The Book of Acts 1:9-14 - Christ Ascension and Disiples to Jerusalem

We're going to read through verse 14 today. I think nine through 14 must be soundly based on what precedes it. So, James, you open back there. I will give you seven seconds. Three, four, five, six. All right. Nine through 14. We're going to 1-14. I think we've got to set the stage for 9-14 by reading the first 8 verses.

Acts 1-14 The former treatise have I made, O Theopolis, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, Ye have heard of me?

For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore had come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put into his own power, but ye shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

And when he had spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey.

And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter and James, and John and Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon, Zelebus, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

Okay, great. Thanks James. I think today we are going to reflect back on some of the early verses and see what the Lord has to show us in verses 9-14. So let's start with verse 9. And after he had said these things he was lifted up while they were looking on and a cloud received him out of the sky. Boy how incredible that must have been. Can you imagine being there with him and suddenly there he goes.

So what things, and I think refer back to verses 7 and 8, so let's read those again. Let's see, who wants to read this? Lauren, you got that? 7 and 8, who wants to read that? Okay, and he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.

But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. So these are the things that he just said, right? So presumably these are the things, right? After he had said these things, the promise of the Holy Spirit, right? Alright, so where did this happen?

Mount of Olives. The name of the town is Bethany. If you go to Luke 24.50 you can see that documented in that part of scripture. Bethany is a village 15 furlongs from Jerusalem at the Mount of Olives.

Luke 19.29 defines the distance.

If you look at the map, which we are going to shortly. We are going to look at a map. We are going to wait for another couple of verses to do that because it more directs our attention to that area. We are talking about 6 tenths of a mile. It's interesting because they call that one Sabbath day journey. We'll come back to that.

That was fun. By the way, the preparation for this teaching here is seemingly so kind of different than teaching other doctrinal books. It's been fun actually. So let's go ahead. So where did he go? He went to the right hand of God, Colossians 3.1, the third heaven, 2 Corinthians 12, 2-4, the throne, Revelation 3.21, the most holy place, Hebrews 9.12, call it what you want. Presumably this is where he went, right? All these define the same location, I believe, although they're named differently in various sections of scripture. Any thoughts about trying to distinguish these four places?

Well, you know, there's a distinction between the three heavens. Vern's gone through this several times in main service, but there's what we see in the clouds. That's all they can see. And then there's the celestial heavens, and then there's the third heaven, right? So he's on his way to the third heaven. Well, I think there would be a contradiction in these various sections of scripture in terms of defining where he's at. Now, the throne, we tend to think of Israel, but nevertheless in Revelation, he himself declares that he's on the throne.

So I don't think we need to really get into more detail on this. I think it's pretty clear that this is third heaven kind of experience. And it's documented well elsewhere in the text. OK, and had he not predicted this? I mean, John's full of this. The idea is going to prepare a place for us. I don't think we're going to take time today to look at all these verses, but it's well documented.

He predicted he's going to be leaving this sphere in some form at some time. And of course, even he at this time wasn't aware of exactly the circumstances because the Lord God had not revealed the timing to him yet. But he knew it was not. And he predicted that he would be leaving the earthly existence. In fact, why don't we just turn to John 14, 1-3. Let's just look at that as an example of this prophecy that came from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.

In my Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And whether I go, you know, and the way you know. Thanks, Tom.

So if you look at verses 20 and 29, the same chapter, chapter 16, 7 and 8, chapter 16, verse 7, anyway, they all document this prophecy of him going above. And a cloud received him. We did some study on this. Clouds repeatedly are used as a transport vehicle for the Lord God himself, Matthew 17, 5, and the Lord Jesus Christ. there and here and when he comes again.

1 Thessalonians 4.17 at the rapture and Matthew 24.20 presumably when he comes to rule the throne. The cloud is a transport vehicle, like it or not everybody. He goes up in the cloud and he comes down in the cloud. That is what we see here.

Interestingly enough, don't you think, do angels come in clouds? There's no documentation that angels come in clouds. I did an extensive search of this because I thought angels came in clouds too. You see it in the popular media. They're always in the clouds to play their harps. I must have looked at 25 different verses that dealt with angels.

We're going to come back to this. In white clothing too? I can only find one place in scripture where angels are dressed in white clothing. Actually two places. This is one of them. So anyway, all that aside, angels don't come in clouds everybody, they just show up. So what do you think about that? Do you think angels come in clouds? You didn't read no scripture. Have you ever looked at this important question? Never thought about that, no. I'm sorry. We had a week study on clouds.

