2 Till the day when he was taken up to heaven after he had given his orders, through the Holy Spirit, to the Apostles of whom he had made selection:
And when he had said these things, while they were looking, he was taken up, and went from their view into a cloud.
And Jesus said to them again, May peace be with you! As the Father sent me, even so I now send you.
About Jesus of Nazareth, how God gave the Holy Spirit to him, with power: and how he went about doing good and making well all who were troubled by evil spirits, for God was with him.
Jesus said to her, Do not put your hand on me, for I have not gone up to the Father: but go to my brothers and say to them, I go up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.
And said, O men of Galilee, why are you looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come again, in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.
And when they came in, they went up into the room where they were living; 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.
On the third day God gave him back to life, and let him be seen, Not by all the people, but by witnesses marked out before by God, even by us, who took food and drink with him after he came back from the dead. And he gave us orders to give news of this to the people, and to give public witness that this is he whom God has made judge of the living and the dead.
Paul, an Apostle (not from men, and not through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who made him come back from the dead),
Resting on the base of the Apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief keystone,
For this reason he says, He went up on high, taking his prisoners with him, and gave freely to men. (Now this, He went up, what is it but that he first went down into the lower parts of the earth? He who went down is the same who went up far over all the heavens so that he might make all things complete.)
And without argument, great is the secret of religion: He who was seen in the flesh, who was given God's approval in the spirit, was seen by the angels, of whom the good news was given among the nations, in whom the world had faith, who was taken up in glory.
And this hope is like a strong band for our souls, fixed and certain, and going in to that which is inside the veil; Where Jesus has gone before us, as a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
Who has gone into heaven, and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been put under his rule.
So that you may keep in mind the words of the holy prophets in the past, and the law of the Lord and Saviour which was given to you by his Apostles.
He who has ears, let him give ear to what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give of the fruit of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.
He who has ears, let him give ear to what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not come under the power of the second death.
He who has ears, let him give ear to what the Spirit says to the churches.
So because you are not one thing or the other, I will have no more to do with you.
And the wall of the town had twelve bases, and on them the twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
And he said to them, Go into all the world, and give the good news to everyone. He who has faith and is given baptism will get salvation; but he who has not faith will be judged. And these signs will be with those who have faith: in my name they will send out evil spirits; and they will make use of new languages; They will take up snakes, and if there is poison in their drink, it will do them no evil; they will put their hands on those who are ill, and they will get well. So then the Lord Jesus, after he had said these words to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God.
And the spirit of the Lord will be resting on him, the spirit of wisdom and good sense, the spirit of wise guiding and strength, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; And he will not be guided in his judging by what he sees, or give decisions by the hearing of his ears:
See my servant, whom I am supporting, my loved one, in whom I take delight: I have put my spirit on him; he will give the knowledge of the true God to the nations.
Come near to me, and give ear to this; from the start I did not keep it secret; from the time of its coming into existence I was there: and now the Lord God has sent me, and given me his spirit.
And as a saviour he will come to Zion, turning away sin from Jacob, says the Lord. And as for me, this is my agreement with them, says the Lord: my spirit which is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, will not go away from your mouth, or from the mouth of your seed, or from the mouth of your seed's seed, says the Lord, from now and for ever.
The spirit of the Lord is on me, because I am marked out by him to give good news to the poor; he has sent me to make the broken-hearted well, to say that the prisoners will be made free, and that those in chains will see the light again;
And Jesus, having been given baptism, straight away went up from the water; and, the heavens opening, he saw the Spirit of God coming down on him as a dove;
And he got together his twelve disciples and gave them the power of driving out unclean spirits, and of making well all sorts of disease and pain. Now the names of the twelve are these: The first, Simon, who is named Peter, and Andrew, his brother; James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew, the tax-farmer; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who was false to him.
But if I by the Spirit of God send out evil spirits, then is the kingdom of God come on you.
Go then, and make disciples of all the nations, giving them baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching them to keep all the rules which I have given you: and see, I am ever with you, even to the end of the world.
And he took twelve to be with him, so that he might send them out as preachers, And give them the power of driving out evil spirits: To Simon he gave the second name of Peter; And to James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, he gave the second name of Boanerges, which is, Sons of thunder: And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot; And Judas Iscariot, who was false to him.
And the twelve came together to Jesus; and they gave him an account of all the things they had done, and all they had been teaching.
And the day came and, turning to his disciples, he made a selection from among them of twelve, to whom he gave the name of Apostles; Simon, to whom he gave the name of Peter, and Andrew, his brother, and James and John and Philip and Bartholomew And Matthew and Thomas and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was named the Zealot, And Judas, the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, he who was false to him.
Then he made the holy Writings clear to their minds. And he said to them, So it is in the Writings that the Christ would undergo death, and come back to life again on the third day; And that teaching about a change of heart and forgiveness of sins is to be given to Jerusalem first and to all nations in his name. You are witnesses of these things. And now I will send to you what my father has undertaken to give you, but do not go from the town, till the power from heaven comes to you.
And while he was doing so, he went from them and was taken up into heaven.
For he whom God has sent says God's words; and God does not give him the Spirit by measure.
What then will you say if you see the Son of man going up to where he was before?
Now before the feast of the Passover, it was clear to Jesus that the time had come for him to go away from this world to the Father. Having once had love for those in the world who were his, his love for them went on to the end.
Jesus, being conscious that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he came from God and was going to God,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Acts 1
Commentary on Acts 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Acts of the Apostles
Chapter 1
The inspired historian begins his narrative of the Acts of the Apostles,
Act 1:1-5
In these verses,
Act 1:6-11
In Jerusalem Christ, by his angel, had appointed his disciples to meet him in Galilee; there he appointed them to meet him in Jerusalem again, such a day. Thus he would try their obedience, and it was found ready and cheerful; they came together, as he appointed them, to be the witnesses of his ascension, of which we have here an account. Observe,
Act 1:12-14
We are here told,
Act 1:15-26
The sin of Judas was not only his shame and ruin, but it made a vacancy in the college of the apostles. They were ordained twelve, with an eye to the twelve tribes of Israel, descended from the twelve patriarchs; they were the twelve stars that make up the church's crown (Rev. 12:1), and for them twelve thrones were designated, Mt. 19:28. Now being twelve when they were learners, if they were but eleven when they were to be teachers, it would occasion every one to enquire what had become of the twelfth, and so revive the remembrance of the scandal of their society; and therefore care was taken, before the descent of the Spirit, to fill up the vacancy, of the doing of which we now have an account, our Lord Jesus, probably, having given directions about it, among other things which he spoke pertaining to the kingdom of God. Observe,