Acts 1:2-5 - Corps Notes - September 23, 1975
Acts 1:2-5
September 23, 1975
Some of you wrote to me with questions after the last teaching. After all of these years that I’ve been
in research, there is never a time when a question is addressed to me, especially in writing, that I do
not again evaluate the whole thing. I’m constantly checking and rechecking because every man is
frail. Every man lacks a tremendous amount of ability. There is no man living who cannot learn from
other men and other women, therefore it behooves me to be honest with God’s Word that whenever
anyone has a question regarding God’s Word that I again look at the Word and try to evaluate it in
the light of that question. Before I teach Acts again, I want to once more give you the salient facts
that I’m knowledgeable of regarding the dates of the book of Acts.
Paul had to be out of Rome in 64 A.D. when Nero burned the place. Paul was arrested in Jerusalem
and he was sent to Caesarea. He was imprisoned by Felix and he was detained there for 2 years. Felix
was the Procurator in 52 or 53 A.D. Eusibius the historian says he was appointed in 51. Felix was
succeeded by Festus, who heard Paul’s defense and also Agrippa heard it. According to the Word of
God Felix had been “many years” the Procurator when Paul stood before him in Acts 24:10. So Paul
must have stood before Felix after 54 A.D. Felix was recalled to Rome no later than 61 A.D. because
his brother, Palos who was a friend of the Emperor, died in 62 A.D. Festus was helped by Nero’s
wife. Nero married her in 62 A.D. So Festus was still in office sometime after 62 A.D. In Rome
when Paul was delivered to the Praefect, there was only one, whose name was Burrhus and Burrhus
died in February of 62 when two Praefects were appointed. Before Paul Arrived at Rome he wintered
at Malta. The sea was not open till February so Burrhus would have been dead by the time Paul
arrived in 62. So Paul had to arrive in Rome by A.D. 61 at the latest, therefore he would have
embarked in A.D. 60 for Rome and according to the record in the Word, “sometime after the fast”,
which according to Leviticus 23:27 and Numbers 29:7 would have corresponded to the later part of
our month of September. Paul was in Fair Haven which is listed in Acts 27:8. So he must have
embarked for Rome about August no later than A.D. 60. Paul had been held by Felix for two years
Acts 24:27, so he had been arrested in 58 A.D. This fits with the information regarding Tertullus’s
accusation which concerned the false prophet and the Sikarion which arose during the reign of Nero
after 54 A.D. The compliment paid to Felix by Tertullus where he said “great quietness” and
numerous recorded events in the life of Felix fully account for three years, therefore the earliest
possible date for Paul’s arrest would be 57 A.D. in Jerusalem and the latest possible date 58 A.D.
Therefore – Herod’s death 44 A.D., Paul’s arrest – 57 or 58 A.D., Paul’s arrival at Rome – 60 or 61
A.D. concluding with his two years in prison in Rome which would bring it to 62 or 63 A.D.
Therefore he was freed and out of Rome by 64 A.D. when Nero burned the city. There’s a record in a
lot of your Bibles in II Timothy that says II Timothy was written from Rome – Paul’s 2nd
imprisonment in Rome. Nero died in 68 A.D., so if Paul was killed at the hands of Nero, he had to
have been captured sometime after the 64 A.D. period of the burning of the city and have been
returned to Rome and executed there before the end of 68 A.D. when Nero died. These facts that I
have given you are absolutely solid. The little things in between you can work on but you will not be
able, as far as I know, to get closer than those two years like 57, 58 and 60, 61 or 62. That’s all I
know about it. Okay, that sort of locks in dates. It can’t be after 64 A.D. for the last chapter of Acts
but the last chapter of Acts doesn’t say Paul died. Sometime later he did.
There is no man living that I know of who could expound and declare unto you the “all” that is
within the record of the book of Acts. Perhaps, by God’s mercy and grace, I’ve spent as much time in
this book as any man living and yet I’m not an authority on the book of Acts. I don’t know if I’m an
authority on anything except that I’m an authority that I’m not an authority. Because every time you
get to that Word of God you just stand in utter amazement at the greatness of that Word. I stand in
amazement that our eyes have been blinded through the years at some of the simplicity in that word.
