You shall.

Acts 1: 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."

 

In the whirlwind of events, as Jesus was about to ascend to Heaven, the disciples were full of questions and overwhelmed by unknowns.  And they were still trying to deal with the colossal failure of one of their own: Judas, who was actually responsible for betraying the Lord.  They had been saturated in a close daily relationship with Jesus for three years.  They had sat under His divine teaching, been inspired by His holy living, moved by His inexhaustible compassion and miraculous acts of healing.  Now it was almost as if the leading actor of a long running Broadway play was about to step off the stage in the middle of a performance with the other actors  looking at each other and wondering how the story could go on.   Jesus answers their questions with two promises.   They would receive power and they would be witnesses.  When He makes these statements He doesn't elaborate on the details of "how" they would receive power.  He said it would "come upon them" like a baptism but I'm sure they wondered about that.  He also said that they would be witnesses to the end of the earth.  I wonder how they responded to that promise. 

 

I believe that we still come to Jesus with questions and are overwhelmed with unknowns.  We have trusted in Him as Savior when we realized our absolute need for Him.  And that led to an assurance of eternal life and forgiveness for our shortcomings.  But in the midst of our questions and uncertainties He comes to us with the same two promises: "You shall receive power and you shall be my witnesses."  Like the disciples, we don't know exactly how the experience will play out but we can rest assured that it will.   For the great Actor has not left the greatest stage, He has lifted us up to join Him on the heavenly one.