An Unfinished Task
5/2/25 Bible Thought (Acts 1)
One of my favorite book introductions in all of Scripture is found in the first two verses of Acts, where it is written,
“In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen” (Acts 1:1-2).
The book of Acts is a companion volume to the Gospel of Luke—both of which were originally written to help a man by the name of Theophilus (Lk. 1:1-4). Luke’s Gospel recounts the ministry of Jesus leading up to His death and resurrection, but then we get a beautiful picture that He is still at work in Acts.
Luke begins His account of the early church by pointing out that in his Gospel he recorded what Jesus began to do. By implication, the book of Acts is a record of what He continued to do and teach through Holy-Spirit-empowered Christians, primarily the apostles. Truly, the title, “Acts of the Apostles” is slightly misleading for it was the Holy Spirit who gave them power to witness (Acts 1:8). We could probably retitle it, “The Acts of Jesus through His Apostles” or even “The Acts of the Holy Spirit.”
It is amazing to see that the Lord Jesus was still at work building His church. He might have ascended on high, but just as He promised, He wouldn’t leave His disciples alone, He would send the Helper (Jn. 14:16). He said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (Jn. 14:18).
Christ’s promise concerning the building of His church and His promise of the Holy Spirit are both detailed in the pages of Acts. Truly, we will see on page after page that no amount of opposition would be able to stop them, for the work was of God (see Acts 5:38-39). Just as Jesus promised, He would build His church, and the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18).
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).
Even today, we stand on these same promises. We serve the same Jesus, have the same Helper, the same mission, and are part of the same Church. What a joy it is to know that Christ is still building His church! What a joy it is to know that the gates of hell will never prevail!
The work of salvation was finished by Christ’s work upon the cross, but the spreading of that message has yet to be finished. Jesus Himself is the message. The apostles took the message and spread it, and they did so so faithfully that we’re here reading about it nearly 2,000 years later.
Christ will build His church. No enemy can or will stop it.
This is what we get to be a part of today!