Things that, you just read them and there they are like diamonds and how all of us could have been
brought up if we were within the pail of the church and yet never have seen or been taught the
greatness of this wonderful record. As I told you, the book of Acts stands as a great fulcrum on which
the whole old and the new swing. Last time we meet we got into the 2nd verse a little bit.
Acts 1:2
Until the day in which He was taken up – The day of the ascension
the Holy Ghost – 1st usage of pneuma hagion – holy spirit. In old English the spirit many times is
referred to as ghost. Like a man when he gives up his breath-life, he gave up the ghost, gave up his
spirit. I do not know how the carry over came into the language of utilizing the word ghost for spirit
but it certainly doesn’t communicate. The word ghost does not communicate the greatness of the
word in our day and time because to most people ghost is something spooky in a haunted house with
pendants running to and fro and backwards and forwards and pots moving around, some squeaky
doors at 11:30 at night, 2:30 in the morning. The words are pneuma hagion. Pneuma is spirit. Hagion
is holy. It’s a remarkable thing that people through the years should have taught that The Holy Ghost,
The Holy Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost. Here it is the day of the ascension and previous to
that day the record says that Jesus Christ through pneuma hagion had given commandments unto the
Apostles. Therefore, whatever pneuma hagion is, must have been available before the day of what?
Pentecost. In the sense it’s used here. It could not just have come on the day of Pentecost. So the
teaching, theologically, that The Holy Ghost or The Holy Spirit came for the first time on the day of
Pentecost, has to be an error. Here you have it in verse 2 regarding a time preceding the ascension.
“After that he through pneuma hagion had given commandments.” He had already given them,
before he ascended. Here in verse 2 there is no article “the” in the critical Greek text. The old
Estrangelo Aramaic as well as old Hebrew had no article “the.” Therefore, in order to get to the truth
of God’s Word you have to be able to handle it without the article. I never get shook in our research
when there’s an article or when there isn’t an article because we have to work our research ministry
deeper than the article. We have to be able to see the truth in it with the article or without it. Here
according to the book on Receiving the Holy Spirit Today it’s usage 2c. “His pneuma upon certain
believers. Not upon all believers in the Old Testament and throughout the four Gospels. This by
direct appointment of the Lord. Included here we have the operation of the manifestations of
prophecy, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, discerning of spirits, faith healing and miracles. This
pneuma, like all of God’s charismata, is latent potential power until put into operation and thus
manifested by the believer who has received it.”
through – dia – by or proceeding from. God who gave it to His spirit which was upon Jesus Christ,
so he got it by revelation. God gave to Jesus Christ the commandments which Jesus Christ in turn
gave to whom? The Apostles. If Jesus Christ had been God would God have needed to reveal
anything to him?
Holy Ghost – the words pneuma hagion are never capitalized, therefore all capitalization has to be
private interpretation. Yet we have to readily understand that when we speak English we’re dealing
with a different language than Estrangelo Aramaic or Greek. We’re dealing with a language were
proper nouns are capitalized. That’s what’s required in English grammar. If you capitalize the letter
‘c’ in cat or the ‘d’ in dog, this will not affect the cattiness or doggy-ness. When you upper case spirit
or holy it makes a tremendous because when you have a capital ‘H’ or a capital ‘S’ it has to refer to
God, for God is Holy and God is Spirit. This has caused no end of confusion, because you and I well
understand and know the difference from God’s Word between the giver who is Holy Spirit and His
gift which is also called holy and spirit, small ‘h’ small ‘s’. That confusion of capitalization has
caused no end of problems for people and they’re still fighting about it.
had given commandments – This had to be in addition to the 10, or the 2 – love God and love your
neighbor. People say in our day, in the age of the church, we have no commandments. Were in the
dickens do you get that from? You ought to read the Word. We do have. We’re supposed to live by
the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. We’re commanded to do this. Nobody knows the full
extent of the commandments that were given unto the Apostles whom he had chosen.
