works that I do ye also shall do, etc.

2. What was the effect of this Divine baptism on the disciples?

(1) It made them pre-eminently spiritual. Spirituality should be the distinctive badge of every Christian, and especially of the ambassadors of Christ. A bishop must be blameless. All well and good if he is learned and eloquent, but he must be blameless.

(2) It filled them with Divine enthusiasm, with fire. The Bible speaks much about this fire. Jeremiah had a message, but having been insulted and incarcerated, he made up his mind not to open his mouth again. I said I will not make mention of Him, or speak any more in His name. Well, how did he fare? His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forebearing, and could not stay. It was hard to speak–it was harder to be silent. It is difficult enough to stand up here and preach; it would be more difficult to sit down there and be mute. The apostles evinced such fervour that many supposed they were under the power of strong drink. No, says Peter, it is the Holy Ghost working in us. The love of Christ constraineth us, says St. Paul. Some dared to brand him as a fanatic. Whether we be beside ourselves, said he, it is to God, or whether we be sober it is for your cause. The secret of Baxters power was his unbounded enthusiasm. His biographer says he would have set the world on fire while another was lighting a match. It is the fire of the Holy Ghost that will make men eloquent. A preacher in his study ought to gather his thoughts, to collect his materials; and ascending the pulpit, he ought to set them all ablaze with fire from off the altar. Having built the altar, dinged the trenches, slain the sacrifice, he should join Elijah and cry, O God, send the fire, send the fire!

3. What is the effect upon the congregation? Many are turned to God. On the consecration of the Temple of Solomon, the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; much less could the people stand to criticise the work of art, or to admire the amount and richness of the gold. In the same manner the power from on high hides everything but itself. Many a critic went to hear Whitefield with hostile intentions; but in less than five minutes they had totally forgotten their sinister art. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)

Power from on high

I. The being to be manifested.

1. The Holy Spirit is represented as having all the attributes of Deity, distinct from, yet united with, the Father and the Son. This is not sufficiently dwelt upon. In the apostolic age there were those who did not so much as know whether there were any Holy Ghost. This is not your case, but it is needful to remind you lest you should withhold from Him His proper homage. That He is God is matter of explicit revelation–not in the Arian or Sabellian sense–not an illumination but an essence, not an influence but a Person. And to the blasphemers who deny His Divinity we hurl the thunderbolt, Ananias, why hath Satan put it into thy heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost? Thou hast not lied, etc.

2. It is to the Spirit, thus Divine, that belongs the right of induction to the holy ministry; and however men may place their pretentions or trace their geneaology they are intruders without the call and unction of the Spirit.

3. As the Spirit is thus the originating source, so is His perpetuating grace the means of success in the ministry. This is everywhere asserted in the prophets. Not by might, etc.

II. The result of his manifestation. Ye shall receive power.

1. The power of God is the attribute which is earliest to impress the mind. It is impossible to send the thought out into the universe without discovering its manifestations. It lurks in the minutest and is exhibited in the mightiest phenomena.

2. And as it is the earliest, so it is the attribute of which men are most keenly coveteous. The fable of Prometheus, who made the figure of a man, and then animated it with the fire which he had dared to steal from heaven, is only a thinly veiled record of mans fierce ambition to create. Man, the master-mind, would stand in the midst of the elements and say, Ye are vassals: work for me. And if from the world of nature you pass up into the world of mind you find the same coveteousness from the child-dictator of the nursery to the monarch of a hundred isles. Now as the apostles were men of like passions with ourselves they were under the influence of this desire. There was an effort |o reserve seats on either side of the Redeemer in His kingdom for the sons of Zebedee. And here was asked, Lord, wilt Thou, etc. Now this love of power, as it is an instinct, is not criminal. The God who implanted it had wise purposes in view. The gospel does not annihilate a solitary passion, only it directs those which were vehicles of rebellion into instruments of blessing. The Saviour therefore here rebukes unhallowed curiosity, but answers prayer. Ye shall receive power, that is what you want and ye shall have it. When Pentecost came they saw how infinitely superior to all royalties was the kingdom they were to establish. Without this power the most perfect organisation and the most exquisite appliances are valueless. But give us this and the stammerer shall be an Apollos, and the stripling with the sling and stone shall be as an angel of the Lord.

III. The design of this manifestation.

1. That the Church may testify to the world. Power Divinely given is to be used for Divine ends. God imprisons no force in aimless bondage. There is power in the lightning, but it is not to dazzle but to purify. There is power in the frantic breaker, and in the careering cloud; but they are all true and loyal servants in the vast palace in which the King of the universe has lodged His favourite creature man. And as in the physical so in the moral sphere. Gods gifts are not given to be hoarded, despised, or abused. Every endowment of mind–the athletic reason, the lordly will, the creative fancy, the eloquent utterance, every communication of grace, and every attainment of privilege are all conferred upon as individually to minister as the rest of the universe ministers.

2. We are witnesses for Jesus. A crucified, risen, and exalted Christ will charm the heart of the nineteenth as it charmed the heart of the first century; and though scoffers deride it, cowards hesitate about it, and traitors betray it; it is the only testimony which the Holy Ghost will endorse with power. (W. M. Punshon, LL. D.)

Power from on high

I. The characteristics of the Holy Spirit in His descent on the apostles and the Church. He was given as a Spirit of–

1. Knowledge and understanding. Witness the change in the apostles views of Christs Messiahship and death before and after. So now truth like a transparent dial becomes illuminated. The eunuch was perplexed till Philip joined him. Compare one frequent expression, I see.

2. Faith. A great difference between knowing and believing. A man may come and see, but go away without faith. Not so at Pentecost. Noah did not stand outside to admire the ark. He entered in and was safe.

3. Holiness and prayer. Holiness is separateness from the world to God. More than ever at Pentecost the disciples proved this. So now men are holy in proportion as they are endured with the Holy Spirit; and in proportion to their holiness will be their power in prayer.

4. Courage. The boldness of Peter was conspicuous. And now the Spirit works such conviction that the most timid become the most brave.

II. The experiences of power answering to their characteristics. The power of–

1. Witness for the truth. A sense of their sincerity was inspired in the hearers. We believe and therefore speak.

2. Steadfastness in Christian life notwithstanding human or Satanic opposition. They were proof against tempting bribes, seductive philosophy, fierce persecution.

3. Great example. Men could hate, but could not charge them with inconsistencies. On them was imprinted the likeness of their Master.

4. Untiring zeal. (G. McMichael, B. A.)

Spiritual power for missionary work

The Holy Ghost is the source of all–

I. Spiritual illumination. The Bible, written by holy men moved by the Holy Ghost, is our only standard of revealed truth; but even the Bible is not enough. The spirit of scepticism is abroad, and men hardly know what or what not to believe. Hence the feeble faith and the shallow conviction and extreme worldliness of the Church. But the missionary, as a teacher of a religion Divine in it origin, requires absolutely the power of clear vision and deep conviction. Doubt to him is paralysis, so it is to every teacher, or work becomes a fruitless, burdensome task. Nor can there be any development of a noble, manly Christian character without Divinely illumined, soul-transforming apprehension of truth. How, then, is the Church to protect herself against a noxious intellectual atmosphere, and obtain a clear vision of Divine things? There can be but one answer. The Spirit that guided holy men of old in recording Divine truths is the same Spirit that reveals to the reader their deep significance. The fully illuminated soul is beyond the reach of doubt, for the Spirit so shows the things of Christ that the inward eye beholds them with open vision.

II. Holiness. This is a mighty and indispensable power. The ideal Christian of the New Testament is a saint, and so long as that ideal is not embodied in the lives of Christians, the progress of the gospel must be slow and unsatisfactory. The world must be convinced that Christianity is a practical reality, and not a mere system of belief before it will bow to its authority. Books on evidences are useful in their way. But few will read them or be convinced by them. The one argument that will command attention is the holy life, not of ancient, but of modern saints (Isa 62:1-3). How long are we to wait for this? There is no reason why we should wait at all. The Holy Spirit is the Author of all holiness.

III. Spiritual unity. This also is indispensable to evangelisation–not uniformity, but such unity in variety that we see in the works of God. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. What does it matter to the Chinese whether I am an Independent and my brother is an Episcopalian, if we manifest the same Christ-like spirit? But this is only produced by the Holy Spirit. There is nothing more disastrous to missionary and every form of Christian work than the want of unity. Before Pentecost the apostles had their childish rivalries and jealousies; but the baptism of fire burned all that out of them.

IV. Spiritual joy. There are different kinds of joy.

1. Natural. It may be ethical, inspired by an approving conscience; or intellectual, springing from the consciousness of superior gifts and culture; or animal, flowing from a fulness of bodily health or animal spirits; or the joy of harvest, the result of success in worldly pursuits.

2. The unnatural, which consists in the exhilaration produced by stimulants.

3. The spiritual–the joy of conscious pardon, deliverance from sin, fulness of spiritual life, which flows from the Holy Ghost. Without this work is a burden. An unspiritual missionary must be a joyless missionary, and a joyless missionary is a pitiable object.

V. The power of dealing with souls. Some men are richly endowed with this. They may or may not be profound thinkers or eloquent speakers, but when they speak their hearers feel a supernatural power grappling with them.

VI. Prayer. (Griffith John.)

The old gospel preached with new spiritual power

When I was preaching at Farwell Hall, Chicago, I never worked harder to prepare my sermons than I did then. I preached and preached; but it was beating against the air. A good woman used to say, Mr. Moody, you dont seem to have power in your preaching. Oh, my desire was that I might have a fresh anointing! I requested this woman and a few others to come and pray with me every Friday at four oclock. Oh, how piteously I prayed that God might fill the empty vessel! After the fire in Chicago, I was in New York, and going into the Bank on Wall Street, it seemed as if I felt a strange and mighty power coming over me. I went up to the hotel, and there in my room I wept before God, and cried, Oh, my God, stay Thy hand! He gave me such fulness that it seemed more than I could contain. May God forgive me if I should seem to speak in a boastful way; but I do not know that I have preached a sermon since but God has given me some soul. I seem a wonder to you, but I am a greater wonder to myself. These are the same sermons I preached in Chicago word for word. They are not new sermons; it is not a new gospel; but the old gospel with the Holy Ghost of power. (D. L. Moody.)

The Holy Ghost awakens ability as well as communicates a power

The gifts of the Holy Ghost are powers, the fellowship of the Holy Ghost is a source of power. I see a man hungry, and I give him money: that money is a power to buy bread; but the hungry man is destitude through lack of ability to earn his bread. I devote myself to that man, awaken a spirit of self-dependence and self-respect, arouse his dormant energies, quicken his whole nature, and lead him into a path of honest industry, and now I have given him not a power, but power. An ignorant man applies to me for enlightenment on some particular subject; I answer his questions, and the knowledge I have given him is a power, but I awaken a thirst for all knowledge in that man, and I lead him to fountains of information, and now I have endowed him not with a power, but with power. I see a man timid and feeble in his whole nature, I draw near to him, I quiet his fears, awaken hope and inspire him with courage, and he becomes, under my influence, sanguine and brave. To this man I give no powers or a power, but power. And thus, while the Holy Ghost, by endowing men with knowledge, wisdom, ability to work miracles and to speak with tongues, bestows particular powers, by entering into fellowship with them He communicates vital energy and general ability. Hitherto the Holy Spirit had not entered into full fellowship with the spirits of men, but now He is to dwell with all Christs disciples. Now if he who walketh with wise men shall be wise, if as iron sharpeneth iron so doth the countenance of a man his friend, what must be the effects to Christs witnesses of communion with the Holy Ghost! (S. Martin.)

Divine power to be carefully transmitted

Here at one end is the great fountain ever brimming. Draw from it ever so much, it sinks not one hairs-breadth in its pure basin. Here, on the other side, is an intermittent flow, sometimes in scanty driblets, sometimes in painful drops, sometimes more full and free, on the pastures of the wilderness. Wherefore these jerks and spasms? It must be something stopping the pipe. Yes, of course. Gods might is ever the same, but our capacity of receiving and transmitting that might varies, and with it varies the energy with which that unchanging power is exerted in the world. (A. Maclaren, D. D)

Power in excess of organisation

Machinery saves manual toil, and multiplies force. But we may have too heavy machinery for what engineers call the boiler power–too many wheels and shafts for the steam we have to drive them with. What we want is not less organisation or other sorts of it, but more force.

Latent power in the Church

It is impossible to overestimate, or rather to estimate, the power that lies latent in our Churches. We talk of the power latent in steam–latent till Watt evoked its spirit from the waters, and set the giant to turn the iron arms of machinery. We talk of the power that was latent in the skies till science climbed their heights, and seizing the spirit of the thunder, chained it to our service–abolishing distance, outstripping the wings of time, and flashing our thoughts across rolling seas to distant continents. Yet what are these to the moral power that lies asleep in the congregations of our country and of the Christian world? And why latent? Because men and women neither appreciate their individual influence, nor estimate aright their own individual responsibilities. They cannot do everything; therefore they do nothing. They cannot blaze like a star, and, therefore, they wont shine like a glow-worm; and so they are content that the few work, and that the many look on. Not thus the woods are clothed in green, but by every little leaf expanding its own form. Not thus are fields covered with golden corn, but by every stalk of grain ripening its own head. Not thus does the coral reef rise from the depths of ocean, but by every little insect building its own rocky cell. (T. Guthrie.)

And ye shall be witnesses unto Me.—

Witnesses

Our Lord did not cut short the apostles speculations to stop there; he gathered up the broken ends of their energy and fastened them to our immediate work. If the planets were to stand still, they would be drawn into the central fire and consumed. It is necessary to their well-being that they should be flung with all their force on a path of activity. So, unless Christians are thrown out into a course of vigorous action, they will be drawn into an orbit so narrow that action will be no longer possible.

I. The qualification for this service.

1. Although the apostles were saved, they were not fit to work any deliverance in the earth by their own wisdom or strength. Their demand for fire might have consumed the adversaries, but it could not have converted them. Wanting the Spirit even they were inclined to persecute, and for the same reason their self-styled successors have persecuted in all subsequent times.

2. The Spirit is like the air. We could not live without air–the sun would not warm us but for it. The suns heat sustains life; but the atmosphere communicates that heat. The earth, again, is dependent for its supply of water on the air, which obtains it from the ocean and pours it on the land. So the disciples in every age obtain grace from the Lord through the ministry of the Spirit.

II. The nature of this service.

1. Whom Christ saves from sin He employs in the world. The liberated captive is sent to fight against his former master. Christians have need of Christ and Christ has need of them. The simple fact that they are on earth not in heaven is proof that there is something for them to do here, and if they are not doing it they are either no Christians, or Christians that grieve Christ. A broken limb hurts more than a severed one, and Christ is hurt by those members of His who do not witness for Him.

2. This is an honourable but difficult function. In the case of a witness the real strain comes in cross-examination. You are set down in the market-place having lately worshipped in the house of prayer. Those whom you meet know this, so that there is no need for you to preach. The cross-examination takes place here. It is not now, what do you believe? but is your life consistent? The cross-examiner generally begins on some apparently indifferent theme, but the questions are so linked to the main subject that if, in answering them, anything escapes which clashes with the original evidence the good confession of the witness is thereby destroyed. Over-reaching, unfairness, unkindness to dependents, untruth, evil-speaking, expose the Christian profession to scorn.

III. The sphere. Beginning at Jerusalem.

1. The charity that will convert is one that begins at home, but does not end there. If it essay to reach the heathen by leaping over many ranks of unslain enemies in our own hearts, and of blasphemers in our own streets, it will never reach its mark, or reach it with a force already spent. The gospel is like a fire; it must be out; but like light and heat it cannot reach the distant circumference without passing through the intermediate space and kindling all that it touches on its way. Unless our love greatly disturb a godless neighbourhood at home, it will not set on fire a distant continent.

2. Besides, while a great mass of our home community remain unchristian, specimens of our population, cast up in foreign lands like drift-wood, will counteract missionary effort. A preacher with the pure gospel will not influence much the native mind if followed by a fellow-countryman with poisoned rum. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

Necessary variety among the apostles

Because Christ Himself was so truly and deeply the Wonderful, it was necessary that His witnesses, who were also to be the future organs of His Spirit, should be men of broadly varied nature–not copies one of another, like images of clay cast in kindred mould, but differing in mental constitution, experience, spiritual affinities, and faculty of vision. No single man could take in His whole image, or apprehend, in its completeness, unity, and infinite reaches of application, the truth revealed in Him; and therefore the chosen witnesses were many and many-natured. And further, as no single flower can show forth all that is in the sun–as it takes the whole bloom of the year to do so, from the first snowdrop that pierces the dark earth to the latest flower of autumn–so He needed them all for the adequate forthtelling of His holy personality. (J. Culross.)

