Acts 1:12

We are here told, I. Whence Christ ascended - from the mount of Olives (Act 1:12), from that part of it where the town of Bethany stood, Luk 24:50. There he began his sufferings (Luk 22:39), and therefore there he rolled away the reproach of them by his glorious ascension, and thus showed that his passion and his ascension had the same reference and tendency. Thus would he enter upon his kingdom in the sight of Jerusalem, and of those undutiful ungrateful citizens of his that would not have him to reign over them. It was prophesied of him (Zac 14:4), That his feet should stand upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem, should stand last there; and presently it follows, The mount of Olives shall cleave in two. From the mount of Olives he ascended who is the good olive-tree, whence we receive the unction, Zac 4:12; Rom 11:24. This mount is here said to be near Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey from it, that is, a little way; no further than devout people used to walk out on a sabbath evening, after the public worship was over, for meditation. Some reckon it a thousand paces, others two thousand cubits; some seven furlongs, others eight. Bethany indeed was fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem (Joh 11:18), but that part of the mount of Olives which was next to Jerusalem, whence Christ began to ride in triumph, was but seven or eight furlongs off. The Chaldee paraphrast on Ruth 1 says, We are commanded to keep the sabbaths and the holy days, so as not to go above two thousand cubits, which they build upon Jos 3:4, where, in their march through Jordan, the space between them and the ark was to be two thousand cubits. God had not then thus limited them, but they limited themselves; and thus far it is a rule to us, not to journey on the sabbath any more than in order to the sabbath work; and as far as is necessary to this we are not only allowed, but enjoined, Kg2 4:23.

II. Whither the disciples returned: They came to Jerusalem, according to their Master's appointment, though there they were in the midst of enemies; but it should seem that though immediately after Christ's resurrection they were watched, and were in fear of the Jews, yet after it was known that they were gone into Galilee no notice was taken of their return to Jerusalem, nor any further search made for them. God can find out hiding-places for his people in the midst of their enemies, and so influence Saul that he shall not seek for David any more. At Jerusalem they went up into an upper room, and there abode; not that they all lodged and dieted together in one room, but there they assembled every day, and spent time together in religious exercises, in expectation of the descent of the Spirit. Divers conjectures the learned have about this upper room. Some think it was one of the upper rooms in the temple; but it cannot be thought that the chief priests, who had the letting of these rooms, would suffer Christ's disciples constantly to reside in any of them. It was said indeed, by the same historian, that they were continually in the temple (Luk 24:53), but that was in the courts of the temple, at the hours of prayer, where they could not be hindered from attending; but, it should seem, this upper room was in a private house. Mr. Gregory, of Oxford, is of this opinion, and quotes a Syriac scholiast upon this place, who says that it was the same upper room in which they had eaten the passover; and though that was called anōgeon, this huperōon, both may signify the same. "Whether," says he, "it was in the house of St. John the evangelist, as Euodius delivered, or that of Mary the mother of John Mark, as others have collected, cannot be certain." Notes, ch. 12.

III. Who the disciples were, that kept together. The eleven apostles are here named (Act 1:13), so is Mary the mother of our Lord (Act 1:14), and it is the last time that ever any mention is made of her in the scriptures. There were others that are here said to be the brethren of our Lord, his kinsmen according to the flesh; and, to make up the hundred and twenty spoken of (Act 1:15), we may suppose that all or most of the seventy disciples were with them, that were associates with the apostles, and were employed as evangelists.

IV. How they spent their time: They all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. Observe, 1. They prayed, and made supplication. All God's people are praying people, and give themselves to prayer. It was now a time of trouble and danger with the disciples of Christ; they were as sheep in the midst of wolves; and, Is any afflicted? Let him pray; this will silence cares and fears. They had new work before them, great work, and, before they entered upon it, they were instant in prayer to God for his presence with them in it. Before they were first sent forth Christ spent time in prayer for them, and now they spent time in prayer for themselves. They were waiting for the descent of the Spirit upon them, and therefore abounded thus in prayer. The Spirit descended upon our Saviour when he was praying, Luk 3:21. Those are in the best frame to receive spiritual blessings that are in a praying frame. Christ had promised now shortly to send the Holy Ghost; now this promise was not to supersede prayer, but to quicken and encourage it. God will be enquired of for promised mercies, and the nearer the performance seems to be the more earnest we should be in prayer for it. 2. They continued in prayer, spent much time in it, more than ordinary, prayed frequently, and were long in prayer. They never missed an hour of prayer; they resolved to persevere herein till the Holy Ghost came, according to the promise, to pray, and not to faint. It is said (Luk 24:53), They were praising and blessing God; here, They continued in prayer and supplication; for as praise for the promise is a decent way of begging for the performance, and praise for former mercy of begging further mercy, so, in seeking to God, we give him the glory of the mercy and grace which we have found in him. 3. They did this with one accord. This intimates that they were together in holy love, and that there was no quarrel nor discord among them; and those who so keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace are best prepared to receive the comforts of the Holy Ghost. It also intimates their worthy concurrence in the supplications that were made; though but one spoke, they all prayed, and if, when two agree to ask, it shall be done for them, much more when many agree in the same petition. See Mat 18:19.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

RETURN OF THE ELEVEN TO JERUSALEM--PROCEEDINGS IN THE UPPER ROOM TILL PENTECOST. (Act 1:12-26)

a sabbath day's journey--about two thousand cubits.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Act_1:12-14

Then returned they unto Jerusalem.

The return to Jerusalem

The distance was a Sabbath-days journey; not that Moses had limited a journey on the Sabbath; but the Rabbins derived the rule from the prohibition to depart, on the sacred day, from the camp, which was supposed to be two miles square. The return, had it not been for the promise of the Father, would have been like turning from the gates of heaven to the antechamber of hell.

I. The place. An upper room. This could hardly have been in the temple, for the ecclesiastical authorities were too hostile to suffer such a company within the sacred precincts. It was probably the room in which our Lord ate His last supper, and which, from His manner of pointing it out, seems to have belonged to a disciple. The Jews had such an upper room for their devotions, as we read of Peter going up to one, for prayer; and of Paul holding, in an upper room, a meeting of the Church at Miletus. In the houses of Jerusalem such apartments were provided for those who came up to keep the feasts. Here the disciples abode, i.e., probably spent the day there; retiring to separate lodgings at night. What reflections must have rushed into their minds on coming to the scene of the Last Supper! How much better they now understood our Lords discourse, and how soothing must have been the remembrance of His prayer! After seeing Him make the clouds His chariot, what must they have thought of His condescension in washing the disciples feet! In that room, after a few days, descended the Spirit, of which Jesus said not in vain, He shall glorify Me.

II. The company. As if to show how important it is for us to know who the apostles were, Luke, after giving the list in the Gospel, here repeats it. The women seem to be those who came up with our Lord from Galilee, and who ministered to Him of their substance. Mary, the mother of Jesus, not of God, as she has been impiously called, is there; and this is all that the inspired history says of her whom all generations shall call blessed. Verily the Scriptures are not chargeable with Mariolatry. By the brethren of Christ being there, we conclude that it could no longer be said, neither did they believe on Him. The hundred and twenty included probably the seventy evangelists; some inhabitants of Jerusalem, who, like the master of the house, believed, and such persons as Joseph of Arimathea. This upper room was the cradle of the Christian Church, now an infant, but soon to become a giant and stride over a conquered world. Who then would despise the day of small things?

III. Their employment.

1. Their harmony was secured by the discourses which they had heard and the scenes they had witnessed, which had extinguished self, that fire-brand of discord. With a world ready to rise in arms against them, their strength lay in union; and now that the traitor, the discordant one, was gone, we may say, Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

2. They were commanded to wait, but not to be idle; and their business was prayer for that Spirit who was to fit them for their work. They came from this retirement, to live in the view of a world, eyed by enemies as the butt of persecution, and by friends as examples and guides. Not the least of the blessings which resulted from these days of prayer was the lesson given to public men to prepare for great doings by secret devotions. (J. Bennett, D. D.)

The ten days

The interval between Ascension and Whitsuntide represents an exceptional portion of the history of the Church, and may be compared, or rather contrasted, with the three days during which our Lord rested in the tomb; in each Christ was gone and the Comforter was not come; in each the Church had received a part of her endowments but not the whole; in each the disciples waited patiently till they should obtain a more complete commission, though in the one case they waited with sad hearts and disappointed hopes, while in the other, notwithstanding the absence of their Lord, they experienced great joy, and were continually praising and blessing God. (Bp. Harvey Goodwin.)

The first assembly of the Christian Church

This assembly was marked by--

I. Separation from the world. The work was unworldly, and therefore separation was necessary. This separation was--

1. Local. Worldly business was not likely to come to the upper room, as there were no attractions for buyers and sellers. Every Church should have a place of meeting set apart for its own use.

2. Mental. No worldly-minded man could have anything in common with their mental state. They were waiting for the bestowal of what no outsider had ever seen or heard. Does this mental distinction exist to-day?

3. Moral. They had given themselves up to be directed by Jesus. Such renunciation marks all true Christians. It cannot co-exist with the pride and self-sufficiency which mark unregenerate men.

II. Unity. The separation would not have answered its purpose without this. All present--

1. Recognised one Head. Attachment to a chief often unites men of varying gifts, tastes, and ambitions. So high and low, educated and illiterate, etc., are united in Christ. The light of the sun illumines planets of different magnitudes in various orbits, and each reflects the light of the ruling orb. So Christ is the centre of the Christian system, binds each member of the system to Himself, and freely sheds His light on all. Discord in a Church is therefore unchristian.

2. Had oneness of spirit. They all stood in the same relation to Christ, agreed in the exercises to which they were now devoted, and had grace to love one another. This oneness has often appeared where personal elements have been of very diverse kinds. Such unity in diversity is one of the beautiful effects of Christianity.

3. Were of one purpose--viz., to know, experience, and do the Divine will. For this end they conferred, waited, and prayed. In the abolition of slavery men of opposite opinions, etc., were united by a common purpose. Such union will ever be shown where men aim at Christian ends.

III. Confident expectation. They persevered in the work to which they had given themselves. They had strong faith in Him whose words had brought and now kept them together. When that faith was tried by delay it bore the test. Continuance in prayer would increase the sense of power at the throne of grace; and this would intensify the longing for the promised blessing. This confident expectation ought to appear in all Christian assemblies, for there are Divine promises yet to be fulfilled. (W. Hudson.)

The waiting time

Was--

I. A transition period. It stood midway between Christs completed work on earth and the unopened work of the Spirit from heaven. In the history of redemption the first chapter closed on the day of the Incarnation. A long, dreary, chequered period that had been, but it was succeeded by one in all respects the reverse--brief, bright with heaven, and, though ending tragically, bringing life and immortality to light. But it was reserved for the Spirit to make this good, and His dispensation, the last chapter, was now to open. But ere the curtain should be drawn, a breathing time of ten days was in the wisdom of God to take place. It was like the silence in heaven, for the space of half an hour between the breaking of the seals and the appearance of the angels.

II. A time of felt need. The eleven were told that they were to be their Masters witnesses, but they had no clear comprehension of the tale they were to tell, and could not but feel that they had neither position, culture, influence, nor any ground to hope for success save in their assurance of the truth of their story, and the help they might receive in telling it. As they thought of this what sinkings would come over them, which would rather be intensified, as day after day found them in the upper room, but for some counteractive.

III. A time of expectancy. How often would they recall and find it indispensable to recall the promise of the Father--ill as they understood what it meant. Yet being charged not to stir till it was fulfilled, they could not but hope that it would bring a full qualification for their arduous mission. But it was no time of silent waiting, for it was--

IV. A time of prayer. Who can doubt that the burden of the supplication was the promised power. But besides this it was--

V. A time of fraternal conference. They could hardly have prayed without intermission; and it is only reasonable to assume that the intervals would be filled up with the interchange of recollections and encouragements.

VI. It was a time of action (verses 15-26.) (D. Brown, D. D.)

Waiting for the promise

It is on Thursday, probably in the evening, that the disciples return to Jerusalem. Did they expect to receive it that very night? This we know not; but we do know that then opened a new era in the intercourse of man with heaven. As they began to pray, how would they find all their conceptions of the Majesty on high changed! The glory of the Father encompassing a human form, a beaming from a human brow! Mingling with this first joy for the Masters exaltation would be the feeling, He has entered for us within the veil! He maketh intercession for us! Hush! which of the-twelve is it that says to the brethren--Let us ask the Father in His name? (Joh_16:23-24). The angels had often sung together over the prayer of repenting sinners, Now, for the first time, they hear prayers authorised and accredited by the name of the Only-begotten of the Father. That name has just been set above every name; and as it echoes through the host on high, with the solemn joy of a hundred believing voices, things in heaven bow. What must have been that moment for the saints in Paradise, who had seen the Saviour afar off, but never known the joy of praying directly in His name! Father Abraham had rejoiced to see His day. What would be His gladness now? David, what would be the things which, in that wonderful moment, his voice would sing, touching the King? Oh, the joy of that first hour of praying in the name of Christ! What short and burning petitions would go up from the lips which first quoted, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He shall give it you! But the Spirit has not seen it good to hand down the strong and tender collects of these ten days. Then surely it is unlawful to impose good forms of prayer upon all men, because ancient saints wrote them. He who will never use a form in public prayer casts away the wisdom of the past. He who will use only forms casts away the hope of utterance to be given by the Spirit at present, and even shuts up the future in the dead hand of the past. Does any one of the hundred and twenty up to this moment forget that Thursday night? The Friday morning dawns: the day the Lord had died. Would He not send His promised Substitute to-day? Now came back all His words about the death which He should accomplish. Yet the Friday wears away, and no baptism of fire! The Saturday sets in; its hours are filled up as before, with prayer; but no answer. And now dawns the first day of the week, the day whereon He rose, the first Lords day He had passed on His throne of glory. Surely they would expect that the blessing be delayed no longer. But the evening steals on, and all their prayers might have risen into a heaven that could not hear. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday pass. Their faith does not fail; still in the temple praising and blessing God, or in the upper room in prayer and supplication, they continue of one accord. Though He tarry, yet will they wait for Him. This is waiting. Some speak of waiting for salvation as if it meant making ourselves at ease, and dismissing both effort and anxiety. Who so waits for any person, or any event? When waiting, your mind is set on a certain point; you can give yourself to nothing else. You are looking forward and preparing; every moment of delay increases the sensitiveness of your mind as to that one thing. A servant waiting for his master, a wife waiting for the footstep of her husband, a mother waiting for her expected boy, a merchant waiting for his richly-laden ship, a sailor waiting for the sight of land, a monarch waiting for tidings of the battle: all these are cases wherein the mind is set on one object, and cannot easily give attention to another. To-morrow will be Thursday, a full week from the Ascension; that will be the day. The Thursday finds them, as before, of one accord in one place; no Thomas absent through unbelief. How the scene of that day week would return to their view! How they would over and over again, in mind, repeat the occurrences of a week ago! But the day wears on, and no blessing. Is not the delay long? Not many days! Does the promise hold good? They must have felt disappointed as the evening fell. Now is the hour of trial. Will their faith fail? Will some stay at home, or go a-fishing, saying that they will wait the Lords time, and not be unwarrantably anxious about what, after all, does not depend on them, but on the Lord? Or will they begin to find out that the cause lies in the unfaithfulness of their companions? Happily the spirit of faith and love abides upon them. Happy for them that none fancied He could fix upon others the cause of their unanswered prayers! The Thursday is gone; eight days! The Friday and the Saturday follow it, marked by the same persistency in union, in praise, in prayer, and by the same absence of encouragement. Ten days gone! the promise, Not many days, is all but broken. The final proof given by Peter, that he was waiting indeed, making all preparation for the event, was in calling upon his brethren to fill up the number of apostles. (W. Arthur, M. A.)

Waiting for the promise

They were waiting in quiet expectation and hope, as little children sitting together on a Christmas Eve in a dark room, while in the next room the Christmas presents are preparing; for it was again the time of Advent, of the Advent of the Lord in the Spirit. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)

Waiting for the promise

As those who dye cloth first prepare the cloth to receive the dye which it is to take, so does God ordain that the soul which is to receive His grace must be fitted for the sanctifying Spirit. (Chrysostom.)

Waiting for the promise: the duty of ministers and churches

It may be asked whether we are to expect that in all ages, a sufficient number of men will be raised up, bearing the primitive marks of a call from God, and of gifts from God; and our reply would be simply, Remember the ten days. There we see men whose commission had come from the lips of the Lord Jesus, whose training has been under His own eye, who have forsaken houses, and lands, and all that could bind them to secular avocations, who are ready to set forth upon the work of calling and warning a world that is lying in the wicked one; and yet day after day the inhibition lies upon them, that they are to tarry until they are endued with power from on high. As we look at that spectacle--sinners dying, time rolling on, the Master looking down from His newly-ascended throne on the world which He has redeemed, seeing death bear away its thousands while His servants keep silence--there is in that silence a tone which booms through all the future, warning us that never, never, under the dispensation of the Spirit, are men to set out upon the embassy to Christ, be their qualifications or credentials what they may, until first they have been endued with power from on high, been baptized with tongues of fire. Better let the Church wait ever so long--better let the ordinances of Gods house be without perfunctory actors, and all, feeling sore need, be forced to cry with special urgency for fresh outpourings and baptisms of the Holy Ghost, to raise up holy ministers, than that, by any manner of factitious supply, substitutes should be furnished-substitutes no more ministers of God, than coals arranged in a grate are a fire; or than a golden candlestick with a wax taper, never kindled, is a light. (A. Arthur, M. A.)