the Apostles whom he had chosen - This is a remarkable statement. Jesus Christ always did the
Father’s will, right? He was tempted in all things like as we are yet without sin. He had the freedom
to sin, yet he chose not to. He always did that which was right in God’s sight. Yet here in the Word
of God it says “the Apostles whom he had chosen.” Who chose the Apostles? One of those he chose
was Judas. Real neat when you think about that. Did he then choose Judas so he’d get properly
betrayed? No! He chose Judas because Judas had the ability to succeed. He had the ability to walk. It
was latent within him. The potential was there. Every man has to make up his mind what he’s going
to do with it. Judas had the same opportunity to believe that John had. As a matter of fact when you
work the integrity and accuracy of God’s Word, you will find out that Judas perhaps had more
natural leadership ability than Peter and certainly far more than Nathanael or Matthew, perhaps more
so than even John because Jesus Christ gave him the responsibility of being the secretary/treasurer
for the Apostles. Jesus Christ did not give him that responsibility to tempt him because temptation
does not come from the son of God. He gave it to him because the man had ability to carry it out. He
had potential leadership and he made it available to him so this man could produce the best is
possible for him to produce. The same opportunity to produce the best if we blow it makes it possible
for man to be the sourest he can be. Judas was one of those. I stand in utter amazement of that Word
because it says “the apostles whom Jesus Christ chose and I do not believe that Jesus Christ made a
mistake in choosing. I think the people made a mistake in their response to the choice. Judas did, not
Jesus Christ. I doubt if any of you have in your center reference Luke 6:13 relative to “the apostles
whom he had chosen.” I’m not talking about the reference bibles like Thompson Chain, Scofield,
Bullinger, etc. These are some of the great works through the years.
The greatest as far as I’m concerned is Bullinger who of course has also in some respects what I
believe the greatest error in it but, you know, so what. Men stand approved before God rightly
dividing but rightly dividing or wrongly dividing isn’t what gets you into heaven or gets you out of
heaven. It’s eternal life that gets you there, the new birth. So even if Bullinger wrongly divided it
he’s still going to be in heaven. If Wierwille wrongly divides it, he’s going to make it too. It’s not a
matter of that that I’m concerned about right now. The point is that in Luke 6:13 it lists and
enumerates the 12 Apostles. Every apostle is a disciple but not every disciple is an apostle. The
“about 120” were not all apostles but they were all disciples. The apostles whom he chose, it says in
Luke 6, are 12 and one of those 12 was Judas Iscariot. The word Iscariot (this was his name)
indicates what city he came from “Judas from the city of Iscar, in Judea”. It’s the old cultural way of
naming people. The other 11 were all from the territory or province of Galilee. Here it’s the day of
the ascension. Judas Iscariot had to be present at that time for he gave commandments unto the
apostles whom he had chosen. How many did he choose? -12 - What day is it? – the day of the
ascension- How many were there? – How many did he give commandments to? – 12 – One of those
12 was Judas Iscariot therefore Judas had to be alive so he could give them to him. This truth is so
simple and yet most of us have missed it a lifetime. No one showed it to us and we were taught just
the opposite. We were taught that when Judas betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ that immediately
afterwards he went out and hanged himself. Therefore if he hanged himself immediately after the
betrayal then he could not have been alive some forty two or three days later. You put in people’s
minds he’s dead, then you read Acts “given commandments whom he had chosen (less one Judas).”
You never give it a thought that it has to be twelve because we were taught that Judas had died. We
read the Word, we see the words but our minds register eleven instead of twelve. That’s the trickery
of the human mind. That’s why you have to shake yourself up in your upper story. You just - - wake
up! Drive yourself to read what’s written and to be knowledgeable and see the points that are written.
This is something that you just don’t learn overnight. As a matter of fact, in all its fullness, I don’t
think we learn it in a lifetime because I have found after years of reading the Word I still didn’t see
what it said and I think I’m about as honest on the Word as any man living. Well, the Word of God
says that Judas had to be present on the day of the ascension.
Acts 1:3
To whom – is a pronoun. When you read the Word, watch the pronouns. The subject is the apostles
whom he had chosen. The apostles whom HE had chosen. “being seen of them.” See the them?
Verse 4, them is in italics but it’s properly supplied. “commanded them” in verse 4, “that they
should not depart … which saith he, ‘ye’ (the apostles whom he had chosen.” “but ye”, verse 5, the
apostles. “When they”, verse 6, “therefore were come together, they asked of him saying, ‘Lord, will
thou at this time restore…” “And he said unto them (the apostles whom he had chosen)”, verse 7.
“But ye (the apostles whom he had chosen) … and ye shall be witnesses (the apostles)”, verse 8.
