Acts 2:42-47

This short section shows a little of what the early believers did.  There were four main elements:

• Devotion to the apostles' teaching
• Fellowship
• Breaking of bread
• Prayer

The apostles were charged with passing on the things that Jesus had taught them, and they had been direct witnesses of His ministry and resurrection. 

The believers formed a community, and shared a lot of their lives together. This even included sharing their possessions.

Jesus had commanded His disciples to observe the breaking of bread at the Last Supper.

They prayed continually.

In addition the apostles performed many miracles. Presumably there would normally be healings of various sorts.

They met together in the temple courts. This indicates, inline with Peter's preaching, that they saw themselves as a continuation of Judaism. They praised God and enjoyed the favour of the people. Furthermore, the church continued to grow.

Acts 2:37-41

The people were cut to the heart. Why and how did this happen? It was not because the preaching was particularly eloquent, but because it was the truth of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit convicted them.

What shall we do, was their response. So Peter tells them to repent and be baptised. In order to receive Jesus we need to turn from our own ways and turn towards God's ways. Then they needed to be baptised into the name of Jesus Christ. They needed to commit themselves wholeheartedly to Jesus in order to receive forgiveness. They they too would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

We see here the key ingredients of conversion: repentance, commitment to Christ, forgiveness and receiving the Holy Spirit. 

This applied not only to them, but to their children and to the whole world. The same message is relevant today. The "and to your children" cannot really be seen as promoting infant baptism, rather the verse is saying that this new way of life applies to all generations.

Acts 2:22-36

Having put the immediate events in their prophetic context, Peter turns to the recent events involving Jesus.

Once again it is based on what the people had seen. Many of them would have seen, and even more of them heard about, the miracles, signs and wonders that Jesus had done. He then places the responsibility for Jesus' death firmly with them and with the Roman authorities, and the priests. But all this was part of God's plan, then God raised Jesus from the dead.

Peter then quotes from Psalm 16. This Psalm talks of God's chosen one not seeing decay. Clearly this could not have been applying to David because David was dead and buried. David was a prophet and was looking forward to what God would do in Christ. In fact all of the Old Testament is looking forward to what God would do in Christ. The mistake of the Jews was to think that the Old Testament was it, when it was in fact a pointer to "it".

Peter and his companions had all seen the risen Christ and they testified to that fact. Jesus is risen, and Jesus is the Messiah, is the heart of the gospel message.

Acts 2:14-21

Peter gets up and explains the events to the people. There is often a lot of nonsense talked in the church about words and actions as if it was a choice between the two. Proclamation of the kingdom is both words and actions. People need to see things happening, whether this being the church getting involved in things, taking action to help the needy, miraculous events or things happening in our lives. Then they need words to explain what is happening and what it all means. Words on their own are dead, actions without words are confusing.

It is worth remembering that this is only seven weeks or so since Peter denied Jesus. He has been transformed from a coward into a man of boldness in a few weeks. With the Holy Spirit big changes can take place in us very quickly. 

Peter ties in the events with Joel's prophesy of the Holy Spirit. Joel foretold that God would pour out His Spirit on all people. Jesus' death and resurrection made it possible for the Holy Spirit to come and dwell with men and women. Joel is in some ways an apocalyptic prophesy, but part of it undoubtedly applies now. The coming of the Holy Spirit is a major event in the history of the world. In our own lives and our own towns, significant things will happen when men and women allow the Holy Spirit to fill them and lead them in their lives.

Acts 2:1-13

Pentecost is the Old Testament Feast of Weeks (Ex 34:22). By the time the events in Acts occurred it had become a celebration of the giving of the Law to Moses. It is therefore appropriate that the Holy Spirit was given to the church on that day. For under the Old Covenant people lived by the Law, now we are to live by the Spirit.

The coming of the Spirit was noticeable, both by the presence of a violent wind and the appearance of tongues of fire. The Hebrew word for Spirit can mean wind, and John the Baptist had said Jesus would baptise them with fire. The Spirit came to rest on each one of them, and they began to speak in other tongues by the ability of the Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit is not a mere theological truth, but something that has a tangible effect.

The event immediately began to have an effect on the whole city. Because of the time of year there were people from many areas, and all of them heard the disciples speaking in their own language. Some were amazed, others mocked.

So we see here two key aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit. He has an effect on the individual Christian, and then that effect will start to have an influence on the world around.

Acts 1:12-23

In obedience the apostles returned to Jerusalem. As in Luke's gospel, there is mention of the women. Luke is keen to emphasise that women played an important part in the early church. They all joined together and prayed.

They addressed the issue of a replacement for Judas. Judas had committed suicide after betraying Jesus.

Peter uses Psalm 69:2 and 109:8 as justification for choosing a replacement. They saw the criteria as being someone who had been with them the whole time since John's baptism to the ascension of Jesus. Ie the primary duty was to be a witness to Jesus.

They came up with two suitable candidates and then drew lots to select the "winner". In drawing lots they were entrusting the final decision to God.

Matthias was chosen, though we read nothing further of him. It is not clear whether we should draw from this that the whole thing was a waste of time, for God later chose Paul of whom we hear an awful lot! Moreover Paul did not fit the criteria specified by Peter. Sometimes we do get bogged down in details that really do not matter, and can even provide Biblical justification for getting bogged down.

Acts 1:6-11

The disciples still did not fully understand, their thinking was fixated on what was going to happen to Israel (maybe some Christians today have the same problem! - see comments that follow before you stone me). Now notice Jesus' answer. He does not deny that kingdom will be restored to Israel, and chapters 9-11 of Romans make clear that Israel is part of God's plan, and is indeed central to it. However, God's plan was much bigger than they imagined. God's plan was made clear to Abraham when He said that all peoples would be blessed through Abraham. God was now going to engage in the "all peoples" bit. If you focus on Israel to the exclusion of other things then you are up a gum tree, equally if you think Israel is no longer part of God's plan, then you are up a different gum tree.

Notice what Jesus does tell them. First, they are not to concern themselves with times or dates. Some people who are obsessed with the end times should take note. Instead they are to get on with the job of making disciples of all nations. We receive power from the Holy Spirit, and this power is directed towards taking the gospel to all the world.

Jesus was then taken from them, but two angels (who appeared as men) warns them not to continue looking up in the sky. Jesus would one day return to the earth.