The first prayer-meeting after the Ascension

I. The scene. Upper does not mean a room above the lower floor, much less a garret or inferior apartment, but one comparatively spacious--reserved in Greek and Jewish houses for the use of guests, or for unusual occasions. Upper rooms were a kind of domestic chapels in every house. There they assembled to read the law, and to transact religious affairs. In returning to Jerusalem the disciples showed--

1. Their obedience to Christ.

2. Their fearless faith.

II. The attendance. The roll of names reminds us of--

1. The sociality of Christs system. If you would unite men in social affection, you must get them to love supremely your common object. Christianity alone supplies an object that all hearts can love supremely; and therefore of all systems it is the most social.

2. The triumph of grace. Here is Peter no longer fearful, and Thomas no longer incredulous, etc. Women are also here: their presence being noted in strong contrast which assigned a separate court in the temple, and kept women apart in the synagogue. In Christ there is neither male nor female. Christianity has raised woman to her present position, and woman has ever proved most loyal to the system that has made her what she is.

3. The ravages of sin. Where is Judas? He was present at the supper, perhaps in this very room.

III. The spirit was a spirit of--

1. Union. They were not only assembled in the same place and for the same purpose; but there was a great unanimity of sentiment amongst them. They agreed in the blessings they sought, and in the mode of seeking them.

2. Perseverance. Cf. Parable of unjust judge. Conclusion: Would that all prayer-meetings were something like this. We must go back to apostolic times for our models of devotion. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

A model prayer-meeting

If the prayer-meeting is the thermometer of the Church, then the first Christian prayer-meeting registers a high degree of spiritual life existing just after the departure of Christ. This was a model in point of--

I. Attendance. There were one hundred and twenty present.

1. All the office-bearers were there. Are modern elders and deacons as exemplary?

2. The male members were there. Business or pleasure did not hinder them.

3. The female members were there. The women still form a large proportion of the attendants at prayer-meetings.

II. The spirit. Peace and unity prevailed. The day of murmuring had not yet come (Act_6:1.) Union is strength. A divided Church cannot long remain a praying Church. God answers prayer when it is offered by few or many with one accord. The promise is addressed to those who are agreed.

III. The results (see chap. 2.). The Church was born at a prayermeeting, which should encourage us to sustain our often thinly attended and cold-spirited prayer-meetings. The prayer-meeting is more than the thermometer of the Church, it is the source of her spiritual power. There is as intimate a relation between the prayer-meeting and the outpouring of the Spirit as between the gathering of the cloud and the downpour of the shower. Pentecostal revivals must be preceded by ante-Pentecostal prayer-meetings. (T. S. Dickson, M. A.)

The meeting for prayer preparatory to the day of Pentecost

This passage refers to the most interesting period in the history of the Church, the results of which will be felt to all eternity. In one point of view the infant Church was in a bereaved condition. Still their glorified Lord had given to them words of promise which inspired them with the confident expectation of coming glory. And never was there a more interesting congregation. No Jewish ruler, no Rabbi, no Roman senator was there. It was a select and happy group of holy men and women, who had met for the most important purpose, to agonise in prayer. They were not acting under a momentary impulse; nor as the result of a transient excitement, but under the influence of that deep personal piety that needs no other impulse but what is supplied by a sense of duty, or by its own spontaneous energy.

I. The features by which they were distinguished.

1. They contemplated the attainment of a special object. The Saviours promise, so far from inducing indifference, awoke attention, urged to duty, and gave a specific character to prayer. During the greater part of the Saviours ministry they seem to have known little of the doctrine of Divine influence. But at its close the Lord dwelt mainly upon this fundamental truth; and now the doctrine inspired their hopes, warmed their hearts, and must have formed the subject of their prayerful appeal to heaven. This blessing is as important for us as for them, The doctrine of Divine influence is admitted as an article of our faith, but it fails to exert the amount of influence over us which its importance demands. Yet, upon the prayers of the Church is made to depend the bestowment of the Spirit in any enlarged degree. And what else can secure the salvation of the perishing? or warm the hearts of slumbering saints? or reclaim the backslider from his wanderings? or correct the existing errors of the Church?

2. The prayers were presented in concert and union. The place was humble, but it served the purpose. It was not enough that that each one separately should have been endued with the spirit of prayer. Religion is social. Like gravitation, its tendency is to bring its recipients into contact; and the wants of the Church make it necessary for its members to meet that they may blend their affections and unite in service.

3. These devotional exercises were continuous and persevering. The disciples laid aside for several days their ordinary occupations and gave themselves to the uninterrupted pursuit of spiritual things. This course was as true to philosophy as it was consistent with religion. It is by oft-repeated strokes that the artisan produces the desired impression on the metal; and that the heart may be subdued and elevated, it must be brought into continuous contact with spiritual realities. It is partly on such grounds that extraordinary religious services may be adopted and justified. A state of things may exist in a Church such as to call for some special effort. It may have lost its first love, and the things that remain may be ready to die. All ordinary effort to revive its piety seems to be in vain. It may be necessary, therefore, to resort to, extraordinary measures and give ourselves to special prayer.

4. These exercises must have been marked by fervency and sustained by faith and hope.

II. The influence and results by which these devotional exercises would de attended.

1. They would improve personal piety. That indeed had progressed considerably. Still, in point of depth, comprehensiveness, and power, it was susceptible of improvement. And if the first disciples needed an improvement in spiritual character, how much more we? What, then, shall accomplish it? United, as well as private prayer.

2. They would prepare the disciples to receive the promised effusion of the Spirit, and for their future vocation. A fixed rule in the Divine government is that the minds of men must be prepared by a suitable course of discipline for the reception of any special token of the favour of God. Isaiah was not called to witness before the live coal from the altar touched his lips. Moses was instructed by immediate communion with the Most High, preparatory to his mission. Would you be endued with power from on high and win souls to Christ? Then pray in unison.

3. They sustained an intimate relation to the events of the day of Pentecost. May they not be regarded as a most gracious answer to the prayers of the suppliant Church? (W. A. Hurndall.)

Prayer-meetings not to be given up

A pious woman, when it was decided to close the prayer-meeting in a certain village, declared that it should not be, for she would be there if no one else was. True to her word, when, the next morning, some one said to her jestingly, Did you have a prayer-meeting last night? Ah, that we did, she replied. How many were present? Four, she said. Why, said he, I heard that you were there all alone. No, she said; I was the only one visible; but the Father was there, and the Son was there, and the Holy Spirit was there, and we were all agreed in prayer. Before long others took shame themselves at the earnest perseverance of this poor woman, the prayer-meeting was revived and the church prospered. (W. Baxendale.)

Prayer-meetings, Sunday morning

I have been endeavouring to establish among us what are called Aaron and Hur Societies; i.e., little collections of four or five or more persons, who meet before service on Sabbath morning, to spend an hour in prayer for a blessing on the minister and the ordinances. They began on New Years Day and we seemed to have an immediate answer, for the meeting was unusually solemn; and we have reason to hope that the Word was not preached in vain. (E. Payson, D. D.)

Social prayer

By this is meant such meetings as are held pre-eminently for the purpose of prayer, praise, and revival.

I. Importance.

1. The inauguration of the Christian Church was preceded and attended with social prayer. The Day of Pentecost followed a ten days prayer-meeting of the one hundred and twenty disciples.

2. Seasons of joy or danger were marked by meetings for prayer (Act_4:23-31; Act_12:12; Act_16:13).

3. Revivals of religion are closely connected with them. When Zion travails in prayer she brings forth her spiritual children (Isa_66:8).

4. Great movements have been originated in them. The first foreign missionary society had its inception in the meeting for prayer held by five young men--Mills, Richards, Robbins, Loomis, and Green--under a haystack at Williams-town in 1806.

II. Different kinds of meetings for social purposes.

1. The weekly Church prayer-meeting.

2. Ladies prayer-meetings.

3. Business mens noonday meetings.

4. The week of prayer.

5. Neighbourhood or cottage prayer-meetings.

6. Conventions or convocations for prayer and revival.

III. Scripture promises.

1. That Christ will make one in their company, whether they be few or many (Mat_18:20).

2. That the prayer of faith shall be answered (Mat_18:19; Joh_16:23-24).

3. That their rewards shall be sure (Mat_3:16).

IV. How may the efficiency of such meetings be enlarged?

1. By preceding them with secret prayer.

2. By regular and prompt attendance.

3. By labouring to secure the attendance upon them of every able-bodied Church member and others. (L. O. Thompson.)

An assembly of Christians

You know those lights which we use in public places, where you have a ring pierced with a hundred tiny holes, from each of which bursts a separate flame; but when all are lit they run into one brilliant circle, and lose their separateness in the rounded completeness of the blended blaze. This is like what Christs Church ought to be. We each, by our own personal contact with Him, by our individual communion with our Saviour, become light in the Lord, and yet we joyfully blend with our brethren and fused into one, give forth our mingled light. (A. Maclaren, D. D)

Prayer meetings

One of the greenest spots upon earth was the parish of St. Peters, Dundee, when the lovely MCheyne was its pastor. He thus records in his diary the spirit of prayer which prevailed among his people: Many prayer-meetings were formed, some of which were strictly private, and others, conducted by persons of some Christian experience, were open to persons under concern at one anothers houses. At the time of my return from the mission to the Jews I found thirty-nine such meetings held weekly in connection with the congregation.

The social power of prayer

Akin to the moral are the social effects of prayer. Prayer makes men as members of society different in their whole being from those who do not pray. It gilds social intercourse and conduct with a tenderness, an unobstructiveness, a sincerity, a frankness, an evenness of temper, a cheerfulness, a collectedness, a con-stunt consideration for others, united to a simple loyalty to truth and duty, which leavens and strengthens society. (Canon Liddon.)

Result of united prayer

There was an old deacon in a city in Michigan who was connected with a church which had no conversion for sixteen years. He came to his death-bed, and felt that he could not die in peace. He sent for the minister, but he had been too long accustomed to the darkness to be easily awakened. Failing with all the male members of the church he sent for the ladies, and pleaded with them to pray for a revival. They prayed and fasted before God. In a little while the whole church was moved. I received a despatch from the minister. On my arrival he took me into a room filled with these ladies praying that the Lord would reveal His power. I felt, as soon as I entered, that God was there. The next night the power came, and in forty-eight hours there was scarcely a young man or young woman who was not converted to God, or anxious to be saved. (D. L. Moody.)

The substance of the Church

There is a mine near Plymouth, where the men work in it two hundred and fifty feet below the surface, have a little shelf for their Bibles and their hymn-books, and a little place where every morning, when they go down in the black darkness, they bow before God, and praise Him whose tender mercies are over all His works. You never heard of these miners, perhaps, and do not know them; but possibly some of them are the very substance of the Church. There sits Mr. Somebody in that pew; oh, what a support he is to the Church! Yes, in money matters, perhaps; but do you know there is poor old Mrs. Nobody in the aisle that is most likely a greater pillar to the Church than he, for she is a holier Christian, one who lives nearer to her God and serves Him better, and she is the substance thereof? Ah, that old woman in the garret that is often in prayer, that old man on his bed that spends days and nights in supplication, such people as these are the substance of the Church. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The duty of prayer

I. The circumstances of the apostles.

1. They had just been visited with a very afflicting dispensation. We all know something of the pangs of separation, but how trying must have been separation from the Redeemer Himself! Amidst the experience of the pain which separation inflicted, however, they betook themselves to prayer, and in the exercise they sought and found consolation. Have you such a salve for the experience of trials?

2. They had just met with disappointment in reference to their worldly views and expectations. How did they act? did they exhibit symptoms of chagrin or hesitate about persevering in the service of Christ? No, they betook themselves to prayer. Let us follow their example.

3. They were placed in circumstances of great trial and perplexity. Not only were they now deprived of their Adviser and Friend, not only were their worldly expectations blasted, but they were taught to look for the experience of difficulty, persecution, and death. And, besides this, there was perplexity as to the duties they were to discharge (verse 8). How were they qualified then to go to the uttermost parts of the earth to appear before the learned, the great, and the wise? But in the midst of all this they went to Him who could comfort them; and they did not repair to Him in vain.

4. A promise had been made to them, and their prayers had a very special reference to this. There are many who contend that prayer is useless because it is impossible that it can alter the decrees of the Almighty. There are some who condemn it for the same reason. But the apostles were made aware, not only of Gods decrees, but they had a promise actually made to them, yet they prayed for the very things which Christ had declared should be bestowed. True it is that no one can resist the will of the Almighty; but God works by means, and prayer is one of them.

II. The spirit and temper that characterised their supplications.

1. They doubtless prayed in the name of Christ (Joh_16:22). When we go to God never let us forget that the name we mention is that of Him who sitteth at the right hand of the Father.

2. They prayed in a spirit of obedience. We read here of their supplication, but notice their practice: They returned unto Jerusalem. Let us be taught by this, that if we expect our prayers to be heard we must not only go to God in the name of Christ, but we must go seeking, and praying, and aspiring after obedience.

3. They showed also the spirit of love. We do read of their disputes, hut we shall read of these no more. They are met with one accord.

4. They united together. And this teaches us the importance of public worship. (J. Marshall.)

Church attitudes: unity

To separate ourselves from our brethren is to lose power. Half-dead brands heaped close will kindle one another, and flame will sparkle beneath the film of white ashes on their edges. Fling them apart and they go out. Rake them together and they glow. Let us try not to be little, feeble tapers, stuck in separate sockets, and each twinkling struggling rays over some inch or so of space; but draw near to our brethren, and be workers together with them that there may rise a glorious flame from our summed and collective brightness which shall be a guide and hospitable call to many a wandering and weary spirit. (A. Maclaren, D. D)

Church attitudes: expectancy

The sunshine flows into the opened eye, the breath of life into the expanding lung--so surely, so immediately, the fulness of God fills the waiting, wishing souls. (A. Maclaren, D. D)

Church attitudes: receptivity

If the Church is to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit she must cultivate the receiving frame of mind--she must place herself in right attitude toward the gift she would receive. The thirsty man who comes to the fountain must hold his cup the right side up if he is to receive the refreshing water, then the water will fill it; but if he holds the cup the wrong side up the water will flow over and dash away from it, and thus his thirst will not be quenched. Penitence, unity, prayer, earnestness, constitute the receptive attitude of the soul; to such the Spirit will be given without measure. Peter, James, and John:--A curious text was once used by the Rev. J. Thain Davidson, D.D., in his first ministerial charge in Scotland, for the purpose of securing a large gathering of children whom he was anxious to address. The text was Peter, James, and John--from which he sought to show the individualising love of Christ. Fifteen years passed away and he heard nothing of that sermon; but one day, after he was settled in London, a young man called upon him: Do you remember me, sir? No; I do not. Do you remember the sermon you preached years ago on Peter, James, and John? Yes. I was but a boy then, but I walked six miles to hear you, and God blessed that sermon to my conversion. Since then the young man has devoted himself to the ministry, and he is now a useful minister of Christ in America. This illustrates the importance of presenting to childrens minds Bible truth in the most striking manner.

Prayer, patience in

How many courtiers go a hundred times a year into the princes chamber without hope of once speaking with him, but only to be seen of him! So must we come to the exercise of prayer, purely and merely to do our duty and to testify our fidelity. (St. Francis de Sales.)

Prayer, persevering

Two Christian ladies, whose husbands were unconverted, feeling their great danger, agreed to spend one hour each day in united prayer for their salvation. This was continued for seven years; when they debated whether they should pray longer, so useless did their prayers appear, and decided to persevere till death, and, if their husbands went to destruction, it should be loaded with prayers. In renewed strength they prayed three years longer; when one of them was awakened in the night by her husband who was in great distress for sin. As soon as the day dawned she hastened, with joy, to tell her praying companion that God was about to answer their prayers. What was her surprise to meet her friend coming to her on the same errand! Thus ten years of united and persevering prayer was crowned with the conversion of both husbands on the same day. (E. Foster.)

Prayer, the secret of strength

There is an old story of mythology about a giant named Antaeus, who was born by the earth. In order to keep alive this giant was obliged to touch the earth as often as once in five minutes, and every time he thus came in contact with the earth he became twice as strong as before. The Christian resembles Antaeus. In order to become and continue a truly living Christian, the disciple of Christ must often approach his Father by prayer. (Preachers Lantern.)