“while they”, verse 9, “a cloud received him out of their sight.” Verse 10, “And while they (the
apostles whom he had chosen) looked … two men stood by them (the apostles whom he had
chosen).” Verse 11, “Which also said ye men of Galilee.”
Now you’ve changed nouns, subjects. I guess truth being so simple makes it so complicated for us at
times. It follows right through with the pronoun until it gets to that one point and then it says “ye men
of Galilee”, not ye apostles whom he had chosen but ye men of Galilee. Sometime between verse 10
and verse 11, someone left the scene of the apostles and that had to be Judas from Judea because the
remaining were all Galileans. That’s the accuracy with which it is set. Watch your pronoun. Watch
your subject. A pronoun is controlled by its closest associated noun. It may be three nouns away but
its closest associated one. Generally it’s the closest one to it but not necessarily, grammatically but
from the Word of God I haven’t found any like that.
also – Dr. Bullinger did that great work on the word ‘also’. You need to mark that in your Bibles
because it’s used haphazardly in the King James editions we have. Here in verse 3 it’s out of order. It
should read, “To whom he showed himself also alive.” Showed himself also, he showed himself to
others but to the apostles also alive.
after his passion – after his death. Here’s a place where someone took a crack at me a year or two
ago to indicate how stupid I was. You can’t convince people who don’t want to be convinced. He
said that I taught that the Word means what it says and says what it means therefore ‘he showed
himself also alive after his passion, after his death’, meaning that while he was dead he showed
himself alive. I said, “O, my God if you’re dead, you’re dead. Soup is soup. Apple butter is apple
butter.” If you can’t understand soup and apple butter then what are we going to do about it? He
showed himself also alive after his death, after his death, after his passion, after he had been dead
because God raised him. Not when he was dead did he show himself alive but you see anything to
belittle the Word, anything to cut down the Word, anything to disgrace the man or the woman who’s
really trying to teach the Word. Bullinger has a good translation of ‘after his passion’ in his marginal
notes, “after he suffered.” That means after he died, after he was crucified and died. God raised him
and in that resurrected body, after his passion by many infallible proofs.
by many infallible proofs – if it’s an infallible proof, then it’s an infallible proof. It’s a proof that
cannot be waylaid, it cannot be nullified. We’ve done a piece of work someplace on what occurred
after Jesus Christ was resurrected on Saturday and before he appeared in his resurrected body to
Mary on Easter Sunday morning. Because that will give you the information on how he showed
himself also alive after his passion by many infallible proofs It will handle a number of very difficult
verses from Peter where he witnessed in his resurrected body to the imprisoned spirits who were
responsible for the Noah trip.
(Note: this information is in September 1986 tape of the month titled How to Enjoy the Bible #2 in
the 2nd teaching on that tape)
being seen of them forty days – we handle this previously.
“And speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” – The kingdom of God is over all.
Get a picture in your mind of the kingdom of God over all, no beginning, no ending. The best thing I
can put in my mind is like a complete semicircle. That’s kingdom of God. Now one little segment
under that kingdom of God is Genesis chapter 1 & 2, another segment is Genesis chapter 3 &
following, another segment gets into the Gospels. One of the segments under it is the church of the
body to which you and I belong. The church of the body is under the kingdom of God. There is a
kingdom of heaven period under the kingdom of God and that’s the Gospels. When Jesus Christ was
here upon earth, it was the kingdom of heaven, like the king from heaven, under the kingdom of God.
With the death of the king there is no kingdom left and you see the kingdom coming again in the
book of revelation underneath the kingdom of God because verse 11 says, “… 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.” So he’s coming back. Things that were not fulfilled under the kingdom of heaven period,
will be fulfilled with his return, when the king in his personal presence comes back to earth. The first
time he was born a child in a manger. The second time he comes he’s not going to be born; he comes
as king of kings and lord of lords. The first time, they could nail him to a cross. The second time he’s
going to do some nailing of heads and a few other things, he comes as king of kings and lord of lords.
