The Church In TRANSITION: Part 1

The Church In TRANSITION: Part 1

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Why A Transition? To understand Acts we must recognize that it represents a transition. In the history of God’s dealing with this world there are several transitions: the building of the ark and the flood is one; the wilderness experience of the children of Israel is another. Like them, the 40 years covered by Acts is a record of a transition from Judaism to the Church Age. Just as Israel started in crisis in Egypt before becoming a free people, so Acts starts with Israel once more in crisis, because they had rejected and crucified the Messiah. Even the disciples who had believed Messiah were in crisis; one had betrayed the Lord and all had forsaken Him and fled into hiding. There were only eleven apostles, when there should have been twelve, the number of government. Eleven implies incompleteness; it is also a number of prophecy, because God always completes things in His time. Prophecy is about God’s completeness.

The first verses tell us that Acts concerns “all that Jesus began to do and to teach” (Acts 1:1 KJV) Clearly the apostles were awaiting the fulfillment of their expectations and asked, “Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (1:6) His answer was not the one they expected: “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons” (1:7). This was one of the hidden things. They were still thinking in Jewish terms, but the omniscient Lord sees things from the perspective of eternity, not from man’s standpoint of time.

Having seen the Lord alive, they were in a state of expectancy. They had not understood much of what the Lord had taught, and now there was much more to learn. His immediate answer was that they should wait for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and then they would be witnesses, eventually to the whole world. They could not understand that God was ushering in a new age not yet revealed, but only implied in the Old Testament, which was all the Bible they had.

To be witnesses “unto the uttermost part of the earth” (1:8) is still valid as part of the Great Commission: “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Mt. 28:19).

Though we do not know the time of His coming, nor of the setting up of God’s kingdom, yet we do know that we must witness faithfully, where we live, and wherever He sends us. We receive power from the Holy Spirit, and we are baptized into one Body by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13.) Thus we are witnesses. We have the evidence in ourselves of Christ’s resurrection and triumph, so we watch and wait and long for the time of His coming, and of the times of “the restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21).

Jerusalem
Acts gives us a microcosm of the whole age in which we now live. As then, our commission to be witnesses begins at home, yet stretches to the ends of the earth. There is also more that is transitional. First comes the presentation of the gospel to the Jews in their capital city and national center. Peter, “lifted up his voice and said unto them, ‘Ye men of Judea and … Jerusalem … Ye men of Israel’” (2:14,22). Clearly, the message was addressed to Jewish listeners, though the responses were the sort one might find wherever a work is started afresh. Our own times are more like the conditions under which the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel labored. It has been suggested that they are the prophets suited to the “post-Christian age.”

Later on, Peter pleaded saying, “Brethren … let all the house of Israel know assuredly; that God hath made Him, that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (2:29-36). He gave a severe warning and emphasized the resurrection with Scripture proof. This again is a pattern for our presentation of the gospel. The resurrection is the key; it cannot be denied, and has to be understood by the hearers.

The warning continued with Peter calling upon his hearers to “save yourselves from this untoward generation” (2:40). The Judaistic system had become corrupt; it had killed its Messiah and was under the judgment of God who was about to replace it with something else. We also may take to heart these warnings, for we live in the Laodicean age when the Lord is rejected by some churches, and forced to knock and ask admission to where He should be welcomed and adored.

Foretaste
In Acts 3 we have a direct foretaste of the Millennium when “the eyes of the blind shall be opened … the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped … the lame man shall leap … and the tongue of the dumb sing” (lsa. 35:5-6). Significantly, the healing of the lame man was outside the gate of the temple. We remember the parables of the marriage feast and the supper (Mt. 22:1-14; Lk.14:15-24). The latter specified that “the poor … maimed … halt and the blind” are invited because those for whom it was prepared had refused.

So it was that Israel refused the invitation to believe and the Gentiles were eventually brought into God’s blessing. Throughout Acts the gospel is presented to the Jews first and only then to the nations. This is the pattern for Acts.

When Peter called the nation to repent, he told them something which few today understand. Jewish repentance would have been followed: “Repent … be converted … sins blotted out … and times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord … before preached unto you” (3:19). Had Israel obeyed the call to repentance, the millennial age would have begun then and there. But they did not, and two weary millennia for the Jews have followed. One day soon that call will come again and they will, “look upon (Him) whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him” (Zech. 12:10).

