knowledge and power

I am starting into the book of Acts today...also written by Luke.  Jesus has spent 40 days living and eating with His closest followers following His resurrection.  It's interesting that, though they abandoned Him when Jesus was led away to be crucified, Jesus has not left them (I think we still abandon Him, at times, and yet He doesn't leave us).  His earthly visit ends and Jesus ascends directly up into the clouds enroute to Heaven.  The Disciples become Apostles and the lessons learned are becoming the message they will carry.  The intense time of following and learning will now become an intense time of leading others and of laying down their lives.   Before leaving, Jesus has two important final messages for them.  He wants them to understand about "knowledge and power".  The Apostles want to know if the Lord is now going to restore the kingdom to Israel.  Jesus explains that this isn't the kind of knowledge they need (verse 7) He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority."  He explains that the knowledge they need is wrapped up in the power source He will provide: (verse8) "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.".  It turns out that the knowledge and the power really come together as one.  As they (and as we) receive and embrace the knowledge of our Lord directly through His Holy Spirit we experience the power and direction we need.  Knowledge and power come together in our relationship with God.  He is the focal point of life.

 

blessings,

Rob Smith