There are three words that have been uttered many times throughout human history, perhaps in your own life.
Perhaps after a pivotal leader leaves an organization. Perhaps after a baby is born. Perhaps after a tragedy happens in your life. Perhaps after you graduate high school or college. Perhaps after the arrival of a global pandemic. Perhaps after your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere.
After those moments (and others), you may hear these words: “What happens now?”
Today, we are starting a new series in the Book of Acts.
In the New Testament, the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) contain the life and ministry of Jesus on the earth, and the Book of Acts follows right after that. It describes the ministry of the apostles after Jesus left the earth. In fact, the full name of the Book is “The Acts of the Apostles.”
Keep in mind that after Jesus died on the cross, the apostles already had a “What happens now?” moment. Then, Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to them. Now, we’ll learn in today’s passage that Jesus is leaving the earth altogether to go back into heaven, and I can just imagine the disciples thinking, “What happens now?” Well, Jesus will answer that question for them.
So, let’s look at the passage, and then we’ll jump in.
Read Acts 1:1-11:
1 I wrote the first narrative, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach 2 until the day he was taken up, after he had given instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After he had suffered, he also presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
4 While he was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “Which,” he said, “you have heard me speak about; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
9 After he had said this, he was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.”
(prayer)
Before we dive into the passage head first, let’s learn a little bit about the Book of Acts.
It’s commonly accepted that Luke was the author of the Book of Acts. Luke was a physician, who also served as a historian by recording the life and ministry of Jesus and the apostles.
Luke was not an apostle himself, but he was an eyewitness of the work of the apostles. Further, he was a companion of many of the apostles, and he was a close friend of the apostle Paul.
We read these words in Luke’s gospel, in Luke 1:3 “So it also seemed good to me, since I have carefully investigated everything from the very first, to write to you in an orderly sequence, most honorable Theophilus.”
So, in his Gospel, Luke is trying to write an investigated and organized account of the life of Jesus.
Then, we read in Acts that Luke is picking up where he left off. He recapped what he wrote about the first time, then he goes right into the Book of Acts.
By the way, we don’t know exactly who Theophilus is. His name means “Lover of God,” which is a pretty good name to have if you’re a Christian. Nevertheless, Luke was addressing these writings to Theophilus to provide him with the true history of the life of Jesus and then the ministry of the apostles.
Although Luke intended it for Theophilus, the Holy Spirit of God has used these books for the benefit of us all.
So, let’s capture three very simple principles which recap the ministry of Jesus up to this point, and help us understand what followers of Jesus are supposed to do now.
Let’s learn “What happens now?”
First, we must remember that . . .
I. Jesus came.
As I already mentioned, we have the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that tell us about the coming of Jesus.
It’s very clear from the Bible that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to come to the earth and live a holy life, then give His life on the cross so that we could have forgiveness of sins. It’s also very clear from the Bible that Jesus rose from the dead and went back into heaven to be with the Father.
This is what Luke is summarizing when he says in verses 1-3:
1 I wrote the first narrative, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach 2 until the day he was taken up, after he had given instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After he had suffered, he also presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Luke reviews the heart of the gospel story in just these few verses:
Jesus was actually on the earth. He came. Luke says, “Jesus began to do and teach.”
Jesus chose apostles and worked through them with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Luke tells us in verse 3 that Jesus suffered, of course referring to when He was betrayed, humiliated, beaten, and crucified.
After that, Jesus rose from the dead and presented Himself alive to people. Luke says Jesus did so with “many convincing proofs,” and He did so “over a period of forty days.”
Folks, Jesus really came to the earth, He really died for our sins, and He really rose from the dead.
The Bible not only speaks to this reality, but history also speaks to this reality.
You may be skeptical of the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. I know that we have guests here today, or perhaps regulars, who don’t really believe this to be true.
I would encourage you to really look into the historicity of Jesus.
Let me commend to you thinkers such as: C. S. Lewis, Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, and Rebecca McLaughlin.
History teaches, the Bible teaches, and Luke wants us to remember that Jesus came.
Next, we see that . . .
II. Jesus left.
This is where we pick up in Acts 1.
Let’s skip ahead to verses 9-11. It says:
9 After he had said this, he was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.”
After Jesus said what He said (which we’ll look at in just a minute), a cloud took Him out of their site, and He went up into heaven.