Kingdom Rejected
In Acts 1-7 the call is to Israel. Of course, God knew what they would do. The drama culminated in the stoning of Stephen as the final rejection of the Kingdom by Israel, and marked the end of Jewish national privilege for this age. It also shows us that God’s New Testament people should expect tribulation and persecution in this world (Jn. 16:33; 2 Tim. 3:12).

Stephen was faithful unto death. His name means “victor’s crown” which heroes and victorious athletes wore. He was truly a winner in faithful service to the Master. His death shows us the way for many who follow Jesus. We do not live in an enlightened age, regardless of what people think. The dark clouds of superstition and hatred of God are massing on our horizon. Who knows how soon the forces of evil will unleash their persecution on those living safely in the West, whose tolerance has been founded upon the gospel and the teachings of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures.

In Saul of Tarsus, the Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, we see the psychology of arch-persecutors throughout history, who have killed and tortured those who did not see things their way. Later, as Paul the Apostle, we find him “disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus,” after he had spent three months doing the same thing in the synagogue (19:8-10). Whatever our background, God can make us acceptable to many sections of the community. Paul spoke with Jewish rabbis and Greek philosophers as well as working-class tent makers. We should ask God to lead us to that special mission field where our skills can be used by Him to persuade those to whom we are sent.

After Saul was converted, we see Philip in two situations. He took the gospel to Samaria where the Lord had spoken to the woman at the well. Let us not deceive ourselves: Satan had his man already there to subvert the gospel as he does today. Simon the Sorcerer was no ordinary magician. Like Elymas who opposed Paul and Barnabas in Cyprus (Acts 13:6-11; 8:9-10), he was a magician of the East, learned in the occult. Satan gives his slaves great powers as long as they obey their master in increasing his hold on men’s minds and spoiling the work of the gospel.

Reception In Samaria, Caesarea, And Antioch
The Samaritans had to believe, be baptized and have apostolic hands laid on them before they could receive the Holy Spirit. Philip was an evangelist, not an apostle. God had arranged that he should take the gospel to that territory, and only sent the apostles later so that Samaria became dependent upon Jerusalem for its blessing. Samaria had a separate Jewish-type religion which claimed to be the true tradition: “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” So spoke the Samaritan woman to Jesus. In the need for the apostles to go to Samaria, God made it plain that there were not to be denominational divisions but only the apostles’ doctrine as the basis for belief (Acts 8:14-17; Jn. 4:19-26). Regarding baptism, laying on of hands, and receiving the Holy Spirit, what Paul wrote to the Romans is definitive, while the activities in Acts are transitional.

Peter was chosen to make the announcement to the Jews in Jerusalem, and also to announce the gospel to the Gentiles. In Acts 10 he was called to the house of a Roman centurion in Caesarea. The Roman character of that city, built by Herod the Great, was displayed in its customs and buildings. The emperor’s temple was so tall sailors at sea could see it. The governor’s palace, the theatre, and the occupying troops made the Jews shudder with disgust. It took a special vision to send Peter there.

Might we not ask ourselves about where God wants us to minister? I met an American missionary in Japan who told me he had prayed, at the end of World War 2, “Lord I’ll serve anywhere but Japan.” Are we surprised that he was sent to Japan?

Cornelius was ready for the gospel. All around were the signs of evil, but also people with hearts prepared by God. In this Gentile house, while Peter spoke, “the Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the Word” (10:44). There was no baptism nor laying on of hands. Here we have the pattern for the future as the gospel goes out to the nations. In that moment, known only to God, when we heard and believed, we received the Holy Spirit, the seal of our salvation (Eph. 1:13-14). We do not need laying on of hands or baptism to be saved. Baptism is our responsive act of obedience showing that we have died and are now alive in the power of Jesus’ resurrection.

Another difference in receiving the Spirit was encountered at Ephesus (Acts 19). John the Baptist’s disciples did not know the Holy Spirit was given, and may not have known about the Lord. However, Paul showed them that it was Jesus who John said was to come. They were then baptized, and had hands laid on them to receive the Holy Spirit.

Today, there are people who think they must wait for the kingdom to be set up. True Christian teaching is that we await the Lord from Heaven, and only after the Church has gone will God bring in the fulfillment of the Kingdom promises.

By Roger Penney

With permission to publish by: Sam Hadley, Grace & Truth, 210 Chestnut St., Danville, IL., USA. Website: www.gtpress.org

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