Witnesses for Christ

I. All Christians are appointed to be Christs witnesses. These words were spoken to the Church, not merely to eleven members of it. You are all subpoenaed to appear, and must all be ready when you are wanted to depose.

II. Christians are made Christs witnesses by the power of the Holy Ghost. Any poor weakling might say, I a witness! I cannot speak, I am a child! or like the poor woman, I could die for Christ, but I cannot speak for Him. He might say, I shall be puzzled, contradict myself, not hold out all through the cruel cross-examination; besides, I am nobody, who will take notice what I say? But our loving Master, to still this trepidation, has left to each witness, the promise of necessary power. But power is of various kinds, and this is not of the kind that you, perhaps, think necessary. There is physical power, the power of knowledge, and the power of wealth, and rank; these would, you think, help to make you influential witnesses. But its most influential witnesses have been totally without these. Instead, He gives the power of faith, love, prayer, courage, all powers in one, in the gift of the Holy Ghost. Let me but have the Holy Ghost helping me to realise the life of Christ in my life, and I am unconquerable, for who can resist God?

III. All Christians are Christs witnesses to tell what they personally know about Him. Your mission is to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If you only tell what another man knows, and so merely circulate second-hand impressions, you may stand down, for these things are not evidence. Not as echoes, reflectors, copying machines, are you worth anything, but simply as yourselves. The first disciples had to give out from their own personal knowledge information of those facts respecting Christ on which all the saving value of the Cross depends, and the truth of their testimony has passed successfully through the test of the most subtle and searching cross-examination. No more evidence is wanted as to these facts; but we, the successors of these same witnesses, being under the same law, have, on the same principle, to tell all the truth that we personally know of this same Jesus. The world says in a thousand ways to each one of us: What has He done for you? Do you know Him? Yes. Is He real? Yes. Where does He live? With me. When did you speak to Him last? Just now. When did you meet Him first? Many a long year ago. Oh! I know whom I have believed, and He knows me. One of the later Puritans was one day catechising a row of young disciples. When they had answered the question on Effectual Calling, he said, Stop; can any one say this, using the personal pronoun all through? Then with sobbing, broken breath, a man stood up and said: Effectual calling is the work of Gods own Spirit, whereby convincing me of my sin and misery, enlightening my mind in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing my will, He doth enable and persuade me to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to me in the gospel. Let but each Christian personally, and from his heart say the same, then One will chase a thousand, and two will put ten thousand to flight, and one single congregation would have in it the life to shake London.

IV. We are witnesses for the purpose of repeating the words which we believe Christ has spoken. The witness does not make the message any more than the telegraphic wire makes the telegram; all he has to do is to transmit it in its integrity.

V. We are to be Christs witnesses, not only by what we say, but by what we are. What are you? If you are only a ceremony, or an insipid imitation, or a manufactured article; if some man of the world with whom you do business can show some excuse for saying of you, That a Christian! it needs no Christ to make a Christian like that,–I could make as good a Christian myself, any day! then, whatever you are, you are of no use to a Christian Evidence Society. A good farm is the best witness to a farmer; a good painting to an artist; a good book to the author; cures are the best witnesses to doctors; and Christs cures, His miracles wrought in souls, are His most effective witnesses. It is but fair and reasonable to expect that His people should bear this kind of witness.

VI. Christians are to witness by verbally preaching the gospel. Preach in the house, in the nursery, in the schoolroom: all who can. Preach as Brownlow North was said to preach, like one who had just escaped from a sacked and burning city, his ear still stung with the yell of the dying and the roar of the flame; his heart full of gratitude at the thought of his own wonderful escape. (C. Stanford, D. D.)

The Churchs work and power

I. The work of the church. Ye shall be My witnesses. A witness is one who knows, and who is summoned to tell what he knows. The first preachers of the gospel had personal knowledge of all the facts to which they were called to bear witness. They had been with Christ from the beginning, and so could witness to His life, His death. His resurrection and ascension. That was their business, and, with certain modifications in form, it is ours to-day. All the truth that we personally know of this same Jesus we are under an obligation to tell.

1. What, then, is the manner of testimony that devolves upon us? In the first place, we are to witness by our lives. On this living witness Christ depends in a very serious and important way. Professing Christians are, in fact, the only Bible that the majority of unconverted people read. You see, then, how much depends upon the testimony of our lives. Let Christ Himself be seen in them–let them exhibit the magnetic power of the Cross–let them manifest His spirit, His love, His deep compassion for men in their misery, and His readiness to help and save them, and through them, without word or deed, prejudice will be melted down, hatred will be subdued, and men and women will be won to light and love.

2. Let me now call attention to another department of testimony which belongs to every one of us–the witness of personal experience. You call yourself a Christian. What is Christ to you? Is He to you a real Saviour, Brother, Helper, and Comforter? You need no eloquence, no genius, no intellectual grasp of the doctrinal side of Christian truth, to go to a brother and say, I have found Christ to be the Bread of Life to my soul, will you not help yourself? You need nothing, except honesty and experience. If you have these, go and bear witness. And then, still further, let me remind you that if, having the facts to attest, you can go, you ought to go. You are under an obligation to make known to others what Christ has done for your soul. You have received His grace that you may share it with others, and not that you may go by yourselves into a solitary heaven.

II. The power which the witnesses need for their work. They need such power as is received in splendid measure, when the heart is opened widely to receive the Holy Spirit, when His presence is prized and enjoyed, and dutys commands are joyfully fulfilled. The apostles needed this power. No doubt they were new creatures in Christ. They loved and served Him. But if you consider the mistakes that they made regarding Christs kingdom, their prejudices, their fears, the shock which they had received, and the panic into which they had been thrown by Christs death, you will admit that they were not fit, as they afterwards were, to found the Church. Ye shall receive power, and power did they receive. For, mark that strong unwavering faith which lifted them out of the dark valley of speculation and doubt, and so laid hold of the truth to which they were testifying that it possessed their souls and controlled their lives. Mark that growing love to Christ which kindled the flame of holy devotion in their hearts, and made them forget themselves in their daily efforts to exalt and honour Him. Mark their enthusiasm for Him and His cause, their splendid courage, their loyalty to truth, and that singleness of purpose which governed all their thoughts and actions. The power which the first witnesses needed is just the power we need today. Is it possible to deny this? Many hard things are said against the Christianity of the present day, with which I have no sympathy, but I fear this much must be granted, that it is sadly lacking in power. Its vital truths are accepted by many who do not practise what they profess to believe. Men go over the points of their faith, and having assured themselves that they are sound, they never trouble themselves with the question, What does it all come to in the matter of character? They believe only in a kind of way, for men believe truly only what they practise. Is it not a sad fact that there is so much of that Christianity among us that does not shine with the beauty of holiness–that never attempts a great achievement, that has no emotions to express, and that allows men and women to live without caring a broken straw for the soul of anybody? If it is–and you know it it–do we not need a baptism of the Holy Spirit? Let Him enter our hearts as the Spirit of power, and then shall we not only bear witness for our exalted Lord, but be His witnesses. We shall be what every Christian is meant to be–the strongest argument for Christ that exists. By being what Christ was, and by doing what Christ did, we shall bear witness to the fact that He lives and reigns in the hearts of men and women whom He has redeemed by His blood. (James Cameron, M. A.)

Witnesses for Christ

I. Our Lord Himself is the glorious reality to which His servants are to bear their witness. Witnesses unto Me! Others might witness to My miracles, they were wrought in the face of day; others might repeat My discourses, spoken in the temple, and you, in witnessing to Me, will witness to them likewise; but they are but the rays which proceed from Myself, and it is to this and to all that this implies, that I bid you witness. Contrast this with what we should expect from a great man. We should expect him to tell us that his endowments or achievements were the unmerited gift of heaven. If he should claim honour for himself, then our good opinion would be outraged, and we should proclaim him unworthy of His greatness. Our Lord defies this rule and the conscience of mankind justifies Him in defying it. He who could say, Which of you convinceth Me of sin? I and the Father are one, could truly feel that it was impossible for Him to eclipse any higher greatness by drawing attention to Himself. His words and works were His own. As God, He was the author of the gifts which He received as Man. And therefore He thought it not robbery to draw the eyes of men away from the miracles and words to Himself, who gave their greatness to both.

II. How can we bear witness to a person? We can witness to that which we know, a miracle or sermon; but how can we know so impalpable a thing as a person? especially how can we witness to a superhuman person?

1. But let me ask, can we be witnesses to each other? Yes, for we can know each other. Not merely the form and colour of the body or features, but that which gives to features and to form their interest, the soul. We cannot, indeed, see the soul with the eye of the body. But with the eye of the mind we can see it, and form a very clear conception of it, which we call character.

(1) When a man speaks, we read in his language, in its very accent, the movement of an undying spirit, the strength or weakness of an understanding, the warmth of a heart, the vigour or feebleness of a will.

(2) And as through language the soul speaks to the ear of man, so by action the soul addresses itself to the eye of man. When a man acts, specially under circumstances of responsibility or of difficulty, then his true passions, capacities, littlenesses, greatness, come to the surface.

(3) Once more, the soul is too active and imperious a tenant not to leave its mark upon the texture of the body, which it has inhabited for a term of years. Every human face, not less by its reserves than by its disclosures, records the play of thought and passion within a subtle immaterial spirit. Fear, joy, pride, lust, rage, sadness, shame, love, patience, each by reiterated throbs leaves its mark upon the flesh, till at length the soul has moulded the ductile matter, so that it shall truly portray its tale of baseness or of beauty.

2. Now in Jesus Christ, God made use of this provision to enter into communion with His creatures. Reason may discover Gods existence and attributes, and under favourable conditions may attain to a cold and partial appreciation of His glory. But to reason, unaided by Revelation outside the soul, and by grace within it, God must ever seem abstract and remote. Therefore, that He might embrace His fallen creatures with a revelation of His beauty, the Most High robed Himself in a human body and a human soul. The thoughtful Gentile might have learnt something concerning Him in the natural world; the devout Jew might have read more of His true character in the Mosaic law; but a living personal revelation of what He is was reserved for the faith of Christendom. There are strangers, alas! to our faith, who yet confess that in the Gospels they encounter a form of unapproached grace and power. In the last age infidel writers like Diderot and Rousseau challenged the sceptics of the time, in language which has since become classical, to match, if they could, the moral beauty of the gospel. For in the gospel we meet with one who in His pre-eminent humanity is perfectly one with us, yet also most mysteriously distinct. So rare and refined is His type of manhood, He escapes the peculiarities of either sex. He is tied to no one form of human existence, yet adapt that Himself to all. He is born in extreme poverty, yet He has no grudge against wealth: He is claimed as their representative, by Geeek and Roman, and African and Teuton, no less truly than by the children of His people. No class professional, or national prejudice has lelt its taint upon that ideal Form, so as to make it less than representative of pure humanity. Yet, so far is He from being a cold, passionless statue, divested of all interests, strictly human, that there is a warmth and vividness in His character which none who have truly love or wept can fail to understand and to embrace. He hates evil, and denounces it; but He is never betrayed into an unbalanced statement; Herod does not make Him a revolutionist, nor the Pharisees an Antinomian. His triumphs cannot disturb, and His humiliations do but enhance the serene, self-possession of His soul. Well might we surmise that such a character as this was more than human. We know ourselves too well to suppose that human nature would conceive the full idea, much less that it could create the reality. Even to the Roman officer the truth revealed itself. Truly this was the Son of God. Nay, Jesus Himself used language which no intimacy between God and holy souls would warrant if it were not literally true. Either we must resign that vision of beauty which we meet in the character of Jesus as an untrustworthy phantom, since it is dashed with a pretension involving at once falsehood and blasphemy, or we must confess that Jesus is Divine. Jesus is God; and in His acts, words, and very physiognomy the Apostles came face to face with the Perfect Being of beings. He had taken our nature as an instrument through which to act upon us, but also as an interpreter who should translate His own matchless perfections into audible words and visible actions (1Jn 1:1-3). An enthusiasm, of which the object is merely human, must pass away, since its object is necessarily transient and imperfect. As you sit with the ashes of Wellington beneath your feet, you little dream of the warmth with which Englishmen named their great general on the morrow of Waterloo. One only has succeeded in creating an impression, which is as fresh in the hearts and thoughts of His true disciples at this moment as it was eighteen centuries ago; and as we listen to His words, and watch His actions, and almost seem to gaze on His face, irradiated with superhuman beauty in the pages of the Gospels we feel that He, as none other, had a right to say to unborn generations, Ye shall be witnesses unto Me.

III. Is there anything in our conduct, or our words, that really bears witness to the Saviour? Or are we living, speaking, feeling, acting, thinking, much as we might have done if He had never brightened our existence. Or are we bearing Him what our conscience tells us is a partial witness; a witness of language but not of conduct; a witness which attests those features of His work and doctrine which we prefer, rather than all that we know or might know about Him? This witness is the debt which all Christians owe to Christ. No class, or sex, or disposition, or age, or race can claim exemption. We cannot delegate it to our clergy. It is not merely that we are bound to witness to Him. If we are living Christian lives, we cannot help doing so. Be Christians indeed, and you will forthwith witness for Jesus–you who are at the summits of society, and you who are at its base; you who teach, and you who learn; you who command, and you who obey. In the lower and feeble sense they who practise the natural virtues, witness to Him, who is the source of all goodness. And thus courage under difficulties, and temperance amid self-indulgent livers, and justice truly observed between man and man, are forms of witness. They bear this witness who are in power, and who, renouncing selfish purposes, aim at the good of others. They too bear it, who have wealth, and who spend it not in perishing baubles, but in relieving bodily or spiritual suffering. Rut they, especially, who know our Lord in His pardoning mercy will hardly be content with a silent witness. For the disease which He heals is universal, and the efficacy of His cure is undoubted. The redemptive love of Jesus, like the sun in the heavens, is the inheritance of all who will come to have a share in it, and, as with the heart that love is believed in unto righteousness, so with the mouth confession of it is made unto salvation. (Canon Liddon.)

Christs witnesses

I. Our function as witnesses for Christ. In our courts of law a witness is pledged under oath to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and in our capacity of witnesses a similar obligation rests upon us. Our duty is to bear witness to what we know, and to all that we know of the facts of the gospel, as contained in Gods Word, and which we have verified by such means of verification as the nature of the case admits of–objective or subjective, as the case may be, external or internal evidence, which observation or experience supplies. With fancies, conjectures, speculations, or even matters of hearsay which we have not verified, we have as witnesses nothing to do. Our duty is to speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen. The effect of our testimony depends greatly on the certainty with which it is borne. We must speak with the accent of conviction if men are to be convinced and converted and saved.

II. The sphere in which we are to perform our functions: both in Jerusalem and in all Judaea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. According to this it is manifest that whatever may be our testimony, there is no country, or province, or city, or locality in which it can possibly be borne, from which it can be intentionally withheld, or by arrangement, or compact, even temporarily suppressed. We may, of course, use discretion as to the localities in which it should first be borne. Being unable to enter every field at once, we may, as wise men, give our first and chief attention to that in which as a whole it is most required. But we cannot, in loyalty to our Lord, consent that men, in any locality, should either arbitrarily or to suit the convenience of parties be left in ignorance of it.

III. The testimony we have to bear. This consists of all that the Lord hath made known to us–the things we have seen and heard and verified. The most important part of our testimony is not that on which we differ from our fellow-Christians, but that which relates to the Divine feelings towards sinful men; and to that we ought to give the first and most prominent place. There is a fulness of meaning in the gospel which we have not unfolded yet–a note of music in it more capable of charming the ear than has ever yet been heard–a power to thrill the hearts of men such as has never yet been felt.

IV. The endowment which fits us for our work. Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you. It is by the light the Divine Spirit supplies that we know what part of our testimony is most required. It is the firm conviction He imparts that gives authority and persuasiveness to our word. The whirlwind spreads devastation, the thunder shakes the sphere, the earthquake convulses and overthrows; but it is through the still small voice that the power of God enters the soul of the derelict prophet, and produces a mighty and beneficent revolution. (W. Landels, D. D.)