Prayer, the secret of usefulness

Spurgeon, being asked as to the reason of his marvellous and blessed usefulness for God, pointed to the floor of the tabernacle saying, In the room beneath you will find three hundred praying Christians. Every time I preach here they gather together, and uphold my hands by continuous prayer and supplication--there you will find the secret of all the blessing.

Prayer, faith in

Prayer is the bow, the promise is the arrow; faith is the hand which draws the bow, and sends the arrow with the hearts message to heaven. The bow without the arrow is of no use; and the arrow without the bow is of little worth; and both, without the strength of the hand, to no purpose. Neither the promise without prayer, nor prayer without the promise, nor both without faith, avail the Christian anything. What was said of the Israelites, They could not enter in because of unbelief, the same may be said of many of our prayers: they cannot enter into heaven because they are not put up in faith. (H. G. Salter.)

Prayer and revivals

The great revival in New York in 1858-9 began in answer to the earnest believing prayers of one man. After long waiting upon God, asking Him to show him what He would have him to do, and becoming more and more confident that God would show him the way through which hundreds might be influenced for their souls good, he at last began a noon-day prayer-meeting. The first half-hour nobody came, and he prayed through it alone. At half-past twelve the step of a solitary individual was heard on the stairs; others came, until six made up the whole company. His record of that meeting was, The Lord was with us to bless us. Of those six, one was a Presbyterian, one a Baptist, another a Congregationalist, and another a Reformed Dutch. (The Power of Prayer.)

Church unity

They were all together in one mind. How graphic this sketch of true union; and of union for the attainment of a definite object I The expression implies not only concord, union of heart, but concert, agreement of will, prearrangement, and design. All together in one mind. How fair a model for the imitation of the expectant Church in every age--for sure His after-comings will be like to His first, to them that are, and not to any but them that are of one accord. All, comprising every diversity of mental and moral constitution, in every degree of development, each retaining his proper individuality, yet each in vital sympathy and unison with all the rest. Various yet one, and the more completely one because various. All together, the individual influencing the community, and the whole community influencing each individual; each communicating something to all; and all communicating something to each; Peters quickness and vigour acting upon Thomass sober considerateness; and Thomass quiet considerateness keeping Peters impetuous energy under wholesome restraint; the serene fervour of John blending with the activity of Andrew, and the unhesitating openness of Bartholomew; Marthas vivacity combining with her sister Marys thoughtfulness, and the subdued and tender seriousness of Mary, the mother of the Lord; each simultaneously active and passive, and all sensibly quickened, by their union, to increasing earnestness and confidence. All together, and of one mind, that single mind centring all its hopes, exercising all its energies on one object-the immediate descent of power from on high. (F. W. Briggs.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 1:12. Then returned they unto Jerusalem — According to their Master’s appointment, having first worshipped him, Luk 24:52. Here they were in the midst of enemies; but it seems, though immediately after Christ’s resurrection they were watched, and were in fear of the Jews, yet after it was known that they were gone into Galilee, no notice was taken of their return to the city, nor any further search made for them. In Jerusalem they employed themselves in a daily course of public and private devotion, rejoicing in what they had seen and heard, and firmly believing some extraordinary event was at hand, whereby they should be more fully qualified for the great work assigned them; which, whatever the hazard of it might be, they were firmly determined to undertake and prosecute.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL REMARKS

Act_1:12. A Sabbath day’s journey—according to Josephus six (Ant., XX. viii. 6) or five (Wars, V. ii. 3) furlongs—marked the distance of the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem, not of Bethany, which was fifteen furlongs from the city (Joh_11:18). Luke (Luk_24:50) does not say the Ascension took place at, but over against (πρός) Bethany. Nor does Acts affirm that it occurred at the sixth furlong from the city, but merely that Olivet, the scene of the Ascension, was distant a Sabbath day’s journey from Jerusalem. The two Statements do not collide. From the latter statement it has been inferred that the Ascension happened on a Sabbath; but Act_1:3 rather points to a Thursday, the exact date being 28th April, A.D. 29, shortly before midday (Holtzmann).

Act_1:13. Come in.—“To the city probably, not the house” (Hackett); though Holtzmann considers it was the temple they entered (compare Act_2:46; Luk_24:53). Not an but the upper chamber should be read, meaning “of the private house” where they were abiding—most likely that mentioned in Mar_14:15; Luk_22:12.

Act_1:14. With one accord, or with one mind. Omit “supplication” and “the” before women. Last mention in Scripture of Mary, the mother of Jesus, whose reappearance after the crucifixion (Joh_19:27) is noteworthy. His brethren were most probably Mary’s children, though the idea that they were only His kinsmen or relatives is not excluded by the term.

HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_1:12-14

The Church in Jerusalem; or, the Ten Days before Pentecost

I. The Church’s meeting place.—An upper room in Jerusalem.

1. Humble. Not a splendid cathedral or ornate ecclesiastical edifice; but an apartment in a private house, in the topmost story beneath the flat roof. Compare the meeting-place of the Christians at Troas (Act_20:8) and Rome (Act_28:13; Rom_16:5).

2. Obscure. Not a chamber connected with the temple, as some suppose, but most likely a room belonging to a follower of the Risen Christ, perhaps in the house of the goodman mentioned in Luk_22:11, or in that of John Mark’s mother (Act_12:12).

3. Small. Large for a private house, but in comparison with the buildings afterwards possessed by Christians, contracted and meagre. Yet

4. Sufficient. Capable of holding the entire company of Christ’s disciples in Jerusalem before Pentecost. And

5. Consecrated. If the goodman’s upper room, by the Last Supper there held; if Mary’s, by the last interview of Christ with the Twelve before His Ascension (Act_1:4; Act_1:13).

II. The Church’s Membership.—

1. Its number. “About a hundred and twenty.”

(1) Representing the fruits of Christ’s ministry in Jerusalem, not throughout the country (see 1Co_15:6), the five hundred Galilean brethren having not yet come up to the metropolis. Christ’s ministry, externally judged, had not been eminently successful.

(2) Not a large or powerful band of spiritual soldiers. Indeed, in comparison with Christ’s army of to-day, extremely diminutive and feeble. Yet

(3) Christ was about to employ them in the magnificent task of reducing the world into subjection to Himself, the weakness of the weapon being more than counterbalanced by the Almightiness of the Arm that was to wield it (1Co_1:27).

2. Its composition.

(1) Men and women. A distinct advance upon the Church of the Old Testament, in which woman had no place as an individual, but only in and through and as represented by the male head of the family to which she belonged. The exceptional case of Zelophehad’s daughters (Num_26:6-7) proved the rule. But now in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female (Gal_3:28). In the Church of the New Testament woman finds a place in her individual capacity, and enjoys rights and privileges equal with those of her male companion. Nothing more characteristic of Christianity or more demonstrative of her heavenly origin than the change she has effected on the position of woman both in Church and State.

(2) Persons of distinction and people of no name. Individuals of repute, ability, and influence like the Apostles who had been selected by Christ, and had companied with Him from the beginning (Act_1:21); like the Galilean women who had followed Him with devotion and ministered to Him of their substance (Luk_8:3); like Mary, the mother of Jesus, and like the brethren of our Lord, of whom one (James) was soon to take his place (if already he had not secured it) as president of the congregation. Happily, however, also men and women of no name or fame, influence or ability, rank or wealth. Christian Churches should never be of one class; but “rich” and “poor,” “wise” and “unwise,” “patrician” and “plebeian,” should meet together in profession of a common faith, in acts of common worship and in service of a common Lord.

3. Its leaders. Leadership not incompatible with equality. Never had the Church such a company of able and trusted guides as when it started on its glorious career.

(1) Males, the Apostles. The first three: Peter, the man of rock (Mat_16:18; Joh_1:42) and Apostle of action (Mat_14:28; Joh_18:10); John, the beloved disciple (Joh_21:20) and Apostle of love (1Jn_3:18; 1Jn_4:7); and James, his elder brother, who afterwards suffered martyrdom (Act_12:2), perhaps distinguished by courageous zeal (Luk_9:54). The next five: Andrew, one of the first to follow Christ, a man of decision (Joh_1:40); Philip, whom Christ found in the wilderness (Joh_1:43), representing spiritual aspiration (Joh_14:8); Thomas, called Didymus, doubtful and anxious (Joh_20:25), touched with melancholy (Joh_11:16), yet of ardent devotion (Joh_20:28); Bartholomew or Nathanael (Joh_1:45), the soul of guileless simplicity; Matthew, who left all and followed Christ (Mat_9:9; Luk_5:28), the man of whole-hearted consecration. The last three: James, the son of Alphæus, sometimes called “James the Less” (Mar_15:40), though “James the Little” would be better, of whose character nothing is reported; Simon Zelotes, otherwise named The Canaanite (Mat_10:4; Mar_3:18), or the Zealot, perhaps noted for fervour; and Judas, the brother or son of James, styled Lebbæus (Mat_10:2) and Thaddæus (Mar_3:18), presumably from the warmth of his disposition, hence the man of heart. Along with these James, the brother of our Lord, enjoyed the reputation and held the position of a leader (Act_15:13; Gal_1:19).

(2) Females, the women already referred to, Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James and Joses, Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, Salome, the mother of John and James, and Susanna (Luk_8:1; Joh_19:25), and Mary the Mother of Jesus, here mentioned for the last time in Scripture and not assigned that precedence given her by the Church of Rome.

III. The Church’s disposition.—Unanimous. Her members were all of one mind. The spirit of discord had not yet revealed itself among them. Their ranks were unbroken through either jealousy or rivalry.

2. Steadfast They persevered in maintaining this becoming and excellent temper. Doubtless it had not then been tried by either prosperity or adversity. Yet was it praiseworthy that they did not themselves grow weary of the monotony of concord.

IV. The Church’s occupation.—Waiting for the promise.

1. Praying. Always becoming on the part of Christians (Php_4:6; 1Th_5:17), it was specially suited to the circumstances of the Church during the ten days before Pentecost. That the chief theme of their supplications was the heavenly baptism for which they were looking need not be doubted. That, though sure of it, they still prayed for its coming, accorded with a law of the kingdom (Eze_36:37; Mat_21:22; Jas_1:5). That they prayed in a social as distinguished from a private capacity, was grounded on Christ’s well-known assurance (Mat_18:19).

2. Working. The duty lying to their hand they did. They proceeded to fill the vacancy in the apostolic college. A hint to Christians to leave no known duty unperformed while waiting for other tasks to be enjoined.

“Strong in His faithfulness, praise Him and sing,

Then as He beckons thee,—‘Doe the next thing.’ ”

Learn.—

1. Not to suppose a splendid, or indeed any, building necessary to constitute a church. 2. Not to despise the day of small things.

3. Not to foster the class spirit in connection with Christian Churches.

4. Not to resent the leadership of those who by superior ability or influence are manifestly called to that office.

5. Not to mar by discord or division the unity of fellowship among believers.

6. Not to think praying can ever be out of place.

7. Not to mistake idleness for waiting.

HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS

Act_1:13. The Upper Room.—The upper chamber still forms the distinctive feature of a Syrian house. It is the guest chamber, where the guest is quartered outside the part of the house used by the host and his family in private life. The poor were generally content to leave their terraces uncovered, but the first luxury they indulged in was an upper chamber. The rich Shunamite made one for Elisha (2Ki_4:3). This was the most convenient part of the house, because it was large compared to the rooms inside, and was entirely independent of the rest of the building. It served for numberless uses. There the corpse was laid before burial (Act_9:37). It was in an upper chamber Jesus met with His apostles to bid them farewell, to eat the Passover with them for the last time, and to institute the Lord’s Supper. The ordinary meals He no doubt took, as they are still taken, in the court of the house and in public.—Stapfer, Palestine in the Time of Christ, p. 178.

The Four Lists of the Apostles.

MATTHEW.

MARK.

LUKE.

ACTS.

Peter

Peter

Peter

Peter

Andrew

James

Andrew

John

James

John

James

James

John

Andrew

John

Andrew

Philip

Philip

Philip

Philip

Bartholomew

Bartholomew

Bartholomew

Thomas

Thomas

Matthew

Matthew

Bartholomew

Matthew

Thomas

Thomas

Matthew

James (of Alpheus)

James (of Alpheus)

James (of Alpheus)

James (of Alpheus)

Thaddeus

Thaddeus

Simon the Zealot

Simon the Zealot

Simon the Cananean

Simon the Cananean

Judas son of James

Judas son of James

Judas Iscariot

Judas Iscariot

Judas Iscariot

From a comparison of these lists the following conclusions may be drawn:

1. That Peter was universally recognised as the leader of the apostolic band.

2. That, following him, Andrew, James, and John enjoyed a precedence over the remaining eight.

3. That, after these, the next in rank was Philip, who in all the lists occupies the fifth place.

4. That Bartholomew was another name for Nathanael.

5. That Thomas and Matthew, like Peter and John, Philip and Bartholomew, were probably companions.

6. That Thaddeus and Judas were the same individual.

7. That Judas Iscariot deserved the lowest place in the apostolic brotherhood.

Act_1:14. The Brethren of Our Lord.

I. Their names.—James, Joses, Simon, and Judah (Mat_13:55). With the exception of the first, all ordinary men, who would probably never have been heard of but for their connection with Christ. The vast majority of this world’s population are names, and nothing more; and even of those who emerge from obscurity it is not always true that they shine in their own lustre. Reflected radiance, or renown at secondhand, is more common than most suppose.

II. Their relation to Jesus.—

1. According to some His cousins—i.e., the children of Alpheus and Mary. An opinion in support of which it is usual to advert to:

(1) the customary practice among the Jews of employing the term “brother” in a loose sense, as equivalent to “near kinsman”;

(2) the circumstance that Christ, when dying, commended His mother to John (Act_19:26), which, it is thought, He would hardly have done had she possessed other children besides Himself;

(3) the Scripture statement that Alpheus or Cleopas and Mary had two sons named James and Joses (Mar_15:40), if not a third called Judas (Act_1:13); and

(4) the appearance of individuals bearing the names of James, Simon, and Judas in the circle of the apostles, who are not the brethren of our Lord, but the sons of Alpheus (Mat_10:3; Mar_3:8). Against this opinion, however, it is urged, and with force,

(1) that they are never styled Christ’s cousins, but always his brethren—a fact remarkable, but not decisive;

(2) that they always appear associated with the mother of Jesus, and not with the wife of Cleopas;

(3) that one cannot be certain whether Mary, the mother of James and Joses, was the sister of our Lord’s mother (see Joh_19:25); and

(4) that our Lord’s brethren were not even among His disciples till towards the close of His ministry (Joh_7:5), whereas the two sons of Alpheus and Mary were among the apostles from the first.

2. According to others, His half brothers—i.e., the sons of Joseph by a former marriage. But this opinion, though not improbable, rests solely on the authority of the Gospel of James

3. According to a third class of interpreters, His whole brothers—i.e., children of Mary by her husband Joseph. In favour of this the arguments run—

(1) that it is the simplest and most natural hypothesis;

(2) that Our Lord’s brethren are always spoken of as brothers, not as cousins;

(3) that they are never said to be sons of Joseph, but always represented as brethren of Jesus; and

(4) that they always appear to be under Mary’s care. (See Whitelaw on The Gospel of St. John, 2:12.)

III. Their changed attitude towards Jesus.

1. The nature of the change. They had become believers, which they were not prior to His crucifixion. Then they refused to accept His Messianic pretensions, though they found it impossible to deny His miracles (Joh_7:3). Now their doubt was dispelled and their unbelief changed into faith.

2. The cause of the change. This was unquestionably the fact of Our Lord’s Resurrection, and perhaps in particular His manifestation of Himself to James (1Co_15:7).

Act_1:1-14. The Ascending Lord and His Witnesses.—The ascension of the Lord Jesus is the one fact which properly belongs both to the story of the Gospels and to the history of the Acts of the Apostles.

I. The preparation of the witnesses.—For witnesses must be qualified. You cannot lay hands on any man at random, and ask him to bear testimony even to undisputed facts. He must have seen the things of which he claims to be the witness. And then he must be a man of truthful spirit. These two qualifications for a faithful witness Jesus supplies in the things which He does and says in this last interview with His disciples. By what He did that day before their eyes He gave them knowledge of the final fact which was to complete the circle of their testimony. They had wept by the cross and mourned beside the sepulchre. They had seen Him, heard Him, touched Him risen from the dead, and had been glad when they saw the Lord again. And now they are assembled that the last needed link in the evidence they are to give may be added to make the chain complete. But what He said was needful, too, that they might discharge their office rightly. Not merely must their eyes behold the dying and the rising of the Son of man, but it was quite as essential that their spiritual vision should be illumined. It was for this that the Holy Spirit was needed. His coming is to complete what their outward vision had begun. He will teach all things, and bring all Jesus’s sayings to remembrance. He will show things to come. They are to have power; but it shall be power, not to be warriors, but to be witnesses. This is the work of His disciples in every age. For this cause the Master came into the world—to bear witness to the truth. As the Father sent Him into the world, so He sends us. As He equipped the Twelve, so He furnishes us for the work. Instead of the vision of His face we have the fourfold Gospel.

