I. The Ascension - (vs. 9-11)

One of the keys to helping us get the full impact of these verses is found in (vs. 11) "...this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."

What things can we look for that will be the same:

A. The same country will be in power - Rome.

B. The same people will be in the homeland - the Jews.

C. There will be a universal language - at that time Greek, now English.

D. The Lord will DESCEND from the third heaven, to the second heaven, to the first, (2 Cor. 12:1-4) and He will come with clouds (Rev. 1:7)

E. He will be attended by "two men... in white apparel" - Moses and Elijah. The two men were either angels (Lk. 24:4,23), or they are Elijah and Moses. (See Mal. 4:4-6 and Dan. 12:5)

F. This "Same Jesus" will be the One with the holes in his hands (Zech. 12:10): not the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost.

G. This "Same Jesus" will be the One who was Virgin Born and Bodily resurrected (Rom. 1:4): not the coming of some judgment at the destruction of Jerusalem. This "Same Jesus" is not the "other Jesus" (2 Cor. 11:4) of "Jesus Christ, Superstar," "The man of the plan in His hand," "the man upstairs," the hippy revolutionary, the Black Jesus, the "lowly Galilean," or any of the other fabrications invented by International Socialists to prepare the way for the "Man of Sin" (2 Thess. 2:2-6)

 

II. A Life of Completed Achievement

A. We are told that, His work done, He "sat down" (Heb. 1:3; 10:12). Passover eaten "in haste" (Ex. 12:11) with the Lord's Supper eaten sitting down (Matt. 26:20)

B. Christ said of His work "It is finished" (Jn. 19:30). Cf. "once" (Heb. 9:12,26,28; 10:10) and "one" (Heb. 10:12,14).

 

III. A Life of Kingly Dignity

A. God's thought of risen, ascended Christ - set at His "right hand" (2:33-35; Heb. 1-3; 10:12) - honor for what He was and reward for what He did.

B. Man's thought of Him - worship (Phil. 2:9-11; Rev. 3:21; 4:10).

 

IV. A Life of Personal Satisfaction

B. He did it with joy (Lk. 10:21), and sat down, satisfied (Isa. 53:11; Heb. 12:2)

 

IV. A Life of Priestly Service

B. It is spent for us - He is:

[1]. Hearing prayer (1:24; 7:59)
[2]. Bestowing the Holy Spirit (2:33; 4:31)
[3]. Coverting wanders (9:5)
[4]. Overseeing Church:

(a). individually (9:10; 18:9)
(b). collectively (epistles to Seven Churches - Rev. 2 & 3)

[5]. Helping workers (Mk. 16:20)
[6]. Sympathizing with suffers (Heb. 4:14 - 5:10)
[7]. Interceding for believers (Heb. 7:25)

 

V. The Assembled ones - (vs. 13-14)

A. The disciples: The reason their names don't match exactly with other list (Matt. 10:2-4, Lk. 6:13-16; Mk. 3:16-19) is that it is quite common for men in the Bible to have, two names - Paul (Saul), Joses (Barnabas), Simon (Peter), and sometimes three; for example, Joseph &endash; Barsabas Justus (Acts 1:23).

B. The Women: (Lk. 8:2)

C. Mary, The Mother of Jesus: This is the last mention of Mary in the N.T. No one honors her in prayer, work or deed, here or later. No one mentions her "Immaculate Conception," or her "Assumption," or her "Perpetual Virginity" anywhere in either Testament.

D. His Brethren: These include some of the younger brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ (see Matt. 1:25; Mk. 6:3; and Lk. 2:7) who did not believe on Him (Jn 7:5), but were found in apostolic company later. James, "the brother of the Lord," is the leader of this group (Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18) and it is one of his brothers ("Judas" - Mk. 6:3) who writes the Book of Jude. Since the New ASV has removed the word "firstborn" from Matt. 1:25, we may strongly suspect the Lockman Foundation of trying to help the Pope out with his bunko about the "perpetual virginity of Mary." Interestingly the NASV, Latin Vulgate, Douay Rheims, Challoner, and Confraternity versions all match the Jesuit Bible of 1582: they all remove firstborn from Matt. 1:25. The "New" nonsexist Bible finds its roots in a line of Roman Catholic Bibles that go back a long ways. (Gen. 3:1)

 

VI. A Condensed History of Judas - (vs. 15-20)

B. This scripture must needs have been fulfilled (vs. 16) See Ps. 109:6-8; 69:20-25; Rom. 11:9-11; Zech. 11:13

C. The destiny of Judas (vs. 17-20) Judas was hanging on a tree (Matt: 27:5) when the earthquake came (Matt. 27:51), and any earthquake strong enough to split rocks (Matt 27: 51) will have no trouble busting the limb off a tree that protrudes over Gehenna, the city dump.

 

III. Replacement of Judas - (vs. 21-26)

B. "His own place" (vs. 25)

[1]. This is the expression used for Laban and Absalom (Gen. 31:55; 2 Sam. 18:18). Absalom is one of the greatest types of Anti-Christ in either Testaments. (2 Sam. 15:1-6) Jacob returning from Laban is a picture of Israel 1948-1983.
[2]. Judas was a devil (Jn. 6:70,71) and his title was "the Son of Perdition" (Jn. 17:12). The "Son of Perdition" goes to perdition (Rev. 17:8) because it is "His own place" (Rev. 9:11)

C. "...and he was numbered with the eleven apostles'' (vs. 26) Eleven is just as significant as the 120. It begins in (Gen. 32:22) and (Gen. 37:9). Eleven is one short of the "son of my sorrow" (Gen. 35:18) who was to complete the twelve tribes of Israel. With Benjamin missing the tribes were incomplete. Paul shows up for the tribe of Benjamin (Phil. 3:5). Paul was "born out of due time" (1 Cor. 15:8) and this is why he could not fill the bill for the 12th apostle in (Acts 1). He is a type of the "man child" (Isa. 66:7-9) who is born at the end of the church age (Rev. 12: 4,5). The reduction, therefore, of the "twelve" to the "eleven" (Acts 1:26) is a veiled prophecy that the 12 tribes will not be restored under their Messiah until the end of church age (Heb. 8:8,9), and at that time "many will come from the East and the West" and "sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven" (Matt. 8:11,12); for they were waved under a Pauline ministry and Paul was a Benjamite - (Num. 12!)