The witness-bearing injured by inconsistencies

A train is said to have been stopped by flies in the grease-boxes of the carriage-wheels. The analogy is perfect; a man, in all other respects fitted to be useful, may by some small defect be exceedingly hindered, or even rendered utterly useless. It is a terrible thing when the healing balm loses its efficacy through the blunderer who administers it. You all know the injurious effects frequently produced upon water flowing along leaden pipes; even so the gospel itself, in flowing through men who are spiritually unhealthy, may be debased until it grows injurious to their hearers. We may be great quoters of elegant poetry, and mighty retailers of second-hand wind-bags; but we shall be like Nero of old, fiddling while Rome was burning, and sending vessels to Alexandria to fetch sand for the arena while the populace starved for want of corn. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Noble witnesses for Christ

Two brave boys in Armenia, at Hoghe, near the supposed site of the old Garden of Eden, attended the Mission School there, and became Christians. Being anxious for the conversion of others, they organised with other converts what they called a Home Missionary Society. All who were members went from house to house to read the Bible to the people, and tell them of the way of salvation. These two boys, though only fourteen years old, said Why should we labour in our own village merely? Why not go on a foreign mission? So taking their Testaments, they started one Sabbath morning for the village of Ghoorbet Mezereh, about two miles distant, to preach. On entering the village they met a company of Mohammedan Turks, who decided to try the courage of these Christians, and said to them, Well, boys, who is Jesus? He is a prophet of God, they replied. But when they were returning home, they were both troubled because they felt they should have confessed Him to be the Son of God. So kneeling down, they asked the Lord Jesus for courage to confess Him, and they went back to do so. On re-entering the village they found the Turks still assembled, and they asked, Boys, why have you come back? We have come back, they replied, to confess our Saviour. We told you He is a prophet of God. He is so, and more; He is the Son of God, and the only Saviour of men. The followers of the false prophet respected their courage, and were not displeased; and the boys returned home with light hearts.

Christianity a living witness

Christianity in the books is like seed in the granary, dry and all but dead. It is not written but living characters that are to convert the infidel. (D. Thomas.)

Religion an effective witness

Lord Peterborough, speaking on one occasion of the celebrated Fenelon, observed: He is a delicate creature. I was forced to get away from him as fast as I could, else he would have made me pious. Would to God that all of us had such an influence over godless men! Some one has said that it is not so much the words as it is the Acts of the Apostles that convince us of the truth of the gospel.

The life the best sermon

I would not give much for your religion unless it can be seen. Lamps do not talk, but they shine. A lighthouse sounds no drums; it beats no gong; and yet far over the waters its friendly spark is seen by the mariner. So let your actions shine out your religion. Let the main sermon of your life be illustrated by all your conduct, and it shall not fail to be illustrious. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Experimental witness-bearing

A report of a report is a cold thing and of small value; but a report of what we have witnessed and experience d ourselves comes warmly upon mens hearts. So a mere formal description of faith and its blessings falls flat on the ear; but when a sincere believer tells of his own experience of the Lords faithfulness, it has a great charm about it. We like to hear the narrative of a journey from the traveller himself. In a court of law they will have no hearsay evidence. Tell us, says the judge, not what your neighbour said, but what you saw yourself. Personal evidence of the power of grace has a wonderfully convincing force upon the conscience. I sought the Lord, and He heard me, is better argument than all the Butlers Analogies that will ever be written, good as they are in their place.

The witness of a good life

Faith that is lived is what gives efficacy to faith professed. Rev. Dr. Deems is accustomed to relate some feeling incident before the first hymn in church, on Sunday morning. Recently he told this: A Christian man one day said to a friend, Under whose preaching were you converted? Nobodys, was the answer; it was under my aunts practising. He then made an earnest appeal to aunts to examine their characters and lives, to see if these contained converting power.

Witnessing for Christ

Witness Christ, means nothing if it be not a witness to righteousness of life. It was the glorious function of ancient Israel to be a witness to righteousness. She was incomparably less brilliant than Greece; she was feebleness itself compared with Rome; she was a lamb in the midst of wolves compared with the fierce nations of Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt, pressing round her on every side. Why was she nevertheless greater and more enduring than the mightiest of them? It was by virtue of her conduct. And the Church has borne this witness for righteousness before kings and not been ashamed. As Nathan witnessed before David, and John before Herod, so did Paul before Felix, and Athanasius before Constantine, and Ambrose when he drove Theodosius back from the Cathedral-gates of Milan because he came with his hand red from the massacre of Thessalonica. So did Savonarola when he refused to absolve Lorenzo de Medici on his death-bed unless he set Florence free; so did John Hues when he called up the burning hue of shame upon the cheek of the perjured Sigismund; so did Luther when he faced kings and cardinals at Worms; so did Massillon when he made Louis XIV. wince before his warnings; so did Kerr when he rejected the command of Charles II. to receive Nell Gwynne at Winchester; so did the London clergy when they refused to read in their churches the treacherous edict of James II.; so did the Court chaplain when he openly rebuked Frederick William I. on his death-bed. No age can do without the Churchs witness for righteousness; certainly not in ours, and the Church will fail of her duty in her witness for Christ if she do not rebuke the startling inadequacy of charity, the selfish accumulation of wealth, the ostentatious luxury of fashion, the heartless indifference of middle-class prosperity, the fulsome development Of puffery, the widespread of gambling, the adulterations of manufacturers, the scandal mongering of society, the intrigues of religious parties, the curse of drink. Oh, let the Church denounce these works of the world, the flesh, and the devil in no timid half utterance: let her not fight with graceful sham blows which only beat the air! are there no owners of rotting houses to be branded with the infamy they deserve? Are there no sweaters dens to be purified, and the owners of them taught what a curse are ill-gotten riches? Are there no reeking hells of vice to be torn out of the greedy hands of rich oppressors? Salt is good; but if the salt hath lost its savour, etc. (Archdeacon Farrar.)

Witnessing for Christ

While Colonel Wilayat, an English officer who used to preach at Delhi, was speaking, a number of Sepoys on horseback rode up to his house, and knowing him to be a Christian, said, Repeat the Mohammedan creed, or we will shoot you. But he would not deny his Lord. Tell us what you are said one. I am a Christian, and a Christian I will live and die. They dragged him along the ground, beating him about the head and face with their shoes. Not being soldiers, they had no swords. Now preach Christ to us, some one cried out in mocking tones. Others said, Turn to Mohammed, and we will let you go. No, I never never will! the faithful martyr cried; my Saviour took up His Cross and went to God, and I will lay down my life and go to Him. The scorching rays of the sun were beating on the poor sufferers head. With a laugh one of the wretches exclaimed, I suppose you would like some water. I do not want water, replied the martyr. When my Saviour was dying He had nothing but vinegar mingled with gall. But do not keep me in this pain. If you mean to kill me, do so at once. Another Sepoy coming up, lifted his sword; the martyr called aloud, Jesus, receive my spirit! and with one stroke his head was nearly cut off.

Witnessing for Christ

It became the most sacred duty of a new convert (among the early Christians)to diffuse among his friends and relations the inestimable blessing which he had received, and to warn them against a refusal that would be severely punished as a criminal disobedience to the will of a benevolent but all- powerful Deity. (T. Gibbon.)

Christian witness

The sweet gospel singer, Mr. Peter Bilhorn, of Chicago, who was at one time a well-known saloon concert singer, was passing by a gospel service a few years ago. When he came opposite to the gathering of Christians, the testimony of a young man, Christ saves the worst of sinners, fastened itself on his heart, and led him to Christ. He never saw the young man afterward–never has been able to find him, but his words so came home to him that he changed his course, and is now devoting his life to Gods service. Oh! the power of a life that is not ashamed to make Christ known to the world! How beautiful the feet of them that never tire of witnessing before the world the riches of eternal life in Christ Jesus! What glory awaits the soul that daily walks so near to Christ that others see Christ through him!

The witness of the Church, its importance

Christ was about to be seen no more among men. What memorial had He left? The kings of Egypt built mighty pyramids to immortalise their fame. Those of Assyria have left on chiselled column and even on the bold sides of their native cliffs the hieroglyphics that should commemorate their wonderful deeds. The Roman emperors have bequeathed to us triumphal arches which even now bring before us the splendour of their victories. But Christ left no such memorial. He did not commit a single line to writing. His only record in Scripture is the one He traced with His finger upon the sand. He left no parchment, pillar, pyramid, arch, or temple. On that farewell day He was without the slightest trace of a record, except that written on the heart of His disciples. Whatever impression therefore He was to make upon the world depended on the courage and fidelity of these men. If they had given one uncertain sound, oblivion would have settled like a pall upon Gethsemane, Calvary, and Olivet. They were the one living link between Christ and the world He came to save. And it is so still. Christ is not here. We have, it is true, the printed witness of the apostles; but the world does not get its ideas of Christ and Christianity from that, but from the living testimony of professing Christians. How important then the function of the humblest! He is Christs representative and memorial before men. (H. Pedley, M. A.)

Our vocation

I. With its glory–Witnesses of the exalted King.

II. With its lowliness–Witnesses nothing of and for ourselves.

III. With its sufferings–Witnesses of the Lord in a hostile world.

IV. With its promises–Strength from above. (J. P. Lunge, D. D.)

Both in Jerusalem.—

Witnessing in Jerusalem

A difficult service was to be performed in Jerusalem that day. Had it been desired to find a man in London who would go down to Whitehall a few weeks after Charles was beheaded, and, addressing Cromwells soldiers, endeavour to persuade them that he whom they had executed was not only a king and a good one, but a prophet of God, and that, therefore, they had been guilty of more than regicide–of sacrilege: although England had brave men then, it may be questioned whether any one could have been found to bear such a message to that audience. The service which had then to be performed in Jerusalem was similar to this. (W. Arthur, M. A.)

Our sphere

There is also for us a Jerusalem, a Judaea, a Samaria, if not an uttermost part of the earth–some well-dressed city with its ragged fringe of want and wickedness, some country district with its neglected families, some sophisticated brain that has gone astray from the old standards at home of the faith and set up its Gerizim rivalry–some that you can minister to by your charity, and win back by your witnessing, if that witnessing is only as zealous as Peters and as patient as Pauls, and as loving as Johns. (Bp. Huntington.)

Apostolic missions: their order

Jerusalem, the place of the reception of the Spirit, was also to be the place where the witness of the Spirit commences; and in the land of promise was the promise, the fulness of spiritual blessing to find its first native soil. Samaria, the mission field white for harvest (Joh 4:35), our Lord mentions as the middle station between Judaea and the land of the Gentiles; and the end of the earth was Rome, for there all nations were united in the capital of the world. We shall find that the order of the history perfectly corresponds with the order of testimony. Jerusalem (chaps. 1.-7.); Judaea (9-12.); Samaria (8.); the world (13 to end). (R. Besser, D. D.)

Apostolic missions: their evidential value

How came these humble and hated persons, these slaves and artisans, these unlearned and ignorant men to get the start of the majestic world, and bear the palm alone? How came it that the:greatest, the most advanced, the splendid and prominent races of the whole world have, one after another, embraced Christianity? How comes it that at this very moment one out of every four of the one hundred thousand millions of human beings is a professing Christian? Securus judicat orbis terrarium. Is the world so silly, is all its best intellect so anile, is the genius of humanity so wretched a fool as to be duped by a mere fraud and illusion preached by wandering beggars, blindly to embrace with all its heart, to enshrine in its stateliest temples, to enrich with its most splendid offerings, to set forth in its most brilliant hues of imagination and intellect, a faith so intrinsically feeble that after nineteen centuries of beneficent victory it can only tumble down like a pack of cards at the touch of any smart declaimer who chooses to say it is a lie? Because it was a truth and no lie. We have been well reminded that the babes and striplings of the world prevailed over the serried army of emperors, aristocracies, statesmen, institutions. Is this solemn voice of the ages, is this cogent mass of human testimony to go for nothing? Is it nothing that Christianity has prevailed over the banded union of the powers of evil, and that even in spite of the corruptions which have gathered round it; in spite of the crimes, negligences, and ignorances of its own professing followers that it should still triumph and prevail. I say that if Christianity be a lie, then everything and all human life is a lie, and the pillared firmament is rottenness, and the earths base built on stubble. (Archdeacon Farrar.)

Missionary work commanded

During the American war, a regiment received orders to plant some heavy guns on the top of a steep hill. The soldiers dragged them to the base of the hill, but were unable to get them farther. An officer, learning the state of affairs, cried, Men! it must be done! I have the orders in my pocket. So the Church has orders to disciple the world.

Love first to fall on objects near and then to diffuse itself

As radii in a circle are closest near the centre, and towards the circumference lie more widely apart, the affections of a human heart do and should fall thickest on those who are nearest. Expressly on this principle the Christian mission was instituted at first. Love in the heart of the first disciples was recognised, by Him who kindled it, to be of the nature of fire or light. He did not expect it to fall on distant places without first passing through intermediate space. From Jerusalem, at His command and under the Spirits ministry, it radiated through Judsea, and from Judsea to Samaria, and thence to the ends of the earth. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

The Church engaged in the renovation of the world

The Church must grope her way into the alleys and courts and purlieus of the city, and up the broken staircase, and into the bar-room, and beside the loathsome sufferer. She must go down into the pit with the miner; into the forecastle with the sailor; into the tent with the soldier; into the shop with the mechanic; into the factory with the operative; into the field with the farmer, into the counting-room with the merchant. Like the air, the Church must press equally ,on all surfaces of society; like the sea, flow into every nook of the shore-line of humanity, and like the sun, shine on things foul and low, as well as fair and high; for she was organised, commissioned, and equipped for the moral renovation of the world. (Bishop Simpson.)

Kingdom of Christ: more permanent than earthly kingdoms

I shall soon be in my grave. Such is the fate of great men. So it was with the Caesars and Alexander. And I, too, am forgotten; and the Marengo conqueror and emperor is a college theme. My exploits are tasks given to pupils by their tutor, who sit in judgment over me. I die before my time; and my dead body, too, must return to the earth, and become food for worms. Behold the destiny now at hand of him who has been called the great Napoleon! What an abyss between my great misery and the eternal reign of Christ, who is proclaimed, loved, and adored, and whose kingdom is extending over all the earth! (Napoleon I.)

Evangelism a law of self-preservation

Evangelism is not merely a work of love. It is the sheer law of self-preservation. The heathenism which is creeping along the fences of society is scattering its seeds on both sides. As we love our neighbour, we must try to do him good; but if we love only ourselves and our homes, we must be at work to make the world better. If Christians do not make the world better, the world will surely make the Church worse. (C. H. Fowler.)

The heathen may reach heaven without the gospel, but better with it

A man may make his way across the Atlantic in a skiff, for all I know, but if you are intending to cross the sea, take my advice, and secure passage in a first-class steamer, and you will be more likely to get there. So it is with these heathen millions. I do not know but some of them may drift, and we shall find them in the city of God. But I do know that by giving them the gospel, by building up and supporting among them a Christian Church, we shall greatly multiply their chances of heaven. (C. H. Fowler.)

A good man seeks to make others good

A good man is always seeking to make others good, as fire turneth all things about it into fire. You cannot make fire stay where it is; it will spread as opportunity serves it. It will subdue all its surroundings to itself. Carlyle says that man is emphatically a proselytising creature, and assuredly the new creature is such. Life grows, and so invades the regions of death, and spiritual life is most of all intense in its growing and spreading. Liberty to hold our opinions but not to spread them is no liberty: for one of our main opinions is, that we should bring all around us to Jesus and to obedience to the truth. Lord, help us ever to be doing this, subduing the earth for Thee by spreading OH all sides the name of Jesus! Let our life burn till the whole world is on a blaze.

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 8. But ye shall receive power] . Translating different terms of the original by the same English word is a source of misapprehension and error. We must not understand which we translate power in this verse, as we do , translated by the same word in the preceding verse. In the one, God’s infinite authority over all times and seasons, and his uncompellable liberty of acting or not acting in any given case, are particularly pointed out: in the other, the energy communicated by him to his disciples, through which they were enabled to work miracles, is particularly intended; and , in general, signifies such power, and is sometimes put for that of which it is the cause, viz. a miracle. See Mt 7:22; Mt 11:20-23; Mt 13:54, Mt 13:58; Mr 6:5; Lu 10:13; and Ac 2:22. The disciples were to be made instruments in the establishment of the kingdom of Christ; but this must be by the energy of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; nevertheless, this energy would be given in such times and seasons, and in such measures, as should appear best to the infinite wisdom of God. Christ does not immediately answer the question of the disciples, as it was a point savouring too much of mere curiosity; but he gave them such information as was calculated to bring both their faith and hope into action. St. Chrysostom has well observed, “that it is the prerogative of an instructer to teach his disciple, not what he wishes to learn, but what his master sees best for him:” , ‘ , .