II. The limitation of the witnesses.—For, even “while they beheld, a cloud received Him out of their sight.” There was clear vision for a way, and then an utter mystery. Between Him and the eyes which gazed their love into the heavens came the intercepting cloud. So all our knowledge ends in mystery. Even where a veil is not hung to hide the divine realities from us, the shortness of our vision is as effective to conceal them. The strength and power of the witnessing of the early disciples was in this very thing: that they testified with all boldness up to the limits of their knowledge, and then relapsed into utter silence. It will be well for the later witnesses for Christ to follow more nearly the example of these earlier martyrs. We may with all boldness declare the well-attested facts. But do not let us try to witness to the things which are beyond the cloud, whether it may have been spread by divine wisdom or by human ignorance. Many an earnest witness has lost his power in the world because there was no clear line between the things which he has seen and known and the things which he has only felt and fancied. Nor is it necessary, because a cloud hides that which we long to see, that it should cast a shadow upon us, or darken our horizon. The cloud which underlies the mysteries of heavenly truth is not black with thunderbolts, not scarred with seams of lightning, but edged at least with the silver glory which it hides, and only laden for us with showers of peace and plenty. For it is not the darkness which hides God from us, but the light in which He dwells, which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see. This was the cloud of the transfiguration—the cloud of brightness. Paul, telling the story of his conversion, says, “I could not see for the glory of that light.” Jesus is the brightness of the Father’s glory and the Light of the World, but it is a light softened and screened for human eyes by the veil of His flesh; so that we now can look and see, and look and live. The cloud is the condescension of divine love to our weak sight. It testifies God’s grace equally with the sunshine.

III. The attitude of the witnesses.—They stand gazing after Him up into heaven—how long we do not know; long enough, it is evident, to lead to the rebuke and reassurance which came to them from the lips of the two angels. However full of love or faith their motive may have been, their posture was not approved. It is when they cease their gazing and begin their going that they assume their true relation to the risen Christ. For the return to Jerusalem was their first act of obedience to Him. There He had told them to go, and there to wait, and there to witness first. To testify of Him first where it is hardest and most perilous to do it; back where the people of all tongues will gather soon—they are to speak where their word will reach the greatest number; back where He bids them—that is, more than all beside, that they obey His last command. It is not by peering into the mysteries of God’s unrevealed truth that any disciple gains grace to be a faithful witness. It is far rather by unquestioning obedience to His plain command that we shall come to such further light as He may have to give us. They who are actively engaged in doing His will and work shall be led on with surest step into the mysteries of godliness. They shall have more to witness who witness faithfully to what they know, rather than they who wait and watch for more to tell. Nor did they separate when the Master, who had at first drawn them together, had left them. He had appointed them a common mission. There was to come on them a common gift of power. And so they stayed together during the interval till it should come. And as it is in the way of obedience that we learn the truth, it is in the way of fellowship that we most often receive the richest spiritual gifts. If we would share the gifts which Jesus bestows upon His own, we shall be wise to keep with the other disciples. And then, of course, they prayed; not of necessity only for that which He had promised, and which was to come to them so soon, but quite as much, perhaps, for patience to wait for it, and then for grace to use it for His praise. Obedience, fellowship, and prayer, shall make you strong to be witnesses, martyrs if needs be, unto Him.—Monday Club Sermons.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

B. THE RETURN OF THE APOSTLES TO JERUSALEM; THEIR CONTINUED INTIMATE UNION; THE COMPLETION OF THE APOSTOLIC NUMBER TWELVE, BY THE APPOINTMENT OF MATTHIAS AS AN APOSTLE

CHAPTER Act_1:12-26

Contents:—The Apostles, after returning from Mount Olivet, continued with one accord in prayer, with others, Act_1:12-14; Peter proposes the appointment of a witness of the resurrection of Jesus, in the place of the traitor Judas; two persons are chosen; Matthias is numbered with the Eleven

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12Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from [near] Jerusalem [, being distant] a sabbath day’s journey. 13And when they were come in, they went up into an [the, τὸ] upper room, where [they then] abode[,] both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother [omit—the brother] of James. 14These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication,8 with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.15And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said (the number of names together were [there was a multitude of persons together,] about a hundred and twenty,) 16[Ye] Men and brethren, this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judaswhich was [who became a] guide to them that took Jesus. 17For he was numbered with [among9] us, and had obtained part [assumed the lot] of this ministry [service]18Now this man purchased a field [a piece of ground] with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.19And it was [became] known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as [so that] that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The [omitThe] field of blood. 20For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be [become] desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and, His bishoprick10 let anothertake.11 21Wherefore of these men which [who] have companied with us all the time thatthe Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be [mustone become, γενέσθαι] a witness with us of his resurrection. 23And they appointed [placed] two, Joseph, called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. 24And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which [who] knowest the hearts of all men, shewwhether of these two thou hast chosen, 25That he may take part [receive the lot12] of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell [Judas turnedaside], that he might go to his own place. 26And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Act_1:12. From the mount—This verse distinctly shows that the mount of Olives was the scene of the ascension. The narrator assumes that the reader already possesses a general knowledge of the place where the Lord ascended; when he expressly remarks that the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the mount, he describes the locality with sufficient precision. A sabbath day’s journey (2,000 cubits or 4,000 [German] feet [about three-quarters of an English mile.—Tr.]) was the extent of a walk allowed on the sabbath by the rabbinic traditions; this approximate measure of the distance of the mount from the city is furnished by Luke simply because Theophilus was not acquainted with the Holy Land from personal observation. His statement, however, refers only to the general distance of the mount, and does not imply that such was the exact distance of the spot whence the Lord ascended. The remark in Luke’s Gospel, Luke 24:50, that Jesus led the disciples out of the city ἔως εἰς Βηθανίαν, as far as to Bethany, does not contradict the statement in the present passage, as some commentators, de Wette, for instance, have intimated. For that passage in the Gospel does not assert that the ascension had occurred in the immediate vicinity of Bethany, nor does the one before us assert that Jesus, at the moment of the ascension, had been as near as a sabbath day’s journey to Jerusalem; the former passage merely states that the occurrence had taken place on the way to Bethany, which was situated on the eastern declivity of the mount [“at the mount,” πρὸς, Mar_11:1; Luk_19:29.—Tr.]; even Strauss conceded that the two passages do not involve a contradiction.—As Bethany lay at a distance of fifteen stadia from Jerusalem (Joh_11:18), and as only six stadia are assigned to a sabbath day’s journey, the precise point from which the Lord ascended, must lie between these two extremes. (Robinson: Palestine, I. 253 f.; 275).

Act_1:13-14. They went up into an [the] upper room.—When the apostles returned to the city, they did not disperse, but with one accord continued together, and diligently prepared, with prayer and supplication, for the promised outpouring of the Spirit. For this purpose they went up into the upper room, that is, a chamber in the highest story of a certain house, immediately below the flat roof, where, remote from the tumult of the world, they could devote themselves without disturbance to their holy occupations. It was not a chamber in the temple, as some earlier interpreters have supposed, but was one that belonged to the private residence of an adherent of Jesus; for the statement in Luk_24:53, that, after the ascension, the apostles were continually in the temple, does not necessarily imply that in the present passage the temple is again to be regarded as the locality; still less do the two statements contradict each other, as Strauss and others maintain. The words in the Gospel can only mean, in accordance with all the circumstances of the case, that when all the people visited the temple, namely, at the usual hours of prayer, the apostles invariably came thither also; the present passage informs us that at other intermediate times, they abode in the chamber already described.—The names of the eleven apostles are here given in full at the commencement of the narrative, for the purpose of placing those in a prominent position who constituted the central point of the Church of Christ and to whom personally the promise of the Spirit had been given. They remained with one accord together, for “in union there is strength.” Still, they did not vainly imagine that they possessed any strength of their own; on the contrary, they deeply felt their weakness and poverty, and earnestly prayed for the power of the Holy Ghost which had been promised.—They were, moreover, not led by pride of office to draw a line of demarcation between themselves and others, but, on the contrary, cordially united in prayer and supplication with all others who believed on Jesus. And here three groups of believers appear, besides the apostles: (1) The women who had followed Jesus; some of them had attended him from Galilee to Jerusalem, Luk_23:49; among these Mary, the mother of Jesus, is alone expressly named; she is not again mentioned in the New Testament. (2) The brethren of Jesus, who had formerly (Joh_7:5) been, not for, but against him, but who now unquestionably believe on him. It is, moreover, worthy of observation, that the brethren of Jesus are here, on the one hand, plainly distinguished from, the eleven apostles, and, on the other, obviously placed in a certain connection with the mother of Jesus: hence it may be inferred, first, that brothers, in the direct sense of the word, and not cousins of Jesus, are meant, and, secondly, that no one of them was at the same time an apostle. (3) For the other disciples, see Act_1:15.

Act_1:15. a. About a hundred and twenty.—Besides the ἀπόστολοι, Act_1:2, the γνναῖκες and the ἀδελφοὶ τον͂ ̓ Ιησον͂, Act_1:14, a larger assemblage of μαθηταί appears before us, consisting of the whole number of those who received Jesus as their Master and Lord, and were willing to yield obedience to him. A meeting was held on one of those days, i.e., during the interval of ten days between the ascension of Jesus and the outpouring of the Spirit, at which about 120 individuals were present: this number doubtless includes the apostles, the brethren of Jesus, and other disciples; the last, of course, constitute the majority. This statement of the number has been regarded by some writers with suspicion, and been represented as inaccurate and unhistorical (Baur: Paulus, p. 57; Zeller: Apostelgesch, p. 117 f.), on the ground that it is in conflict with Paul’s words that Jesus “was seen of above five hundred brethren at once.” 1Co_15:6. Two considerations, however, show that his words by no means contradict the present passage: (1) Luke does not at all intend to state in the present passage the precise number of all the disciples of Jesus in the whole country, but simply to report the number of those who were present at this meeting, the object of which was to appoint in the company of the apostles a successor to the traitor Judas. (2.) Paul, on the other hand, does not specify, in the passage just mentioned, the place in which the Lord appeared to the 500 disciples. This event may have occurred in Galilee, where the great majority of the disciples of Jesus resided; a comparatively small number dwelt in Jerusalem, in which city even the apostles themselves had remained only in consequence of the express command of the Lord; see Lechler’s [the author’s] Apost. u. nachapost. Zeitalter. 2 Aufl. p. 275 f.

b. And in those days.—Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, addressed them, and made a certain proposition. It is apparent that “he is the mouth of the Apostles and their corypheus,” as Chrysostom says; and, indeed, he occupies the first place in the list of their names in Act_1:13. Still, he does not himself regard his primacy in such a light as to assume the authority to supply the vacated twelfth apostolate, as if he possessed sovereign power; neither do the apostles believe that even they have, collectively, sufficient authority to fill a vacancy which had occurred in their number, by an act of their own, independently of the action of others. On the contrary, the apostles, in whose name Peter acts, submit this matter, which concerns their office and ministry, to the assembled disciples, in order that they all, as the Church, may deliberate, resolve, and act. Such a course was accordingly adopted; for those who appointed Barsabas and Matthias (Act_1:23), who referred to the two latter in their prayer (ver 24), and who, finally, gave forth their lots (Act_1:26), were, as it appears from the connection, not the apostles exclusively, but all the assembled disciples.—How different the conduct of Peter here is from that of his pretended successor in Rome! How readily he concedes liberty of action to the congregation of believers, at a time, moreover, when they had not yet received the gift of the Holy Ghost!

Act_1:16. Concerning Judas.—The address of Peter refers to two closely connected subjects: the departure of one apostle, and the necessity of appointing another in his place; he presents both in the light of the word of God. The circumstance that an apostle of the Lord could fall so deeply as to become a guide to them that took Jesus, and that he then died in so shocking a manner, might easily awaken grave doubts in the minds of others, and cause them to stumble. It was, therefore, of great importance that the whole subject should be placed in the proper light. This task Peter performed. He begins with the declaration that the circumstances must needs [ἐδει] occur; they are not merely accidental, but constitute the fulfilment of prophecies which the Scriptures contain (Act_1:16; Act_1:20). David had—he continues—spoken prophetically, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, concerning Judas and the desolation of his habitation, and also concerning the appointment of another in his place. In the 109th Psalm, which, in the early ages of Christianity, was called the “Iscariotic Psalm,” and also in the 69th Psalm, David, the type in the Old Testament of the Redeemer, after certain very painful experiences, pours forth all his feelings: in the course of his complaints he also utters fearful imprecations in reference to those enemies who treated the Anointed of God unmercifully. He says, for instance; “Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.” Psa_69:25. “Let his days be few; and let another take his office.” Psa_109:8. And as Jesus was the antitype of the sorely persecuted and devout king, so Judas was the antitype of those earlier enemies of God and his Anointed; in Judas, accordingly, the curse and also those imprecations were necessarily fulfilled. As Peter is fully convinced that these words in the book of Psalms were fulfilled in him who betrayed Jesus, he changes the plural into the singular when he refers to the sense of the language occurring in Psalms 69; he does not, however, intend to assert that David himself had consciously and distinctly referred exclusively to Judas and his apostleship; for he does not say here that David had spoken of Judas, but that the Holy Ghost had spoken prophetically by the mouth of David (Act_1:16) concerning Judas. This fact fully accords with the following view:—David expressed his own grief in those Psalms, and referred to his own enemies whom he well knew; but as he was at the same time animated by the Spirit of God, he uttered thoughts and words which would be actually fulfilled in the most perfect manner only in the experience of the Redeemer; hence Peter applies the words specially to the accursed traitor, of whose expulsion from office and horrible end any previous deposition from office would afford only a feeble image.

Act_1:17-20. He was numbered with [among] us.—In order to show that the prophecy in Psa_109:8 was really fulfilled in Judas, Peter mentions, in Act_1:17, the circumstance that the traitor had once been a fellow-apostle, without which the words could not be applied to him; and, in Act_1:18, he refers to the property of Judas which had become desolate in consequence of his awful death. He establishes the former declaration by adducing the fact that Judas had actually been enumerated among the Twelve and had obtained the ministry, that is, the apostolate, as the portion belonging to him. When Peter (for it is he who speaks in Act_1:18 ff. and not Luke in his own person) refers, subsequently, to the property of Judas, and then to his death, it cannot be denied that the words are so framed that, without the aid of the parallel passage in Mat_27:5 ff., it would have occurred to no one that Judas had perished by committing suicide (“hanged himself”), and that the “field of blood” had been purchased only after his death. The words before us undoubtedly seem rather to convey the idea that Judas had himself purchased that piece of ground, and had afterwards been killed by a violent fall. Nevertheless, no reasons of sufficient weight exist to sustain the assertion that the two passages contradict each other, or to countenance the theory that two positively divergent traditions are here indicated. For it is quite possible that Peter simply expressed himself rhetorically, as if Judas himself had purchased the field, which was, it is true, purchased only after his death, but for which payment was made with the wages of his treachery; and that the manner of his death, as here described, (falling headlong, πρηνής, he burst asunder, etc.) can be easily reconciled with Matthew’s statement (suicide, by hanging himself) is well known [“by merely supposing what is constantly occurring in such cases, that the rope or branch from which he was suspended broke, and he was violently thrown, etc.,” (J. A. Alexander, ad. loc.) Tr.].—A certain gloom, intended by the speaker, hovers over the expression in Act_1:25, that Judas had gone to his own place; the words can convey no other sense than that Judas had gone to a place of condemnation, where an eternal curse and destruction are found.

Act_1:21-22. Wherefore … must one.—As it is now established, in consequence of the fulfilment of the prophecies already mentioned, that a vacancy had occurred in the place and office previously assigned to Judas, it is essential that this vacancy should be supplied, and the number Twelve be restored. It was, besides, indispensable that one of those men should be added to the Eleven as a witness of the resurrection of Jesus, who had continually associated with the apostles during the whole period of the Lord’s intercourse with the disciples, extending from the first appearance of John to the day of the Lord’s ascension. Peter mentions only one of the qualifications of those who are suited for the apostleship, namely, an uninterrupted association with Jesus and his disciples during the whole period of the Lord’s ministry. He is here primarily influenced by the consideration that the individual who shall be chosen, must be a witness of Jesus, and should therefore necessarily possess a personal and direct knowledge of the Person and the whole life and work of Jesus, as both an eye-witness and an ear-witness. This qualification, however, to which Peter gives prominence, is not merely of an external nature, as it might, at the first view, seem to be; for the steadfastness of any man who, from the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus to his ascension, had attached himself permanently to the company of the disciples, was undeniably an evidence of his inward state; it proved that such an individual possessed the qualities of fidelity and perseverance so eminently as to justify the act of giving him with confidence a special call to labor in the kingdom of God, as far as that call proceeded from men. The sentiments of one who had adhered to Jesus so long and so faithfully, and had fully attached himself to the disciples, had been subjected to a sufficient trial; it could not be doubted that the guidance and influence of Jesus had imparted to him a treasure of religious experience.

