Jesus' New Work Continues (Hints 10)
Summary
of Acts 1 - 2
Luke's account of what Jesus did and taught continues. The first part was his Gospel and both it and Acts were written for Theophilus. These are the results of Luke's investigations, based on first-hand eye-witness testimony. Luke wrote sometime after the events he describes. As we read on and go through the entire record we can gain a better understanding of Theophilus' interest and what questions he had wanted Luke to answer.
Much of this book deals with what Paul did. In the last chapters Paul, a prisoner, arrives in Rome. Luke tells us how Paul responded to Jewish visitors who, after coming to hear his teaching, started arguing. Paul, reminded them how Isaiah the prophet denounced the deafness of God's people. The Messiah's work was not going to be halted by trivial arguments. He was going to be proclaimed to all nations whether His own people were happy about that or not. Luke's concluded:
And Paul lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ quite openly and unhindered.
Luke doesn't tell us that Paul died. Apart from this ending, we have no indication at all about how Paul's life ended. For some reason, Luke has no more to tell us. It may be that this is where he wanted his story to end. Isn't that likely? There may be other explanations. Theophilus may already have known the next part of the story. It may have been Paul's life, or even his death, which occurred later, that provoked Theophilus to ask Luke what he knew.
What we have in Acts 1-2 is the first episode of the second major part of Luke's Gospel story. But you ask, where do we come in? Perhaps we should say that we need to know about what is recounted in Acts 1-2 in order to begin to understand our place in relation to the second part of Luke's story - the story of what Jesus continued to do and teach after he left His disciples and returned to His Father.
Theophilus, seems to have been intrigued by the groups of Christians dotted around the Roman Empire. They had a new approach to life, a way of living and that needed to be explained. Their Lord, a Jewish Messiah, was Jesus of Nazareth. They had strong links to a dynamic synagogue of Jesus' former disciples in Jerusalem, and it was also apparent that this Jesus had had a big impact around Galilee, where He had taught after John the Baptist's execution.
Let us note one other thing here. Jesus told His apostles that they would take His Word into all the earth. The Book of Acts tells how the Gospel took root in Jewish synagogue communities around the Roman Empire and then how it permeated the entire Roman gentile world. We have noted that we do not know about the work of some of the apostles. Maybe their work was confined to Jerusalem.
Luke tells how the Apostolic message spread
throughout and beyond the Roman Empire. It is a message about the universal
Kingship of God's Messiah, Jesus Christ. Its triumph is sure. Its ongoing
success does not rely upon human wisdom or power and its initial impact upon the
Roman Empire was simply another instance of God's love and mercy poured out
upon those living in Caesar's realm.