Ye shall be witnesses – in all Judea, c.] Though the word earth, , is often used to denote Judea alone, yet here, it is probable, it is to be taken in its largest extent. All the inhabitants of the globe might at that period be considered divisible into three classes.

1. The JEWS, who adhered to the law of Moses, and the prophetic writings, worshipping the true God only, and keeping up the temple service, as prescribed in their law.

2. The SAMARITANS, a mongrel people, who worshipped the God of Israel in connection with other gods, 2Kg 17:5, &c., and who had no kind of religious connection with the Jews. See on Mt 10:5. And,

3. The GENTILES, the heathens through all other parts of the world, who were addicted to idolatry alone, and had no knowledge of the true God. By the terms in the text we may see the extent to which this commission of instruction and salvation was designed to reach: to the Jews to the Samaritans, and the uttermost part of the earth, i.e. to the Gentile nations, thus, to the whole human race the Gospel of the kingdom was to be proclaimed. When the twelve disciples were sent out to preach, Mt 10:5, their commission was very limited-they were not to go in the way of the Gentiles, nor enter into any city of the Samaritans, but preach the Gospel to the lost sheep of the house of Israel: but here their commission is enlarged, for they are to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. See Mt 28:18.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; not till then, not of their own strength, but of Gods grace, as appeared by Peters denying and the others leaving of our Saviour.

And ye shall be witnesses unto me, that I am indeed the promised Messiah; and of my doctrine, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, which ye shall testify to all the world by your preaching and holy living, working miracles.

Both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria; places where your testimony shall be most opposed. These words are both a command, to tell the apostles what they ought to do, and a prediction of what they should be enabled to do.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

8. receive powerSee Lu24:49.

and ye shall be witnessesunto me . . . in Jerusalem . . . in all Judea . . . and unto theuttermost part of the earthThis order of apostolicpreaching and success supplies the proper key to the plan of theActs, which relates first the progress of the Gospel “inJerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria” (the first through ninthchapters), and then “unto the uttermost part of the earth”(the tenth through twenty-eighth chapters).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

But ye shall receive power,…. From on high, with which they were to be endured, Lu 24:49 meaning the power of the Holy Ghost, strength from him to preach the Gospel, and work miracles in confirmation of it, and courage and greatness of mind, amidst all reproaches and persecutions, to face and oppose their enemies, profess the name of Christ, abide by his truths and ordinances, make their way through all opposition and difficulties, and spread the Gospel all over the world; for intend of enjoying worldly ease, honour, wealth, and riches, they were looking for, our Lord gives them to understand that they must expect labour, service, afflictions, and trials, which would require power and strength, and which they should have:

after that the Holy Ghost shall come upon you; from above, from heaven, as he did, and sat upon them in the form of cloven tongues, and of fire; upon which they were filled with knowledge and zeal, with strength and courage, and with all gifts and abilities necessary for their work:

and ye shall be witnesses unto me; of the person of Christ, of his deity and sonship, of his incarnation, his ministry, and his miracles, of his suffering and death, of his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension to heaven. This was to be their work, and what belong to them, and not to enquire about a temporal kingdom, and the setting up of that, and the times and seasons of it; their business was to testify of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that followed, and to preach a crucified Jesus, as the only Saviour of lost sinners: and this

both in Jerusalem, the “metropolis” of the nation, and there, in the first place, where such dwelt who had been concerned in the crucifixion of Christ, many of whom were to be called by grace, and converted through their ministry:

and in all Judea; that part of the land of Israel which was distinct from Samaria and Galilee, and from beyond Jordan; where churches were to be planted, as afterwards they were; see Ac 9:31.

And in Samaria; where Christ had before forbid his disciples to go; but now their commission is enlarged, and they are sent there; and here Philip went upon the persecution raised against the church at Jerusalem, and preached Christ with great success, to the conversion of many; and hither Peter and John went to lay their hands on them, and confirm them; see Ac 8:5

and unto the uttermost part of the earth; throughout the whole world, whither the sound of the apostles, and their words went, Ro 10:18.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Power (). Not the “power” about which they were concerned (political organization and equipments for empire on the order of Rome). Their very question was ample proof of their need of this new “power” (), to enable them (from , to be able), to grapple with the spread of the gospel in the world.

When the Holy Ghost is come upon you ( ‘ ). Genitive absolute and is simultaneous in time with the preceding verb “shall receive” (). The Holy Spirit will give them the “power” as he comes upon them. This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit referred to in verse 5.

My witnesses ( ). Correct text. “Royal words of magnificent and Divine assurance” (Furneaux). Our word martyrs is this word . In Lu 24:48 Jesus calls the disciples “witnesses to these things” ( , objective genitive). In Ac 1:22 an apostle has to be a “witness to the Resurrection” of Christ and in 10:39 to the life and work of Jesus. Hence there could be no “apostles” in this sense after the first generation. But here the apostles are called “my witnesses.” “His by a direct personal relationship” (Knowling). The expanding sphere of their witness when the Holy Spirit comes upon them is “unto the uttermost part of the earth” ( ). Once they had been commanded to avoid Samaria (Mt 10:5), but now it is included in the world program as already outlined on the mountain in Galilee (Matt 28:19; Mark 16:15). Jesus is on Olivet as he points to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost (last, ) part of the earth. The program still beckons us on to world conquest for Christ. “The Acts themselves form the best commentary on these words, and the words themselves might be given as the best summary of the Acts” (Page). The events follow this outline (Jerusalem till the end of chapter 7, with the martyrdom of Stephen, the scattering of the saints through Judea and Samaria in chapter 8, the conversion of Saul, chapter 9, the spread of the gospel to Romans in Caesarea by Peter (chapter 10), to Greeks in Antioch (chapter 11), finally Paul’s world tours and arrest and arrival in Rome (chapters 11 to 28).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Unto me [] . The best texts read mou, of me; or, as Rev., my witnesses.

Samaria. Formerly they had been commanded not to enter the cities of the Samaritans (Mt 10:5).

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

The Post Resurrection Commission of the Church, V. 8, 9

1) “But ye shall receive power,” (alla lempsesthe dunamin) “But you all will receive power,” a dynamic, energizing, motivating strength.” The “ye” or “you all” refers to the church that had companied with the Lord throughout His ministry, Act 1:21-22; Luk 24:44-51.

2) “After that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:” (epelthonotos tou hagiou pnematos eph’ humas) “When the Holy Spirit comes upon you,” of his own will or accord, Joh 15:26-27.

3) “And ye shall be witnesses unto me,” (kai esethe mou martures) “And you all will be witnesses of me,” of who I am, what I am, what I have done, am doing, and shall do for all and for the world. This is the church’s mission charge or marching orders.

4) “Both in Jerusalem,” (en te lerousalem) “Both in Jerusalem,” the city, city area of Jerusalem, the Jerusalem territory, city and immediate suburbs – then in outer regions or territories as follows, Luk 24:46-48.

5) “And in all Judea and Samaria,” (kai en pase te loudaia kai Samaria)”‘And (even, also) in all the area of Judea and Samaria, the immediate bordering territories surrounding and to the north of the city of Jerusalem, described in their witness, Act 8:1 to Act 12:25.

6) “And unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (kai heos eschatou tes ges) “And even as far as or unto the farthest outpost or extremity of the earth; wherever a human being may exist in need of hearing the witness, the testimony of the Word and of the redeemed about the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and His works among all nations, Act 1:22; This charge was given to that company, that body, that assembly of believers who had been with Jesus, as a growing body from the beginning, Joh 15:27; Act 1:21-22.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

8. You shall receive power. Our Savior Christ doth here call them back as well unto the promise of God as also unto his commandment, which was the readiest way to bridle their curiosity. Curiosity doth rise almost always either of idleness or else of distrust; distrust is cured by meditating upon the promises of God. And his commandments do tell us how we ought to occupy ourselves and employ our studies. Therefore, he commandeth his disciples to wait for the promise of God, and to be diligent in executing their office whereunto God had called them. And in the mean season he noteth (27) their great hastiness, in that they did preposterously catch at those gifts which were proper unto the Holy Spirit, when as they were not as yet endued with the same. Neither did they take the right way herein, in that being called to go on warfare, they desire (omitting their labor) to lake their ease in their inn. (28) Therefore, when he saith, you shall receive power, he admonisheth them of their imbecility, lest they follow before the time those things whereunto they cannot attain. It may be read very well either way, You shall receive the power of the Spirit; or, The Spirit coming upon you; yet the latter way seemeth to be the better, because it doth more fully declare their defect trod want, until such time as the Spirit should come upon them.

You shall be my witnesses He correcteth two errors of theirs in this one sentence. For, first, he showeth that they must fight before they can triumph; and, secondly, that the nature of Christ’s kingdom was of another sort than they judged it to have been. Therefore, saith he, You shall be my witnesses; that is, the husbandman must first work before he can reap his fruits. Hence, nay we learn that we must first study how we may come unto the kingdom of God, before we begin to dispute (29) about the state of the life to come. Many there be which do curiously inquire what manner [of] blessedness that shall be which they shall enjoy after they shall be received into the everlasting kingdom of heaven, not having any care how they may come to enjoy the same. (30) They reason concerning the quality of the life to come, which they shall have with Christ; but they never think that they must be partakers of his death, that they may live together with him, (2Ti 2:11.) Let every man, therefore, apply himself in his work which he hath in hand; let us fight stoutly under Christ’s banner; let us go forward manfully and courageously (31) in our vocation, and God will give fruit in due time (and tide.) There followeth another correction, when he saith, that they must be his witnesses. For hereby he meant to drive out of his disciples’ minds that fond and false imagination which they had conceived of the terrestrial kingdom, because he showeth unto them briefly, that his kingdom consisteth in the preaching of the gospel. There was no cause, therefore, why they should dream of riches, (32) of external principality, or any other earthly thing, whilst they heard that Christ did then reign when as he subdueth unto himself (all the whole) world by the preaching of the gospel. Whereupon it followeth that he doth reign spiritually, and not after any worldly manner. And that which the apostles had conceived of the carnal kingdom proceeded from the common error of their nation; neither was it marvel if they were deceived herein. (33) For when we measure the same with our understanding, what else can we conceive but that which is gross and terrestrial? Hereupon it cometh, that, like brute beasts, we only desire that which is commodious for our flesh, and therefore we rather catch that which is present. Wherefore, we see that those which held opinion, that Christ should reign as a king in this world a thousand years (34) fell into the like folly. Hereupon, also, they applied all such prophecies as did describe the kingdom of Christ figuratively by the similitude of earthly kingdoms unto the commodity of their flesh; whereas, notwithstanding, it was God’s purpose to lift up their minds higher. As for us, let us learn to apply our minds to hear the gospel preached, lest we be entangled in like errors, which prepareth a place in our hearts for the kingdom of Christ. (35)

In all Judea Here he showeth, first, that they must not work for the space of one day only, while that he assigneth the whole world unto them, in which they must publish the doctrine of the gospel. Furthermore, he refuteth (36) the opinion which they had conceived of Israel. They supposed those to be Israelites only which were of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh. Christ testifieth that they must gather thereunto all Samaria; which, although they were nigh in situation, yet were they far distant in mind and heart. He showeth that all other regions far distant, and also profane, must be united unto the holy people, that they may be all partakers of one and the same grace. It is evident (Joh 4:9) how greatly the Jews did detest the Samaritans. Christ commanded that (the wall of separation being broken down) they be both made one body, (Eph 2:14,) that his kingdom may be erected everywhere. By naming Judea and Jerusalem, which the apostles had tried (37) to be full of most deadly enemies, he foretelleth them of the great business and trouble which was prepared for them, that he may cause them to cease to think upon this triumph which they hoped to have been so nigh at hand. (38) Neither could they be a little afraid to come before so cruel enemies, more to inflame their rage and fury. And here we see how he giveth the former place unto the Jews, because they are, as it were, the first-begotten, (Exo 4:22.) Notwithstanding, he calleth those Gentiles one with another, which were before strangers from the hope of salvation, (Eph 2:11.) Hereby we learn, that the gospel was preached everywhere by the manifest commandment of Christ, that it might also come unto us.

(27) “ Perstringit,” reprimandeth.

(28) “ Molliter quiescere,” to take soft repose.

(29) “ Subtiliter philosophemur,” we subtlely philosophize.

(30) “ Atqui in primis renunciandum erat mundo,” but they ought, in the first instance, to renounce the world, omitted.

(31) “ Indefessis animis,” with unwearied minds, indefatigably.

(32) “ Delicias,” dainties.

(33) “ Hac in parte omnes fuisse hallucinatos,” that they all labored under this hallucination.

(34) “ Chiliastas,” the Chiliasts.

(35) Transpose thus: As for us, lest we be entangled in like errors, let us learn to apply our minds to hear the gospel preached, (a preached gospel,) which prepareth a place in our heart for the kingdom of Christ.

(36) “ Oblique refutat,” indirectly refuteth.

(37) “ Experti sunt,” experienced.

(38) “ Ut de propinquo triumpho cogitare desinant,” that they may cease to think of a near triumph.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(8) But ye shall receive power.The use of the same English noun for two different Greek words is misleading, but if authority be used in Act. 1:7 then power is an adequate rendering here. The consciousness of a new faculty of thought and speech would be to them a proof that the promise of the Kingdom had not failed.

Ye shall be witnesses unto me.The words, which are apparently identical with those of Luk. 24:48, strike the key-note of the whole book. Those which follow correspond to the great divisions of the ActsJerusalem, Acts 1, 7; Juda, 9:32, 12:19; Samaria, 8; and the rest of the book as opening the wider record of the witness borne to the uttermost parts of the earth. And this witness was two-fold: (1) of the works, the teachings, and, above all, of the Resurrection of Jesus; (2) of the purpose of the Father as revealed in the Son. The witness was to be, in language which, though technical, is yet the truest expression of the fact, at once historical and dogmatic.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

8. But Although the kingdom of your carnal hopes should be dismissed from mind, yet ye shall receive power which shall be the very essence of the true kingdom. This power should be first personal. As the coming of the Spirit of the Lord (Jdg 14:6) strengthened the lower faculties of Samson so as to make him mighty in bodily vigour, so this coming of the Spirit should empower their higher faculties so as to render them Samsons in soul. The power should, secondly, be organic, giving them the visible head-ship in the theocracy; placing them upon the twelve thrones of viceroyalty in the kingdom. Mat 19:28. Such was to be the compensation in place of their vanishing visions of national restoration.

Witnesses (See note on Act 1:21-22.)

Jerusalem Judea Samaria earth Like the ever widening circles of water into which a stone has dropped, the Gospel should from its original center include the whole earth in its circumference. These names trace the enlarging advances in beautiful climax. And so Jesus at the beginning designed a universal religion. This was his last testimony before his ascension.

Uttermost part Parts as yet unknown to that age, which future geography was to reveal, and the Gospel of Christ to cover.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“But you shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come on you: and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth.”

What they are to spend their thoughts and concentration on is now outlined. The very purpose of the coming of the Holy Spirit, is so that they might receive power to become His witnesses by both personal witness and godly living. That witness was first to be in Jerusalem, and then ‘in Judaea and Samaria’ (in the Greek closely conjoined), and then in the uttermost parts of the earth. By witnessing to Him they would be establishing His Kingly Rule (Act 8:12; Act 14:22; Act 19:8; Act 20:25; Act 28:23; Act 28:31; Rom 14:17; 1Co 4:20).

These words were an indication to them that they had no time for speculation, and that His coming could certainly not take place for a good long time (He had gone into a far country), during which time they must reach the whole world for Christ (even though they would think in terms of the Roman world, compare Rom 1:8; Rom 16:19; Col 1:6). As He had previously informed them, His coming would not happen until Jerusalem had been destroyed (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). Meanwhile they must be active.

