Acts 1:4-8

Our job as Christians is not to know the day of Christ’s return, it is to know His will and accomplish it here on earth. Without the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and His power, we can do nothing but sit idly by and watch the ruler of this world destroy everyone in his path. We must be the bearers of the Good News of Jesus Christ and the truth of the salvation He provides. The only way to do God’s will is through the power and unity of the Holy Spirit. We need to pray for God’s will to be done through our lives.


As predicted by John the Baptist and reiterated by Jesus Himself, the Promise of the Father was the promise of baptism in the Holy Spirit. There are seven references in Scripture to baptism in the Spirit. The passive tense of the verb indicates that baptism does not depend upon our efforts to obtain the promise, but upon the Lord’s will. The simple future tense demonstrates that there is no uncertainty or doubt in the promise. Spirit baptism means we have been placed in spiritual union with one another in the body of Jesus Christ, the church. The popular expectation and hope was that Christ would establish His kingdom immediately. Instead of being concerned about the date of Christ’s return, the disciples’ job was to carry His message throughout the world. This was power for a new task—namely, to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Be witnesses is Christ’s command to His disciples to tell others about Him regardless of the consequences.

Acts 1:4-8

4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”