Unstoppable Part 2

Unstoppable is the name of our series from The Book of Acts. And this is the second message. Last time we looked at Acts Chapter 1 verse 1, and particularly at that word began. Our front page headline today is the ascension of Jesus. Acts 1:9-11 “When He had spoken these things, while they looked, He was taken up. And a cloud removed Him from their sight. While they looked intently toward heaven as He ascended, behold, two men stood by them in white garments. They said, “Men of Galilee, why stand looking toward heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you to heaven, will come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” ‬‬ Have you noticed that the earthly life of Christ is perfectly balanced? He entered the world in a miraculous way? He left it miraculously. He came down from heaven and he returned to heaven and think of this. Jesus began his earthly ministry by spending 40 days in the wastelands of Judea where he was tempted by the devil. He ended his earthly ministry by spending 40 days with the disciples before returning to heaven. Jesus began and ended his ministry by a special period of 40 days. He was baptized and then he spent 40 days in the wilderness. He rose from the dead and spent 40 days with the disciples and afterwards they were baptized by the Holy Spirit. There is a symmetry and a balance to the life of Jesus Christ and we can see it in a thousand ways. Well, as I read the first 11 verses of this book of Acts, I think of it as Jesus giving his disciples and all of us five headlines and parting gifts. They are our other newspaper story headlines. We will look at three today. I. Jesus Gave Us Many Convincing Proofs Of His Resurrection. The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 until the day when He was taken up, after He had given commandments through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen, Acts 1:1-2. Verse 3 says, to whom He presented Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, appearing to them for forty days… The reality of the physical and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ was so convincingly proved to these 12 disciples, these uneducated Galileans, these untrained soldiers, unsophisticated fishermen, that they devoted every day of the rest of their lives to this message. They faced the lash, the chain, the prisons, the rigors of travel, the hunger, the thirst, the persecution, the rejection of the Jewish state and the Roman Empire, and they did it without wavering. They never did live again in Galilee. They took their families to the four corners of the earth, Peter to Italy, Thomas to India, Philip to Africa, Matthew to Ethiopia, Simon the Zealot to Persia, and not a single one of them ever expressed again so much as a thin line of doubt. They even died for their faith in the truthfulness of the bodily resurrection of Jesus in Nazareth.” There is no way to explain the existence of the church in this world without the sacrifice of these twelve men, and there is no way to explain the sacrifice of these twelve men without the resurrection. Jesus proved himself alive to them by many infallible proofs. Days before they had all been craven cowards, and now suddenly they were unstoppable. What does many proofs mean? It means compelling signs. There are probably, when you count them up, somewhere between ten to eleven post-resurrection appearances that Jesus made. Many of them to His own hand-picked disciples, showing them that what He predicted happened. And that’s one of the things I’ve always appreciated about the Bible. The Bible has within it built in proofs: it’s historical accuracy. It’s archeological accuracy. It’s transmission down through the ages. One of the great proofs of the Bible is the object of evidence for the empty tomb. The faith that we have in Jesus is not blind, but firmly grounded on verifiable facts. Attorneys like Frank Morrison, who wrote a book called Who Moved the Stone. Simon Greenleaf- would be another- looked into the resurrection, and they found that the case for the empty tomb, only explainable through the Resurrected Christ. It was a case that was more powerful than any case they had ever made before a jury. And they came to faith, as a result. II. Jesus Used These Forty Days To Provide Additional Insights Into The Nature Of His Kingdom. Verse 3 says, 3 to whom He presented Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, appearing to them for forty days, and speaking concerning the Kingdom of God. When Christ is ministering for forty days, they have the question, where is the Kingdom? And that’s why during this forty day period, he’s speaking to them concerning the basileia or the Kingdom of God. Jesus was teaching them about the nature and conditions of the Messianic Kingdom. He was undoubtedly opening the Hebrew Scriptures. A large percentage of Old Testament Scripture is dedicated to the subject of the Kingdom. Ezekiel 36:24-26 describing the kingdom. It says, “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. (That is being fulfilled. That is the regathering part 1). Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. (Regathering Part 2). Zechariah 12:10, which is another kingdom passage. “I will pour out on the House of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit…” and here He’s called the spirit of Grace. Ezekiel 39:28-29, another Kingdom Passage. “Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer.” Talking about the regathering of the Jews into their own land and the kingdom age. “I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ declares the Lord.” The teaching ministry of Jesus was progressive. This is so important for us to understand. That is the only way it is fair and balanced. There were some things the disciples simply could not understand until after the crucifixion and the resurrection. They couldn't understand it until the events were behind them. Jesus hinted at some of those things, but even on the eve of his death, they simply could not conceive of the possibility that the Jewish Messiah would be murdered.” After his resurrection, they undoubtedly had a lot of questions. Why did that happen? Why did you put us through the awful trauma of that weekend? Why did you allow yourself to endure it? According to Luke 24, Jesus went back into the Old Testament and he explained to them that the Messiah had to die and he had to rise again to provide for the salvation of the world. Peter and the others finally understood this. In fact, in the next chapter, in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost, this is what Peter said. He understood this. He said this man, Acts 2:23-24. You have taken Him, who was handed over to you by the ordained counsel and foreknowledge of God, and by lawless hands have crucified and killed Him, 24 whom God raised up by loosening the pull of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. Now, just a few weeks before, Peter had been clueless about all of that. Where did he learn about God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge? Where did he learn about the meaning of the cross and the significance of the resurrection? Only after the resurrection could Jesus explain all of that in a way that they could really understand, and he needed 40 days to orient his followers with this new layer of information. It was his 40-day postgraduate course for the disciples, and Peter never forgot a word of it. Many years later, this was still his message. In 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 3, we read, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given his new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave. III. Jesus Gave Us In This Passage A Global Mission, A Worldwide Work. Verses 4-5 Being assembled with them, He commanded them, “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, of which you have heard from Me. 5 For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Now, I want to pause here. There's a little something special about Luke's mentioning of Jesus eating with his disciples. I wonder what they were eating. It really tells us so much about our Lord's resurrection body. And I think about our own future resurrection bodies. The glorified risen body of the Lord Jesus could still do ordinary things, like eat and drink and talk and teach and sit around a table and have fellowship. And I think this tells us something about our future lives in heaven. We get to eat in heaven! So over this meal, Jesus gave them a command. Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me talk about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized by the Holy Spirit. I can't imagine what came into the apostles' minds when they heard that, can you? Apparently, there was some curious experience awaiting them in the near future, and Jesus called it the baptism with the Holy Spirit.” But the disciples still had a lot of questions, and there was still so much they didn't understand. Apparently, they still could not conceive of Jesus leaving them again. I mean, here's the way they were thinking. I think that maybe this was what was going through Peter's mind or Thomas' mind. I mean, Thomas, could have been from Missouri, the show me state. Well, I understand it now. Jesus came to establish the kingdom to Israel, but first he had to die and to rise from the dead as a sacrifice to atone for sin. I hadn't understood that before, but now, in the light of the Old Testament scriptures that Jesus showed us, it makes perfect sense. Now that he has provided atonement, now he is ready to take his throne and rule the world from Israel, as we know the Messiah will do. But why is he taking so long? It's been three or four weeks since the resurrection, and he still hasn't done anything to shake things up. The high priest is still in the temple, Pontius Pilate is still the governor of Judea, Tiberius is still the emperor living in Rome. What's taking so long?” So they ask him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? They knew that from what Jesus had taught them about the kingdom from the Old Testament, they Holy Spirit would be poured out in the kingdom age. Did you notice that in the verses we read a moment ago. Ezekiel, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.” Zechariah “I will pour out on the House of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit…” Ezekiel again, I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ declares the Lord.” You can see why they thought that. So Jesus says, Verse 7 says, He said to them, It is not for you to know the times or dates the father is fixed or set up by his own authority. In other words, yes, I'm going to do all of that. But the timing isn't what you might have expected. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. He was explaining to them one final thing, that he would restore the kingdom to Israel, but that it would be in the future.” You must understand the two kingdoms or you will be confused. We have to go through a period of transition. Luke the Gospel covers the earthly Ministry of Christ. The Book of Acts records or covers the same Ministry of Jesus through the church. But he just wasn’t on the earth. He continued it from the Father’s right hand as the head of the church. He was advancing in another direction. So Jesus is just continuing a ministry through the church that he started on the earth as recorded in Luke’s Gospel. Particular the ending of the Book of Luke. You know, if you were to read Luke 24 and Acts chapter 1, you would say, Well, it’s obvious that these two books go together. Both the ending of Luke’s Gospel and the beginning of Acts feature the post-Resurrection Ministry of Jesus. Jesus is speaking. And the emphasis in both chapters is the coming of the Holy Spirit. But the book of Acts is also transitional. Historical: From gospels to epistles. Religious: From Judaism to Christianity Divine: From law to grace People of God: From Jews to Church (Both Jews and Gentiles) From kingdom: (The kingdom of Israel to Church) The fact that Luke only uses the word “kingdom” 8 times in the book of Acts after heavy usage in his gospel implies that the kingdom had not begun, but was in fact postponed. These twelve Jesus sent out, and commanded them, saying, “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Matthew‬ ‭10‬:‭5‬-‭7‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ ‬After the nation rejected Jesus as the Messiah, He began to focus on building His church. “…I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew‬ ‭16‬:‭18‬ ‭MEV ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ There is great significance to the place Jesus announced this. Peter must have wondered why Jesus had led them to that place. Caesarea Philippi lay at the foot of Mount Hermon and was a center of pagan worship. It had been for centuries. Before the Romans came, it was called Paneas by the Greeks, a place sacred to the goat-demon Pan. The pagans believed Pan was one of the few gods who could travel back and forth between the earth and the netherworld, so the bottomless cave at Paneas, source of the Jordan River, was thought to be the literal entrance to hell. No one knew how far down the cave went because no one had ever been able to measure it. The site had been sacred to the gods of the pagans for centuries. Their shrines were all over. Why would Jesus take his disciples there? The ancient city of Dan was also nearby, just two miles west. Its status as a cult center was also well known. The tribe of Dan had been the first in Israel to fall back into paganism in the time of the Judges, and when Jeroboam split the northern tribes away from Judah after the death of Solomon, he made Dan one of the two approved centers of worship in the northern kingdom of Israel. The fact that Dan and Caesarea Philippi lay at the foot of Mount Hermon was significant. The mountain had been considered sacred since at least the time of Abraham nearly two thousand years before Jesus walked the earth. The book written by the Prophet Enoch, before the flood, told of how a group of powerful angels, called Watchers, descended to the summit of Mount Hermon and brought destruction to the world by teaching humanity forbidden knowledge and joining themselves with women, spawning the monstrous giants called Nephilim. The occult teachings of the fallen Watchers were still practiced by the sorcerers, magicians, and oracles of the pagans. Their shrines dotted the slopes of Hermon. Inscriptions at the cult sites hinted that some of the sacrifices offered to the gods had been human. This mountain was where the father-god of the Canaanites, El, was believed to hold court with his consort, Asherah, and their seventy sons. That number, seventy, was a symbol representing “all of them”—in other words, the pagan neighbors of Israel had believed for more than two millennia that their creator-god was the father of all the gods of the nations. And there, on the mountain’s summit thousands of feet above where Jesus and the disciples stood, was the threshing-floor of El. Threshing floors in general, and perhaps that threshing floor in particular, had associations with the spirit realm and the underworld. The mountain where fallen angels assembled loomed above them and the entrance to Hades gaped just a few yards from where they stood. In short, Paneas was an evil place. And yet Jesus had made a special trip to bring his disciples to it. Paneas was a two-day journey from the Sea of Galilee, thirty miles away from the base of Jesus’ ministry. This journey was specifically to bring his disciples to Paneas, a center of idolatry and pagan worship. During his ministry, Jesus had healed the sick, walked on water, fed crowds of thousands with nothing but a few loaves of bread, and driven demons out of so many people. Even the daughter of a Syrophoenician woman—a Gentile!