Being Jesus’ Witnesses

Day 154: Acts 1:1-26

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” - Acts 1:8 ESV

Jesus dies, resurrects, and spends extended time with his disciples over the course of forty days, and yet the disciples continue to hold out hope for Him to restore political independence away from Rome. In their minds, the term Messiah and abandonment couldn't coincide.

For their benefit, Jesus condenses all that He had told them in John 14-16 down to one statement: They were to receive power from the Holy Spirit, and we will see how this empowerment materializes in our reading tomorrow.

The Holy Spirit doesn't come into us as Christians to just make us good people; He also comes to make us powerful. We aren't given a spirit of passivity when we place our faith in Jesus. Quite the opposite (see 1 Timothy 1:7).

The word for witnesses here is the Greek word martys, which is also translated, of course, as "martyr." These men and women Jesus was sending out weren't promised power that would exempt them from suffering. Instead, they were promised power that would enable them to be willing to die as they shared the Good News of Jesus with the entire Roman Empire.

This is the same power that is at work in us today.

"Holy Spirit, enable us to do what we cannot. Drive us from passivity and into a powerful life of dependence on you. In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen."

“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.” - Romans 8:11 NIV

"Instead of indulging in wishful thinking or apocalyptic speculation, the disciples must accomplish their task of being witnesses to Jesus. The scope of their task is worldwide. It begins with Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and it stretches to the end of the earth."
- Marshall, I. H. (1980). Acts: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 5, p. 65)