Now Jesus Christ could talk to them about the kingdom of God but there was one segment in there
I’m sure he couldn’t talk about, which was the church of the body. That’s why I’m sure he didn’t talk
to the about the church of the body. He talked to them about the church of the bride, because in verse
6 they questioned him and they said, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to
Israel?” The kingdom to Israel was the message of the bridegroom and the bride, but they had killed
him, God had raised him and the apostles saw him and they said, “Man, are you gonna now restore
the kingdom? You gonna give the kingdom back? The bridegroom is here in his resurrected form,
now we gonna have the kingdom?” He couldn’t talk to them about the church of the body to which
you and I belong because he didn’t know it. It was the mystery that had not yet been revealed but had
he been God, he would have known it. He spoke to them about the kingdom of God. Why didn’t he
speak about the church of the body? He didn’t know it. You can’t talk about something you don’t
know. Had he been God, God knows everything; he would have spoken about it. See that accuracy of
the Word?
Acts 1:4
“Being assembled together” – is translated some places as eating together. Center reference has it
‘eating together’ in some of your Bibles. If you want it, you can have it. I don’t buy it. You know
something; I’ve just lived long enough to know that if I’ve got something real urgent to do; that’s no
time to have steak. When I haven’t got anything else to do, then it isn’t bad to have steak. I’m just as
confident as I’m sitting here that he wasn’t eating with them just before he ascended. I don’t care
what they say in their texts, it can’t be right because it’s just not the way man is made and he’s the
son of God. He’s not going to sit around nipping on cracker jacks. Look at verse 2; he gave
commandments, right? He’s not sippin’ beer. He’s not drinking wine. Look, it’s just about time for
him to leave and he’s not coming back for at least almost two thousand years.
If you had been Jesus Christ, just with your little bit of sense, would you have been having an eating
and a drinking party? No! That’s why I know it can’t be. ‘Being assembled’ – he was with them. He
was giving commandments, last minute things. In athletic contest were more honest than we are in
the Bible. Can you imagine; the coach just before the NCAA final, getting his whole team together
and saying, “Now let’s eat a little and dine a little and wine a little.” Who’s kidding who? Isn’t that
silly? I think the center reference is silly. That ‘being assembled’ is right on; being with his kids so to
speak; the people, the apostles whom he had chosen. What a fantastic thing.
wait for – they weren’t to wait for, they were to wait until it came to pass because waiting for
something never brings it. You can wait for the return of Christ and you’ll never bring him. We’re
not asked to wait for the return. We’re asked to wait until his return. It’s just a little minor detail.
Look at the command. “… commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but (were
to) wait (wait, wait in Jerusalem then) until the promise of the Father, ‘which, … ye have heard of
Me.”
Acts 1:5
with – is the Greek word en – in.
baptized with the Holy Ghost – pneuma hagion. The promise of the Father, of verse 4, equals
whatever it is to be baptized in pneuma hagion of verse 5. John’s baptism with water, was a baptism
of the remission of sins, a washing away of sins, indicative of those sins being washed away; like the
goat that they placed outside of the temple, that when the high priest came out of the temple, after
having made the proper sacrifice, he would lay his hands upon the goat and the sins of the people
were carried on the head of that goat into the wilderness and that goat was left there to die. John’s
baptism was a water baptism with a baptism of repentance. By shear logic, man should have seen that
with the coming of a greater, the lesser would be fulfilled and thus terminate. Remember when Jesus
Christ came to John the Baptist to be baptized in the river Jordan? John didn’t want to do the trip
because he said I’m not worthy, you ought to be doing it, but that the law might be fulfilled, John
baptized Jesus. That baptism with water went out when the baptism with pneuma hagion came in.
The reason the word baptized is used with pneuma hagion is because the first part of the gift is
always the new birth and it’s a one time deal because it’s eternal life, therefore it’s the word baptized.
It’s not a matter of an element. It’s a matter of an internal birth, Christ in you the hope of glory.
That’s why it’s called baptized in. John baptized ‘in’ because it was immersion, not sprinkling or
dipping or dry cleaning. That’s why John baptized in. The Baptists ought to like that. When you’re
baptized in pneuma hagion, it’s in, that’s why it’s eyes behind your eyes, ears behind your ears, nose
behind your nose. That’s why he is in every fiber of your being. With the coming of the greater the
lesser terminated. The one question left is “Why do they continue water baptism in the book of Acts
after the day of Pentecost?” The Word of God says in Acts 21:20 because “they were zealous for the
law.” If a stop sign is removed you have the freedom to still stop because you could be zealous for
the law even though there isn’t any. That’s exactly why they continued water after the day of
Pentecost, on a few occasions, till they finally got to the greatness of the revelation and then there’s
no listing of water in the book of Acts.
