I’m looking at the Person of Jesus and I’m looking back at the beginning of the Church. Acts 1:3 records that Jesus had shown Himself alive to the Apostles by ‘many infallible proofs’. Now in v4ff, before He’s taken up, He’s commanding them to wait in Jerusalem and wait for the ‘Promise of the Father’, saying, “John baptised in water, but you will be baptised in the Holy Ghost not many days hence.”
When the disciples ask, “Will You restore the Kingdom at this time?” Jesus replies, “No, it’s not for you to know times or seasons – but (v8, this is important) YOU will receive Power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you!” So, before He leaves us, we’re looking at the Promise of the Holy Spirit, at a baptism of Power that comes after receiving the Holy Spirit. In some sections of the Church, I see that there is a lack of Power, and a necessity for the Holy Spirit today! And Jesus continues, “and YOU will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth.” So, the major purpose of the Holy Spirit is that WE become witnesses of Jesus!
The promise of Jesus is that He will return! Acts 1v11, two angels say, “Why are you gazing up into Heaven? This same Jesus that you have seen go up will return, in the same manner as you have seen Him go.” So, when Jesus leaves, the promise is – THIS SAME JESUS IS COMING AGAIN. From the beginning to the end, the emphasis is on the Person of Jesus! Who was, and is, and is to come.
What is happening now, in the very words of Jesus, are the signs and the evidence of the times immediately before His Return. God knows what is happening here on earth. He is not distant or remote. The only lasting peace will be when Jesus returns. When we look at the horror of war, it is easy to give into despair. But, JESUS IS COMING BACK! And I believe this must be very soon. I want to tell Christians and non-Christians, if Jesus is coming back to rule the world for one thousand years – as the Bible says – then God, who is in control, KNOWS what is happening here now. When Christ returns to rule the world, there will be PEACE for a thousand years – an end to all fighting, religious and political – ONLY Jesus can do this! Not priests, preachers, evangelists or presidents. This miracle can ONLY happen in and through the Person of Jesus. God is in control, and all these things are leading up to Christ’s Return!
There is Power in the Name of Jesus!
In Acts 3, when Peter and John went up to the Temple at the hour of prayer, and there’s a cripple who’s only asking for money. Peter says, “Look at us, you’re expecting to receive something, but I don’t have silver and gold – but such as I HAVE, in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” It was by the Power and the Authority of the Name of Jesus that Peter, through faith in the Name, took the cripple’s hand and lifted him up! Immediately his feet and ankles received strength, and the cripple was leaping and walking – not as we would walk – but because he was born a cripple – he’d never learnt to walk as a baby! People ran together to get a look, so Peter said in vv12-16, “Why do you marvel, why do you look on us, as if we, by our power or holiness had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, the God of our fathers has glorified His Son Jesus, and it is Jesus who has healed this man, and it is faith in His Name that has made this man strong, whom you see and know…” This crippled man healed is the living evidence of the miraculous Resurrection of Jesus, of the Power of Jesus, of the Gospel of the Name of Jesus! Right from the beginning of the Church, the emphasis is on the Person of Jesus.