Might have been a cloud of angels, I don't know. But the other thing about the clouds, it really relates to the Shekinah glory. It's kind of interesting because the Mount of Olives is what we're talking about here. And if you kind of go into detail that, you know, it's a visible symbol of the glorious presence of God.

Let's do look at these verses very quickly. Exodus 40, 34, Wayne, Matthew 17, 5, Holly, and Mark 9, 7, Bonnie, if you can do that. Mark 9, 7. I forgot my Bible. Give me a demerit. I'm sorry, you're going to need to leave the class. We have an extra one here. Hey, I just was thinking of a question while you were saying about the clouds and stuff.

Angels have wings, so they don't need a cloud. You know, these angels' wings, you don't see that too often referenced in scripture. I mean, angels are kind of a mystery, actually. When he was dead, the angels were kind of mysterious in terms of how they show up. There's no full-blown taxonomy in the scriptures. All right, so when you're up. Exodus 40, 34. Yeah, 40, 34.

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Okay. Is that the end of the verse? That's the end of the verse. Okay, so kind of something related to the cloud and the presence of the Lord. Okay, Mark, Matthew 17, 5. Who's going to take that? I am. While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, And suddenly a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

How profound is that? Doesn't that tell you there's also a break in the normal space time continuum of clouds protecting the people from possible side effects? That sounds fairly scientific. James, you got a comment on that? I have a comment on what he said, but we can hear the last verse and then I'll follow up to that. Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, This is my beloved son, listen to him. OK.

So not so much as we can't give evidence that there is a scientific reason for that. But from what I see and looking at the appearance of the cloud in relation to that cloud is a created item and that people on the earth see that nature around them is clouds that come and disappear.

And God, I believe, obviously this is not specifically taught either, but exhibits himself as separate and outside of his creation by appearing in a way that seems to come through, out of nowhere, out of the appearance of a cloud, this mighty savior breaks through to his creation. Whereas you notice an angel just seems to appear and not appear. God always comes from somewhere else, outside of his creation. Because obviously the spiritual realm is on a different space-time continuum scientifically than the physical realm that we know. Even though they are very physical, he comes from outside of what we know and appears through, whether or not we can say that we would be damaged by or blinded by any sort of space-time continuum that we see in science fiction, that could very well be, but the fact that he appears coming from something else.

So an interesting way to continue that conversation then, what about angels? What's that all about in terms of the way the Lord allows them to appear? They do not have the majesty or authority that this creates. He is above, whereas Hebrews even tells us that Christ was made a little lower than the angels. that he might be crowned above them. And so God is above all.

And so he comes and says, I come differently. I come in the clouds, I go with the clouds. That's Nate. Tommy, are you going to rebut this or are you going to agree? No, no. Amplify. At the time of the rapture, he will come and received us in several clouds, not just one, because we are in Christ. There you go, there you go. We're taken up in the clouds, right? How's that for identification? I was just thinking of the same thing, that we'd be coming with Christ in the cloud, right, back to Jerusalem. So, again, kind of what you said, coming out of... somewhere else.

But I think too it makes sense that the glory, just like when Moses went up and he had the glory, the reflection of the glory on his face and his face had to be veiled and he was not supposed to look on the light. I think that the cloud also does protect us from the Shekinah glory, the brightness of the Lord that I think we have no idea what that brightness really is. In my mind I think of it like a nuclear explosion kind of bright. But you know what that reminds me of is I think it's 1 Corinthians 11, I could be wrong on the chapter where it talks about the glory that Moses experienced on the mount.

We have far greater glory in being indwelled by the Lord Jesus Christ. This cloud experience is effectively what we are all about and we will be part of it when he comes to rapture us. As they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going. Behold, two men in brilliant white clothing stood beside them.

While they were looking on intently into the sky, if you look down deeply into this verb, it connotes not only intensity but persistence. This is something that's going on for some period of time. We don't have a clue as to whether it's seconds, minutes, days, weeks. I don't think it's that. But maybe the point is this is not just something that lasts for a second. If you think about the Lord going up in the clouds, I think that this is pretty instantaneous. And maybe this is five seconds or something. But this seems like it implies not only were they intensely perceiving this, but they were consistently and persistently experiencing this.

