Luke, with the attention to detail of a medical man, begins his second book with a summary. He is writing to someone with whom he has been in communication before, and someone he has been working with to guide toward the kingdom. If it had been today, it is as though Luke is sending an email to someone who had read his first book and then left a comment behind on Luke’s website.

Luke dedicated his first book to this man: “Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to wrote an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught” (Luke 1:3, 4 NIV). It’s possible that Luke was Theophilus’ personal physician and attached to his household, something not uncommon in that period. Perhaps because of Paul’s health issues, Luke had been “loaned” to Paul as medical advisor by a friend, patron, or convert of Paul’s.

“In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up into heaven …” (1:1, 2 NIV).

The space of time between the resurrection and the ascension was more than just a means to prove that the resurrection had happened—though that would have been an important part of the plan. Luke says that the Lord still had things to teach His followers—things that hinged on the proof of the resurrection. He also says that during those forty days, Jesus taught His followers more about the Kingdom of God.

The power to preach the Kingdom was not something that could be generated within the followers of Jesus, no matter how enthusiastic they might have been as they basked in the resurrected presence of the Master.

Jesus told them: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (1:4, 5 NIV). To complete their mission, they needed to wait for spiritual ignition that came from on high. While Jesus was with them they did not need His Spirit. But with His physical absence, they would need His Spirit to provide for them what His physical presence had once done.

The circumstances described for us here in Acts are unique to Acts. Jesus was with them physically so the coming of the Spirit upon them was delayed. Such is not the case today when the Spirit comes immediately upon the person who accepts Christ as Saviour.

Waiting for anything is a hard task. With the enthusiasm of the resurrection upon them, the disciples might have been tempted to get out and get working right away, especially since the Lord was still with them as living proof of their message. He told them to wait—they were still missing the key part: His internal presence accompanying them wherever the Divine will would take them, rather than the limited physical presence that they now had. The greater proof of the resurrection was about to be evidenced in lives supernaturally changed by the indwelling presence of God.

The baptism of John had been a public sign of commitment to God. It is interesting that Jesus compares it, not to the Christian practice of immersion, but to the coming of the Holy Spirit. Have we missed something here? Is our practice of Christian baptism a holdover from the transition period of the New Testament? It remains a public demonstration of a believer’s commitment to the Lord, but the proof of that commitment is not found in the act of water baptism, but in the acts of the Spirit of God who indwells that believer.

Gradually, water baptism ceases to be mentioned as the body of Scripture is developed, replaced by the call to live as the Spirit dictates. Many of the verses we assume are applicable to baptism as an ordinance of the church, are more easily applied to the coming of the Spirit at the moment of conversion. Have we replaced an inner movement with an outer form?

The disciples were told to wait. Nothing would be accomplished by frenetic activity without the power to convince behind it. They needed the Spirit who was the only one who could convict of sin, of righteousness, of judgment (John 8-11 NIV).

The disciples still hadn’t figured out what the Kingdom was all about—which explains why the Lord had to put in an extra 40 days before returning to heaven! Their question in Acts 1:6 was strictly earthly, not heavenly, and the heavenly Kingdom was what the Lord was concerned with.

The Lord didn’t go into any more explanations—at least from what we are told—except to tell them that the details of the establishing of His Kingdom weren’t any of their business! We need to hear the echo of that message when our fascination with figuring out His plans for the future, occupies our minds and takes precedence over the mission He has commissioned us to do.

Jesus hauls His listeners back to their responsibility, their mission, by saying: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (1:8 NIV). THAT was their business. While we major on the minors, and things that don’t concern us, the business of the Kingdom is left undone. This was the message inherent in this conversation. Wait for the power to accomplish the mission of reaching the world, and then get out there and do it.

This is a verse of cause and effect. God sends the power, and the result is a message delivered to the ends of the earth. This is the mission: God’s and ours—our reason for being—to tell the world around us and beyond us that there is a way back to Eden.

And having said the most important thing there was to say: “…he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight” (1:9 NIV).

I get a chuckle out the picture next presented to us. True, it was an amazing moment, well deserving of an upward look with mouths open and mind overwhelmed. But the angels appear to give the followers of Jesus a reality check. “Why do you stand here looking into the sky?” (1:11 NIV). They remind the audience that Jesus will return in the same fashion as he left—but in the meanwhile there is work to be done. Since that day many have remained standing staring at the sky speculating on when and how Christ will return. It’s a pleasant occupation, but it’s not why we are here.

The church needs the message that the angels brought to an amazed group: “Why do you stand here—get moving. Focus on the power you have from God and tell the world that there is a way back to Eden.”