POSSIBILITY CHANGING NETWORK
( P.C.N )
PRESENT
THEME
What does Acts 1:8 mean: “when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”?
In Acts 1:8, Luke was recording the promise of the gift of the HS by Christ to the disciples and to all believers in Christ that would take place after His ascension. Jesus made a similar promise in John 7:37-39 where He said, “On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’ (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive; for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)”
The meaning is that the era of the Holy Spirit had not yet arrived; the Spirit was not as yet at work in a way he later would be because Jesus had not yet returned to his Father. Cf. also Acts 19:2; Eph. 1:13-14. The HS today is God’s special gift for all those who, having realized we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory or the holy character of God, have turned from any form of self-trust or from their apathy, etc., to Jesus Christ to trust in Him by faith. This means trusting in the Bible’s witness to the person and work of Christ on the cross for our sin.
The Spirit is not anything mysterious. He is the third person of the Godhead whom the Father and the Son promised as the one to personally indwell all believers and to be their enablement to live the Christian life. This was the meaning and point in Acts 1:8, “you shall receive power … and you shall be my witnesses.”
For more on this, may we encourage you to read lessons 4 and 5 in Part Two of the ABCs for Christian Growth, Laying the Foundation. These lessons on the Holy Spirit explains something of His person and ministry with biblical evidence.
But ye shall receive power
From on high, with which they were to be endured, ( Luke 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 ( Acts 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 ( Acts 8:5 Acts 8:14 )
and unto the uttermost part of the earth;
throughout the whole world, whither the sound of the apostles, and their words went, ( Romans 10:18 ) .