So I don't know. We don't need to discuss it because we don't have any information. Who are these white clothed guys anyway? Well, they are the angels. White garb on angels is rarely described in scripture. There are a couple of places we don't need to look at this now.

Mark 16.5 and John 20.12 both describe the angels at the tomb. Here they are garbed in white clothing, but other than that, angels show up. and they're not in white clothing.

Clothes are white. Maybe it's like an association. You know what I mean? What did you say? Clothes are white. Maybe it's like an association. Green. White also speaks of purity. White is clean, pure. Right. Your garments being washed. White is stuff. Right. So, yeah. White, you look like you're ready to jump or something. Well, I was just thinking there's something different about this.

Usually when the angels appeared, there was fear involved. But those that saw him, there isn't here. Well, maybe these aren't angels. Who else would they be? Well, it does say men, right? Doesn't it usually say angels appeared? Well, but angels are in the form of men, are they not? Well, it's all relative, though. I mean, if you just got terrified by something horrible, and then you saw something that was not so terrible, here they just saw the Savior ascend up into heaven in a miraculous way.

Was there a dressing room there? This is not your lakefront park, right? Compared to what we just saw, naturally this is a supernatural experience to hear these men. And it's very comfortable that we see two men as you just mentioned at the tomb. Why are these not perhaps the same two individuals that Peter and John, looking at them saying, You're on assignment, this place and that time. Well, why couldn't they be women?

We're going to come to win in here in this passenger. So stood beside and as they were participating in the same experience, but perhaps not less one or more informed. So these guys in white clothing, I mean, they're kind of participating in this or are they are they looking at this differently? Are they perhaps? less wondrous about what's going on and better informed about what's happening. I mean, again, this is speculation, but it's fun to speculate on things like this.

This is such a miraculous event. They went through a mind-blowing experience, all of them, when they first encountered the resurrected Christ. The second time around, it's like this is not quite as full-blown, first-time, ever observed, ever, ever, ever, echo, echo, echo, but something that was at least, they'd been a little bit coached on by previous experience.

Yeah. The word in Greek is is for a man. It's whatever it is. And they're like that. So it speaks of men. I mean, angels is right. With curiosity, I'm not sure these are angels, but do we believe in the tomb that those were angels? Well that says angels, right? Alright, let's go ahead.

Acts 1.11. They also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking in the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven. You know, all of those present were from Galilee. Interestingly enough, Every one of the disciples is from Galilee except Judas Iscariot. And he's from Judea. I'm not sure I ever knew that before. But anyway, I thought that was interesting to look at. I did look at the interlinear and it did say Andres, the plural of Andros.

So it's men as in the non indirect. It was specific to men, not to women. Right. OK. That's nice. But keep in mind, I just raised the question, are these angels or are these not angels? I mean, I think it's not the fact that they make this explanation seems pretty incredible. They're explaining what's happening. And so. Only God or his servants can explain what's going on.

And that's why I think we could lean in that direction. How would you respond to that? Did the disciples know, I don't know the Bible that well, that Christ was going to ascend into heaven? I mean, this question kind of gets me like, why do you stand looking into the sky? Did they know that Christ was going to ascend? Because I would sit there looking too, you know, like is he going to come back down or what? Well the verses I alluded to before really reference he's leaving them.

The specifics were not given. And I'm not sure the Lord himself knew the specifics. So was there anything mentioned in the Old Testament that Christ was going to ascend in a cloud? I'm not aware of that. Anybody else? Roger? So it's not like they, you know, when he says, why do you stand looking into the sky? It's not like they had an idea that that would happen.

I mean, they were probably. Well, the angels are reminding them of his final words there, because while the Old Testament spoke of Here's where we'll receive the promise of the Spirit and then the kingdom will appear. Well, they said, you know, well, obviously those two are connected in Joel and other places. You told us we'd get the Spirit. Where's your kingdom?

And he says, you know, hold on, guys. What you have to do is you have to go wait for me. One step at a time. You go and I, you wait and then I'll go. And so he went and they're standing there when he already told them This is where you need to be, and this is where you need to wait. So the angel came back and said, hey, didn't he just remind you to be somewhere waiting for him?

Yeah, in fact, we're going there immediately. That's exactly along that line of thinking. So anyway, how would you respond to their message? I guess we don't need to be off track here. Let's just listen to what they said, and do what they said, just like he told us, and do it. You're always so practical.

The reason we know that they are angels is because who would know that he is going to come back the same way in the cloud. What is being said here is that he is going to come back in the same way. Just as you watch him go, he will come back. If I were there, we are all somewhat inquisitive aren't we? I guess that is why I do science as a career. Clouds? When? Where? In what form? Visibly? There are so many questions I would be asking Tom. One quick response to that.

It was still at that time entirely possible that as a unit, except for possibly the two high priests, Jews could have come to Christ even then on Pentecost day, but it didn't happen. It didn't happen. Only 5,000 were converted. It wasn't an evangelism explosion. Jerusalem wide, it just was limited and nobody caught on except for a great number of priests.

So your point is what? Even though the church was about to come into being as a new, up until the time that Jerusalem was taken over by the Romans, they had that interval, all of them, to accept as a nation the actual coming of the Lord Jesus as their king. And if that had happened, that would be the end of the church.

When I was reading Acts it said the day of Pentecost was a Jewish holiday. Pentecost didn't start as a holiday. It wasn't called Pentecost. It was the Feast of Lights. That's why everybody from different countries came. It wasn't called Pentecost. It's called Pentecost because that's 50. Penta is 50 and that's the time of 50. Which is 50 days following his resurrection. So it changed from Day of Light. So the Jewish festival remains the same.

It was a Feast of Boots. Was it a Feast of Boots? The Feast of... I don't know if it was weeks or booths or something. We got to look at that Jewish calendar, but it was, it happened to be as predicted in the law that 50 days hence would come another feast after the year. Okay, so who's ever teaching that section I'm sure is going to get into that more detail. I did not specifically look at that. All right, so lots of questions to ask.

You go to Zechariah 14.4 and it says, and in that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east.

So effectively, we've got some idea that there was prophecy already documented that we know kind of where he's coming. We also don't have the time identified and it doesn't say clouds in Zachariah. But it presumably implies visibility and implies ancient. Okay, so some of these questions were in part answered by Zechariah, but not all of them. Of course, we still don't know dates, do we? Interestingly enough, the Jews desired to be buried on the east side of Jerusalem, near the east gate, so that when Christ does come on the Mount of Olives, those are going to be the first people to see him. That sounds kind of Jewish.

So the Mount of Olives also prophesied in Ezekiel 10.4 and 11.23 in terms of the Shekinah glory presence and absence. So we're not going to look at that, but Baker had something interesting to say. It's interesting to note that when the globe departed from the temple in the days of Ezekiel, The glow cloud departed from its place between the cherubim and the threshold of the temple and then departed from the temple and from the city itself to the mount in the east of Jerusalem. So, you know, we've got this kind of glow of the cloud moving from the temple to the mount.

So the mount is really well established, scripturally, both in the Old Testament and now in the New again. Tom. And according to John, and we saw of God, full of grace and truth. And there was the man. Where on that glory went. What a great verse, isn't that great?

John 1.10 or so, it's a spectacular verse. Alright, so the disciples had hoped that his promises were true and that he would return.

If you turn to Luke 24.52, we don't have to look at this just because of time, but it really documents that they're hopeful of what he said was true, that he would come back.

And so that's kind of neat. In fact, I'm going to change my mind. Let's look at that. Let's turn to Luke 24, look at 51 through 53, I think is better, but 52 is the birth that clearly 52 pick up. 52 picked up the compound. I think only you would think of that. So whoever has that, please read it. What was the verse you wanted to read, Bob? 51 through 53, I think if I recall correctly.

And it came about while he was blessing them. It's interesting that sometimes Lepus is actually part of that verse and was carried up into heaven. He parted from them and they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continuing the temple praising God. So the idea of returning to Jerusalem with great joy seems to pretty much document that there was a lot of hope there. Why would they be joyful if they thought that their savior was leaving and there was no promise of things to come. So it kind of implied a bit but I think it's okay to say that they were expecting his return.

In Acts 1.12 it says, And then they returned to Jerusalem from a mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a seven days journey away.

So here is a map, and if you see Jerusalem here, Here's Mount of Olives right here. Here's Bethany, Bethpage. And so look at the proximity of the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem. And Margaret and I have been there. We stood on the Mount of Olives and we've looked down on Jerusalem from there.

And this path that exists there, that's a pioneer of the path. We could have walked. Somebody was touring us, a guy was taking us around. But anyway, so we rode and did walk. But that's the path that exists even today between the Mount of Olives Jerusalem. I borrowed this from Berg's handout. I thought this was really informative.

