Acts 1:4
Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me;
(a) Not to leave Jerusalem. No doubt the Galilean disciples were keen to get as far from hostile Judea as possible, but Jesus told them to stay put.
(b) What the Father had promised was the Holy Spirit.
(c) You heard of from Me. Jesus had already told the disciples about the promised Holy Spirit (Luke 12:11–12, John 14:26).
Handelingen 1:5
want Johannes doopte met water, maar u zult over niet vele dagen met de Heilige Geest worden gedoopt.”
(a) Gedoopt... gedoopt. Het oorspronkelijke woord impliceert totale onderdompeling. Zie je wel binnenkomst voor de doop.
(b) Water... Heilige Geest; Johannes' waterdoop was een profetische voorbode van de doop met de Heilige Geest. Zie je wel binnenkomst for Mark 1:8.
Acts 1:6
So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
Is it at this time? Like the rest of us, the disciples wanted to know when Jesus would come (Matt. 24:3), and he told them, “I don’t know” (Matt. 24:36). Evidently, the disciples had a hard time accepting this because they asked him again after his resurrection.
Acts 1:7
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;
It is not for you to know. “I still don’t know, and it’s none of your business.” The timing of the Lord’s final coming is the Father’s business. It’s not our business. Don’t listen to anyone who says they know when the Lord will return. They are wrong.
Acts 1:8
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
In Jerusalem. The message of grace and forgiveness was for all nations, but it was particularly for the Jews. “Beginning at Jerusalem,” said Jesus, as though he knew there would be some who would deny grace to his killers. “God’s grace is for all, but those in Jerusalem get to hear about it first” (Luke 24:47).
There is a reason why Jerusalem is considered the birthplace of Christianity and it is not just because Christ died there. By the Lord’s command Jerusalem was the first place evangelized with the gospel. By the Holy Spirit’s direction, Jerusalem was the location of Pentecost. And by the apostles’ obedience, Jerusalem was the birthplace of the church.
Jesus did not wash his hands of Jerusalem. Nor did he tell his apostles to give the city a wide berth. Instead, he designated the city Mission Field Number One. The apostles did what he asked, and their teaching spread all over Jerusalem. The result was nothing short of miraculous. The city that had rejected the Lord began to change, and the number of Christians in Jerusalem increased greatly (Acts 2:41, 4:4, 5:14, 6:1, 7). Jerusalem had rejected Jesus, but he never rejected Jerusalem. The Jews had spurned him, but he continued to woo them to himself. Not even death would hinder his relentless love.
Acts 1:9
And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
A cloud. The apostles saw Jesus rising toward heaven into a cloud and from the other side the prophet Daniel saw him arriving on a cloud (Dan. 7:13). A few weeks earlier Jesus quoted Daniel’s prophecy to his disciples on the Mount of Olives (see binnenkomst for Matt. 24:30).
Acts 1:11
They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”
The same way. Jesus will return in the manner he left. He ascended with resurrected saints (see binnenkomst for Matt. 27:52). When he returns he will come with “all his saints” (1 Thess. 3:13). Jesus will come back with a crowd of people.
Acts 1:12
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.
A Sabbath day’s journey is equivalent to the distance between the Mount of Olives and the city, or a little over half a mile.
Acts 1:13
When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.
(a) Peter. Simon Peter; see binnenkomst for John 1:42.
(b) Johannes, the son of Zebedee, was a fishermen like his brother of James. Their mother was probably Salome (Matt. 27:56) who was probably Mary’s sister (Mark 15:40, John 19:25). If so, James and John, were Jesus’ cousins. Their family lived in Capernaum (Mark 1:21) and they were prosperous enough to own a fishing business (Mark 1:20). Like his brother, John walked away from all that to follow Jesus. Following the ascension of Jesus, John became a prominent leader within the church.
(c) Jakobus, the son of a fisherman called Zebedee, was one of Jesus’ first disciples. He is always mentioned with his brother John, and he is always listed first suggesting that he was the older of the two. (Interestingly, neither of the brothers is mentioned by name in John’s Gospel; see John 21:2.) James and John must have been rowdy and passionate men because Jesus called them “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). James was the first apostle to be martyred and the only apostle whose death is recorded in scripture (Acts 12:2). He was executed by Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great, around AD44.
(d) Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, had been a disciple of John the Baptist when he first encountered Jesus (John 1:35–40). Later, Jesus called both Andrew and Simon Peter to follow him (Matt. 4:19).
(e) Philip, who was from Bethsaida at the northern end of Galilee, met Jesus at the Jordan River near where John was baptizing (John 1:43–44).
(f) Thomas was also known as Didymus which means “the Twin” (John 11:16). Thomas had a sibling about whom we know nothing. Thomas is remembered for being absent when the Risen Lord appeared to the other disciples and not believing their report (John 20:24–25). It wasn’t until he saw the Lord himself that he believed in the resurrection (John 20:28–29).
(g) Bartholomew. The disciple known in three of the gospels as Bartholomew (Matt. 10:3, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:14), was probably the Nathanael written about in John (John 1:45). If so, he was a native of Cana (John 21:2) who famously held a dim view of Nazareth (John 1:46). Bartholomew might have been Nathanael’s patronymic name (bar-Tolmai or “son of Tolmai”).
(h) Matthew. As a tax collector working for the hated Romans (Matt. 9:9), Matthew would have been despised by his fellow Jews. (Tax collectors were lumped together with prostitutes and sinners; Matt. 9:10, 21:31.) Yet Jesus loved him and called him to be a disciple and an apostle.
(i) Jakobus the son of Alphaeus was so-called to distinguish him from James the son of Zebedee (Matt. 10:2).
(j) Judas the son of James was also known as Thaddaeus (Matt. 10:3). Like Simon Peter, he was known by two names. He is the most obscure of the twelve apostles.
(k) Simon the Zealot was a member of a fanatical Jewish sect. In older Bible translations, he is called Simon the Canaanite.
Handelingen 1:14
Deze allen waren eensgezind en wijdden zich voortdurend aan het gebed, samen met de vrouwen, en Maria, de moeder van Jezus, en met Zijn broers.
(a) Maria de moeder van Jezus. All four Gospel writers (and the author of Acts was Luke) refer to Mary as the mother of Jesus. See binnenkomst for Matt. 1:18.
(b) Zijn broers (or half-brothers) were James, Joseph, Simon and Judas (Matt. 13:55). At first, these men did not believe Jesus was the Son of God (Mark 3:21). But here we find them among those praying in the Upper Room. James became the influential leader of the church in Jerusalem (Acts 15:13). It’s possible the other brothers became ministers of the gospel and apostles, but we have no direct evidence for this (1 Cor. 9:5).
Acts 1:15
At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together), and said,
The first part of Acts chapter 1 records probably the most dramatic event in history – the ascension of Christ into heaven. The second part of Acts 1 is about a committee meeting (and a largely fruitless one at that). It is a dramatic contrast of the God’s work vs men’s work.
Acts 1:16
“Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.
(a) De Heilige Geest is also known as the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Christ; see binnenkomst for John 14:26.
(b) Judas. Judas Iscariot; see binnenkomst for John 6:71.
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