‘You shall be my witnesses.’ The idea behind the word ‘witness’ is that of being able to declare something experienced personally, to declare something experienced at first hand. In the first initial surge the witness in mind especially included those who had been eyewitnesses, both of Jesus’ earthly life and of His resurrection. The importance lying behind this is brought out in the following verses by the electing to the twelve of another eyewitness of both. But secondarily it includes the witness of all who have personally experienced His saving power.

The word ‘witness’ occurs continually throughout Acts, and can be considered as one of its main themes. This was to be the purpose of the church, to be a witness to Jesus as the risen and enthroned Christ and Lord, and to His Kingly Rule.

It should be noted here that as far as they were concerned at that point in time this meant that they had to go out among the Jews of the Dispersion (including proselytes, (converted Gentiles who has been circumcised) and possibly God-fearers (Gentiles who attended the synagogue because attracted by the moral teaching of the Jewish Scriptures and the idea of one God but who were not willing to be circumcised) so that all of them might hear about Jesus their Messiah and Lord. Jesus did not go into explanations, at this point in time, as to the exact meaning of His words. As with His comment about the time of the coming kingdom, details could be left until later truth dawned on them. It would not be until much later that it came home to them that it also included untouched Gentiles.

‘To the uttermost part of the earth (heows eschatou tes ges).’ This phrase is rare in ancient Greek literature, but it occurs four times in Isaiah in the Septuagint (Isa 8:9; Isa 48:20; Isa 49:6; Isa 62:11). In Isa 8:9 it refers to far off nations, in Isa 48:20 it refers to the declaring to ‘the end of the earth’ that Yahweh has ‘redeemed His servant Jacob’, in Isa 49:6 the Servant of Yahweh is to be given for a light to the Gentiles that He may ‘be for Yahweh’s salvation to the end of the earth’, in Isa 62:11 Yahweh ‘proclaims to the end of the earth’, “Say you to the daughter of Zion, Behold your salvation comes. Behold your reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him, and they will call you the holy people, the redeemed of Yahweh, and you shall be called ‘Sought out’, a city nor forsaken”.

It seems therefore probable that Jesus would expect His disciples to connect the phrase with Isaiah, and recognise that He was saying that in witnessing to Him ‘to the end of the earth’ they would be declaring God’s salvation as expressed in Isaiah and proclaiming that He had now come to redeem His people. They probably initially thought more in terms of Isa 48:20; Isa 62:11 with their emphasis on the message of salvation going to the Jews worldwide, but once the full truth of their mission came home they would also relate it to the work of the Servant on behalf of the Gentiles in Isa 49:6. This particularly comes out in that in Act 13:47 they not only see the Servant as Jesus, but also as the witnessing church, in a verse where Isa 49:6 is quoted. This latter verse confirms that this was their final view.

We should note here that similar instructions had already been given to them a number of times, along with further definition of how they should go about it. ‘Go — and make disciples of all nations —’ (Mat 28:19-20). ‘Go into all the world and preach the Good News to the whole creation —’ (Mar 16:15). ‘Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things’ (Luk 24:47-48). Now they were to learn how to interpret it.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Ver. 8. After that the Holy Ghost is come upon you ] Montanus the heresiarch wickedly affirmed that, next unto the apostles, this Scripture was fulfilled upon him and his courtesan Philumena. (Beza in loc.) Prodigious blasphemy! And eiusdem farinae, a loaf of the same leaven it is, that the Turks believe that when Christ said that “although he departed, he would send the Comforter,” it was added in the text, “And that shall be Mahomet;” but that the Christians in malice toward them have razed it out. (Abbot’s Geog.)

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

8 .] ‘Quod optimum frnand curiositati remedium erat, Christus eos revocat tam ad Dei promissionem, quam ad mandatum.’ Calvin.

, ‘antitheton inter id quod discipulorum erat, vel non erat; tum inter id quod illo tempore futurum erat, et inter id quod in ulteriora reservatum erat.’ Bengel.

, that power, especially , spoken of ch. Act 4:33 , connected with their office of witnessing to the resurrection; but also all other spiritual power. See Luk 24:49 . , not emphatic, as Wordsw. here and often elsewhere: see note on Mat 16:18 . The emphasis would be extremely out of place here: it was not their subordination to Him, but their office as witnesses, which was the contrast to their ambitious aspirings.

] This was the peculiar work of the Apostles[: so they say of themselves, ch. Act 5:32 , ]. See on Act 1:21-22 , and Prolegg. Vol. I. ch. i. iii. 5.

] By the extension of their testimony, from Jerusalem to Samaria, and then indefinitely over the world, He reproves, by implication, their carnal anticipation of the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel thus understood. The Kingdom was to be one founded on , and therefore reigning in the convictions of men’s hearts; and not confined to Juda, but coextensive with the world.

They understood this command only of Jews scattered through the world, see ch. Act 11:19 .

De Wette observes, that these words contain the whole plan of the Acts: . . ., ch. Act 2:1 end; , ch. Act 3:1 to Act 6:7 ; then the martyrdom of Stephen dispersed them through Juda , Act 6:8 to Act 8:3 ; they preach in Samaria , Act 8:4-40 ; and, from that point, the conversion of the Apostle of the Gentiles , the vision of Peter, the preaching and journeys of Paul. In their former mission, Mat 10:5-6 , they had been expressly forbidden from preaching either to Samaritans or Gentiles.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Act 1:8 . , “my witnesses,” R.V., reading instead of , not only witnesses to the facts of their Lord’s life, cf. Act 1:22 , Act 10:39 , but also His witnesses, His by a direct personal relationship; Luk 24:48 simply speaks of a testimony to the facts. . . .: St. Luke on other occasions, as here, distinguishes Jerusalem as a district separate from all the rest of Juda ( cf. Luk 5:17 , Act 10:39 ), a proof of intimate acquaintance with the Rabbinical phraseology of the time, according to Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish Social Life , pp. 17, 73. In this verse, see Introduction , the keynote is struck of the contents of the whole book, and the great divisions of the Acts are marked, see, e.g. , Blass, p. 12 in Prologue to Acts Jerusalem, 1 7; Juda, Act 9:32 ; Act 12:19 ; Samaria, 8; and if it appears somewhat strained to see in St. Paul’s preaching in Rome a witness to “the utmost parts of the earth,” it is noteworthy that in Psalms of Solomon , Act 8:16 , we read of Pompey that he came , i.e. , Rome the same phrase as in Act 1:8 . This verse affords a good illustration of the subjective element which characterises the partition theories of Spitta, Jngst, Clemen and others. Spitta would omit the whole verse from his sources A and , and considers it as an interpolation by the author of Acts; but, as Hilgenfeld points out, the verse is entirely in its place, and it forms the best answer to the “particularism” of the disciples, from which their question in Act 1:6 shows that they were not yet free. Feine would omit the words because nothing in the conduct of the early Church, as it is described to us in the Jewish-Christian source, Acts 1-12, points to any knowledge of such a commission from the Risen Christ. Jngst disagrees with both Spitta and Feine, and thinks that the hand of the redactor is visible in prominence given to the little Samaria.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Acts

THE ASCENSION

Act 1:1 – Act 1:14 .

The Ascension is twice narrated by Luke. The life begun by the supernatural birth ends with the supernatural Ascension, which sets the seal of Heaven on Christ’s claims and work. Therefore the Gospel ends with it. But it is also the starting-point of the Christ’s heavenly activity, of which the growth of His Church, as recorded in the Acts, is the issue. Therefore the Book of the Acts of the Apostles begins with it.

The keynote of the ‘treatise’ lies in the first words, which describe the Gospel as the record of what ‘Jesus began to do and teach,’ Luke would have gone on to say that this second book of his contained the story of what Jesus went on to do and teach after He was ‘taken up,’ if he had been strictly accurate, or had carried out his first intention, as shown by the mould of his introductory sentence; but he is swept on into the full stream of his narrative, and we have to infer the contrast between his two volumes from his statement of the contents of his first.

The book, then, is misnamed Acts of the Apostles, both because the greater number of the Apostles do nothing in it, and because, in accordance with the hint of the first verse, Christ Himself is the doer of all, as comes out distinctly in many places where the critical events of the Church’s progress and extension are attributed to ‘the Lord.’ In one aspect, Christ’s work on earth was finished on the Cross; in another, that finished work is but the beginning both of His doing and teaching. Therefore we are not to regard His teaching while on earth as the completion of Christian revelation. To set aside the Epistles on the plea that the Gospels contain Christ’s own teaching, while the Epistles are only Paul’s or John’s, is to misconceive the relation between the earthly and the heavenly activity of Jesus.

The statement of the theme of the book is followed by a brief summary of the events between the Resurrection and Ascension. Luke had spoken of these in the end of his Gospel, but given no note of time, and run together the events of the day of the Resurrection and of the following weeks, so that it might appear, as has been actually contended that he meant, that the Ascension took place on the very day of Resurrection. The fact that in this place he gives more detailed statements, and tells how long elapsed between the Resurrection Sunday and the Ascension, might have taught hasty critics that an author need not be ignorant of what he does not mention, and that a detailed account does not contradict a summary one,-truths which do not seem very recondite, but have often been forgotten by very learned commentators.

Three points are signalised as occupying the forty days: commandments were given, Christ’s actual living presence was demonstrated by sight, touch, hearing, etc., and instructions concerning the kingdom were imparted. The old blessed closeness and continuity of companionship had ceased. Our Lord’s appearances were now occasional. He came to the disciples, they knew not whence; He withdrew from them, they knew not whither. Apparently a sacred awe restrained them from seeking to detain Him or to follow Him. Their hearts would be full of strangely mingled feelings, and they were being taught by gentle degrees to do without Him. Not only a divine decorum, but a most gracious tenderness, dictated the alternation of presence and absence during these days.

The instructions then given are again referred to in Luke’s Gospel, and are there represented as principally directed to opening their minds ‘that they might understand the Scriptures.’ The main thing about the kingdom which they had then to learn, was that it was founded on the death of Christ, who had fulfilled all the Old Testament predictions. Much remained untaught, which after years were to bring to clear knowledge; but from the illumination shed during these fruitful days flowed the remarkable vigour and confidence of the Apostolic appeal to the prophets, in the first conflicts of the Church with the rulers. Christ is the King of the kingdom, and His Cross is His throne,-these truths being grasped revolutionised the Apostles’ conceptions. They are as needful for us.

From Act 1:4 onwards the last interview seems to be narrated. Probably it began in the city, and ended on the slopes of Olivet. There was a solemn summoning together of the Eleven, which is twice referred to Act 1:4 , Act 1:6. What awe of expectancy would rest on the group as they gathered round Him, perhaps half suspecting that it was for the last time! His words would change the suspicion into certainty, for He proceeded to tell them what they were not to do and to do, when left alone. The tone of leave-taking is unmistakable.

The prohibition against leaving Jerusalem implies that they would have done so if left to themselves; and it would have been small wonder if they had been eager to hurry back to quiet Galilee, their home, and to shake from their feet the dust of the city where their Lord had been slain. Truly they would feel like sheep in the midst of wolves when He had gone, and Pharisees and priests and Roman officers ringed them round. No wonder if, like a shepherdless flock, they had broken and scattered! But the theocratic importance of Jerusalem, and the fact that nowhere else could the Apostles secure such an audience for their witness, made their ‘beginning at Jerusalem’ necessary. So they were to crush their natural longing to get back to Galilee, and to stay in their dangerous position. We have all to ask, not where we should be most at ease, but where we shall be most efficient as witnesses for Christ, and to remember that very often the presence of adversaries makes the door ‘great and effectual.’

These eleven poor men were not left by their Master with a hard task and no help. He bade them ‘wait’ for the promised Holy Spirit, the coming of whom they had heard from Him when in the upper room He spoke to them of ‘the Comforter.’ They were too feeble to act alone, and silence and retirement were all that He enjoined till they had been plunged into the fiery baptism which should quicken, strengthen, and transform them.

The order in which promise and command occur here shows how graciously Jesus considered the Apostles’ weakness. Not a word does He say of their task of witnessing, till He has filled their hearts with the promise of the Spirit. He shows them the armour of power in which they are to be clothed, before He points them to the battlefield. Waiting times are not wasted times. Over-eagerness to rush into work, especially into conspicuous and perilous work, is sure to end in defeat. Till we feel the power coming into us, we had better be still.

The promise of this great gift, the nature of which they but dimly knew, set the Apostles’ expectations on tiptoe, and they seem to have thought that their reception of it was in some way the herald of the establishment of the Messianic kingdom. So it was, but in a very different fashion from their dream. They had not learned so much from the forty days’ instructions concerning the kingdom as to be free from their old Jewish notions, which colour their question, ‘Wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?’ They believed that Jesus could establish His kingdom when He would. They were right, and also wrong,-right, for He is King; wrong, for its establishment is not to be effected by a single act of power, but by the slow process of preaching the gospel.

Our Lord does not deal with their misconceptions which could only be cured by time and events; but He lays down great principles, which we need as much as the Eleven did. The ‘times and seasons,’ the long stretches of days, and the critical epoch-making moments, are known to God only; our business is, not to speculate curiously about these, but to do the plain duty which is incumbent on the Church at all times. The perpetual office of Christ’s people to be His witnesses, their equipment for that function namely, the power of the Holy Spirit coming on them, and the sphere of their work namely, in ever-widening circles, Jerusalem, Samaria, and the whole world, are laid down, not for the first hearers only, but for all ages and for each individual, in these last words of the Lord as He stood on Olivet, ready to depart.

The calm simplicity of the account of the Ascension is remarkable. So great an event told in such few, unimpassioned words! Luke’s Gospel gives the further detail that it was in the act of blessing with uplifted hands that our Lord was parted from the Eleven. Two expressions are here used to describe the Ascension, one of which ‘was taken up’ implies that He was passive, the other of which ‘He went’ implies that He was active. Both are true. As in the accounts of the Resurrection He is sometimes said to have been raised, and sometimes to have risen, so here. The Father took the Son back to the glory, the Son left the world and went to the Father. No chariot of fire, no whirlwind, was needed to lift Him to the throne. Elijah was carried by such agency into a sphere new to him; Jesus ascended up where He was before.

No other mode of departure from earth would have corresponded to His voluntary, supernatural birth. He carried manhood up to the throne of God. The cloud which received Him while yet He was well within sight of the gazers was probably that same bright cloud, the symbol of the Divine Presence, which of old dwelt between the cherubim. His entrance into it visibly symbolised the permanent participation, then begun, of His glorified manhood in the divine glory.

Most true to human nature is that continued gaze upwards after He had passed into the hiding brightness of the glory-cloud. How many of us know what it is to look long at the spot on the horizon where the last glint of sunshine struck the sails of the ship that bore dear ones away from us! It was fitting that angels, who had heralded His birth and watched His grave, should proclaim His Second Coming to earth.

It was gracious that, in the moment of keenest sense of desolation and loss, the great hope of reunion should be poured into the hearts of the Apostles. Nothing can be more distinct and assured than the terms of that angel message. It gives for the faith and hope of all ages the assurance that He will come; that He who comes will be the very Jesus who went; that His coming will be, like His departure, visible, corporeal, local. He will bring again all His tenderness, all His brother’s heart, all His divine power, and will gather His servants to Himself.

No wonder that, with such hopes flowing over the top of their sorrow, like oil on troubled waters, the little group went back to the upper room, hallowed by memories of the Last Supper, and there waited in prayer and supplication during the ten days which elapsed till Pentecost. So should we use the interval between any promise and its fulfilment. Patient expectation, believing prayer, harmonious association with our brethren, will prepare us for receiving the gift of the Spirit, and will help to equip us as witnesses for Jesus.

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

power. Greek dunamis. App-172.

the Holy Ghost = the Holy Spirit (with art.) App-101. Compare Luk 24:49.

upon. App-104.

witnesses. See note on Joh 1:7.

unto Me. Texts read, “of Me”, or “My” witnesses. Compare Isa 43:10, Isa 43:12; Isa 44:8.

unto = as far as. Greek. heos.

earth. App-129.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

8.] Quod optimum frnand curiositati remedium erat, Christus eos revocat tam ad Dei promissionem, quam ad mandatum. Calvin.

, antitheton inter id quod discipulorum erat, vel non erat; tum inter id quod illo tempore futurum erat, et inter id quod in ulteriora reservatum erat. Bengel.