Act_1:23-25. And they appointed.—The choice of the twelfth apostle instead of Judas, is partly a human, and partly a divine act; the former was performed by the entire assemblage of about one hundred and twenty believers. They were convinced by the address of Peter, that the place of Judas ought to be supplied by another, and they concurred with him in the opinion that the candidate should have attached himself to Jesus and his disciples from the beginning. In accordance with this view, the assembled believers proceed to action, but confine that action to the nomination of two persons among the whole number of those who were qualified; these two men, who were both present at the time, were then directed to stand forth in the view of all (ἔστησαν). The number—two—proposed by the meeting could create no embarrassment, since the qualification which Peter had mentioned and the meeting had acknowledged as indispensable, could be readily, and, indeed, unerringly recognized. Neither the New Testament nor history furnishes us with any other information whatever respecting the two persons mentioned in Act_1:23, nor does either Matthias, who received the apostolate, or Joseph, the son of Sheba, who was surnamed Justus, afterwards re-appear. [Sheba occurs as a proper name in 2Sa_20:1, and de Wette, with others, thinks it probable that Bar-sabas is formed according to the analogy of Bar-jona, Mat_16:17, or Bar-jesus, Act_13:6, but no etymology that has yet been proposed, has been generally recognized as correct.—Tr.]. The conjecture is not well supported that the latter is identical with Joses Barnabas mentioned below in Act_4:36, since Luke does not there allude to the present passage, but rather introduces Barnabas as an individual who had not been previously mentioned.—The assembled believers did not regard themselves as authorized to take any additional steps, but submitted the ultimate decision respecting the particular individual to the Lord, because he was to be the Lord’s apostle. Hence, in the prayer which they offered to the Lord “who knoweth the hearts of all men,” and which was doubtless also pronounced by Peter as “the mouth of the disciples,” they besought the Lord to indicate by a sign, which one of the two men He had chosen. Commentators differ in opinion on the point whether this prayer was addressed to God the Father, or to the exalted Lord Jesus. Meyer, who adopts the former view, appeals to Act_15:7 ff., where Peter repeats the term καρδιογνώστης and applies it expressly to God, of whom he also says: ἐξελέξατο διὰ τον͂ στόματός μον ἀκον͂σαι τὰ ἔθνη, etc.; this passage, however, does not refer to the choice of an apostle. The correctness of the second view—that the prayer was addressed to Jesus—appears from the following considerations; (1) In Act_1:21, Jesus is expressly termed ὁ κν́ριος, to which αν̓τον͂ in Act_1:22 refers, whence it. appears that κν́ριε in Act_1:24 is naturally to be referred to Jesus also; (2) As the individual who was to be chosen was designed to be an apostle of Jesus, the choice was obviously to be submitted to Jesus also; (3) As the Lord Jesus himself chose his apostles on earth (Act_1:2, τοῖς ἀποστόλοις - - ο*ς ἐξελέξατο; comp. Act_1:24, έξελέξω), so, too, he chose on this occasion Matthias as an apostle by a direct act, although he had ascended to heaven, even as, at a later period, he chose Saul, Act_9:15; Act_9:17. If we, besides, compare the terms occurring in Act_1:17; Act_1:25 respectively [in both the same words, τὸν κλῆρον τῆς διακονίας ταν́της.—Tr.], we receive the impression that as Judas had obtained “the lot of this ministry” by the choice which Jesus made of him, so one of the two disciples now nominated would also receive “the lot of this ministry” by the special choice of Christ.

Act_1:26. a. They gave forth their lots.—The resort to the lot for the purpose of reaching a decision, was in conformity to the usage prevailing under the old covenant. Tablets, on which the names of Joseph and Matthias were written (but not dice, as some have supposed), were employed; these were shaken in the vase or other vessel in which they had been deposited, and the lot which first fell out (ἐπεσεν). furnished the decision; the best illustrations of the latter will be found in 1 Chronicles 24 ff., and 1Ch_25:8 ff. The lots were annually cast, under the old covenant, upon the two goats, when the day of atonement arrived, Lev_16:8; Moses commanded that the land of Canaan should be divided by lot, Num_34:13; the command was subsequently obeyed, Jos_14:2; Jos_18:2. This assignment of different portions of the territory to the tribes of Israel specially occurred to the apostles as a type: the office of an apostle was, in one sense, the inheritance which a particular individual obtained—the lot that fell upon him (κλῆροι, Act_1:17; Act_1:26).—But the apostles and the assembly of believers did not proceed to cast lots until they had themselves decided conscientiously in accordance with their personal knowledge, as far as any human decision could avail. It was only the final word—that word which required a previous glance into the heart—which they besought the Lord to pronounce through the lot. They were the more easily disposed to adopt this course, as the Spirit had not yet been poured out upon them; but after that event, the lot was never again employed. When all these circumstances are considered, no abuse of the lot can be justified or even be extenuated by an appeal to the present case.

b. And the lot fell upon Matthias.—It has been asserted by some writers that this whole procedure—the substitution of Matthias as an apostle in place of Judas—was premature and in opposition to the will of God, since Paul had been appointed to take the place of Judas as an apostle, although the call was actually given to him only at a later period. This view has again been advocated quite recently by Stier (Reden der Ap. 1861, I. 15. [Discourses of the Apostles, 2d ed.]), but no valid arguments whatever can be adduced in favor of it. Not the least indication is given at any time that God had signified his disapprobation of this election; for the circumstance that the labors of Matthias are not afterwards mentioned, as little proves that he was not a genuine and true apostle after the heart of God, as the silence observed with respect to the labors of several of the Twelve would prove that they, too, did not possess the true apostolical character. And with regard to Paul, the view referred to above [“Paul was, in place of Matthias, or, more accurately, of Judas, the true Twelfth apostle,” Stier, loc. cit.—Tr.], is certainly erroneous; for Paul himself never claimed, on any occasion, that he was one of the Twelve, while, on the contrary, he makes a plain distinction between them and himself in 1Co_15:5. He cannot, indeed, be enumerated among them, since his call constituted him the Apostle of the Gentiles; he is thus obviously contradistinguished from the Apostles of the Jews (comp. Gal_2:9); he is “the Apostle of progress” (Lange), while the latter are those who presided at the original founding of the work.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The fulfilment of the Scriptures is the theme of Peter’s address; in such a light he views both the events connected with Judas, and also the necessity of supplying the vacancy which the latter made in the company of the apostles. He was doubtless influenced in adopting these views by intimations which he had previously received from Jesus. And his course was strictly correct. For Christ is both the heart of the old covenant, and also the foundation on which it rests; the most holy sentiments which characterized the spiritual life, the confidence in God, and the patient expectation of devout men of the old covenant, really referred to Christ as their great end, although such believers might often themselves be unconscious of this great truth. And, on the other hand, the most painful experiences of the servants of God under the old covenant, and their deeply wounded feelings, when they were misjudged, insulted, and persecuted, were only shadows and preludes of the sufferings of the Redeemer. When David, full of faith in the truth and the righteous retribution of God, denounced the enemies of God and of himself, his words were to be actually fulfilled in the case of the faithless man who betrayed the Lord. Even if David himself was not aware of this fact (which, indeed, Peter does not assert), still “the Spirit of Christ which was in him … testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ.” 1Pe_1:11.

2. Peter recognizes it (Act_1:22) as the great purpose of the vocation of the apostles that they should be witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus; the latter was the decisive act of God. That event attested the Person and crowned the Work of Jesus; it constitutes the foundation of the Christian’s faith. Not only was it originally the great and pre-eminently glorious fact of the history of redemption in the eyes of the first disciples, but it is still regarded in that light by all believers. What results could the incarnation of God, or the crucifixion of Jesus have produced, without this resurrection from the dead? Comp. 1Co_15:14-19. The resurrection of Jesus still affords a test in our day, whether, in essential points, an individual is in bondage to unbelief, or whether he offers his homage to the true faith. He who cannot prevail on himself to receive the fact of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead in faith, has not yet, even in a general respect, acquired a correct knowledge of the Son of God, for he does not know the living Christ.

3. While Peter demands, on the one hand, that the person who shall be elected, should have been regularly in the company of Jesus like the other disciples, from the baptism of John to the ascension, he assigns, on the other, certain allowable limitations of that personal knowledge of the life of Jesus which it is indispensable that an Apostle should possess. For if the thirty years which Jesus passed in calm retirement, undoubtedly contributed their share to the work of redemption, still, it is in the life, the acts and the sufferings of the Lord during the three years of his ministry that the foundation of our faith in him is to be sought. The fact that the narratives of the Evangelists refer almost exclusively to this period, and introduce only a few incidents belonging to that of the childhood of Jesus, fully agrees with this view.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Act_1:12. a. Then returned they unto Jerusalem.—As the Lord proceeded from Tabor, the mount of transfiguration (on which Peter desired to make tabernacles), to the scene of his sufferings and death, so, too, the disciples, after gazing at the open gate of heaven, are directed to return to the hostile city, in which they were first of all to bear witness. And so, too, the Christian must often descend from the holy heights to which he had been carried by his devotional exercises, down to his earthly field of labor and battle. [Lange adduces weighty reasons in the first vol. of the present publication (Mat_17:1) for rejecting the tradition that Tabor was the mount of transfiguration, as Gerok here assumes.—Tr.]

b. From the mount called Olivet.—Not far from this mount the Redeemer endured his most awful agony of soul; but now he ascends from its summit victoriously to heaven; so near together, too, are the sufferings and the glory of the servants of Christ. Their battle-fields become the scenes of their triumph. (Apost. Past.).—Which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey.—As Mount Olivet was so near that the Jewish traditions permitted the disciples to visit it even on the sabbath, their continued abode in Jerusalem became endurable and even satisfactory. (Williger.).—In whatever spot the Christian now dwells, its distance from the mount of Olivet does not exceed a sabbath day’s journey; let him, therefore, daily go thither in spirit, especially when peaceful sabbatic hours visit him.

Act_1:14. These all continued with one accord, etc.—The ten days which intervened between the Ascension and Pentecost—between the departure of the Lord in the flesh and his return in the Spirit—constituted a memorable period of time; in some of its features it resembled the period which intervened between the death and the resurrection of the Lord. And yet the disciples now assemble under very different and far more happy circumstances. If they are again apparently as sheep having no shepherd, they are not filled with sadness and fear as once they were, neither do they weep for the Lord as for one who is dead. They know now that he lives, that he is enthroned in heaven, and that he is with his people alway, even unto the end of the world. They are again assembled in a secluded spot, but have not again shut the doors for fear of the Jews [Joh_20:19], neither do they tremble and flee as sheep when the wolf is coming. They are assembled together in calm expectation and with holy hopes in their souls; and they remind us of a group of children waiting in a darkened chamber on Christmas-eve, until the expected Christmas gifts shall have been duly arranged in the adjoining apartment. For in truth a season like Advent had now arrived for the disciples, in which they waited with blessed hope for the coming of the Lord in the Spirit.—What varied natural gifts, dispositions, gifts of grace, and spiritual tendencies, are represented by the names of these eleven Apostles! And yet the nature of each, however different the one may be from the other, is now sanctified and ennobled by the grace of Him who is able to employ each individual in his service to the praise of his glory. Even opposite features of character among them are beautifully tempered and associated in brotherly love under one Lord, so that they can exclaim: He is the Head, we are his members; He is the light, we are the reflection; He is the Master, we are brethren; He is ours, and we are his!—With the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus.—How well matured and purified in spirit must Mary be at this period, after the long and varied experience which followed the salutation of the angel! She whose soul was pierced through with a sword, was, nevertheless, blessed among women. [Luk_1:42; Luk_2:35]. With what tender love and devout reverence must not only John, to whom the Lord on the cross had given her as a precious legacy, but also all others, have looked on, and ministered to, this mother of their Lord! And yet, how unassuming the manner is in which she presents herself on this occasion also, when she is mentioned for the last time in the Scriptures! Her name is here the last of all, and not the first of those recorded by Luke; she prays with the others, not for them, as a handmaid of the Lord [Luk_1:38], not as a queen of heaven!—And with his brethren.—They, too, who had not at first believed in the divine character of Jesus, but had remained far from his kingdom, have now learned to prostrate themselves before the crucified and risen Lord, as Joseph’s brethren in an earlier age paid homage to their honored and powerful brother.—The blessed commemoration: I. The appropriate application of the blessing received; II. The appropriate prayer for further blessings. (Lisco.).

Act_1:15. And in those days Peter stood up.—He who had fallen so deeply as even to deny his Lord, has, nevertheless, the courage to speak of the treachery and dreadful end of Judas before all the brethren. For he was conscious that his sins were forgiven, and was influenced by the Lord’s words: “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”—“Whenever I look at Peter, my very heart leaps for joy. For although I am a poor sinner, Peter also was a poor sinner; if I should paint a portrait of Peter, I would paint on every hair of his head the words: ‘I believe in the forgiveness of sins.’ O Peter, if thou hast been saved, I, too, shall be saved.” (Luther).

He who daily obtains a clearer view of the multitude and heinousness of his sins, but whose conviction that the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin, at the same time increases in power, will always stand forth like Peter, and avail himself of every occasion on which he can perform any work to the praise of the glorious grace of his Mediator and Redeemer. (Ap. Past.)

Act_1:16-20. Concerning Judas, which was guide, etc.—Peter speaks of the grievous sin and horrible death of Judas with the greatest earnestness and candor, but also with devout sorrow and with gentleness. He speaks, too, with earnestness and candor of the treachery and the suicide of his fellow-disciple, who involved himself and his brethren in disgrace by his iniquitous conduct. Not a trace appears here of that unworthy desire which, in such painful cases, sometimes prompts men to conceal the truth and practise deception for the sake of avoiding a loss of honor; not a trace appears of apostolic pride or priestly pride of station, as if no blemish could be permitted to be seen in the character of those who are invested with the sacred office, or as if they were not amenable to civil laws nor pledged to respect public opinion. Peter, on the contrary, refers with a holy earnestness to the divine judgment which had overtaken the wretched man, and shows that even this painful event promoted by its results the honor of the one true God; his punitive justice appears in its majesty, and the prophecies which his word contains, were most remarkably fulfilled; thus the case of Judas enables Peter to give a solemn warning to all succeeding ages respecting the self-deception to which sin conducts. And yet Peter speaks of this “son of perdition” [Joh_17:12] in gentle tones, and with a sorrow not unmingled with pity. Not a trace appears of those uncharitable judgments which are often pronounced in such cases—not a trace of that haughty, self-exalting spirit with which Christians often look down upon a miserable self-murderer; no other feeling is here revealed save that of holy sorrow for the soul that is lost. Peter’s language is characterized by moderation both when he speaks of the treachery of Judas (“he was guide to them that took Jesus”), and when he speaks of his eternal lot (“he went to his own place”). In such a spirit we should remember our own infirmities, in every case in which others incur guilt, and apply Nathan’s words to ourselves: “Thou art the man!”

Act_1:21-22. Wherefore … must one, etc.—The term must [δεὶ] here refers not only to the necessity of supplying the vacant place of Judas, but also to the essential qualifications of the persons who shall be nominated. The levity and irreverence of the opinion that it is indeed an advantage when a teacher possesses the qualifications which are demanded in the Scriptures, but that these are not precisely necessary, since he may be an able pastor without acquiring them, are fully exposed by this divine oportet. (Ap. Past.)—Which have companied with us all the time, etc.—Two qualifications are here indicated: first, a certain measure of Christian knowledge; the individual who is chosen, must possess a direct personal knowledge of Christ’s Person and walk on earth; secondly, a certain measure of Christian fidelity; he must have faithfully adhered to Jesus during the whole period specified, without having ever gone back [Joh_6:66] or taken offence. Both of these qualifications are still required of those who are appointed to preach the Gospel and feed the flock of Christ—a living knowledge of the Lord, and sincere devotion to him.

A witness with us of his resurrection.—The testimony concerning the resurrection of Jesus comprehends every other important topic—his death, his life, and his doctrine; for without a statement of these points, the significance of his resurrection cannot be unfolded. And, further, that testimony constitutes the crown and glory of the preaching of Christ’s name; for while his doctrine is glorious and his life holy, and while his sufferings affect our feelings and his death deeply impresses us, still it was only when his resurrection occurred that he was declared to be the Son of God with power, and the Saviour of the world. [Rom_1:4].

Act_1:23. And they appointed two, etc.—Both possessed the qualifications which Peter had particularized; the selection of either for the office would have consequently been judicious. But those really tempt God who nominate incompetent persons under the pretext that God will nevertheless so order the course of events as to lead to the selection of the individual who is acceptable to him. (Ap. Past.).—Listen to the unison of the three chords which are struck at this election of a bishop! The sacred office directs that election in self-denying humility; the congregation yields a voluntary obedience and presents two chosen ones to the Lord; He, who is the sole patron of his Church, is entreated to designate the individual whom He has chosen as an offering for the extension of his kingdom. (Leonh. and Sp.).

