Pray to Begin
Ask - that the Holy Spirit who was promised in this chapter would open your eyes to the risen, ascended Jesus - not a memory to admire, but a living Lord who still sends witnesses.
Give thanks - for forty days of convincing proofs, for a clear mission from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, and for a church that learned to wait and pray before it rushed.
Yield - every timeline you demand of God, every shrinking of the kingdom to private comfort, and every habit of looking into the sky while neglecting the work of witness.
Today’s Passage: Acts 1
Acts opens not with a new hero but with a sequel. Luke writes to Theophilus about “all that Jesus began to do and to teach” (1:1) - implying that the story of Jesus is not finished. Over forty days the risen Lord appears, teaches about the kingdom, commands them to wait for the Spirit, and then is taken up until a cloud hides Him. Two angels promise His return. The disciples walk back to Jerusalem, pray with one accord, and - under Peter’s leadership and the light of Scripture - choose Matthias to restore the number of apostolic witnesses of the resurrection. We will walk the chapter block by block; the full BSB text is quoted inline below.
As you read, hold this: The risen Lord leaves a promise, a mission, and a waiting people.
Context The world of Acts 1
Volume two. Acts is Luke’s second book to Theophilus (cf. Luke 1:1-4). The Gospel ends with resurrection appearances and blessing; Acts begins with the same forty days and the ascension, then continues the story of what Jesus continues to do by His Spirit through His people.
Forty days. The risen Jesus gives “many convincing proofs” (1:3) - not a vague spiritual feeling, but concrete appearances and teaching about the kingdom of God. The disciples still ask about restoring the kingdom to Israel (1:6). Jesus does not mock the question of Israel’s hope, but He refuses to hand them a calendar. Timing belongs to the Father; mission belongs to them under the Spirit.
Mount of Olives to upper room. The ascent is from the Mount of Olives, a short Sabbath-day’s walk from Jerusalem. They return to an upper room - traditional memory often connects this with the place of the Last Supper - and devote themselves to prayer with the women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and His brothers (now believing after the resurrection; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:7; John 7:5 earlier).
Twelve restored. Judas’s betrayal left a hole in the symbolic twelve, echoing Israel’s tribes. Peter reads Psalm 69:25 and 109:8 as requiring another to take Judas’s office. The qualifications are strict: someone who accompanied Jesus from John’s baptism to the ascension, able to be a witness of His resurrection with the Eleven. Lots fall to Matthias - a pre-Pentecost practice seeking the Lord’s decision (Proverbs 16:33). After the Spirit is given, Luke will show guidance more often through prophetic word and clear leading than through lots.
Acts 1:1-5 (BSB)
¹ In my first book, O Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach, ² until the day He was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen. ³ After His suffering, He presented Himself to them with many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a span of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. ⁴ And while they were gathered together, He commanded them: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift the Father promised, which you have heard Me discuss. ⁵ For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Luke binds Gospel and Acts with one Person: Jesus. What He began to do and teach continues. The apostles are not freelancers; they receive instructions through the Holy Spirit from the One who chose them. Resurrection is not rumor - many convincing proofs over forty days, with teaching still centered on the kingdom of God. Then a command that feels slow to activist hearts: wait. The gift is the Father’s promise; the baptism with the Spirit is near. John’s water pointed forward; Jesus’ Spirit baptism will mark the new age of the church’s public life. Waiting is obedience, not passivity.
Acts 1:6-8 (BSB)
⁶ So when they came together, they asked Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Word study "Power" - dynamis (Acts 1:8)
Greek: δύναμις (dynamis), pronounced DOO-nah-mis. Strong’s G1411.
Dynamis means power, ability, mighty work - not swagger, but Spirit-given capacity to speak and endure. The power is not for private thrills or self-display. It is tethered to the mission: you will receive power… and you will be My witnesses. Pentecost will show this power in public proclamation; Acts will show it again in suffering, healing, and courage. Dynamis (DOO-nah-mis) serves the Name of Jesus, not the fame of the messenger.
Word study "Witnesses" - martyres (Acts 1:8)
Three Greek words carry the weight of this opening chapter.
Greek: μάρτυρες (martyres), pronounced MAR-too-res. Strong’s G3144.
Martyres means those who testify to what they have seen and heard. Later Christian history would load the English word martyr with the cost of blood; in Acts the root idea is still bearing witness, whether or not death follows. Jesus does not say, “You will be strategists” or “You will be spectators.” He says, “You will be My witnesses” - in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The whole book unpacks that sentence. Martyres (MAR-too-res) names the identity of the church more than its programs.
The question is not foolish - the prophets had spoken of Israel’s restoration, and Jesus had taught the kingdom for forty days. But the timing is the Father’s secret. Jesus redirects them from calendar speculation to Spirit-empowered martyria. Dynamis will come; martyres they will be. The map of Acts is already drawn: Jerusalem (chs. 1-7), Judea and Samaria (chs. 8-12), the ends of the earth (chs. 13-28). The mission is not a side project for the spiritually intense. It is the identity of the people of the risen Lord.
Acts 1:9-11 (BSB)
⁹ After He had said this, they watched as He was taken up, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. ¹⁰ They were looking intently into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ¹¹ “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”
Word study "Taken up" - epairō / analambanō (Acts 1:9, 11, 22)
Greek related forms: ἐπήρθη (epērthē, “was taken up”) and ἀνελήμφθη (anelēmphthē). Strong’s G1869 / G353.
