Acts 1:8 - You Will Receive Power
David W Palmer
(Acts 1:8 NKJV) “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.”
Jesus had promised his trainees that if they kept on following him, he would make them competent at fishing for men (Mat. 4:19). Judas Iscariot fell away, but the other eleven kept going with the full apprenticeship. They all graduated, competent, ready to fulfill their assigned part of Jesus’s great commission—the evangelizing of the whole world.
The Master’s final interaction with them before ascending to his new role at God’s right hand—from where he runs the church’s affairs, etc.—is recorded in the book of Acts:
(Acts 1:4–5 NKJV) 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.”
John the Baptist had earlier declared that he merely baptized in water, but that the one he heralded would baptize in a far more powerful and significant way:
(Luke 3:16–17 NKJV) John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. {17} His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Jesus’s focus for his graduating class was his commission for them and the power clothing they would need to accomplish it. However, they still wanted to ask him for information to satisfy their intellectual curiosity:
(Acts 1:6–7 CJB) When they were together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore self-rule to Israel?” {7} He answered, “You don’t need to know the dates or the times; the Father has kept these under his own authority.”
Jesus made it plain that it was not for them—and therefore not for us—to know dates and times for his return, etc. Why? simply because the Father has kept these decisions under his own authority. From this, I get the impression that he hasn’t yet decided the final exact date and time. Jesus said that even he doesn’t know it; and the Holy Spirit testified that we can do something about hastening its arrival:
(Mark 13:32 NKJV) “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
(2 Peter 3:12 NLT) Looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. (See also: Mat. 24:14)
After dealing with this temporary excursion, Jesus returned to the main topic:
(Acts 1:8 AMPC) “But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.”
Jesus said that through the Holy Spirit, they could be his “witnesses” in increasing spheres of influence. Jesus was a faithful and true witness (Rev. 1:5, 3:14); he testified to the things he heard and saw with his Father in heaven:
(John 3:32–34 NLT) “He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them! {33} Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true. {34} For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit.” (See also: John 5:19-20.)
When we are filled with, led by, and clothed in the power of the Holy Spirit, we too can see and hear things from heaven. We do this, just as Jesus did, through loving, transparent fellowship with him in the spirit. In that secret place of candid disclosure, the faithful Holy Spirit will show us what Jesus wants us to do and
