First of all, Acts is not a book of doctrine. As we go through Acts, we’ll look at the letters written by the apostles during that time to see what doctrine was being taught then.

     Secondly, Acts is not a pattern for the church today. Instead it shows the transition from the Jewish church of Matthew 16:18 to the new church of Ephesians 1:22,23 &2:15,16. For example, Acts begins in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, and ends in Rome, the capital of the Gentiles. Acts begins with Peter, a future ruler of Israel (Mat 19:28), and ends with Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles (Rom 11:13).

     Primarily, Acts records the fall and diminishing of Israel, as summarized in Romans 11:11,12. Israel “stumbled” over Christ (the stumblingstone in Rom 9:32,33) and had Him killed. But they did not “fall” until after they committed that unforgivable sin against God the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31,32), who came in Acts 2. So Acts records the biggest crisis that Israel has ever faced as yet. Let’s get some background to see what led up to that time.

 

     From Adam to Abraham, there were no Jews. Then God promised Abraham that He would make a special nation from his descendants through which He would bless everybody else. (Gen 12:1-3) That promise passed to Abraham’s grandson Jacob, (later renamed Israel, Gen 28:13,14&32:28), and Jacob’s 12 sons produced the 12 tribes of Israel.

     Through Moses, this nation of Israel made a covenant with God known as the Old Testament. It contained hundreds of laws, including the 10 Commandments, which proved that man could not live up to God’s standards and needed mercy. (Rom 3:19,20) God provided for the blood of an animal sacrifice to cover the sin of the people (Lev 16:15,16&17:11) until He came Himself as the man, Jesus, to pay for sin. (Acts 20:28b) Since His blood for the New Testament was not shed until His death, Jesus actually lived under the Old Testament in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. (Heb 9:12,16,17,26)

     Throughout the Old Testament prophets God promised to make a new covenant with Israel which will bring peace on earth. In it, there will be no injustice, sickness, hunger or killing, even among the animals. God will reign over the whole earth through the nation Israel from their capital in Jerusalem. (Is 2:1-4; 11:4-9; 35:4-7; Zech 14:9)

When Jesus was on earth, He proclaimed this new covenant kingdom to be at hand, with miracles to prove it. (Mat 4:17,23; Luke 11:20) He warned His nation of the terrible judgment, the great tribulation, that will come before it. (Zech 13:8,9; Mat 10:34-39&24:3-31) Many believed, but the nation as a whole did not, and they had Him crucified. (Luke 23:13-24) Acts takes up after He rose from the dead. The kingdom was imminent and the judgment about to begin. What happened next??! That is what Acts is about!

 

     Acts can be divided into 2 parts.

1. Chapters 1-8 deal with God’s offer of the prophesied kingdom to Israel, and their response.

2. Chapters 9-28 deal with God’s new message through Paul for the world, and Israel’s response to that.

     Understanding what happened in Acts enables us to see why the prophesied peace on earth with Christ reigning here, has not happened yet, and what is going on today instead.

 

     I’ll be using the King James Version, and I encourage you to look up and consider the references. Believe the Bible, not what I write. Please email your comments and questions. Next time we’ll get into Acts 1. Welcome aboard!