—had been delivered from an evil spirit. Had they come to Paneas to tear down their temples? Was this to be the beginning of a war in the heavenly realm? Would Jesus drive the gods of the pagans out of the land here before turning south to take his place in Jerusalem? More important: Would Jesus destroy the hated Romans and assume his rightful place on the throne of David? And then the teacher asked Peter and the disciples a question: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” What? Was this a test? The Son of Man was the prophesied savior first mentioned by the prophet Daniel in Daniel 7:13-14. Centuries before Jesus walked the earth, Daniel’s vision had introduced “one like a son of man” into Jewish prophetic thought. In the Hebrew of Daniel’s day, that phrase meant “one who looks like a human,” in contrast to the supernatural glory of the Ancient of Days. But in the years just before the time of Jesus, a new teaching had emerged. A prophetic writing, also attributed to Enoch, foretold the coming of a character in the Last Days called the Chosen One, the Anointed One, and, most frequently, the Son of Man. This prophesied savior would execute the judgment of God on evil kings, wicked landowners, and even rebellious angels who had corrupted the earth for thousands of years. Although this teaching was not found in any of the scriptures read in the synagogue, Jesus had applied the title “the Son of Man” to himself dozens of times in the hearing of Peter and the disciples. Jesus’ followers struggled to find the answer they thought Jesus wanted to hear: “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Then Jesus asked, “But who do you say that I am?” He’d connected himself to Daniel and the Book of Enoch’s “Son of Man”—essentially claiming to be the promised Messiah. Without thinking, Peter blurted out, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus turned to him and replied, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 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. Peter must have been stunned. The “rock,” Mount Hermon, dominated the scene in front of him. It was a place sacred to pagan Canaanites, Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans. The tension between El and Yahweh, and by extension their sacred mountains, was ancient. One of the Psalms declared Zion superior to Hermon, the “mountain of gods,” because Zion was “where the Lord will dwell forever”. And the gates of hell—Peter and the disciples stood before it, the bottomless cave from which the Jordan River emerged. The place of the gods. It was there, in front of the entrance to their domain, that Jesus had promised the infernal powers from that nether realm would not prevail against his ekklesia—his congregation. Peter couldn’t have known what the future held, but he must have understood that Jesus had just declared war on the rebellious spirits in the unseen realm. And he’d done it right in front of the gates of hell. Jesus will build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. There is no scheme of man, no power of hell that can stop it. It is unstoppable. Why ? Because Jesus is doing it! He has declared the end from the beginning. And then, to add insult to injury, Matthew 17:1-2 says, After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother and brought them up to a high mountain alone, and was transfigured before them. His face shone as the sun, and His garments became white as the light. The transfiguration of Jesus takes place on a high mountain just a few days after His announcement in Caesarea Philippi. The mountain near Caesarea Philippi, can only have been Hermon. Think about that! Jesus literally stepped onto the threshing floor of El, declared his divinity by transforming into a being of light, and then proceeded on to Jerusalem to fulfill his mission—which, as you know, culminated with his resurrection from the dead. The Son of Man also veiled the glory of the Ancient of Days! Peter focusing on this night of transfiguration later said, 2 Peter 1:16-18. For we have not followed cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received honor and glory from God the Father when a voice came to Him from the majestic glory, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we ourselves heard this voice, which came from heaven, when we were with Him on the holy mountain.