Why Are You Looking There For Jesus? – Acts 1:9-26
May 11, 2014Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
Our text this Sunday (Acts 1:9-26) covers one of the most significant, in truth the most significant event, in the book of Acts, and it ranks as high as anything in the history of the world. But this may be one of the most understated events in the Bible.
It undoubtedly ranks above the events of the day of Pentecost—as important as those are. But I dare say it has received far less attention from commentators and expositors than that chapter. It is even more important than the commissioning verse so often referenced in the first chapter (Acts 1:8).
Why does it receive so little attention? Why do most of us read over it as it were “fill material” between Jesus telling them to wait for the Spirit, and the coming of the Spirit in Acts 2? Surely part of the reason is that we don’t read these passages with the same understanding as the original audience. But I would also say that a big reason is that this event is described in language that either betrays its significance or purposely conceals it, not from but for those with eyes to see.
Tomorrow morning we will see why Acts 1:9-26 sets the agenda for the events of the rest of the book of Acts and why this section is crucial for understanding the meaning of the rest of the book.