The ascension is not disappearance into myth. It is exaltation: Jesus is taken up, a cloud receives Him, and heaven holds Him until He returns “in the same way.” The same Jesus who was crucified and raised now reigns. The apostles must stop staring at the sky and start waiting for the Spirit who comes because the Son is exalted. The ascension is the hinge between gospel and Acts: the Lord is not absent; He is enthroned.
Ascension is visible and historical - they watch; a cloud hides Him (echoing theophany and Daniel’s son of man). The angels gently rebuke frozen staring. Hope is not vertical idleness. The same Jesus will return the same way. Between going and coming, the church has work: wait for the Spirit, then witness.
Acts 1:12-14 (BSB)
¹² Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is near the city, a Sabbath day’s journey away. ¹³ When they arrived, they went to the upper room where they were staying: Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. ¹⁴ With one accord they all continued in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
Word study "With one accord" - homothymadon (Acts 1:14)
Greek: ὁμοθυμαδόν (homothymadon), pronounced ho-mo-thoo-mah-DON. Strong’s G3661.
Homothymadon means with one mind / one passion - unity of purpose, not mere proximity. The 120 pray this way before Pentecost. Acts will use the word repeatedly for the early church’s shared heart. Unity here is not manufactured by technique; it is the fruit of shared waiting on the risen Lord.
Obedience walks downhill to the city. The Eleven are named; the women who followed Jesus are present; Mary prays among the disciples, not above them; the brothers of Jesus have come to faith. Homothymadon - one accord - marks their prayer. The church’s first posture after the ascension is not marketing but waiting on God together.
Acts 1:15-20 (BSB)
¹⁵ In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (a gathering of about a hundred and twenty) and said, ¹⁶ “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit foretold through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus. ¹⁷ He was one of our number and shared in this ministry.” ¹⁸ (Now with the reward for his wickedness Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong and burst open in the middle, and all his intestines spilled out. ¹⁹ This became known to all who lived in Jerusalem, so they called that field in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) ²⁰ “For it is written in the book of Psalms: ‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, ‘May another take his position.’”
Peter leads by Scripture, not personality. Judas’s fall is tragic and real; Luke does not soft-focus betrayal. The Spirit spoke through David; Scripture had to be fulfilled. The parenthetical note explains the Field of Blood known in Jerusalem. Two psalm lines frame judgment and replacement. The church interprets its crisis with the Bible open.
Acts 1:21-26 (BSB)
²¹ Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²² beginning from John’s baptism until the day Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” ²³ So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. ²⁴ And they prayed, “Lord, You know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two You have chosen ²⁵ to take up this ministry and apostleship, which Judas abandoned to go to his rightful place.” ²⁶ Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias. So he was added to the eleven apostles.
Apostolic witness of the resurrection requires historical accompaniment - not celebrity, but credible testimony from the baptism of John to the ascension. Two qualified men are set forward; prayer seeks the Lord’s knowledge of hearts; lots decide between them. Matthias is added. The circle of twelve stands ready for Pentecost. The Lord who chooses apostles also knows every heart that will later hear their witness - including yours.
Study notes Going deeper
Jesus began - and continues. The first sentence refuses a closed biography. Acts is not “what the apostles did” as much as “what the ascended Jesus continues to do.”
Wait, then witness. The order matters. They are not to invent a campaign and then ask the Spirit to bless it. They wait for the promise of the Father. Power precedes mission in the sense that the Spirit equips what Jesus commands.
Not a template for every decision method. Casting lots here is descriptive of a particular moment before Pentecost, not a binding ritual for every church vote. Scripture, prayer, and the Spirit’s guidance remain the pattern; forms may differ.
The return of Jesus is certain. The angels do not spiritualize the hope away. “This same Jesus… will come back in the same way.” Mission lives between ascension and return - neither idle gazing nor hopeless grinding.
The programmatic verse of the book:
Hold these Scriptures open beside Acts 1:
"And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But remain in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." Luke 24:49 (BSB)
Acts 1 is that promise in narrative form.
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20 (BSB)
Authority, mission, and presence - the same chords as Acts 1:8.
"The LORD said to my Lord: 'Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.'" Psalm 110:1 (BSB)
The ascension seats the Son where Psalm 110 places Him.
"I saw One like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." Daniel 7:13-14 (BSB)
A cloud receives Him; the nations will hear of Him.
Personal Application
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Jesus continues His work. Where have you treated the Christian life as remembering a past Savior rather than following a present, ascended Lord who still sends witnesses by His Spirit?
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Wait and witness both. Where are you rushing ahead of prayer - or hiding in “waiting” to avoid speaking of Jesus when He opens a door?
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Scripture interprets crisis. When leadership fails or plans break, do you first grasp for control, or open the Word with the people of God as Peter did?
Pray to Close
The central truth of Acts 1: the risen Jesus has ascended, promised the Spirit, and commissioned His people as witnesses from their Jerusalem to the ends of the earth - and He will return.
Praise - the ascended Lord who still reigns, and the Father who fixed times and seasons in His own authority.
Confess - idle gazing, impatient timelines, and silence where witness is needed.
Ask - for dynamis that serves mission, and for a heart that waits in prayer with one accord with Christ’s people.
Yield - your map of how the kingdom “should” unfold, and ask simply to be a faithful martys where He has placed you.
Worship for Today
Jesus Messiah · Chris Tomlin
Acts 1 lifts our eyes to the same Jesus who was crucified, raised, and taken up - Lord and Christ. Tomlin’s song gathers that confession: He is the name above all names, the Servant King, the rescue for sinners. Sing it as the disciples watched Him go and waited for power to make His name known.
Listen: