Witnesses in Our Town, Our State & The World
Introduction
As we dive into today’s study take a moment to pray and prepare your heart for what the Lord wants to communicate with you. Today we are studying Acts 1:8 these are the last words that Jesus spoke to the disciples before he ascended into heaven and though its only one verse it is pretty meaty in terms of application to our lives.
Comparison
Not everyone includes this step. I think there is value in stepping outside of the translation we are most comfortable with and seeing how the wording differs slightly in each translation. I like to use these four translations, but you can use any you want. The point is to see how different translators treat the same text.
ESV
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
NASB
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
NIV
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
NLT
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Notable Differences
Notice the similarities in all four but there are some subtle differences. Notice how the NLT adds the phrase “telling people about me everywhere.” What lead the NASB translators to translate the last phrase as “remotest part of the earth” instead of “the ends of the earth?”
Observation
1) The last words spoke by Jesus before he ascended into heaven
2) Verse starts with a conjunction indicating contrast with previous verse
3) C&E – receive power/when Holy Spirit comes on you
4) You=believers
5) My=Jesus
6) List-Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ends of the earth
Deep Dive/Context
Context
The Book of Acts and the Book of Luke have the same author. Luke was a doctor and became very close with Paul as noted by the “we” passages in Acts indicating that Luke accompanied Paul on occasion. These are the last words Jesus spoke to the disciples before he ascended into heaven. This verse can also be seen as the theme of Acts as seen by the breakdown of the rest of the book. Chapters 1-8 focus on Jerusalem, after the death of Stephen the focus shifts to include Judea and Samaria (Chapters 8-12) and ultimately the ends of the earth (Chapters 13-28).
Deep Dive
Grammatically it is hard to determine if the phrase “you will be my witnesses” is a command or merely a statement of fact. But if you look at it in the context of the book as a whole it is clear that the tense of the statement is future which makes sense considering that Pentecost didn’t happen for about ten days after the ascension of Jesus.
The conjunction at the beginning of v.8 is important in that in previous verses the disciples were asking about the establishment of the earthly kingdom. In v.7 Jesus essentially dodges the question telling the disciples that it wasn’t for them to know. It still isn’t for us to know. We spend inordinate amounts of time speculating about the end times or eschatology and neglect the current mission which is being witnesses to Jesus Christ.
Application
This served as the mission of the disciples and continues to be our mission today. We may not be actual eyewitnesses to the events of the Gospels but we have the eyewitness accounts and can share that.
We are not all called to vocational ministry but we are all called to be witnesses to Christ. How do we do that? In John 13:35 we are told “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (ESV).” Do you have a neighbor who needs help with things? Help them. Do you have a friend who is struggling? Be there for them. I have struggled with depression and anxiety for most of my life and what has always helped me was knowing that even when I pushed them away my friends and family were there and weren’t going to abandon me because my issues were too scary. Remember the parable of the Good Samaritan and be the Samaritan in some one’s life.