What you're looking at here is from west to east. So the Dead Sea is out in front of you, east of Jerusalem. There's the Mount of Olives, kind of halfway between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. Although realistically, the Dead Sea seems further away than that. And then there's the Temple Mount, halfway between, or a third of the way between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, and there's Jerusalem. almost an ascension clouds view of what's going on. In context that's a good comment. So it's really, I think as you think of the geography here, you know this idea of the Mount of Olives being some distant place is in reality not true.

It's very very close. It is amazing. Actually, Yvonne and I got a chance to be there as well. It is amazing. Things are so much closer. You read scripture and you think, wow, this is a really long way. Six tenths of a mile. I mean, that's hardly anything.

Did you get to Bethlehem when you were there? Yes. But the two times we've been to Israel, Bethlehem wasn't possible. Oh, really? That's so close too. We took an Arab bus down to Bethlehem. Oh, we could have done that probably. See Bethlehem on the map? It's just a little southwest and probably, you know, five miles. Up the creek or down the creek? It's kind of down the hill. Yeah, down the hill.

Well, one time we were there, they were having shootings there. That's why we didn't go. It was literally... Terrorist action. Yeah, there was terrorist action going on right now. Alright, let's continue. The journey is only, as I said earlier, only six-tenths of a mile, but this was the limit of travel by Jewish law on the Sabbath.

And if you go here, this is implied but not clearly stated in Exodus 16.29 and Numbers 35.5. Let's look at that.

Tom, could you do Exodus 16.29? I borrowed somebody's old Bible. Oh, you're a Bible-less today, too. Okay, Doris, maybe you could get Exodus 1629. George, could you do numbers 3530 or does James have a Bible back there?

Keep in mind, I think this is implied and this is used by at least one commentator, maybe two, to give us an idea that the Jewish law prohibited travel any further than this. So the numbers passage, I think, is more informative than actually the Exodus. So who's got the Exodus? Doris, go ahead please. See for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Abide ye every man in his place. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

Okay, so that doesn't give us a distance, but it certainly indicates there's not going to be much travel. When we've been in Israel, people weren't taking the elevator, some of them. Even the toilet paper roll was automatic. Is that right? Yes. You didn't even have to hit the toilet paper roll. More details please. At least you can use toilet paper. But it's true though, that's how they, everything was set up that way. And the numbers passage, James, do you have it? Yes, numbers 35-5.

And you shall measure from without the city on the east side 2,000 cubits, and on the south side 2,000 cubits, and on the west side 2,000 cubits, and on the north side 2,000 cubits. And the city shall be in the midst. This shall be to them the suburbs of the cities.

Don't you wish we were under law? Today we couldn't have gathered together in fellowship. We couldn't have gone more than 2,000 cubits in any direction from where we were. Anyway, I think the idea that this was a Sabbath day journey really implies that they were limited in the length that they could travel on the Sabbath.

When they entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying. That is Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Appius, and Simon the zealot, and Judas the son of James. Now, what upper room is this? Well, I'm going to declare this is the upper room. There's no evidence that this is some other third floor apartment or suite. This is the upper room.

And I think the interesting thing here is some speculate that this may have actually been where John Mark was living. And I didn't really come up with anything under this speculation here. So I don't think you should take that away. Yes, it does say the upper room. Thank you. Well, that's why I put the upper room.

So whether this is where John Barth was staying, I don't think we need to be so concerned about that. And it says that where he may have appeared to them after the resurrection. We won't look at those verses, but clearly Christ came back and met them in the resurrection body. Actually, let's go ahead and look at this. John 20 verses 19 and 26. Those verses are close to one another. So Margaret's relying on her glasses now to read, right? I know, it's awful. You want to read this, honey? Sure. John 20, 19, and then verse 26.

Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, when the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. Okay, verse 26 then. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

Now neither of those verses identify place per se, but you know they were there, and you hear this verse says they've been staying there. I don't know there's every reason to believe this was all in the upper room, but we can't document that. Where they were staying, this isn't a perfect instruction, but it suggests on and on that this is a repeated behavior of them staying there. That's in the Greek and kind of translating it to the best of our ability, a continuous kind of presence being there. The upper room is apparently a place they all like as much as the Ritz-Carlton room on the top floor. We're going a bit astray here, but we're really not, because I think this is something that's puzzled all of us. It should have puzzled some of us.