, that power, especially, spoken of ch. Act 4:33, connected with their office of witnessing to the resurrection; but also all other spiritual power. See Luk 24:49. , not emphatic, as Wordsw. here and often elsewhere: see note on Mat 16:18. The emphasis would be extremely out of place here: it was not their subordination to Him, but their office as witnesses, which was the contrast to their ambitious aspirings.

] This was the peculiar work of the Apostles[: so they say of themselves, ch. Act 5:32, ]. See on Act 1:21-22, and Prolegg. Vol. I. ch. i. iii. 5.

] By the extension of their testimony, from Jerusalem to Samaria, and then indefinitely over the world, He reproves, by implication, their carnal anticipation of the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel thus understood. The Kingdom was to be one founded on , and therefore reigning in the convictions of mens hearts; and not confined to Juda, but coextensive with the world.

They understood this command only of Jews scattered through the world, see ch. Act 11:19.

De Wette observes, that these words contain the whole plan of the Acts: …, ch. Act 2:1-end; , ch. Act 3:1 to Act 6:7; then the martyrdom of Stephen dispersed them through Juda, Act 6:8 to Act 8:3; they preach in Samaria, Act 8:4-40; and, from that point, the conversion of the Apostle of the Gentiles, the vision of Peter, the preaching and journeys of Paul. In their former mission, Mat 10:5-6, they had been expressly forbidden from preaching either to Samaritans or Gentiles.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Act 1:8. , but) The antithesis is between that which was the part of the disciples, or was not: as also between that which was about to be at that time, and that which was reserved for farther off times.-, witnesses) by your teaching, and by shedding your blood as martyrs: it is not said. Ye shall be kings of the world; although the kingdom of GOD shall be propagated by that very testimony.–, Jerusalem-the earth) A gradation or ascending climax. See, for instance, the successive steps, ch. Act 8:1; Act 8:4-5; Act 8:27.-, Samaria) They had heretofore been hound [Mat 10:5-6] not to enter the cities of the Samaritans. Without a doubt this now seemed strange to the apostles.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Power for Witness

Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses.Act 1:8.

1. The Book of Acts takes up the thread of the story just before the point at which the Gospel had dropped it. It begins with a brief summary of the Forty Days, adding a fuller account of the Ascension. These introductory verses (Act 1:1-12) mark the transition from the earthly Ministry of the Lord (all that Jesus began both to do and to teach) to the Ministry of the Spirit which was to follow His Ascension. The earthly Ministry had been from the first in the power of the Spirit, as the Gospel has taught us; and the Acts opens with an intimation that this continued to the end. The last injunctions to the Apostles were given, it is noted, through [the] Holy Spirit. The Messianic inspiration was upon the Risen Christ as it had been upon the Christ of the Ministry, and was perhaps enhanced by the more spiritual conditions of the Resurrection life.

2. In these interviews before the Ascension the Lords mind seems to have recalled the days of His own Baptism and Anointing by the Holy Spirit. He knew that a like event was about to occur in the history of the Church; her baptism with the Spirit was at hand. The Eleven were charged not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the fulfilment of the Fathers promise; for John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized in [the] Holy Spirit not many days hence. As to the time of the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom He had nothing to say; it was in the Fathers hands. It was enough for them to know what directly concerned their own immediate future, and the discharge of their duty in it. Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Juda and Samaria, and unto the end of the earth. As the Lords own Baptism had been followed by His ministry in Galilee, so the Baptism of the Church was to be preparatory to a world-wide ministry; a ministry not, like His own, creative of a new order, but one of simple testimony; yet to be fulfilled only in the power of the Spirit of God.1 [Note: H. B. Swete.]

The text contains three clauses: (1) Ye shall receive power, (2) when the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and (3) ye shall be my witnesses. These clauses suggest three divisions under which we may study the subject

I.Power.

II.The Source of Power.

III. The Use of Power.

Power

Ye shall receive power.

There are two Greek words ( and ) in the New Testament, both of which are rendered by our word power. The one refers to power in the sense of rule or authority, the other means ability, strength, or force. It is the latter of these two words that is used here.

What was this power which the Apostles were to receive? As a matter of fact, what power did they receive?

1. Was it, as they anticipated, political power? Certainly, in the course of years the Church of Christ did acquire something very like the power of the sceptre. The prophecies of Isaiah seemed to intimate that this would be so: in the Evangelical prophet the Church is already represented as a spiritual empire, surrounded with the circumstances of temporal greatness. But when did this form of power present itself? Not in her first years of missionary enterprise and of abundant martyrdom. But when she was no longer composed of a despised minority, when by a long catalogue of labours and sufferings she had won her way to the understandings and to the hearts of multitudes, she forthwith acquired power in the State. Found in all the walks of life, in all the provinces of the great world-empire, and in regions beyond its frontiers; an intellectual force, when other thought was languishing or dying; a focus of high moral effort, when the world around was a very flood of revolting wickedness; a bond of the closest union, when all else was tending to social divergence and disruption of interests; she became a political force. Such she was long before Constantine associated the Cross with the Roman purple. Political power came to the Church, at first unbidden, and in many cases unwelcomed. It was a current charge against the primitive Christians that they neglected civil and political duties. But political power came to them from the nature of the case, and inevitably: the Gospel was necessarily a popular moral influence, and it could not be this on a great scale without tending to become a power in the State.

Undoubtedly political power was given to the Church by the loving providence of our Lord, as an instrument whereby to promote mans highest good. But if such power was an opportunity often used for the highest purposes and with the happiest effect, it was also a temptation to worldly ambition, and even to worse sins, often yielded to with the most disastrous results. Who can doubt this after studying in the history of the great Western See such lives as, for example, those of a Julius 2. or of a Leo 10.? Who can doubt this after an impartial consideration of the history of other portions of the Church nearer home, which have purchased a political status at the heavy cost of sacrificing spiritual energy and freedom? He who said at the first, My kingdom is not of this world, is perhaps bringing Christians everywhere back by the course of His providences to the fuller acknowledgment of this primal truth. If political power had been of the essence of our Lords promise to His Apostles, we might well lose heart; but there is no cause for despondency, if the power which the Apostles were to receive was of a higher and more enduring character. Political power is after all but a clumsy instrument for achieving spiritual success.1 [Note: H. P. Liddon.]

2. Was, then, the power in question intellectual power? The Gospel has undoubtedly lightened up mans understanding and fertilized his thought. Knowledge is of itself power; and knowledge on the highest and most interesting of all subjects is a very high form of power. For knowledge is the motive and warrant of action, and they whose eye ranges over two worlds occupy a more commanding position than they who see only one. A certain power of this description was undoubtedly a result of the gift of Pentecost. Our Lord had dwelt on the illuminating office of the Comforter: He shall guide you into all truth. And the first Apostles needed such an assistance, since they were utterly uneducated men, with the narrowest of mental horizons. How wonderfully, on the day of Pentecost itself, is the thought of St. Peter fertilized and expanded! The unlettered fisherman is suddenly the profound expositor of ancient prophecy, and within a short period his teaching brings him into collision with the Sadducean leaders of educated sceptical opinion. And in later years how rich and various are the intellectual gifts of the inspired Apostles of Christ! And when we pass down into later ages, we find the promise of intellectual power fulfilled almost continuously in the annals of the Church. But was this intellectual power, swaying the thoughts of educated men, the chief, or even a main, element of the promised gift? Surely not. The Gospel was meant for the whole human family; and the poor, in consideration of the hardness of their lot, had a first claim upon its preachers. Not many learned were called among the multitudes who first poured into the kingdom; and mere cultivated intellect is a sorry weapon wherewith to approach those who lack that cultivation which is necessary to understand it. The gift of Pentecost may indeed have included intellectual power; a living, active soul is a thinking as well as a loving soul; but the main essential gift itself was something beyond, something higher, something more universally acceptable, something more adapted to the soul of man, as man, something more capable of advancing the glory and of doing justice to the grace of God.

There is in our day a marvellous idolatry of talent; it is a strange and a grievous thing to see how men bow down before genius and success. Draw the distinction sharp and firm between these two thingsgoodness is one thing, talent another. The Son of Man came, not as a scribe, but as a poor working man. He was a Teacher, but not a Rabbi. When once the idolatry of talent enters the Church then farewell to spirituality; when men ask their teachers not for that which will make them more humble and godlike, but for the excitement of an intellectual banquet, then farewell to Christian progress.1 [Note: F. W. Robertson.]

3. Was this power, then, to be a faculty of working miracles? Our thoughts seem to gravitate naturally towards such a supposition. A certain limited power of this description, varying apparently with the spiritual state of the disciples themselves, had been granted to them during our Lords ministry. At one time the disciples rejoice that the devils are subject to them; at another they are powerless to relieve the lunatic at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration. But after the Ascension, and because of it, they were to do works even greater than those of their Divine Master. Greater works than these shall he (that believeth) do, because I go to my Father. The gift of miracles depended on the Ascension in the same sense as did the gift of the promised Comforter; and it was natural to identify the two gifts, or to regard the former as a chief result or fruit of the latter. But miracle was not of the essence of that power which the Apostles were to receive at Pentecost. It was rather an evidence, an occasional accompaniment, an ornament of the central gift, than the gift itself.

Miracle is by no means a resistless instrument for propagating a doctrine. Unbelief has many methods for escaping its force. Where it cannot insinuate trickery, it has no scruple about hinting at the agency of Beelzebub. The state of mind which resists the historical and prophetical evidences of Revelation is likely to deal somewhat summarily with a natural wonder, however well attested, in the domain of sense, Our Lord Himself tells us that this is so: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.

4. Nor did the power consist in the ministerial commission itself: in the authorization to preach the Word and to administer the Sacraments. Undoubtedly, in a profound sense of the term, that commission, with its several elementary portions, is a power unlike any other which God has given to His creatures here below. But our Lord had already solemnly and fully commissioned His Apostles. They were in full possession of all powers necessary to feed and teach the Lords people, but it would seem that until the Day of Pentecost these powers were like undeveloped faculties, latent in the souls of the Apostles, but unexercised. Something else was needed, some vivifying heavenly force which should quicken and stimulate these hidden energies, and, like the rain or the sunshine upon the dormant vitality of the seed or the shoot, should provoke them into an outburst of energetic life.

5. Wherein did this power which the Apostles were to receive consist? Creating political ascendancy, yet utterly distinct from it; fertilizing intellectual power, yet differing in its essence from the activity of mere vigorous unsanctified intellect; working moral miracles, gifted (it may be) to work physical wonders, yet certainly in itself more persuasive than the miracle it was empowered to produce; intimately allied with, and the natural accompaniment of, distinct ministerial faculties, yet not necessarily so; what is this higher, this highest power, this gift of gifts, this transforming influence, which was to countersign as if from heaven what had previously been given by the Incarnate Lord on earth, and was to form out of unlettered and irresolute peasants the evangelists of the world? It was spiritual, it was personal, it was moral power.

Spiritual power may be felt rather than described or analysed. It resides in or it permeates a mans whole circle of activities; it cannot be localized, it cannot be identified exclusively with one of them. It is an unearthly beauty, whose native home is in a higher world, yet which tarries among men from age to age, since the time when the Son of God left us His example, and gave us His Spirit. It is nothing else than His spiritual presence, mantling upon His servants; they live in Him; they lose in Him something of their proper personality; they are absorbed into, they are transfigured by, a Life altogether higher than their own; His voice blends with theirs, His eye seems to lighten theirs with its sweetness and its penetration; His hand gives gentleness and decision to their acts; His heart communicates a ray of its Divine charity to their life of narrower and more stagnant affection; His soul commingles with theirs, and their life of thought, and feeling, and resolve is irradiated and braced by His. If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.1 [Note: H. P. Liddon.]

Suppose we saw an army sitting down before a granite fort, and they told us that they intended to batter it down; we might ask them, How? They point to a cannon-ball. Well, there is no power in that; it is heavy, but not more than half a hundred-, or perhaps a hundred-weight; if all the men in the army hurled it against the fort, they would make no impression. They say, No; but look at the cannon. Well, there is no power in that. A child may ride upon it, a bird may perch in its mouth; it is a machine, and nothing more. But look at the powder. Well, there is no power in that; a child may spill it, a sparrow may peck it. Yet this powerless powder, and powerless ball, are put into the powerless cannon, one spark of fire enters it, and then, in the twinkling of an eye, that powder is a flash of lightning, and that ball a thunderbolt which smites as if it had been sent from heaven. So is it with our Church machinery at this day: we have all the instruments necessary for pulling down strongholds, and O for the baptism of fire!1 [Note: W. Arthur, The Tongue of Fire, 309.]

The Source of Power

When the Holy Ghost is come upon you.

1. Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you. The power is not only coincident in time with the gift of the Holy Spirit of God, it is derived from it. The literal translation is, Ye shall receive power, the Holy Spirit coming upon you. The connexion between the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the power may be seen from Christs treatment of His Apostles. They had been with Him in His work, had seen His miracles, had heard His addresses, had been taught by Him in private for years, had seen Him in His passion, death, and resurrection, and were yet to witness His ascension; but they were told to tarry for this enduement. Theirs was a task for which they seemed well equipped. As eye and ear witnesses, it was theirs to go out and tell the things that they had seen and heard; yet they were not allowed to do so without this last all-important equipment.

There is one inlet of power in the life,anybodys lifeany kind of power, just one inlet,the Holy Spirit. He is power. He is in every one who opens his door to God. He eagerly enters every open door. He comes in by our invitation and consent. His presence within is the vital thing.2 [Note: S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talks on Prayer, 9.]

On one occasion it was our lot to hear a preacher of name, preaching before a great Missionary Society, from the text, I am come to send fire upon the earth. Choosing to interpret the fire referred to in this passage as the power which would purify and renew the earth, he at once declared the truth to be that power, and most consistently pursued his theme, without ever glancing at anything but the instrument. Afterwards, hearing the merits of the sermon discussed by some eminent ministers of his own denomination, and finding no allusion to its theology, we asked, Did you not remark any theological defect? No one remarked any, till the minister of some obscure country congregation broke silence, for the first time, by saying, Yes; there was not one word in it about the Holy Spirit.1 [Note: W. Arthur, The Tongue of Fire, 171.]

2. Why do I believe in the power of the Holy Ghost? First, because it is clearly promised me by God. God, who never fails His people, has promised power. Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. When Jesus Christ went away, He said: It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. What was the Comforter to do when He came? Tarry ye in Jerusalem till ye be clothed with power from on high. When the Holy Ghost is come upon you, ye shall receive power. Could the Word of God be more clearly pledged to anything than thisthat the Holy Ghost shall give us power? Next, let us look to see whether this promise was fulfilled to the first disciples. We see a body of mennot only Apostles, but all the first disciples, men and women just like ourselvestarrying in Jerusalem, gathered together, weak, irresolute, timid, and perplexed. We hear the sound of a rushing mighty wind; we see tongues of fire coming down upon that body. What has happened? They have received the Spirit of power. Those timid, irresolute fishermen and peasants are turned into the worlds apostles. They always know henceforth the next thing to do; they face the world with courage and determination. Unknown, unnamed, they go out, a little body, full of the Holy Ghost, and they convert the world.

A servant is not greater than his lord; neither one that is sent greater than he that sent him (Joh 13:16). The way in which the Master entered upon His ministry is the way in which the Apostles are to enter upon theirs. We say it with head uncovered, as in the presence of the supreme mystery, Jesus Christ Himself did not begin His life task until He too had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Coming up out of the Jordan at His baptism He prayed; and as He prayed, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. Then the record says: Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led in the Spirit into the wilderness. And later, when His temptations were over, the Scripture says: Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and He taught in their synagogues. Of Himself He said: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach. And it was in this power, too, that He cast out devils and performed His many miracles. Jesus, the only begotten of the Father, very God of very God, prepared through eternity for His task, tarried as a man until the Spirit baptized Him and He could in this power perform His part in the Temple-building plans of the Trinity.1 [Note: C. B. Keenleyside.]

3. How did the disciples receive the power of the Holy Ghost?

(1) First, they waited for it: Tarry in Jerusalem, tarry till ye be clothed with power from on high. They did not force the hand of God, they did not get impatient, they waitedthey waited upon God.

When I find people giving up their prayers because they do not feel anything, when I find them disheartened because when they were confirmed they used to be full of warm aspirations, but now they have to go on their way feeling cold and dead, then I know that they have missed the first lesson. Wait for the power of the Holy Ghost. It is certain to come whether they feel it or not. It does not depend on feeling at all. If there is some one here tired, depressed about his spiritual life, let him tarry in Jerusalem; let him keep his head bowed between his knees as Elijah on the top of Carmel, and at last there will be borne on the breeze to his thirsty soul the sound of abundance of rain.2 [Note: A. F. Winnington Ingram.]

