Acts 1:9 And when He had said these things, while they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him away from their sight. Eph 4:11 And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, (12) For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.
[Part 1 of 2] Luke's Gospel ends with the Lord's ascension into heaven, and his Acts begins with it. His Gospel is a narrative of the ministry of the incarnated Jesus on earth. His Acts is a record of the succeeding ministry of the resurrected and ascended Christ in heaven carried out through His believers on earth. In the Gospels, the Lord's ministry on earth, carried out by Himself, only sowed Himself as the seed of the kingdom of God into His believers, with no church built up yet. In Acts, the Lord's ministry in heaven, carried out through His believers in His resurrection and ascension, spreads Him as the development of the kingdom of God for the building up of the church (Matt. 16:18) throughout the entire world to constitute His Body, His fullness (Eph. 1:23), to express Him, even the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19) for God's expression. The Lord's ascension points to His coming back. Between His ascension and His coming back there is the dispensation of grace so that He as the pneumatic Christ, the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), may apply His all-inclusive redemption to God's chosen people for their full salvation, that He may produce and build up the church, as His Body, for the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. [continued tomorrow]
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Acts, pp. 35-36. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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