So who are the twelve disciples? Well, here's the disciples that Mark lists. Simon, Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, Adolphius, Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot. Matthew 10.2 is an identical list in a different order. Fairly similar order, but somewhat different.

Then we've got Luke 6.14 that calls Simon the Canaanite Simon the Zealot. So same guy, but that name is used interchangeably. And Judas, the brother of James versus Thaddeus. So we've got something that seems a little different now. We've got Thaddeus.

And then we have Acts 1.13, which is the verse we're in. And here, Judas Iscariot is left out. See you later, Judas Iscariot. And Simon the Canaanite versus Simon the Zealot. Again, we have that same, I think, interchange of that same guy.

And then Judas the brother of James again versus Thaddeus, who's not mentioned here. So we've got this kind of issue of who is this James brother Judas the brother of James versus Thaddeus. We'll come back to that in a second. But do you think it's significant Simon Peter's always listed first? Is there any merit there or lack thereof? Or is that just coincidental? Speculate. So who is Judas the brother of James? Why is he not on two lists and Thaddeus is on the other two? And then in terms of the apostles, we're talking about the disciples now. You're right, not the apostles.

Well, many people think this is the different names for the same guy. And I don't know if anybody else has any other opinion about this. I tried to really get down deep on this and that's what I came up with. Of course, James, excuse me, John and his brother were nicknamed the Sons of Thunder by Jesus himself. So that sets a kind of tone for the whole issue. There might have been nicknames out. OK, well, what do you make of this issue in terms of Judas, the brother of James?

Do you think that's the same guy? I'm not going to stress on that one, but it could go any number of directions. I would think scripture would be indicative of this same person. I don't think it's meant to confuse. And I think many people feel that that, you know, as you look at this individual, not mentioned much more past this, that this is the same person, but maybe because there were two Jews. originally, maybe Thaddeus was maybe the second name or his father's name or whatever. And so it was easier to just distinguish if they use Thaddeus, just a thought. And I think those who are concerned about the accuracy of scripture might mention this as indications that scripture is not really entirely true. Anyway, let's go ahead there. I don't know how important that is, but I don't think it's terribly important.

So verse 14, these all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer along with the women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. Who are these women? Possibly the two, let's see, the other Marys, Mary Magdalene and Mary of the Martha Mary group. Martha, yeah, Martha. So probably it's those that follow Christ from Galilee.

And let's look at these verses now. This is Luke 23, 55 and Luke 24, 10. I think that gives us a fairly complete list. Paul, you want to do Luke 23.55 and Bonnie, you have a Bible?

Okay, Luke 24.10.

And the women who came with him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how his body was laid. And they returned and prepared the spices and the fragrances. And they what? Oh, did you want 56? Well, it explains the thought. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils and they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James. Also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. Yeah, and it could have been more than those listed actually, but we know that there were women presumably that were with them, you know, on the trail from Galilee that were present. Are you so caught? Sorry, on Luke 24 it says, Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they and certain other women with them came to the tomb bringing the spices. That one says more too. Who knows?

This could have been 10, 20 women. It could have been hundreds. We just know women and probably some of those we just read about were included. So it's possible that it was not just a limited number of women who were weeping for Jesus as he was being led up. But a whole bunch. Are you surprised that they're included here? I mean, I think this is profound.

And I think, you know, what does this say about how the Lord views women? I mean, you know, they're included in this very intimate group. Well, it was to women first that he appeared. But if you think about at the time, during those times, and even now, you know, when you go to Israel, the way women are in the Jewish world it's a whole different thing the way that the men treat the women so I think it's important that the women are included and that it's in the bible. human man's view of women. We're talking about the Lord's view of women. That's what I'm saying though. When you look at the time period that that was and how men viewed women for the Lord to be so up front about women being included is important.

And Mary, the mother of Jesus, and it's interesting, I looked at five or six different commentators, and everybody mentioned this is the last time she's mentioned in scripture. Now, I wasn't even going to put that. Five people said this. Maybe I should mention this. This is the last time.

So, you know, Margaret and I went to a service for a Jewish physician that we knew who died young of ovarian cancer. She wasn't Jewish, she was Catholic. Mary is mentioned here for the last time. She is relevant. God identified mother of the son of God. It's wonderful in the gospel. She says, my savior. She talks about the Lord Jesus as my savior. You have to be saved from somebody. That's pretty amazing. His mother talks of her son as her savior, which I think is really...