Then, the disciples were standing gazing into heaven. I imagine I would have been doing that also.
I remember the last time the Sun ‘N Fun fly-in was taking place, my family and I were eating at Mission BBQ in Lakeland. When we came out, the Blue Angels were flying over, right above us, and we all just gazed into the sky. Each of us was like, “Wow! Did you see that?”
Imagine the glory and majesty of the moment when Jesus the Son of God, miraculously returned to His heavenly home.
I imagine the disciples may have said, “Wow! Did you see that?”
Then, they might have said, “What happens now?” The reality is, Jesus already told them what happens now (or what happens then).
If you pay attention, you’ll notice that the disciples wanted to know if Jesus would establish the kingdom of God.
This concept of the kingdom of God was about when God would establish and manifest His glory on the earth through His people.
You see, when Jesus came the first time, the disciples thought that He would institute the kingdom of God then. They thought that He would establish Israel as the dominant power in the world and that the glory of Israel would shine once again.
This belief was very common among the people of Israel. After all, they had plenty of prophecies to point to this future event.
So, the people of Israel were constantly looking forward to the kingdom of God.
Have you ever had someone who keeps continually asking you about something? With my kids, if I tell them something, they are going to continue to ask about it. For example, if I say that we may go swimming after I get off work, that’s all I hear about all day. When I kiss them goodbye in the morning, “Dad, are we going swimming?” If I stop by for lunch, “Dad, how long until we go swimming?” As soon as I get home before work, “Dad, is it time to swim?”
This is how the disciples were when it came to Jesus implementing the kingdom of God. They wanted to know if this was the time. What happens now? Is it time for the kingdom of God?
Look at Jesus’ response in verses 7-8:
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus essentially says to them, don’t worry about that right now. Worry about this: you are to be my witnesses starting in Jerusalem, and going out all over the world.
Church, before Jesus left this earth, that is what He told his followers to focus upon: to be His witnesses all over the earth!
Oh, and by the way, Jesus doesn’t want us to do this by our own power.
Jesus said that we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us.
We’ve studied this word before, but the Greek word used here is dynamis, from which we get the word dynamite.
Brothers and sisters, there is dynamite power in the Holy Spirit of God that equips us and unleashes us to be witnesses for Jesus.
Well, what else do we know about what is going to happen?
Finally, we know that . . .
III. Jesus is coming.
This concept is taught all throughout the Bible, but the angels in this passage remind the disciples of this reality (by the way, these were not the Blue Angels, they were the angels in white).
They said in verse 11, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.”
Jesus went away in glorious fashion, and these two angels reminded all of us that He will return in glorious fashion.
It’s as if these two supernatural men are saying, “Don’t worry; He’ll be back.”
Well, what are we to do until He gets back? What happens now?
Well, we certainly shouldn’t spend all of our time gazing up into heaven. The angels said, “Why do you stand looking up into heaven?”
Rather, we should get busy doing what Jesus told us to do: we are to be His witnesses!
Jesus told the disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait for God’s promise to be fulfilled. They would soon experience a supernatural filling of the Holy Spirit that would change them forever. They would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, and until Jesus comes back, they were to be His witnesses.
Listen, folks, the mission of God is the same today: until Jesus returns, and He WILL return; we are to be His witnesses.
That takes us to our bottom line:
Bottom Line: We are waiting for Jesus, but we are not simply waiting.
Let us not stand paralyzed gazing up into heaven. Let us get busy with what Jesus has left us to do.
Let us be filled with God’s Holy Spirit to do His work of developing disciples.
Let us be witnesses for Jesus, and let us develop others who are witnesses for Jesus.
Challenge yourself this week in the following ways:
Weekly Challenge #1 – Ask yourself if you trust in the story of Jesus.
Do you really believe that Jesus came, Jesus left, and Jesus is coming again? Do you really believe that Jesus gave His life and rose from the dead so that you could be forgiven of your sins and be made new?
Weekly Challenge #2 – Ask yourself if you trust in the mission of Jesus.
Jesus was very clear about His mission for us. Jesus did not give His life and conquer death so we could have a pleasant comfortable time on earth.
Jesus died so that we might have life and have it abundantly. That life is found through forgiveness in Him and faithfulness to Him.
We are faithful to Him, in part, by being His witnesses. Proclaiming who He is and all that He has done to the ends of the earth.
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
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