Act_1:24-25. Prayed, and said, etc.—Teachers who have been given in answer to prayer, and whom devout prayer attended when they assumed office, enjoy the divine blessing, when they also themselves continue instant in prayer even to the end. (Ap. Past.).—Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts, etc.—It is cheering to the heart to survey the intimate personal intercourse which the disciples maintain with the exalted Lord Jesus, unmoved as they are by the circumstance that their eyes no longer behold him. The election of the twelfth Apostle was so ordered as to be the first work which they on earth, and He in heaven, would unitedly perform in the Holy Ghost. (Besser).—Thou … knowest the hearts of all men—a description of our God and Saviour, of which the teacher of religion should never lose sight. We may so labor in the sight of men that our praises shall be loudly proclaimed, “but the Lord looketh on the heart.” [1Sa_16:7]. (Ap. Past.)

Act_1:26. And they gave forth their lots. The disciples desire that their prayer: “Lord—shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,” should be answered through the medium of the lot. They ask the Lord to reveal to them his will, and, as in the case of the other apostles in Galilee, so, now, to call and choose himself the twelfth apostle in the place of Judas. The employment of the lot, although a familiar practice under the old covenant (as when the land was divided by lot among the twelve tribes. Num_26:55, of which the twelve apostles were designed to be the representatives), is not once repeated in the Scriptures after the day of Pentecost; for, after the fulness of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Church, the latter, in devout obedience, was guided by that Spirit into all truth. Now this “truth,” even in our day, is still no other than the revealed word of the Old and New Testaments. When we receive the word of God as a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path, we shall not walk in the night and stumble. When we humbly give heed to the leadings of the Lord, and in prayer commit our way to him, he conducts us in the paths of righteousness, and leads us by his Spirit into the land of uprightness. (Leon. and Sp.).

ON THE WHOLE SECTION.—Prayer, the weapon of the Church. (Starke).

Judas, an illustration of the deep guilt which an individual may contract, who begins well, but continues to yield obedience to a single sin. (Ibid.).

When may an individual be regarded as well fitted and prepared to assume the sacred office? I. When he faithfully adheres to Jesus and to his disciples; II. When Jesus himself dwells in his heart (Ib.).

The life of man, a journey to his eternal abode; I. There are two ways; II. Let us choose the narrow way! (Ibid).

The manner in which the welfare of the Church was secured at the election of Matthias; I. Whatever office an individual in the Church may receive, two points are of primary importance: Clear views of the divine will, and inviolable fidelity in the imitation of Christ; II. Among Christians, no election without prayer and the divine blessing; III. The lot justifiable as a means of excluding private influences, when both of the persons nominated were in all respects equal.

(Schleiermacher.). That the word of God is our only safe guide in difficult situations of life: I. It teaches us to consider even the most embarrassing relations in which we may be placed, as dispensations of Providence; II. It teaches us to form comprehensive and clear views of those circumstances which may aid us in finding the right way; III. It teaches us to pray in faith, and then submit the ultimate decision to the Lord himself. (Langbein).

The wages of sin, or, The awful death of Judas Iscariot: I. He should have remained Christ’s disciple; but he betrayed his Master; II. He should have administered a sacred charge; but he purchased the field of blood; III. He should have preached the name of the risen Saviour; but he committed suicide; IV. He should have received the Holy Ghost; but he was lost forever. (Florey).

The choice of Matthias by lot, an evidence of faith: a faith, I. Which even after painful trials confidently awaited the victory of the kingdom of Christ; II. Which fully recognized the lofty purpose and the significance of the apostleship; III. Which, conscious of its own weakness, in all things submitted the decision to the Lord. (Leonh. and Sp.).

The divine election: I. It proceeds from the free grace of God; II. It demands a mind and a walk of which God can approve. (Kapff.).

On looking upward to God, the Searcher of hearts; this practice, I. Humbles the heart; II. Strengthens the heart. (C. Beck: Hom. Rep.).

The disciples of the Lord, waiting for his Spirit: I. They obediently abode in Jerusalem, Act_1:13; II. They remained with one accord together, Act_1:14; III. They prayed, Act_1:14; (Lisco).

The Christian, waiting until the Lord shall be revealed: like the disciples, who abode in Jerusalem, I. He obeys, for he is full of faith: II. He dwells with others in unity, for he is full of love; III. He prays, for he is full of hope. (id.).

That even the apostasy of those who had received a special call to the ministry, cannot retard the progress of the kingdom of God on earth: I. The fact that such individuals at times apostatize, Act_1:15-20; II. The certainty that these occurrences cannot seriously retard the progress of the kingdom of God, Act_1:21-26. (id.).

The devout spirit and the harmony of the first disciples, an example for all ages: I. A devout spirit perpetuates and sanctifies the harmony of brethren: II. That harmony communicates new ardor and elevation to a devout spirit. (Lechler).

By what considerations should we be induced to persevere in prayer? By those derived, I. From our urgent wants; II. From the precious promises of God. (id.)

The sources of Christian energy and boldness, (as illustrated in the case of Peter): I. Deep views of our own sinfulness; II. An experimental knowledge of divine grace and the atonement of Christ, (id.).

Judas and Peter, viewed as monuments of divine justice and grace. (id.).

In what mode shall we judge and speak of the sins and punishments of others?—I. With candor and truth; II. With humility and self-examination; III. With grief, flowing from Christian love. (id.).

The gradual advances of sin, illustrated by the history of Judas. (id.).

The love of money, the root of all evil. [1Ti_6:10]. (id.).

The proverb; Ill-gotten, ill-spent. (id.).

The word of God, a light unto our path, [Psa_119:105]: I. It gives us right views of our experience of life; II. It makes known to us alike our general and our special duties.

The necessary qualifications of a teacher of religion: I. Accurate knowledge of the truth which is after godliness [Tit_1:1]; II. Personal communion with Jesus. (id.).

The office of a teacher, viewed as that of a witness.

Genuine prayer; it is, I. Full of reverence and humility, as in the presence of the divine majesty; II. Full of faith and confidence, as a conversation with the friend of our souls.

The lessons taught by the truth that the Lord is the Searcher of hearts: it conducts to, I. Humble self-knowledge; II. Child-like confidence in God. (ibid.).

Judas lost, Matthias chosen; I. Judas lost, (a) not on account of an antemundane divine reprobation, but (b) on account of his own transgression, which necessarily demanded (c) the action of the punitive justice of God; II. Matthias chosen, (a) not on account of any merit of his own (for wherein was he superior to Barsabas?), (b) but by the free grace of God, to which, however, (c) he devoutly subjected his own will and his whole life.

Barsabas the Just, [Justus, Act_1:23], and Matthias the Chosen One, or, My Grace is sufficient for thee! [2Co_12:9].

Matthias, numbered with the apostles, an image of him who assumes the office of the ministry with the divine blessing; three conditions must here be observed: I. The spiritual fitness of the individual, Act_1:21-22 : II. The regular external call, Act_1:23-24; III. The divine confirmation of the act, Act_1:25-26.

[The consultations of Christians: I. The spirit in which they are conducted; a spirit of (a) humble faith (prayer-hope); (b) brotherly love (forbearance); (c) humility (self-denial): (d) earnestness of purpose (deep interest); II. The action in which they result; it is distinguished by (a) a sincere concern for the honor of religion (choice of means); (b) disinterestedness (concern for the temporal and spiritual welfare of others;) (c) zeal; (liberality); (d) perseverance (not discouraged). —Tr.]

Footnotes:

[8]Act_1:14.—[The reading of the text. rec. καὶ τῇ δεήσει, after προςευχῇ, is found in C. (second correction), but is omitted in A. B. C. (original) D. E. Cod. Sin., Vulg., and is cancelled by Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Alford.—Tr.]

[9]Act_1:17.—[Lechler’s translation indicates that he, like Alford, rejects σὺν of the text. rec., as found in most of the minuscules, and reads ἐν, in accordance with the best manuscripts, viz., A. B. C. D. E. Cod. Sin.; and this reading is preferred by nearly all recent critics.—Tr.]

[10]Act_1:20.—a. [Lechler renders the original, ἐπισκοπὴν, by Aufseheramt, literally, overseer’s office; the margin of the English Bible presents the rendering: “office (Geneva, 1557), or, charge.” This translation strictly conforms to the original in Psa_109:8, פְּקֻדָּה, comp. Num_4:16. Peter here designates by the term, according to Meyer, de Wette, etc., the apostolic office.—Tr.]

[11]Act_1:20.—b. [λάβοι, of text. rec., with E., “is a correction to suit the Sept.” (Psa_109:8). (Alf.)—Lach., Tisch., Bornemann, and Alf. read λαβέτω, with A. B. C. D. Cod. Sic.—Tr.]

[12]Act_1:25.—[For κλῆρον, of text. rec., before τῆς διακ., with minuscules, but also Cod. Sin. Lach., Tisch., Born., and Alf. read τόπον, with A. B. C. (original) D. Vulg. (locum.)—Tr.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Subdivision 2. (Act 1:12-26.)

Matthias added to the Eleven Apostles.

We have now the inroad that Satan has made upon their ranks repaired, and Matthias substituted for Judas in the number of the twelve apostles. Dreadful was the apostasy of one in such a position: and it could not be permitted that men should have the least apparent cause to blaspheme on this account; it must be shown that sin in its extremest manifestation had not yet exceeded the bounds ordained by God for it; -that in its worst uprising He was Master still.

1. They return from the mount of Olives to Jerusalem: Olivet is their spring of power; Jerusalem the sphere of their ministry: they break no sabbath-rest by journeying between the two. Olivet is their Gilgal, for their new conquest of the land; but they are a small company for so great a work, and realize their weakness. Gathering in the upper room where the eleven are staying, they continue with one accord in prayer, waiting for the fulfilment of the promise made. This conscious weakness is a main element of strength. The work being so entirely beyond them, they are delivered from the necessity of calculating their own resources, and are left to the unobstructed view of God as their sole argument and their sufficient resource.

Mary the mother of Jesus is seen here for the last time in Scripture. She takes her place simply with the rest, humbled, no doubt, rather than exalted by God’s grace towards her. What a grief it would have been to her to have known the place in which an apostate church would set her in the time to come! She is neither prayed to, nor even leads in prayer, but remains as in the beginning "the handmaid of the Lord," and with this passes out of the history. In the doctrine of the epistles she has no place, and is never mentioned. Blessed and honored she is, and always will be; by none so dishonored as by those who would force her into a place impossible for a creature, that of a Pagan goddess rather than a Christian saint.

2. We see now the authority of Scripture over these disciples of the Lord Jesus, in which they are true followers of their Master. We have traced His ways in the Gospels, and know how fully the principle that "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God doth man live" was acted upon by Him. Scripture that "cannot be broken" had for Him, therefore, all the authority of unalterable truth. "But how, then should Scripture be fulfilled, that thus it must be?" He gives as a convincing reason for not taking Himself out of the hands of those who came to seize Him. On the Cross, "that the Scripture might be fulfilled, He saith, I thirst." Twice over He speaks of the course and end of Judas as needful "that Scripture might be fulfilled." Peter, therefore, does but follow his Lord, when now, standing up amongst the brethren, he declares that "it was necessary that the Scripture should be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became guide to those who took Jesus." How blessed to realize the control of the Word of God in the darkest events, as in those most evidently displaying the signs of His handiwork! How dark they would be, if we had not in this way the assurance of His perfect oversight of every circumstance! But the Cross is, above all, this assurance, as the speaker here will presently point out to us. What a blaze of prophetic light is concentrated upon it! and how the worst evil the world ever saw is there gloriously overruled to be the greatest good! And what is true of this is true of every evil that has stained man’s history: "He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him; and the remainder of wrath He will restrain."

So, then, with Judas, whose terrible descent is spoken of here, from his reception of the lot of his apostleship to his suicide in the field of blood, which he had purchased with the price of his iniquity. The apparently discordant accounts as to this purchase have been reconciled in a manner well-known and probable enough. Begun by the traitor, we have only to suppose it closed by the leaders of the people; Judas returning to it to hang himself in his despair, as Matthew relates; the judgment of God ensuing, as related here. That the character of the purchase-money should combine with the horror of his death to give its name of Aceldama to the potter’s field, is in no wise difficult to understand.

Peter in his quotation connects two psalms (Psa 69:25; Psa 109:8); the first fulfilled in the judgment at which his own hands had doubly wrought, the second as defining the duty which now pressed upon them. The office which he has shamed and cast aside is not to be left vacant to bear witness of the enemy’s victory. All has been provided for, -all has been specified beforehand in the prescient wisdom of God, which cannot be taken by surprise or overmatched by Satan’s subtlety or power. Nay, the Word is shown by his apparent success only the more fully master in all circumstances. It lies with them now to see filled up their broken ranks, -not by the appointment of a fresh apostle, for which plainly they have no authority, but by choosing out from among themselves those who had the necessary qualifications for one who was to be a witness of that wondrous life which had shone out among men, and then referring to the Lord Himself to determine which of these was according to His mind.

3. Scripture had settled for them what His mind was as to the place being filled; for the determining of the individual there was the lot, used so often in Israel for a matter like this. They had even the scripture for this, that. if "the lot is cast into the lap, the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord" (Pro 16:33). They had no reason to doubt, therefore, that they would have His guidance in acting on such an assurance; the Spirit had not yet come; and this, which some have taken to cast doubt upon the issue, and to dispute Matthias, right to the apostleship, they had no ground for believing to be a cause for delay when Scripture was thus clear. They acted in obedience, not in self-confidence; we never find their act disputed afterwards, and we have surely no right to dispute it now. It would be a totally different thing to imitate their conduct, now that the Spirit of God is come.

It is true that we have nothing of Matthias afterwards; but the same could be said of most of the apostles; nor of the fancied substitution of Paul for him at a later time have we any proof whatever. We have no reason for believing Matthias to have been other than his name imports, "the gift of the Lord" to them, according to their faith; and it is a happy thing to see faith acting in them in such simplicity and confidence, the word of God being its justification as always, -in this case before the Spirit has come. When He comes, it will not be to render us less subject to the Word, but on the contrary, to give us the fulness of it, even of the Old Testament; and the new dispensation which is now being introduced, with all its higher blessing, will confirm the old.

F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:12 The witnesses of the ascension returned to Jerusalem with joy, worship, exhilaration, and praise to God (Luke 24:52), and with their doubts assuaged (see study note on Acts 1:3).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Act 1:12. Ἐλαιῶνος, of Olives) where His agony had taken place.—ἐγγὺς, near to) five furlongs.—Σαββάτου ὁδὸν, a Sabbath day’s journey) As far as a Jew was permitted to journey on the Sabbath day, without fatigue; i.e. as much as two thousand cubits (ells). Chrysostom infers from this, that it was on the Sabbath day that they returned to the city: I am more inclined to think that the exact spot in the whole Mount of Olives, which was that from which the Ascension took place, is marked by this distance from the city.[2]

[2] Lightf. on Luk 24:50, and here, states that the reason why the limit of the Sabbath journey was 2000 cubits beyond the walls of the city or one’s house was, because the innermost tents of the Israelitish camp in the wilderness were that distance from the tabernacle, Jos 3:4. See Num 35:4-5. Epiphanius (Hær. 66, 82) makes the Sabbath journey six Greek stadia or three-fourths of a Roman mile. So Josephus, B. J. v. 2, 3, makes the Mount of Olives six stadia from Jerusalem; and this is here, Act 1:12, called a Sabbath day’s journey. In Antiq. Act 20:8; Act 20:6, Jos. makes it five stadia. Probably it was about five or six, which is below the estimate of 2000 cubits.—E. and T.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_1:12. The ascension took place on the Mount of Olives, which is not only here, but also in Luk_19:29; Luk_21:37, called ἐλαιών (see on Luk_19:29). Its locality is indicated in Luk_24:50, not differently from, but more exactly than in our passage (in opposition to de Wette and others); and accordingly there is no necessity for the undemonstrable hypothesis that the Sabbath-days journey is to be reckoned from Bethphage (Wieseler, Synop. p. 435). It is not the distance of the place of the ascension, but of the Mount of Olives, on which it occurred, that is meant. Luke here supposes that more precisely defined locality as already known; but if he had had any particular design in naming the Mount of Olives (Baumgarten, p. 28 f.: that he wished to lead their thoughts to the future, according to Eze_11:23; Zec_14:6), he must have said so, and could least of all presume that Theophilus would understand such a tacit prophetic allusion, especially as the Mount of Olives was already sufficiently known to him from the Gospel, Act_19:29, Act_21:37, without any such latent reference.

