The New Message And The New Power; A Final Summary Preparing For Acts (24:44-53).
Having presented what he sees as the ultimate revelation of the earthly Jesus in describing the appearance of Jesus to His Apostles Luke moves rapidly on to His ascension, ignoring most of what took place in the following days in his usual way. Instead he prepares for the opening Chapter s of Acts by revealing in microcosm the message that was to be preached by His Apostles. It is quite possible that by this time he was running out of space. But it is equally possible that he does not want to spoil the effects of the opening of the new story in Acts by providing too much information here.
Notice for example how Luke appears deliberately to avoid mention of the Holy Spirit here, while at the same time indicating the importance of awaiting His coming as ‘power from on high'. The patent coming of the Holy Spirit is to be the first emphasis of his new book. He also ignores the departure of the Apostles for Galilee after the seven day feast was ended. The revelation of the risen Jesus to His Apostles has been made, now the next thing is instruction as to what they are to do, and the ascension into Heaven, the explanation of which can be left to Acts.
We should not, however, that once the seven days of the feast were over, the return to Galilee is something that they would normally have done naturally even if Jesus had not told them to go there. So we should not be surprised to discover that they did so. But Luke ignores all the subsequent appearances in Galilee, for that would take his readers attention away from Jerusalem, and he feels that what he has said has been quite sufficient. He is not writing to sceptics who will analyse his account and compare it with that of others. He is finally proclaiming the truth of the resurrection, which he has adequately done. Now he wants attention to be concentrated on Jerusalem For Acts is to begin in Jerusalem (in accordance with Isaiah 2:2-4), and will gradually result in a move out from there, first to the wider locality, and then to Rome, the centre of the known world. So, ignoring the visit to Galilee, he takes up his brief narrative from when they return to Jerusalem in accordance with Jesus' instructions, and are told to wait there until they receive the power from above, the power that is to come on them and endue them for what they have to do.
We will in fact learn at the beginning of Acts that there were forty days between Jesus first appearance to His Apostles and His final departure from them (Acts 1:3), days which are unaccounted for by Luke, and about which he here gives us almost no information. All he does tell us is that during this time Jesus spoke to them of the Kingly Rule of God (Acts 1:3). He was preparing them for their future.
That suggests that what now follows is to be read in that light. For the purpose of the book of Acts is to describe the story of the spread of the word concerning the Kingly Rule of God, which is in fact all about Jesus (Acts 28:23; Acts 28:31), from Jerusalem to Rome. Most of the information that he gives below is therefore preparation for this ministry in Acts.
Analysis.
a He said to them, “These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me” (Luke 24:44).
b Then He opened their mind, that they might understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45).
c And He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46).
d “You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:48).
c “And behold, I send forth the promise of My Father on you, but tarry you in the city, until you be clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49).
b And He led them out until they were over against Bethany, and He lifted up his hands, and blessed them, and it came to about that while He blessed them, He parted from them, and was carried up into heaven (Luke 24:50-51).
a And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, blessing God (Luke 24:52).
Note how in ‘a' they learn that in Him the promises of the Scriptures concerning the Coming One have been totally fulfilled, and in the parallel, in response, they worshipped Him and rejoiced, and were continually in the Temple blessing God, a totally transformed community. In ‘b' their minds were opened to understand the Scriptures (the equivalent of their special reception of the Holy Spirit in John, fulfilling the promises in the Upper Room) and in the parallel He blessed them and was carried up into Heaven before their eyes, which were opened to see His ascension. In ‘c' He proclaims what their message is to be, that through His death and resurrection repentance and remission of sins has been made available to all, and is to be preached to all nations, and in the parallel they are told of the power from above that they will receive in order to fulfil this task. And centrally in ‘d' they are informed that they it is their great privilege to be His witnesses.