When we get there I’ll show it to you. It just dries up completely because they believed the
revelation. They should have believed it here. Jesus told them. He said, ”John baptized with water,
fine, but, but, in contrast, ye shall be baptized with water and the” … no, no, no … just with pneuma
hagion, holy spirit. You don’t need water when you have holy spirit. That’s bigger. Water was
simply an outside trip. With this you could put Romans together, for the law can not give
righteousness. All the water can’t wash your sin away. All the hands of the high priests laid on the
head of the goat could not change a man’s heart, only Christ in you the hope of glory, holy spirit in.
These apostles along with Jesus had come through this John experience. They had known of John’s
ministry. They knew the brevity of it. They knew how he lost his head, how he was killed. They
knew the reasons of baptism with water, so Jesus just commanded them to wait until they were
baptized in pneuma hagion. All of them had been baptized in water previously because they were
Israel and the bride. These are remarkable times here. None of us could ever go through what these
men went through because they just lived at that time when they belonged to Israel and they were
called out of Israel as the bride then later on something occurred where they went into the body of the
church. Something that can never occur again occurred to these men. They belonged to two churches;
the church of the bride and the church of the body and only because they lived in that transition
period. They were not only men who had been baptized with water but they were also men baptized
with or in pneuma hagion. They were men, old testament, who had the spirit on them. They were
men after the day of Pentecost with Christ in them the hope of glory, the spirit in them. They lived in
two great administrations, at the close of one and the opening of another. It wasn’t in the first one
that they made their great impetus in the world and on life. It was after the second that they became
men who turned the world upside down. What the law could not do occurred after the baptism with
water. It came under the baptism of the spirit with Christ in them the hope of glory. If people are still
zealous for the law, they’re still going to demand water. If it’ll keep them happy, give it to them. I
don’t care, but being happy isn’t the accuracy of the Word.
not many days hence - Why didn’t Jesus Christ say, “Ye shall be baptized in pneuma hagion eight
days from now.”? He did not know. What he knew, he gave commandments. Don’t you see it?
Everything he said he got by revelation. He just said what God gave to him and God said, “not many
days hence.” He didn’t know it was 8 days or 5, or 7, or 9 but he knew ‘not many days hence’. You
and I looking back, we finally learned it’s 8, we used to believe it was ten. Maybe next year they’ll
shorten it to seven but right now we’re still convinced it was 8. You and I looking back in history can
tell there were some days involved and the number, but they looking ahead had no way of knowing.
That’s why it wasn’t a waiting for. It was a waiting until. Had it been three months, they had to wait
until. That’s why if they’re going to wait for something until, something that had never been here
before, never, had never been here before, somebody better have drawn those plans, as a draftsman,
very accurately. You never had a bridge before. Now we’re going to have a bridge. Somebody
drafting up that idea would have to be pretty accurate. Nobody’s ever been born again. Nobody has
ever spoken in tongues, nobody. Now they’re going to do it, sometime, not many days hence. That’s
why I know there had to be a lot of instructions back in the Gospels.
You get to John; he talks about the spirit, a lot of teaching. Now he could know that something like
this is coming on the day of Pentecost, still he did not know it was the mystery; Christ in you the
hope of glory; that the Gentiles could be of the same body; fellow heirs and of the same body. That’s
why I’ve seen in the Gospels and I’ve traced that for you, how he told that the spirit would be in you,
lead you into all truth, all those other things that are in the Gospels, all teaching, teaching. People
have said of our ministry, “Well, if speaking in tongues is really of God, you don’t have to tell them
how to talk.” Jesus Christ taught them and I’m sure you’re no better teacher than he is and I know
I’m not, therefore if Jesus Christ taught people what to do, maybe it wouldn’t hurt us if we followed
suit. Just imagine the greatness of this, people. It either has to be man’s freewill or total possession.
Knowing what I know about the Word, that possession is of the devil, this has to be by freewill and
he said they’re going to get something not many days hence that has never occurred before. Now if it
has never occurred before somebody has got to have some blueprints. That’s the greatness of these
verses in here among other things. You have to see that Jesus Christ taught them what to look for.