σαββάτου ἔχον ὁδόν] having a Sabbaths way. The way is conceived as something which the mountain has, i.e. which is connected with it in reference to the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. Such isand not with Wetstein and Kuinoel: ἔχειν pro ἀπέχεινthe correct view also in the analogous passages in Kypke, II. p. 8. The more exact determination of ὅ ἐστιν ἐγγὺς Ἱερουσ. is here given; hence also the explanation of Alberti (ad Luk_24:13) and Kypke, that it expresses the extent of the mountain (Sabbati constans itinere), is contrary to the context, and the use of ἔχειν is to be referred to the general idea conjunctum quid cum quo esse (Herm. ad Vig. p. 753).

A ὁδὸς σαββάτου, a journey permitted on the Sabbath[100] according to the traditionary maxims, was of the length of 2000 cubits. See on Mat_24:20. The different statements in Joseph. Antt. xx. 8. 6 (six stadia), and Bell. Jud. v. 2. 3 (five stadia), are to be considered as different estimates of the small distance. Bethany was fifteen stadia from Jerusalem (Joh_11:16); see also Robinson, II. p. 309 f.; hence the locality of the ascension is to be sought for beyond the ridge of the mountain on its eastern slope.

[100] According to Schneckenburger, in the Stud. u. Krit. 1855, p. 502, this statement presupposes that the ascension occurred on the Sabbath. But the inference is rash, and without any historical trace.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 1:12 . τότε : frequent in Acts and in St. Luke’s Gospel, but most frequent in St. Matthew; on its use see Grimm-Thayer, and Blass, Gramm. des N. G. , p. 270. ὑπέστρεψαν : a word characteristic of Luke both in his Gospel and in Acts, occurring in the former over twenty times, in the latter ten or eleven times. Only in three places elsewhere, not at all in the Gospels, but see Mar 14:40 (Moulton and Geden, sub v. ); Friedrich, ubi supra , p. 8. On the Ascension see additional note at end of chapter. τοῦ καλ . Ἐλαιῶνος : ubi captus et vinctus fuerat . Wetstein. Although St. Matthew and St. Mark both speak of the Mount of Olives they do not say τοῦ καλ . (neither is the formula found in Joh 8:1 ). It is therefore probable that St. Luke speaks as he does as one who was a stranger to Jerusalem, or, as writing to one who was so. Blass, ubi supra , pp. 32, 84, contends that Ἐλαιῶνος ought to give place to ἐλαιῶν , which he also reads in Luk 19:29 ; Luk 21:37 (W.H [102] Ἐλαιῶν , and in Luk 19:37 ; Luk 22:39 , τῶν Ἐλαιῶν , in each case as genitive of ἐλαία ), the former word being found only here and in Josephus, Ant. , vii., 9, 2. But it is found in all the MSS. in this passage, although falso . cum cæt. , says Blass. Blass would thus get rid of the difficulty of regarding Ἐλαιών as if used in Luk 19:29 ; Luk 21:37 as an indeclinable noun, whilst here he would exchange its genitive for ἐλαιῶν . Deisstmann, however, is not inclined to set aside the consensus of authoritities for Ἐλαιῶνος , and he regards ἐλαιών in the two passages above as a lax use of the nominative case. As the genitive of ἐλαιών it would correspond to the Latin Olivetum (so Vulgate), an olive-orchard; cf. ἄμπελος and ἀμπελών in N.T., the termination ών in derivative nouns indicating a place set with trees of the kind designated by the primitive. for instances cf. Grimm-Thayer, sub Ἐλαιών , but see on the other hand Deissmann, Neue Bibelstudien , p. 36 ff. With regard to the parallel between our verse and Josephus, Ant. , vii., 9, 2, it is evident that even if St. Luke had read Josephus he was not dependent upon him, for he says here τοῦ καλ . just as in his Gospel he had written τὸ καλ ., probably giving one or more popular names by which the place was known; Gloël, Galaterbrief , p. 65 (see also on the word W.H [103] , ii., Appendix, p. 165; Plummer, St. Luke , p. 445; and Winer-Schmiedel, p. 93). σαββάτου ἔχον ὁδόν , not ἀπέχον : the distance is represented as something which the mountain has, Meyer-Wendt; cf. Luk 24:13 . There is no real discrepancy between this and the statement of St. Luke’s Gospel that our Lord led His disciples ἕως πρὸς Βηθανίαν , Luk 24:50 , a village which was more than double a sabbath day’s journey, fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem. But if the words in St. Luke, l. c. , mean “over against Bethany,” ἕως πρός (so Feine, Eine vorkanonische Uberlieferung des Lucas , p. 79, and Nösgen, Apostelgeschichte , p. 80; see also Rendall, Acts , p. 171 Blass omits ἕως and reads only πρός and remarks neque vero πρός est εἰς ; cf. also Belser, Theologische Quartalschrift , i., 79 (1895)), the difficulty is surmounted, for St. Luke does not fix the exact spot of the Ascension, and he elsewhere uses the Mount of Olives, Luk 21:37 , as the equivalent of the Bethany of Matthew (Act 21:17 ) and Mark (Act 11:1 ). Nor is it likely that our Lord would lead His disciples into a village for the event of His Ascension. It should be remembered that Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. , says that “the Ascension was from the place where that tract of the Mount of Olives ceased to be called Bethphage and began to be called Bethany”. The recent attempt of Rud. Hoffmann to refer the Ascension to a “Galilee” in the Mount of Olives rests upon a tradition which cannot be regarded as reliable (see Galilæa auf dem Oelberg , Leipzig, 1896), although he can quote Resch as in agreement with him, p. 14. On Hoffmann’s pamphlet see also Expositor (5th series), p. 119 (1897), and Theologisches Literaturblatt , No. 27 (1897). This mention of the distance is quite characteristic of St. Luke; it may also have been introduced here for the benefit of his Gentile readers; Page, Acts, in loco , and cf. Ramsay’s remarks, Was Christ born at Bethlehem? pp. 55, 56.

[102] Westcott and Hort’s The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.

[103] Westcott and Hort’s The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

About two miles.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 12. A Sabbath day's journey.] See the difficulties in this verse explained in Clarke's note on "Lu 24:50". A Sabbath day's journey was seven furlongs and a half. Olivet was but five furlongs from Jerusalem; and Bethany was fifteen. The first region or tract of Mount Olivet, which was called Bethany, was distant from the city a Sabbath day's journey, or seven furlongs and a half; and the same distance did that tract called Bethphage extend from the city. When, therefore; our Lord came to the place where these two tracts touched each other, he there ascended, which place was distant from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey, as St. Luke here remarks. See the notes referred to above.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. That he may pass over unto another history, he showeth that the disciples being returned unto Jerusalem, dwelt together in one parlor. For it was the upper part of the house, which used to be let out unto those which did hire houses; for the most commodious places were reserved unto them that were masters of the house, (for their own use.) Wherefore, by this word Luke doth signify that they were driven into a strait room; and yet, notwithstanding, though this commodity were great, yet they did not part asunder. They might have been more commodiously asunder, yet might they not part company before they had received the Spirit. In that he noteth here the distance of place, it bringeth credit unto the history. Unless, peradventure, he meant hereby to declare that they were not terrified with any fear of danger, but that they did all return and kept company together in one house, which was not so large, but that the company being greater than the place could well contain, it might breed some rumor (or noise.) A Sabbath-day’s journey was two miles, and that account doth well agree with the place of John 11:18, where he saith, “that Jerusalem was distant from Bethany almost fifteen furlongs;” which containeth about a thousand and nine hundred paces. And the mount Olivet was at the side of Bethany. There was no Sabbath-day’s journey prescribed in the law; for the Lord doth command them simply to rest upon the Sabbath-day in the law. But because the Jews could not easily be ruled, but that they would run abroad about their business upon the Sabbath-day, (as the Lord himself doth complain, “that they did bear burdens out at the gates,”) (Jeremiah 17:24,) therefore, it is to be thought that it was determined by the priests, (to the end they might restrain such enormities,) that no man should travel upon the Sabbath-day above two miles. Although Jerome, in his Answers unto Algasia, doth say that this tradition did come from two Rabbins, namely, from Atriba, and from Simon Heli.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(12) From the mount called Olivet.—As to the name, see Note on Luk_19:29. The mention of the distance, and the measure of distance employed are, both of them, remarkable, and suggest the thought that St. Luke’s reckoning was a different one from that which Christendom has commonly received, and that the “forty days” expired before the last renewal of our Lord’s intercourse with His disciples, and that this ended on the following sabbath—i.e., eight days before the day of Pentecost. On this supposition we get a reason, otherwise wanting, for this manner of stating the distance. Symbolically, too, there seems a fitness in our Lord’s entering into His rest, on the great day of rest, which is wanting in our common way of reckoning. On the other hand, it may be noted that it is after St. Luke’s manner as in the case of Emmaus (Luk_24:13) to give distances. The “Sabbath day’s journey” was reckoned at 2,000 paces, or about six furlongs.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. from the mount called Olivet] Elsewhere usually called the mount of Olives, but in Luk_19:29; Luk_21:37, some texts give, as here, Olivet

which is from Jerusalem, &c.] Literally, which is near unto Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey off. The mount of Olives is on the east of Jerusalem, and must be passed by those who go from Jerusalem to Bethany. Hence St Luke’s expression in the Gospel is (Luk_24:50) “He led them out as far as towards (ἔως πρὸς) Bethany.”

The sabbath day’s journey was two thousand yards or cubits [ammoth], and in the Babylonian Talmud, Erubin 51 a, there is given an elaborate account of how this precise limit was arrived at, which is such an interesting specimen of Rabbinical reasoning, that it seems worth quoting at some length. “We have a Boraitha [i.e. a Mishna not taught officially in R. Jehudah ha-Nasi’s lectures and so not embodied in the Mishna proper, but incorporated amongst the Gemara or in other ways] on Exo_16:29, ‘Abide ye every man in his place’ (takhtav), that means the four yards (which is the space allowed for downsitting and uprising), and in the same verse it says ‘Let no man go out of his place (makom), this is the two thousand yards.’ ” The argument intended to be founded on this explanation is, that as Holy Writ, which does not uselessly multiply words, has used here two different words for place, this is done because there is a different meaning for each. “But (continues the questioner) how do you learn this?” (viz. that makom implies two thousand yards). Rab Chisda says “We have learnt the meaning of makom from the use of makom elsewhere, and we learn what that [second] makom means from nisah (= flight, with which word, in one passage, it is connected), and what nisah means we have learnt from another nisah, and the meaning of the [second] nisah we gather from gebul (= border, which is found in connection with it in a certain passage), and what gebul means we gather from another gebul, and what that gebul means from khuts (= extremity), and what khuts means from another khuts; for it is written (Num_35:5) ‘and ye shall measure from the extremity (mikhuts) of the city, on the east side, two thousand yards.’ ”

So taking khuts in this last passage as defined, they, by an equation khuts = gebul = nisah = makom, defined the second word place mentioned in Exo_16:29, as also equal to two thousand yards.

The Scriptural passages on which the above reasoning is based are (1) Exo_21:13, “I will appoint thee a place (makom) whither he shall flee” (yanus), and from the verb yanus the noun nisah is formed; (2) Num_35:26, “But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border (gebul) of the city of his refuge whither he is fled,” which passage connects gebul and nisah; and (3) Num_35:27, “If the avenger of blood find him without (mikhuts) the border of the city of his refuge,” which brings khuts into connection with gebul.

A traditional development of an interpretation like this must have been received, by him who announces it, from his teacher and must not be his own invention, and in this way a very high antiquity is assured for all such interpretations.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then returned they unto Jerusalem,.... With great joy, after the angels had told them that he should come again in like manner:

from the mount called Olivet; which was on the east side of Jerusalem, a mountain Christ much frequented, and from whence he ascended to heaven. This is the hill which in Kg1 11:7 is said to be "before Jerusalem"; and accordingly Jarchi interprets it of the Mount of Olives; and in Zac 14:4 it is expressly said to be "before Jerusalem on the east"; hence, when our Lord sat upon it, he is said to be over against the temple, Mar 13:3. It has its name from the multitude of olive trees which grew upon it: it is by the Jewish writers sometimes called , "the Mount of Olives" (n), as in Zac 14:4 and sometimes (o), and (p), "the Mount of Oil"; i.e. of olive oil, which was made out of the olives that grew upon it. It is said, that in an old edition of the Latin version of this text it is called "the Mountain of Three Lights"; and this reason is given for it, because on the west side it was enlightened in the night by the continual fire of the altar in the temple; and on the east side it had the first beams of the sun before the city was enlightened with them; and it produced plenty of olives, by which the light is maintained in the lamps. Josephus (q) relates, that in the earthquake in the times of Uzziah, half part of this mountain, which was to the west, was divided from it, and was rolled four furlongs to the eastern part of it, so that the ways and king's gardens were stopped up,

Which, is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey. The Syriac version renders it, "about seven furlongs", or near a mile; though Josephus (r) writes, that the Mount of Olives was but five furlongs from Jerusalem: perhaps this may be a mistake in the present copies of Josephus, since Chrysostom on this place cites this passage of Josephus, and reads seven furlongs; which exactly agrees with the Syriac version. A sabbath day's journey, according to the Jews, was two thousand cubits from any city or town, and which they often called, , "the bound of the sabbath" (s); and which they collect partly from Num 35:4 which they understand thus (t):

"a thousand cubits are the suburbs (of the city), and two thousand cubits the bounds of the sabbath.

And these were so many middling paces; for so they say (u),

"a walk of two thousand middling paces, this is the bound of the sabbath.

And that this was the proper space they also gather from Jos 3:4 it being the distance between the ark and the people when they marched; and though this was not fixed by the law, yet being a tradition of the elders, was strictly observed by them: so when Ruth desired to become a proselytess, the Targumist on Rut 1:16 introduces Naomi thus speaking to her,

"says Naomi, we are commanded to keep the sabbaths, and the good days, (or feasts,) and not to walk above "two thousand cubits";

i.e. on those days; for to go further was reckoned a profanation of them: so it is said (w),

"the sabbath day is profaned with the hands by work, and with the feet by walking more than "two thousand cubits".

Yea, this was punishable with beatings (x):

"a man might go on the sabbath without the city two thousand cubits on every side--but if he went beyond two thousand cubits, they beat him with the beating of rebels,

or in the same manner a rebellious son was beaten. Nay, not only they might not go out of a city or town where they were, further than this, but from whatsoever place they happened to be, as appears by these following rules (y),

"if anyone falls asleep in the way (or on the road), and he does not know that it was dark (and so that the sabbath is begun), he has two thousand cubits (allowed him) on every side.--Whoever is on a journey, and it is dark, and he knows a tree, or a hedge, and says, let my sabbath (or sabbatical seat) be under it, he says nothing; but if he says, let my sabbath be at the root of it, then he may go from the place of his feet, and to the root of it, two thousand cubits, and from the root of it to his house two thousand cubits; by which means he may go four thousand cubits after it is dark. But if he does not know (any), and is not expert in walking, and says, let my sabbath be in my place, (i.e. in which he stands,) then from his place he has two thousand cubits on every side.

Hence, in some copies it is here inserted, "such being the distance that the Jews could walk"; that is, were allowed to walk by their canons. They call two thousand cubits a mile (z); and if the Mount of Olives was seven furlongs from Jerusalem, it was pretty near a mile; but if but five furlongs, it was little more than half a mile: perhaps the true distance might be six furlongs, since Josephus says (a), the tenth legion was ordered to encamp six furlongs from Jerusalem, at the Mount of Olives, which was over against the city to the east; agreeably to which Epiphanius (b), who had been a Jew, and was born in Palestine, says,

"it was not lawful to go on the sabbath day beyond six furlongs,

which were three quarters of a mile,

(n) Prefat. Echa Rabbati, fol. 40. 4. Jarchi in 1 Kings xi. 7. (o) Misn. Parah, c. 3. sect. 6. Echa Rabbati, fol. 52. 4. Misn. Roshhashanah, c. 2. sect. 4. (p) Targum in Cant. viii. 5. (q) Antiqu. l. 9. c. 10. sect. 4. (r) Antiqu. l. 20. c. 7. sect. 6. (s) Midrash Kohelet, fol. 75. 2. Vid. Maimon. Hilchot Sabbat, c. 27. & 28. & Origin. Philocal. p. 14. (t) Misna Sota, c. 5. sect 3. (u) T. Bab. Erubin, fol. 42. 1. Maimon. Hilch, Sabbat, c. 27, sect. 4. (w) Zohar in Exod. fol. 27. 1. & 83. 2. (x) Maimon. Hiichot Sabbat, c. 97. sect. 1, 2. (y) Misna Erubin, c. 4. sect. 5, 7, 8. (z) Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 2. fol. 178. 4. (a) De Bello Jud. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 3. (b) Centra Haeres. l. 2. Haeres. 66.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

12 Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey.