Some speak of waiting for salvation as if it meant making ourselves at ease, and dismissing both effort and anxiety. Who so waits for any person, or any event? When waiting, your mind is set on a certain point; you can give yourself to nothing else. You are looking forward, and preparing; every moment of delay increases the sensitiveness of your mind as to that one thing. A servant waiting for his master, a wife waiting for the footstep of her husband, a mother waiting for her expected boy, a merchant waiting for his richly laden ship, a sailor waiting for the sight of land, a monarch waiting for tidings of the battle: all these are cases wherein the mind is set on one object, and cannot easily give attention to another.1 [Note: W. Arthur, The Tongue of Fire, 24.]

We wait, O Lord, Thy power to know,

Before we forth to service go,

Or else we serve in vain.

We trust not human thought or might,

Our souls are helpless for the fight,

Until that power we gain.

In solemn tarriance we seek

The power that strengthens what is weak,

To overcoming zeal.

O Holy Ghost, equip us here;

With fire our waiting souls come near,

Thy mightiness to feel!

The fire that cleanseth through and through,

Inspiring every nerve anew,

With energy Divine!

The fire that burns its conquering way

Within, without; and every day

Doth keep us wholly Thine.

So forth to conflict, cleansed and strong,

Baptized for war with godless wrong,

Now send us, God of Right!

Our ransomed lives for warfare take,

And all thou wouldst, our spirits make,

All holy in Thy sight!

(2) The disciples prayed for the power of the Holy Spirit. They did not merely wish vaguely for a little more spiritual power. That is not the way to get it. They prayed with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all their strength. If power is to come at all, it is the most precious thing in the world, it is a thing for which to agonize in prayer. It is the violent who take the kingdom of God by force. Let us pray, then, with all our soullet us pray in faith, and pray all together.

4. Now consider the power of the Holy Spirit as given to the Church. There are three principles, which we should remember, incident upon the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Church.

(1) The gift is constant. Because the Holy Spirit is the source of power, therefore the power which was thus to arrive on a specific occasion was not to be transitory or occasional. The Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, shall abide with you for ever. I am with you alwayin your making disciples, baptizing and teachingeven unto the end of the world.

(2) The gift is both individual and corporate. All the announcements and instructions were delivered to the disciples as a corporate group; and were so received and acted upon. The disciples tarried in the city together, assembled in one place, and this is specified as characteristic among the circumstances under which the promise was fulfilled and applied: They were all together in one place. In short, our Lord did not announce the Holy Spirit only as a guide for individual hearts, essential as this part of His office is, but also as the Giver of power for the corporate witness of the Church, and for its extension. He laid down the doctrine of a Church which as a whole should be guided in her missionary operations by God the Holy Ghost, while for the execution of the details of that task, her members, each in his own grade, should receive power from the same Spirit.

Jesus Christ made men before He made the Church. Jesus created and concentrated strong, personal forces among His personal followers, before He gave to the disciples the cup of communion, and ordained them as His Apostles to gather congregations of believers in His name. In Christs work the inspired personality came first, and afterwards the New Testament and the Church. A true communion, or saved society of men and women, was the end sought from the beginning by Him who came preaching the Gospel of the kingdom; but the method of Jesus was personal influence, and the inspiration of chosen personalities by His Spirit. The power of the Church consists in its fulness of personal forces. Your personal power for good may be multiplied many fold in the organized life of the Church; but personal powers are the vital units which, multiplied together, constitute that organic whole which is the living body of Christ.1 [Note: Newman Smyth, Christian Facts and Forces, 163.]

(3) It is a gift once for all, and cannot be repeated. On this day the promise was fulfilled, the Holy Ghost came, and the new era was inaugurated. It was not a step which could be repeated. We talk of new Pentecosts, but it is an inaccurate phrase. The fact of Pentecost has taken place once for all, and we are here, not to wait for new Pentecosts, but to believe in the one which God established. We may drink, as individuals, of the stream then set flowing, or we may neglect it; but there can be no second stream. We may stir up, as a Church, the Spirit which all the Churches have received, but if we neglect it there is no new Pentecost. That the new era had been on that day inaugurated became instantly evident. The Apostles, who had been very slow to understand either the essence or the nature of Christs work, or the current of Gods purposes, immediately were found masters of the application of the Old Testament to every part of their duty, masters of Christs system, laying down the principles of conversion, communion, discipline; even found full of insight into the meaning of God in history, and the scope of His future purpose. As scattered fragments of iron filings are instantly ranged in order and charged with force when a great magnet is brought over them, so the group of wavering adherents, of different temperaments and aims, became in a moment a coherent and disciplined band, instinct with the mind and the force of their ascended Master, by the power of that Holy Spirit whom He had said that He would send.

In the Church there ever is, living as an actual fact, to be seen of men, the Christian life, i.e. a character seen in actual life and work, with marks clear and distincta character which appeals to all as the highest and noblest life that man can live. There it is with many features, infinite variety, yet one and the same through the ages, governed by the same dominant and deeply fixed principles which make it what it is. It is not an imagination, but a real thing, which we can trace back to the time of Christ, and which we can trace no further.1 [Note: M. B. Williamson.]

III

The Use of Power

Ye shall be my witnesses.

The expression which St. Luke represents our Lord as employing, simple as it is, is full of meaning. It has a history. In the second part of Isaiah, the prophet draws a magnificent picture of a great assize (Isa 43:9 ff; cf. Isa 44:8 ff.). Jehovah puts Himself on His trial. His Claims to sovereignty become the subject of a universal controversy. On the one side all the nations are assembled together; on the other, Israel, now chastened and restoredJehovahs sons brought from far and his daughters from the end of the earth. The nations are challenged to produce their witnesses and to sustain the pretensions of their gods. There is silence; the appeal is unanswered. Then Jehovah turns to Israel, who has known Him. Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen. Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and I am God.

The great assize is now no longer a prophetic vision. Henceforth it is to be wrought out in the daily struggles and triumphs of the Christian Church. The supreme messenger of Jehovah is renewing the ancient challenge. Israel after the flesh by their rejection of Him has proved unworthy of the prerogative once theirs. They are no longer Jehovahs witnesses to the nations. They have rather passed over into the ranks of those who must receive the testimony of others. The Apostles, the representatives and prophets of the new Israel of God, are bidden to take up the abdicated office, and, themselves the first recipients of a final salvation, to be Jehovahs witnesses to all the world. Thus Christs parting words seem to be designed to mark alike the continuity of revelation and the passing away of the old order.

Ye shall be my witnesses. Think of all that this word means. What is a witness? The light we need here is light that we have by our common use of the Anglicized form of this Greek word martyr. Ye shall be martyrs. I do not wish to suggest that Jesus meant necessarily that these men would all die for Him. We have come to use that word martyr as referring only to such as seal their testimony with their blood. I am not suggesting that we should abandon that particular use of the word, for it is a great and glorious use of the word to-day. The men who sealed their testimony with their blood were martyrs, but they were martyrs before they died. Smithfields fires never made martyrs: they revealed martyrs. Persecution never makes a martyr: it finds him out and wraps him in the glory of flame that we may see him for evermore.1 [Note: G. Campbell Morgan.]

We must consider our Lords words in both their narrower and their wider application: (i.) as they relate in an especial sense to the Apostles, and (ii.) as they relate to each individual member of the Church.

i. The Apostles as Witnesses

1. The charge expresses their Masters confidence in the Apostles in terms which could hardly be broader or more trustful. Ye shall be my witnesses, it runsmy witnesses here where you are known, and in neighbouring lands, and then everywhere unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Observe the phrase, my witnesses, not merely witnesses unto Me, but witnesses chosen by Me to take My place, to represent Me when I am not there to represent Myself. The trust and confidence of our Lord is almost awful in its absolute reality. He left no building, no writing, no material relics worthy of mention. He borrowed a room in a friends house for His Last Supper and for the meetings of His little company. He borrowed the outward rite of one of the great sacraments from natural religion and the other from common life. His own special prayer has many points of contact with forms that existed before it. The number of the Apostles was apparently suggested by that of the tribes of Israel. Beyond these main foundations He left little that was definite, though there were indications that other existing usages of the religious life around Him were approved by Him and stamped with His recommendation. He left it to His Apostles and their successors to combine and to develop these hints and beginnings and give them form and substance, but clearly under reservation that all such things should take a secondary place in His plan of salvation. Everything not specially ordered by Him in detail was clearly subject to a change in detail, and everything even when so ordered was subordinate to the supreme duty of bringing His Person and Life before the world. That was the great commission finally impressed on the Apostles. He did not obscure their duty to be ministers of His Word and Sacraments, to be preachers of the Gospel, to be pastors of men, and to bring men to God. He had revealed all this in many ways, and set it forth in brilliant and definite outlines. But the dominant thought is surely the last: it is the duty of the Church above all things else, both in its ministers and in its members, to bear witness to Christ, His Person, His Love, His Presence. With this charge ringing in their ears, the Apostles set out to begin their work. We cannot doubt that it is to be the perpetually recurring keynote to which the whole music of the Church is to be attuned to the end.

2. The Apostles are the links between Christ and Christendom. All we know of Him is through the impression produced on them. The last year of His ministry was almost entirely devoted to their training. The medium is singularly colourless; of themselves personally, with the exception of St. Peter, we know next to nothing. The sons of Zebedee appear as zealous partisans, and interesting notices of the hesitating Thomas and the practical Philip are given several times in the Fourth Gospel; but otherwise they are but honoured namestheir origin, their ministry, their martyrdoms, almost a blank. We must not look to them primarily as preachers, organizers, writers, but we must look to them rather in their character as witnesses.

Dr. Frank Gunsaulus, of Chicago, has written in one of his books a sentence to this effect: True statesmanship consists in discovering the way in which God is going and then moving things out of the way for Him. And I believe to-day that what we need supremely is to come to a re-discovery of the way in which God is going; and in order to do that I personally feel that there is nothing more valuable than that we should return to the sources, to the beginnings of thingsnot that all the methods of the Spirit were exhausted in the early days, but that in the record of what then happened we have clearly defined for us the line of the Spirits Operations and the direction of God.1 [Note: G. Campbell Morgan.]

ii. The Witness of us all

The duty of being witnesses to Christ is not laid on one order of men alone, it is laid upon all. Although unquestionably, in a special degree, the injunction may be held as addressed to the Apostles and to those who bear office in the Church, the humblest members are not excluded from its scope. Not only does the gifted and lamented Genevan professor, Gaston Frommel, say: This declaration of our Lord established the true notion of the Christian ministry, lay as well as pastoral, but Canon Liddon is equally emphatic: The Apostles standing before their departing Lord impersonate not merely the ministry, but the Church; and Jesus in His last words on earth speaks not merely to the clerical order, He bequeaths a legacy of glory and of suffering to the millions of Christendom: Ye shall be witnesses unto me.

In some religious bodies it is deemed incumbent on every member to relate his own experiences. He is not admitted unless he bear testimony to the fact that he has given his heart to Christ, and opportunities are periodically allowed for him to renew his testimony, to express the pleasure with which he feels his faith to be growing, or the distress with which he feels it to be decaying. From such meetings many have gone strengthened and confirmed, more ready to do and to suffer for their Lord. Such meetings are not altogether in accord with the traditions of our Scottish piety; the reticence of the Scottish character shrinks from uttering in Company the secrets of the innermost heart, a reticence so extreme and so perverted as in some districts to keep back from the Lords Table the most devout and earnest Christians till old age has come upon them. We can all see that public confessions of faith and devotion may be worth little, may be the result of momentary emotion rather than of settled principle, but it may be questioned whether in Scotland we do not carry our concealment of religious feeling too far. To speak glibly on a subject may indicate only superficial acquaintance; never to speak about it at all is not an absolute assurance that the acquaintance is genuine and profound. It may be absurd and blameable to talk volubly of spiritual themes to which we are personally strangers, but to refrain from utterance is at times to suppress a truth which, if it had been allowed to grow, would have been of inestimable value in shaping our own lives and the lives of others round about us. The vain repetition of pious phrases may be easily learned by the shallow and the hypocritical, but the careful abstention from every phrase that is not wholly secular will not induce our companions to take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus. The chief service which, two hundred years ago, Joseph Addison rendered to religion was not so much by his essays in deliberate defence of Christianity, as by the graceful satire with which he fairly laughed men out of that false modesty which made them ashamed of owning themselves on the Christian side, e.g. one who was long suspected of being a little pious, though no man ever hid his vice with greater caution than he did his virtue; another, the well-bred man who is obliged to conceal any serious sentiment and appear a greater libertine than he is, that he may keep himself in countenance among the men of more; another, the master of the house who is so very modest a man that he has not the confidence to say grace at his own table. It is possible that the shafts of the gentle ridicule of Addison might find as suitable targets to-day as they did two hundred years ago.1 [Note: P. MAdam Muir.]

1. It is the privilege of each believer everywhere, in addition to the cleansing in the water of Baptism, to receive also such a baptism of the Holy Ghost as will endue and equip for service. Power in service, or in witnessing, comes, as we have seen, from the Holy Ghost. Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be my witnesses. The form in which the power shall manifest itself is not for us to decide. The Spirit divideth to each one severally as he will. But of this we may be sure, that if we have allowed God to choose our work, the power or gift so bestowed will exactly match the task that is before us. If God has picked us out to bear burdens, hew wood or stone, act as overseers, or as skilled artificers, He will then likewise divide to each in baptizing with the Spirit just that power needful for the work required. As there are diversities of tasks, so there are diversities of gifts, but the one Spirit.

However it was spoken, the word was spoken suitably in every case. It might be expository or controversial in its nature, it might be by exhortation or reproof, according as the case demanded. In Barnabas it was exhortation; in Paul, reproof; in Apollos, exposition; in Peter, controversy. In Paul, reproof at one time; and at another, controversy, and argument, and exposition. In Peter, exposition, and controversy, and argument, and appeal, alternately. The occasion shaped the demand made, and so the utterance. The power of the Spirit impelled these men to speak, but enabled them to speak suitably.2 [Note: T. Adamson, The Spirit of Power, 41.]

There has come to you some bit of a call to service, to teach a class, or to write a special letter, or speak a word, or take up something needing to be done. And you hesitate. You think that you cannot. You are not fit, you think; not qualified. The thing to do is to do it. If the call is clear, go ahead. Need is one of the strong calling voices of God. It is always safe to respond. Put out your foot in the answering swing, even though you cannot see clearly the place to put it down. God attends to that part. Power comes as we go.1 [Note: S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talks on Service, 37.]

2. The witness must also be suitable to time and circumstances. It is now acknowledged that the twentieth-century Christian can think only the thought of the twentieth century; hence it is a delusion to think that we men of to-day can hold quite the same belief as the Christian of the first century or the Christian of the sixteenth century. Mr. A. J. Balfour has done good service in making it plain that Religious Knowledge is subject to the same change and development as all other knowledge. The fact that theological thought follows the laws which govern the evolution of all other thought, that it changes from age to age, largely as regards the relative emphasis given to its various elements, not inconsiderably as regards the substance of those elements themselves, is a fact written legibly across the pages of ecclesiastical history. Bearing this truism in mind, we shall understand that the measure of the present vitality of our religion is its power to readjust its conceptions, and to readapt its institutions to their environment. The religious teacher of to-day must be ready to bring out of his treasury things new as well as old; he must never be weary of translating into the current idiom the thoughts of old, but he must also be ever ready to welcome the fresh voices of later wisdom. And while in no way disparaging the partial formul in which men of old expressed their faith, we must beware lest we regard our own view of truth as final.

Matthew Arnold well expressed the modern spirit when he wrote: An age which has its face towards the future, and in which men are full of plans for the welfare of the world, is not an age that has lost its faith. Its temper of mind is constructive; it is eager for new institutions, keen for new ideas, and has already a half-belief in a future in which all things will be new. With these hopeful words ringing in our ears, let us attempt to face the religious problems of the present age.2 [Note: G. F. Terry.]

Not clinging to some ancient saw;

Not masterd by some modern term;

Not swift nor slow to change, but firm:

And in its season bring the law.

Meet is it Chances should control

Our being, lest we rust in ease:

We are all changed by still degrees,

Allbut the basis of the soul.

