‘But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’ Acts 1:8

Jesus spoke those words to His followers just prior to being ‘taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.’ To understand the importance of what Jesus said, we need to go back about six weeks before His Ascension.

Jesus and the Holy Spirit

On the night before Jesus died on the Cross, He told His apostles that He was going to leave them but would send the Holy Spirit to them as ‘another Helper’ – ‘the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.’ (John 14:15-17)

Jesus told the apostles that the Holy Spirit would –

  • ‘teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.’ (John 14:26)
  • ‘But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.’ John 15:26-27
  • ‘He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.’ John 16:8-11
  • ‘when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.’ John 16:13-15

After Jesus rose from the dead He met with His disciples and commissioned them for their ministry –

So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ John 20:21-22

As Jesus prepared to return to His Throne in Heaven, He commanded His followers not to depart Jerusalem but ‘wait for the Promise of the Father.’ He said that John baptized with water, but He would baptize them with the Holy Spirit ‘not many days from now.’ That led the apostles to ask Jesus if He would ‘at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ Jesus replied – ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’ (Acts 1)

The Apostles and the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit did ‘come upon’ the disciples about a week after the Lord’s Ascension –

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:1-4

The Apostle Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, preached a powerful message on the streets of Jerusalem about Jesus Christ – beginning with quotes from the prophet Joel –

And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. Acts 2:17-18

Peter began by saying, ‘But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.’ What the Jews in Jerusalem were witnessing on that Pentecost was the beginning of what Joel had prophesied centuries earlier. Peter went on to say that the Jews had killed the Messiah, but that God had raise Jesus from the dead. Their actions would have repercussions, thus the need for immediate repentance that would lead to their receiving the ‘gift of the Holy Spirit’ –

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.’ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. Acts 2:36-39

The ‘Acts’ of the Holy Spirit

Many people call the Book of Acts the ‘Acts of the Apostles.’ I understand why they think that, but I prefer to think of Acts as the ‘Acts of the Holy Spirit.’ You will find the Holy Spirit mentioned more times in the Book of Acts than any other Writing in Scripture (about 70 times). You’ll find references to the actions of the Spirit in these chapters (sometimes multiple times in chapters) –

  • Acts 1
  • Acts 2
  • Acts 4
  • Acts 5
  • Acts 6
  • Acts 7
  • Acts 8
  • Acts 9
  • Acts 10
  • Acts 11
  • Acts 13
  • Acts 15
  • Acts 16
  • Acts 18
  • Acts 19
  • Acts 20
  • Acts 21
  • Acts 28

The Spirit of God did exactly what Jesus said He would. The Spirit taught the apostles ‘all things’ and brought to their remembrance what Jesus had said to them. The Spirit consistently ‘testified about Jesus.’ The Holy Spirit convicted the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. The Spirit guided the apostles ‘into all truth.’ The Holy Spirit did not speak on His own authority, ‘but whatever He hears He will speak.’ The Spirit told the apostles ‘things to come.’ The Spirit ‘glorified Christ.’ The Holy Spirit took of what belonged to Christ and ‘declared it’ to the apostles.

The Holy Spirit’s ‘Inspiration’

The Holy Spirit guided and directed the apostles in their ministries. That’s quite evident in the Book of Acts. The Holy Spirit also ‘inspired’ (moved) the apostles as they taught, prophesied, and wrote –

‘… knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:20-21

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

This means that the Spirit of God directed the writing of the apostolic letters, Gospel accounts, and Book of Acts. That’s important for us to remember and consider. God guided the minds of the apostles to record spiritual truths for all who will read and believe.

Free eBooks

You can download the first 13 chapters of this series here.

You can download chapters 14 – 24 of this series here.

You can download chapters 25 – 30 of this series here.

You can download chapters 31 – 39 of this series here.

You can download chapters 40 – 48 of this series here.

Next Time

Among the many things the Spirit inspired the apostles to write concerned how Christians would ‘reign’ with Christ. We know we will reign with the Lord in the future, but how does that work in the present day? We’ll see how the Spirit of God addresses that question in the next part of our special series, ‘Train to Reign.’

“Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

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