Joseph, the father, dropped out a lot earlier, right? Although he fathered many other children. previously non-believing sibling half-brothers were there. John 7, 5 identifies that they weren't believers. And here we're talking about James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And Mark 6, 3 identifies them by name. So these were siblings, presumably the half-brothers through Joseph and Mary that did not believe their half-brother was, in fact, the Lord Jesus Christ. They were part of this group too. Notice they continued in one mind and in prayer, persevering with constant attention. Sorry about the spelling of persevering. Not misdirected. This is constant and ongoing attention. One mind.

Interestingly enough, he's 22 times in 11 verses in the New Testament, and all but one are in Acts. Think about the church, that we're supposed to be one mind, and actually the only other reference to one-mindedness is in Romans 16. every other one mind as a body is an axe.

Was that unimportant to Paul or to Peter? Pretty important. Pretty flipping important because we're dealing with what were previously rejected, pagan Gentiles. And so there it was in Romans to reinforce the fact that they're all one body, whether they were Jews or Romans. I think Paul talks frequently about one body, and Jew, Gentile, and a man, woman, etc. I think oneness is viewed as an important part of the cooperative, but I find interesting one mind as spoken here is only used in Acts, basically. And also, That's when the Holy Spirit comes. The Holy Spirit, one mind. The Holy Spirit influences and gives that one mind. But Holly, this preceded the Holy Spirit too. But in fact, the Holy Spirit kind of... Nudged him. Externally nudged him. It's adjudicated by the Spirit.

Made true for good. Alright. What do you think the mindset was all about? What's going on here? Gripping expectancy. Something good is going to happen. Let's all be ready for it. So you think this was really uplifting and an atmosphere of joy and expectation? We're past the fear stage.

I wonder if maybe they were very earnest as well, knowing that, you know, there were things to come and it was a joyful time, but also one of, I would think, a very, one of much gravity, thinking of what is coming and that this is the beginning of something very huge and, you know, that they were told some of the things that would happen, so just kind of even meditation and just Back in verse 7 and 8, the promises, right? Those were very much on their mind. I can't believe that they weren't. Yeah, Jay? Well, they had all seen the same things. They'd all experienced the same truth. They'd all lived through the exact same situation where they knew, I know this truth because I was there too. I believe this along with you because I was there too.

And it's an admonition to us who have received the same spirit the same truth and yet we so often today have a different mindset. Why when we share the exact same spirit do we not have one accord? When we can say, where were you on, you can pick an event in your lifetime that happened, it was a momentous event, where were you on September 11, 2001 or whatever. I remember exactly. We have one mind about that because we all shared one experience.

That's a good analogy, I really think. Even Thomas was there, wasn't he? Although his path was maybe a little bit different. Because you see where that word is used elsewhere in the Book of Acts. It even talks about how those watched Stephen. And he blasphemes and they would all, one accord, they were crushed up because they had all experienced the same thing. They had all seen it. They were all convinced of the same truth. And then they went home.

Well, in a sense, think about the fellowship we have here as a body of believers. We are tending to be a one-minded group in terms of the Lord Jesus Christ and how he ultimately, through great grace, grows us in that grace and truth. So, yeah, good, good. And we are almost done here. So, Psalms 133, lastly, is very kind of prophetic. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. I mean it's Old Testament stuff and yet it's kind of interesting and how it applies here is very interesting.

And what was their priority thing? come soon. Plus they already knew with all even praying that it would be soon because Jesus said not many days hence. And let's end today's lesson by looking back at maybe what the prayer was about. Acts 1-4. And gather them together. He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem. but to wait for what the father had promised, which he said, you heard from me.

And that seems very temporal and very soon to happen, doesn't it? The prayer probably was related to some extent to that expectation and the timing of that. Actually, I have a little note that the word wait is literally sit. So it's sort of like you're not, you can say wait, you know, but when you sit down, usually you're going to wait longer than standing up. I don't know. Alright, good.

Great class participation today. Tom, close us in prayer, please. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for just opening our hearts to the meanings of these verses. Great spread of participation by all classmates. Thank you, Lord, for all this, and we lift our praise up to you. Reinforce these truths in each one of us as we go forward. In Jesus' name, with praise and thanksgiving. Amen.