3. The life of witnessing is not one of easy self-complacency, still less of morbid emotionalism, but of constant unobtrusive earnestness amid the commonplace work of the world. To witness truly we must be doers of the word and not hearers only, we must live lustrous lives, we must be valiant for the truth and wrestle bravely with individual and national sin, we must strengthen the feeble knees and encourage fainting hearts.

When some one asked Sir Joshua Reynolds how long it had taken him to paint a certain picture, he answered, All my life. If I omit one days practice, Rubinstein is reported to have said, I know it the next day, the critics know it the day after, and the public the day after that. If, then, it be true that

The heights by great men reached and kept

Were not attained by sudden night;

But they, while their companions slept,

Were toiling upward in the night;

how is it to be supposed that it can be otherwise with great Christians? Our Lord bids us strive to enter in at the strait gate, literally, to agonize to do it; and St. Paul declares: By the grace of God I am what I am, yet immediately adds, and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all. So in this matter of witnessing he will succeed best who takes most pains.1 [Note: W. A. N. Hall.]

The man who witnesses for the Master to-day has not to face outward danger or brave a martyrs death. But with the age of persecution the difficulties of the Christian life have not passed away. In maintaining in the unambitious routine of humble duties a spirit of Christian cheerfulness and contentmentin the constant reference to lofty ends amid lowly trialsthere may be evinced faith as strong as that of the man who dies with the song of martyrdom on his lips. It is a great thing to love Christ so dearly as to be ready to die for Him: but it is often a thing not less great to be ready to live for Him. To do this effectively demands not a little effort on our part. Those who have the best right to speak have been unanimous in their testimony that nothing really worthy of attainment in art, in science, or in the things of the spirit, is to be accomplished without effort.1 [Note: W. A. N. Hall.]

So he died for his faith. That is fine.

More than the most of us do.

But stay. Can you add to that line

That he lived for it, too?

It is easy to die. Men have died

For a wish or a whim

From bravado or passion or pride.

Was it hard for him?

But to live: every day to live out

All the truth that he dreamt,

While his friends met his conduct with doubt,

And the world with contempt.

Was it thus that he plodded ahead,

Never turning aside?

Then well talk of the life that he led.

Never mind how he died.

4. Two things remain. In all witnessing it is essential (1) that the subject of the witness be Christ, and (2) that the witness be in the Holy Spirit.

(1) The subject of all our witness must be the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the very last command of the Lord. He Stands, as He utters it, with His feet upon the steps of the heavenly throne. As all through His earthly ministry, so now, almost from the place of bliss itself, He commends Himself. He sends His followers out into the world on purpose, as their work of works, to bear a testimony. And that testimony is to be borne, first and last, to Himself. Mans immeasurable need is to be met by telling man, as only those who personally know can tell, about the Son of God and Man, the one Name of Life, Christ Jesus the Lord.

It is true that the Revised Version gives us one change of rendering here which is to be observed. Instead of witnesses unto me, it reads, my witnesses; and this is a closer rendering of the Greek of St. Luke, or at least a rendering more likely to be quite close. Yet the difference, while we notice it, is not such as to negative, but rather to include, the meaning of the Authorized Version.1 [Note: H. C. G. Moule.]

There is an interesting story of Dor, the artist, that once, crossing the Italian frontier, he had mislaid his passport and was called upon to prove his identity. This he did by taking a sheet of common paper and a piece of charcoal, and tracing the homely, manly features of Victor Emmanuel. The officers knew that only Dor could draw like that. Challenged by the world as we are, is it not for us to trace, here and now, on the rough surface of our common lives, with only such instruments as our ordinary circumstances afford, the character of our King? By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples.2 [Note: C. C. Albertson.]

(2) The witness must be in the Holy Spirit. Without the gift and presence of the Holy Spirit our witness is bound to be a failure and a disappointment. Let none of us be content with a lower spiritual experience than God is willing to give us. As long as we keep our witness within the bounds of what we can obviously succeed in, we shall accomplish little, but when in abandonment of self, and in reliance on the Holy Spirit, we attempt great things for God, our success will exceed our highest hopes.

Wanting iswhat?

Summer redundant,

Blueness abundant,

Where is the blot?

Beamy the world, yet a blank all the same,

Framework which waits for a picture to frame:

What of the leafage, what of the flower?

Roses embowering with nought they embower!

Come then, complete incompletion, O comer,

Pant through the blueness, perfect the summer!

Breathe but one breath

Rose-beauty above,

And all that was death

Grows life, grows love,

Grows love!3 [Note: Browning, Dramatic Idylls, 167.]

Power for Witness

Literature

Albertson (C. C.), College Sermons, 101.

Bright (W.), The Law of Faith, 226.

Chase (F. H.), The Credibility of the Book of Acts, 47.

Church (R. W.), Pascal and other Sermons, 336.

Coyle (R. F.), The Church and the Times, 55.

Davidson (R. T.), The Christian Opportunity, 169.

Hall (W. A. N.), Do out the Duty, 10.

Hopkins (E. H.), The Law of Liberty in the Spiritual Life, 203.

Hutton (A. W.), Ecclesia Discens, 31.

Ingram (A. F. W.), A Mission of the Spirit, 139.

Keenleyside (C. B.), Gods Fellow-Workers, 163.

Lewis (A.), Sermons preached in England, 15.

Liddon (H. P.), Clerical Life and Work, 149.

Liddon (H. P.), Easter in St. Pauls, 407.

Lowry (S. C.), The Work of the Holy Spirit, 33.

Miller (W.), The Vision of Christ, 69.

Moule (H. C. G.), From Sunday to Sunday, 284.

Muspratt (W.), The Work and Power of the Holy Spirit, 34.

Pearse (M. G.), The Christianity of Jesus Christ, 1, 21, 30, 39, 59, 70.

Percival (J.), Sermons at Rugby, 179.

Spurgin (E. B.), The Work and Fruits of the Holy Spirit, 68.

Swete (H. B.), The Holy Spirit in the New Testament, 64.

Terry (G. F.), The Old Theology in the New Age, 21.

Christian World Pulpit, lx. 324 (Wordsworth); lxxi. 276 (Campbell Morgan); lxxv. 145 (Campbell Morgan).

Contemporary Pulpit, 1st Ser., x. 65.

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

ye shall: Act 2:1-4, Act 6:8, Act 8:19, Mic 3:8, Zec 4:6, Luk 10:19, Rev 11:3-6

power: etc. or, the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, Luk 1:35, Luk 24:29, Rom 15:19

and ye: Act 1:22, Act 2:32, Act 3:15, Act 4:33, Act 5:32, Act 10:39-41, Act 13:31, Act 22:15, Mat 28:19, Mar 16:15, Luk 24:46-49, Joh 15:27

in Samaria: Act 8:5-25

unto: Psa 22:27, Psa 98:3, Isa 42:10, Isa 49:6, Isa 52:10, Isa 66:19, Jer 16:19, Mat 24:14, Rom 10:18, Rom 15:19

Reciprocal: 2Ki 2:9 – Ask what 2Ki 2:15 – The spirit Psa 110:3 – day Pro 8:1 – General Isa 2:3 – for out Isa 43:10 – my witnesses Isa 44:8 – ye are Isa 48:6 – and will Eze 3:4 – General Amo 7:15 – Go Mic 4:2 – for Mat 10:1 – he gave Mat 10:5 – of the Samaritans Mat 10:26 – for Mat 13:37 – is Mat 22:4 – other Mat 23:34 – I send Mar 3:14 – and Luk 1:2 – which Luk 9:1 – gave Luk 11:49 – I will Luk 13:23 – And Luk 17:16 – and he Luk 24:48 – General Luk 24:49 – but Joh 4:9 – for Joh 4:41 – many Joh 14:26 – Holy Ghost Joh 15:16 – ordained Joh 20:21 – as Act 3:26 – first Act 4:18 – not to speak Act 4:20 – the things Act 8:25 – when they had Act 9:32 – as Act 10:42 – he commanded Act 13:47 – so 1Co 12:10 – the working Gal 2:8 – he Col 1:11 – his 2Ti 1:7 – but 1Pe 5:1 – and a

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Power is from DUNAMIS, which means might or ability. The Holy Ghost or Spirit was to impart this qualification to the apostles, so that they could take the testimony to the uttermost parts of the earth. The need for such power was the reason they were told to wait in Jerusalem for the descent of the Spirit as promised through the prophets.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Act 1:8. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. The Lord again referred to that new power which should descend upon them which He had before promised them, and told them how, armed with this new strength, they should be His witnesses not only in the city and Holy Land, but to the isles of the Gentilesto the uttermost parts of the earth.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, How Christ, instead of gratifying his disciples curiosity, acquaints them with their own duty; he tells them, that although they had received his Spirit before, in some measure, yet very shortly the Spirit should be poured forth upon them in a plentiful manner, to confer the gift of tongues, prophecies, and miracles upon them, for rendering them fit to preach the gospel throughout all nations, and also to testify and bear witness unto the truth of what Christ did and said in Judea and Samaria, both to Jews and Gentiles, even to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Here note, What is the special work of the ministers of the gospel; namely, to bear witness unto Christ: Ye shall be witnesses unto me. This they do three ways, Christum praedicando; secundum Christum vivendo; propter Christum patiendo: “By the purity of their doctrine, by the piety of their lives, and by their patience under suffering, both for Christ, and from Christ.”

Note, 2. What it was that enabled the apostles thus to bear witness unto Christ, namely, the pouring forth of the Holy Spirit upon them: The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me.

Thence learn, That some measure of ministerial gifts and sanctifying graces from the Holy Spirit, is absolutely necessary to enable the ministers of the gospel to bear their testimony unto Christ with faithfulness and success.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

See notes on verse 6

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

THE HOLY GHOST HIMSELF, THE POWER

8. But you shall receive power of the Holy Ghost having come on you. The English version gives this very incorrectly, you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. You find it beautifully corrected in the Revised version. I have heard and read many sermons from this text exhorting the people to seek power after the Holy Ghost had come on them. All this leads to superstition and fanaticism. The plain revelation is that the Holy Ghost Himself is the power, and there is no other. So never seek power, but seek the Holy Ghost Himself. When you have Him you have all the power you need to do anything that God wants you to do. So you have nothing to do but to get thoroughly sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost, abide in Him, obey, and be true. So long as you thus abide, responsive to the gentle voice of the indwelling Comforter, verifying His will revealed by His Spirit, Word and providence, you will have all the power you need to do your whole duty, because you have Omnipotence to check on at will. After we are filled with the Holy Ghost we grow with paradoxical rapidity, and thus, with spiritual enlargement, become more and more capacious of God. Consequently, we should be always reaching for a more copious enduement of the Holy Ghost, ever seeking Him and depending on Him alone to impart the needed power. The word translated power here is not identical with the word power in the preceding verse. There it is exousia, authority; here it is dunamis, dynamite. Hence, the literal reading: You shall receive dynamite of the Holy Ghost having come on you; i. e., if you will receive the Holy Ghost as a personal, indwelling Sanctifier and abiding Comforter, He will supply you with all the dynamite you need to blow all sin out of you and to qualify you to blow up the Devils kingdom wherever you go, and enjoy an everlasting victory in your heart and life.

TESTIMONY

And you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost of the earth. Here we see the beautifully defined and ordinary phenomena of the indwelling Holy Ghost. Such people are saved from false modesty and tormenting cowardice, so they are always ready to testify anywhere and everywhere. They have faith in the Holy Ghost to give them words. So they do not wait to study up something to say, but are always ready to open their mouths and meekly witness to the mighty works of God in their souls. The fallen churches are dumb like graveyards. The Pentecostal churches are vocal like graveyards on the resurrection morn, when tombs are bursting and saints leaping into the air with roaring shouts of victory. Dumb religion is the devils counterfeit. Gods genuine opens the mouth and keeps it open.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Rather than trying to figure out when the kingdom would come, the disciples were to give their attention to something different, namely, worldwide witness. Moreover the disciples would receive divine enablement for their worldwide mission (cf. Luk 24:47-49). As God’s Spirit had empowered the Israelites and Jesus as they executed their purposes, so God’s Spirit would empower the disciples as they executed their purpose.

"What is promised to the apostles is the power to fulfil their mission, that is, to speak, to bear oral testimony, and to perform miracles and in general act with authority. This power is given through the Spirit, and conversely the Spirit in Acts may be defined as the divine agency that gives this power." [Note: C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, 1:79.]

"You shall be" translates a future indicative verb (as in "you shall receive"). Is the clause "You shall be" a prediction or a command? Grammatically it could be either. The apostles clearly felt compelled to preach (cf. Act 10:42). However if it was a command it could have been stated more forcefully. Therefore both verbs ("you shall be" and "you shall receive") are probably predictions, statements of fact, rather than commands.

"They were now to be witnesses, and their definite work was to bear testimony to their Master; they were not to be theologians, or philosophers, or leaders, but witnesses. Whatever else they might become, everything was to be subordinate to the idea of personal testimony. It was to call attention to what they knew of Him and to deliver His message to mankind. This special class of people, namely, disciples who are also witnesses, is therefore very prominent in this book. Page after page is occupied by their testimony, and the key to this feature is found in the words of Peter: ’We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard’ (Act 4:20)." [Note: Thomas, p. 21.]

This verse contains an inspired outline of the Book of Acts. Note that it refers to a person (Jesus Christ), a power (the Holy Spirit), and a program (ever expanding worldwide witness). Luke proceeded to record the fulfillment of this prediction until the gospel and the church had reached Rome. From that heart of the empire God would pump the gospel out to every other remote part of the world. Starting from Jerusalem the gospel message radiated farther and farther as ripples do when a stone lands in a placid pool of water. Rome was over 1,400 miles from Jerusalem.

"The Christian church, according to Acts, is a missionary church that responds obediently to Jesus’ commission, acts on Jesus’ behalf in the extension of his ministry, focuses its proclamation of the kingdom of God in its witness to Jesus, is guided and empowered by the self-same Spirit that directed and supported Jesus’ ministry, and follows a program whose guidelines for outreach have been set by Jesus himself." [Note: Longenecker, p. 256.]

Jerusalem was the most wicked city on earth in that it was there that Jesus Christ’s enemies crucified Him. Nevertheless there, too, God manifested His grace first. The linking of Judea and Samaria preserves an ethnic distinction while at the same time describing one geographic area. The phrase "to the remotest part of the earth" is literally "to the end of the earth." This phrase is rare in ancient Greek, but it occurs five times in the Septuagint (Isa 8:9; Isa 48:20; Isa 49:6; Isa 62:11; Pss. Son 1:4). Jesus was evidently alluding to Isaiah’s predictions that God would extend salvation to all people, Gentiles as well as Jews. [Note: Tannehill, 2:16. Cf. Thomas S. Moore, "’To the End of the Earth’: The Geographical and Ethnic Univarsalism of Acts 1:8 in Light of Isaianic Influence on Luke," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40:3 (September 1997):389-99.]

"Witnessing to the Jews meant witnessing to those who held a true religion, but held it for the most part falsely and unreally [sic].

"Witnessing in Samaria meant witnessing to those who had a mixed religion, partly true, and partly false, Jewish and Heathen.

"Witnessing to the uttermost part of the earth meant witnessing to those who had no real and vital religion at all." [Note: Thomas, p. 22.]

Gospel Outreach in Acts

Reference	Center	Chief Person	Gospel to	Evangelism
Acts 1-12	Jerusalem	Peter	Judea and Samaria	Jewish
Acts 13-28	Antioch	Paul	The uttermost part of the earth	Gentile

This pericope (Act 1:6-8) is Luke’s account of Jesus’ farewell address to His successors (cf. Genesis 49; Num 20:26; Num 27:16-19; Deu 31:14-23; Deu 34:9; 2 Kings 2; et al.). Luke used several typical features of a Jewish farewell scene in Act 1:1-14. [Note: See D. W. Palmer, "The Literary Background of Acts 1:1-14," New Testament Studies 33:3 (July 1987):430-31, for more information concerning the literary forms Luke used to introduce Acts-namely, prologue, appearance, farewell scene, and assumption. See William J. Larkin Jr., "The Recovery of Luke-Acts as ’Grand Narrative’ for the Church’s Evangelistic and Edification Tasks in a Postmodern Age," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 43:3 (September 2000):405-15, for suggestions for using Luke-Acts in a postmodern age.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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