That’s why later on when we get to Acts 2 there has to be cloven tongues and it sat upon them. He
taught them all this before it ever occurred. That’s what this was all about, before he ascended. This
is another reason I know they weren’t drinking wine, or eating hamburgers or pizza.
ye shall – the “ye” included Judas Iscariot – the apostles whom he had chosen. He said to Judas
among others who was there, “ye shall” is absolute tense. No ifs ands or buts about it, baptized in
pneuma hagion not many days hence. Had Judas been born again of the seed of the serpent, as they
teach, then that verse has to be a lie because you can’t be born of two seeds. That’s why I know he
wasn’t bon of the seed of the serpent; the Word of God says so because he spoke to the apostles
whom he had chosen and he said, “ye shall.” “Wait until”, right? As we read further down we find
out that Judas did not wait until. Had Judas waited until, what would have happened to Judas? He
would have got born again. Had he believed God’s Word, he would have received because believing
equals receiving. That’s why Judas could not have been born of the seed of the serpent. We’ll see
later on when we get there that when it says Judas went to his own place, it doesn’t mean he went to
hell. It has always amazed me ever since I’ve had a little knowledge of God’s Word, why everybody
always wants Judas to go to hell. It always has amazed me and it still does tonight, why anybody
should want anybody to go to hell. The only reason why somebody would want somebody to go to
hell is because they don’t know what hell’s all about according to thee Word. That’s the last place I
want anybody to go. I don’t mind if they get a hot foot but not hell because that’s just total opposite
of what I believe God sent His son for. I want everybody born again. I want everybody saved. I want
everybody to hear God’s Word. I don’t want anybody to go to hell, but somehow or the other people
think that Judas had it coming. “He deserved it.” Well when you look at that honestly, who deserves
heaven in the first place? Nobody. So we all deserve it. The very fellow who wants Judas to go to
hell deserves it to, right? Why doesn’t he point his finger back at himself and say, “I go to hell with
you.”? Truthfully it’s always a ‘holier than thou’ religious fanatic that does it. He may be
Presbyterian or Catholic but he’s still fanatic. Or he may be Pentecostal or he may be something else.
That brings me to the love of Christ. I doubt very much if I’d have left Judas in, had I been Jesus.
I doubt very much if you’d want him in your twig or your branch but Jesus Christ took him back.
Right after the resurrection he was there. Not once does he reprimand him. Not once, according to
God’s Word, does he take a crack at Judas. I call that love. He offered him the same privileges he
offered the other eleven. I call that love. He is our example. Truthfully, can we do less than to love?
Can we do less than to love the unlovable? It is just our responsibility to love with the love
wherewith Christ Jesus loved us; to love with the tenderness wherewith he was tender; to love with
the compassion wherewith he was compassionate; to love with the beauty wherewith he was so
beautiful, so glorious, so magnanimous. For greater love has no man than he lay down his life for his
friend; Judas was Jesus’ friend. I think he said, “Ye are my friends.” You and I have a better
relationship. He is not our friend. He is our brother and our big brother to boot. Isn’t that beautiful?
That’s the greatness of a little bit of this. We’re just barely scratching the surface of what’s all here.
When you look at the Word again, like tonight, look at the great inherent truths that are there, behind
the word that’s written. Many times I see the Word in all of it’s beauty like an apex. I see it way up
there. It’s a beauty, but what about the foundational stones underneath? These all have to be there in
order to hold the apex, right? John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized in pneuma
hagion not many days hence – is the apex. Underneath are all these building blocks, these stones.
I’ve just shown you a few of them tonight that are just built into that foundation. That’s the glory,
that’s the magnificence, that’s the greatness of the word. I’m not reading into the Word. I’m just
letting the Word set and showing you the blocks that make up the building of the greatness of that
Word. All of those blocks are written in the Word some other place, but to put it all together with a
verse like that, you’d have to take at least three months of searching the scriptures daily, finding this
record in Deuteronomy, this one in Isaiah, here’s one in Matthew, here are others in other places and
see how finally that whole building is so fitly framed together that it was possible because God so
loved that man could receive what God made available through Christ Jesus, to be baptized, a one
time deal so you couldn’t lose it. Baptism on the outside you could water it daily but baptism on the
inside can only occur once. It’s a one time deal; Christ in you the hope of glory; to be filled with
pneuma hagion. That’s the greatness of it.