You shall receive power

And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

- Acts v7-8

You have to love the disciples. They were so normal. At the beginning of Acts we have Jesus wrapping things up and giving them some last minute instructions. He told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit. Their minds seem to be where they had been all the way through His ministry. Any idea what they asked Him? “Lord, NOW are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” After all they had seen they were still looking for that elusive kingdom and the overthrow of Rome’s occupying forces. The one thing they kept going back to the whole time they served with Jesus was still on their minds. Even at this stage they had not copped on to what He was doing. They still though it was all about that earthly kingdom!

Jesus told them that the kingdom was not what it was all about. “You don’t need to know when the kingdom is coming – you are going to have the power of the Holy Spirit. Use that power to be witnesses of me wherever you go: here in Jerusalem, around you in Judea, to the Samaritans you despise, and to the uttermost parts of the earth!”

What was Jesus saying? Obviously He was giving His final Great Commission for the disciples and us to use the power of the Holy Spirit to be witnesses by our words and lives no matter where we go, and to go while we are doing. This would be enough of a challenge in and of itself. Are any of us being the witness the Holy Spirit empowers us to be?

I think there is another message for us as well. Jesus is saying, “don’t be so concerned over these earthly issue. Get out and do the work.” I wonder if we cop on any better than the disciples did?

Lets look at a parrowphrase of this event: “Okay Lord, we have waited three years to be a part of this kingdom you were promising. Now is it time?” Jesus replied, “Sorry fellas. Don’t worry about the time, get out there and fill it first!”