Ver. 12. From the mount] Near unto which he had been apprehended, viz. at Bethany, and from whence he had thus triumphantly ascended up on high, leading captivity captive, &c., Eph 4:8, and making an open show of his conquered enemies as a public spectacle of scorn and derision, εδειγματισεν, Col 2:15. In which respect, how well might this mount Olivet have received that name of Nicatorium, {a} which Alexander the Great gave to a certain Mountain not far from Arbela, as a constant trophy of that famous victory that he there got over Darius, with whom he fought for the empire of the world.

{a} Νικατωριον προς. Strabo.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then returned they unto Jerusalem - In Luk 24:52, we are told that they worshipped Jesus before they returned, and it is probable that the act of worship to which he refers was what is mentioned in this chapter their gazing intently on their departing Lord.

From the mount called Olivet - From the Mount of Olives. See the notes on Mat 21:1. The part of the mountain from which he ascended was the eastern declivity, where stood the little village of Bethany, Luk 24:50.

A sabbath-day’s journey - As far as might be lawfully traveled by a Jew on the Sabbath. This was 2,000 paces or cubits, or seven furlongs and a half - not quite one mile. See the notes On Mat 24:20. The distance of a lawful journey on the Sabbath was not fixed by the laws of Moses, but the Jewish teachers had fixed it at 2,000 paces. This measure was determined on because it was a tradition that in the camp of the Israelites, when coming from Egypt, no part of the camp was more than 2000 paces from the tabernacle, and over this space, therefore, they were permitted to travel for worship. Perhaps, also, some countenance was given to this from the fact that this was the extent of the suburbs of the Levitical cities, Num 35:5. Mount Olivet was only 5 furlongs from Jerusalem, and Bethany was 15 furlongs. But on the eastern declivity of the mountain the tract of country was called, for a considerable space, the region of Bethany; and it was from this place that the Lord Jesus ascended.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Sabbath-day’s journey. It cannot now be precisely determined what this distance was, but it is most probable, that it was about a mile. On particular occasions, it perhaps was allowed to exceed a little. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

From the mount called Olivet, which Bethany was a part of, as situate towards the bottom of it, remoter from Jerusalem. Hence Luk 24:50, differs not from this place. From hence the rather our Lord ascended, that he might receive his glory nigh the place where he began his suffering, (in the garden where he endured his agony, and was betrayed), and in the view of Jerusalem, where he had been condemned and scorned.

A sabbath day’s journey; about a mile or two, or such a space as, by God’s appointment, was between the ark and the people, Jos 3:4.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. Mount called Olivet—Luke’s language here implies that Theophilus was unfamiliar with the locality.

A sabbath day’s journey—About half a furlong less than a mile.

“It would appear from the Talmudics that it was no violation of the sabbath day, while in the desert, to traverse the whole camp, which is believed to have been twelve miles square; nor was it unlawful to walk through a city on that holy day, no matter how extensive it might be. But after the erection of the temple, sabbath locomotion seems to have been greatly circumscribed without the city. No one was permitted to go beyond the limits of the suburbs of the city on that sacred day—a distance of one mile—and this seems to have regulated a sabbath day’s journey. Some have estimated it as high as two miles, and some, by way of accommodation, as low as seven, or seven and a half furlongs; but there is no just reason to question the correctness of the ordinary estimate. The Jewish mile was composed of one thousand paces of five feet, or one thousand six hundred and sixty-six yards, and was therefore nearly one hundred yards shorter than our mile.”—Barclay’s City of the Great King, p. 69.

Why does Luke mention that it was a sabbath day’s journey? Perhaps to identify the locality. But Chrysostom thinks because it was sabbath day, and Alford adds, perhaps in order to obviate the offence taken at its being a longer walk on that day.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Nigh unto for from, A.V.; journey off for journey, A.V Olivet, from the Vulgate Olivetum. The particular Greek form jElaiwn, Elaeon, occurs in the New Testament only here. Inrov Luk_19:29 Luk_21:37, according to the T.R., and that followed in the R.V, it is jElaiwn, of Olives. But as St. Luke usually has to o twn jElaiwn when he speaks of it as "the Mount of Olives", (Luk_19:37 Luk_22:39) and as here he calls it Elaeon, which is its name in Josephus ("Jud. Ant.," 7:9, 2; see too 20:8, 6), it seems probable that in Luk_19:29 Luk_21:27, we ought to read, with Lachmann and Tischendorf, (see Meyer on Luk_19:29) jElaiwn, Elaeon, Olivet. In the Old Testament, in 2Sa_15:30, it is "the ascent of the Olives" (A.V., "the ascent of Mount Olivet") in Zec_14:4, "the Mount of Olives." A sabbath day"s journey off; i.e. six, or according to Schleusner, seven and a half, furlongs (or two thousand cubits). Josephus ("Jud. Ant.," 20:8, 6) calls it "five furlongs," but he only measured to the foot of the hill, whereas St. Luke gives the distance from the spot whence Christ ascended. Bethany itself, according Joh_11:18, was fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem.

Vers. 12-14. The grain of mustard seed.

Let us contrast for a moment the account here given with the present condition of Christianity in the world. Christianity has taken possession of the whole civilized world. The thrones, the laws, the institutions of those nations which hold sway in the earth are all based upon the gospel. The arts, the sciences, the literature of civilized men are more or less impregnated with the doctrine of the New Testament. Take the cathedrals of Europe; what an expenditure of thought and skill and wealth they represent! They are among the most imposing monuments of human thought and human labor. Look at the mass of Christian literature in poetry, in philosophy, in science, in theology, in sacred oratory, in general literature. What countless Christian writers have elevated the human intellect, enlarged the borders of knowledge, added dignity to man, and happiness to mankind! What vast influences, of all sorts, permeating the civilized world, we can now trace up to the gospel! What multitudes of individual men and women in all ages since Christ, and all over the world, have learnt what the true view of human life is, and have found their whole end of living, and their chief enjoyment of life, and their only consolation and support, in the truths which the gospel teaches! How has the world been filled with fruits of righteousness, altering the whole aspect or human society, of which the gospel alone was the first seed! Now turn to the beginnings of the gospel as here exhibited. One upper chamber at Jerusalem, a city in the last days of its troubled existence, contained the whole number of those who acknowledged Christ as their Master. Measured by any worldly standard, anything feebler or more absolutely insignificant than that company cannot be imagined. But the grain of mustard seed was to become a tree in which the birds of the air should make their nests; the little leaven was to leaven the whole lump; the stone was to become a great mountain which should fill the whole earth. And so it has come to pass that the upper chamber at Jerusalem has grown into the Church Catholic, the mother of all the saints that are, or have been, or are to be hereafter. What an infinite encouragement to our faith is this! What a ground for adoration of him whose grace and power and faithfulness work such marvelous effects! What a ground of sure and certain hope that he who has carried his work thus far will finish it, to his own glory, and the exceeding joy of the Church which he has redeemed with his precious blood!

Vers. 12-26. The interval between the Ascension and Pentecost.

I THE SCENE IN THE UPPER ROOM. Obedient to the Lord"s command, the disciples return to Jerusalem. A certain upper chamber, probably in a private dwelling, became the first Christian Church. Epiphanius says that when Hadrian came to Jerusalem, he found the temple desolate and but few houses standing. This "little church of God," however, remained; and Nicephorus says that the Empress Helena enclosed it in her larger church. It was probably the room in which the Supper had been celebrated, and was to be associated with the power of the risen, as it had been with the suffering of the humiliated, Christ.

1. The assembly. It represented all varieties of character, gifts, and graces. Peter the eager, John the mystic, James the practical, Thomas the skeptical, and others. The feminine clement, destined to play so large a part in the life of the Church, was also represented.

2. Its employment. It was engaged in the highest exercise of the spirit. Prayer is action; as action may be itself a prayer. And there are times of waiting for all, when prayer is the only possible action. The transactions between the spirit and God are the most real of all, and are ever followed by significant results. It was social prayer. True prayer requires both solitude at times and at times society. We need the help of one another in the pursuit of truth. Plato spoke of the "joint striving of souls" in philosophy Common prayer is the joint striving of souls to lay hold upon the strength of God. "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. It was persevering, continuous prayer, as all exertion of the spirit must be to attain worthy ends. Thus was the mind of the Church calmed, and its intelligence cleared for insight into the business of the kingdom.

II THE DISCOURSE OF PETER.

1. It rests on the past. He begins by pointing to a fulfillment of Scripture. The present event is thus constantly identified in apostolic thought with some word from the past. Nothing befalls except by Divine law. And in the words of poets and prophets of the past, whatever their original meaning, hints of other meanings are to be found. All language is indeed fossil poetry; and as in the earth"s strata plants are found to which living organisms correspond, so in the realm of moral law past and present are in inner and profound connection. To the traitor sketched in Psalm 69, (also 109. and 55.) the features of the unhappy Judas closely corresponded. False and wicked relations of conduct repeat themselves in history, and incur the like doom foreshadowed by the prophetic consciousness.

2. It finds hints for present duty in the past. The fragment of a verse from a psalmist ran, "His office let another take." Conduct must run on the line of precedents. Often an old proverb or example may give us our clue. A memory for the old sayings of Scripture and other ancient lore may guide the judgment, or serve as a finger-post to the will. This might run into superstition; as when men in the Middle Ages turned over Virgil"s pages for a clue to decision in cases of perplexity. But in the case of the apostles there is no reason to believe (but the contrary) that their habit, in common with all the devout, of falling back on old sayings checked the full and free exercise of their independent judgment.

III THE SELECTION OF A FRESH WITNESS of the Resurrection.

1. "Witnesses for Christ" is perhaps the largest designation of the "office" to be filled. An "apostle" is one sent a man with a mission; and the mission is to witness. Of what? Above all of the Resurrection; for it is this which made the gospel a power in the world. "Assurance is given to all men" that Jesus was the Son of God with power, and possesses all the functions of majesty, by the resurrection from the dead. We can hardly conceive how the gospel should have spread without this testimony. Hence the importance of the present business.

2. The mode of selection. It blends human intelligence with the recognition of Divine determination. The call to any function proceeds from God, and is contained in the gift or capacity. Yet God requires us to cooperate with him through all the sphere of freedom. The use of means towards a decision does not exclude the Divine wisdom, but reposes upon it. The junction of the Divine and the human will in such solemn acts is real, though impossible to explain. First, then, there is an exercise of human judgment, and two distinguished brethren are selected. Here the human choice already recognizes the Divine indication in the existence of observed gifts and graces. Next there is prayer, sacramentally sealing the union of Divine with human thought, and seeking a fruitful result. Lastly, there is the casting of lots, in which the human intelligence confesses its inability for the last decision, and surrenders itself utterly to the guidance of God. The lot falls on Matthias; and he is "voted into" the company of the eleven. Two extremes are to be avoided in the crises of affairs. One, to passively "leave everything to God," which really means to excuse one"s self from the trouble or thought. The other, to take the whole burden of responsibility on ourselves, which means to move from our point of support. Thus we topple over into weakness and deeper uncertainty. Let faith be at the root of all our thinking; the scales of judgment stand firmly on the Wisdom that works through and in the activity of finite minds. J.

Vers. 12-14. The first roll-call of the Church.

Notice

THE GATHERING-PLACE.

1. Jerusalem, with Olivet in the background. Henceforth a new Jerusalem. The descent from the Mount of the Savior"s glory, a Sabbath day"s journey off; return to the duties of life, to new responsibilities, but with a vivid remembrance of the parting interview with Jesus.

2. Upper chamber. The grain of mustard seed must be sown in the common ground of humanity. Yet the commencement of Church life must recognize separation from the world as the law of the new kingdom, fellowship as the condition of union, subordination and order as helpful to activity.

3. The society composed of mingled elements men and women, apostles and disciples, old and young; those attached to Jesus by spiritual bonds alone, and those who were his fleshly kindred, able to minister with special familiarity of personal knowledge. "Mary "and "his brethren.

4. Their first mutual occupation. "With one accord they continued steadfastly in prayer." Not as excluding exhortation and other forms of fellowship, but as indicating the pre-eminently devout and believing attitude of their minds. R.

Vers. 12-14. A second interval of thrilling expectation hushing itself in prayer.

returned they unto Jerusalem the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren." We have here

I THE RECORD OF ANOTHER PERIOD OF WAITING, CHARGED WITH THRILLING EXPECTATION. It may be held that a period of just six weeks had elapsed since the very same persons as are here spoken of had passed through a much briefer interval than the ten days they are now passing through, marked, however, very largely by the same characteristic of thrilling expectation. Perhaps we may say, in the light of such language as that of our Lord himself, (Luk_24:25, Luk_24:26) that it was entirely to be set down to the fault of these disciples and women that on that occasion their experience was not altogether one of expectation, instead of being so dreadfully dashed by gloom, by fear, sometimes by a very near approach to despair. That interval of a very short three days may probably have dragged its hours along with fearful slowness. It was, however, the time, if faith had apprehended it, which should have been brilliant with the light and hope of a rising, and therefore finally vindicated and manifestly triumphant, Master of One who had long time patiently stooped to suffering, humiliation, insult, it is true, and who had at last bowed his head to death, but whose task and subjection were now done, and come the time of "rest from his labors," and of glory in his victory. But we know credibly that the interval was not thus brightened. Memory was faint, and faith faint-hearted. And the impressions of sense that came of Gethsemane, and of the brutal scenes of the judgment hall, and of the fierce sufferings of the cross, and the darkness of death, overmastered the pleading suggestings of faith, and overruled the whispering memories of the vanished Friend"s own words. It was natural, indeed, because to be wrong is, alas! the very thing that is so natural with us all; but we may say that never were three days so wrested of their rights. For confident, joyful, ardent expectation were substituted fear, gloom, and only the timidest of hopes. And yet there can be no doubt that the beating pulse of expectation, though the low-beating, would be our correctest diagnosis of that period. And it was now a pulse of expectation, too, but a healthier one by far. Faith had had a little rest, a little occasional change to sight these forty days past, and was the better, stronger, more willing for it. What an inversion had mercifully occurred to them of their ignorance, doubt, fear, in certain cardinal directions of their estimates of impossibility, or at least incredibility! So, after a few enchanting visions and audiences of their great Lord, they find themselves "left" again! But they are not left "comfortless." They do remember now his words. They return to Jerusalem; they wait. They learn a fresh lesson in waiting. Their waiting rests on memories that now glow with glory, on a few words of direct command, on other few words of express promise, and on one incomparable fact the Ascension. Things noteworthy in the nature of this period of expectation are as follows:

1. It was waiting for their life work, which they are implicitly forbidden to anticipate. Yet who could call it wasted waiting? The hasty, the uncertain, and those who may have other motive inferior to the most real motive, sometimes decry a delay, in which they ought to recognize a great meaning and a positive use.

2. It was waiting for even liberty to leave a certain place or separate from a certain circle of companions or associates. The final reason of this became apparent. The startling developments of Pentecost would have been shorn of half their intended value, apart from the solidarity of the apostles and disciples. The conditions of our earthly life, and our sphere of Christian ministry and service, often seem both tieing and trying. Yet there must be valuable consideration for these, and sometimes time does at last surprisingly justify them.

3. It was waiting for a promised marvelous endowment, not of anything so vulgar as outward wealth, not of anything so enviable but dangerous as mere intellectual superhuman illumination, but of the undefined, the mysterious, the awful power of the Holy Ghost. With what anxious outlook we do sometimes wait! With what mistaken, ill-judged longings! Nay, but sometimes past these, with what pardonably trembling, shrinking, fainting, hovering fancy we wait! But oh, if these disciples and women could have gauged beforehand something of that awful gift of the Holy Ghost, what of character, quality, color, would it not have given to their expectation! So men have now and again trembled before the mystery of their own conversion before some deep change in their spiritual self, and before that supreme exchange of grace and trial here for glory and perpetual security above. And so also, for infinite reason, God veils just a while light, beauty, the blaze of knowledge, even the finish of holiness, from his own.

II A PERIOD OF WAITING AND OF RICH EXPECTATION, UNDEFINED AS TO ITS DURATION. The tension of the disciples on the occasion of the Crucifixion and entombment was relieved, and might have been much more relieved for them. They had been not only expressly forewarned of what was to be, but of the time also. And Old Testament type and temple parable had offered to deepen the impression on the minds of the disciples, of the women, and of the mother herself. Jonah"s "three days and three nights," and the "three days" rebuilding of the demolished temple, spoke the duration of the trial, darkness, sorrow. But now all that is known, all that has been said, is, "not many days hence." And to this, no doubt, the quickened intelligence of the apostles and their associates would have most naturally argued that the delay could not be really long. Christ would never, in the nature of things, keep his disciples long in an inactivity that might degenerate, if prolonged, into indifference or idleness. This exact crisis abounds in aspects and questions of interest. That the apostles should at all be relegated to a period of this kind at such a moment inspiring above all others; that the interval should need to be one of some ten days; that this length of time was not specified to them; and what the ascended Lord"s transactions were in that interval above, are suggestions of questions to which none but conjectural and alternative response can be offered. But these things may be said about them:

1. They bring events and experiences of our own individual life, of our combined religious work, of our own entrance and of the Church"s entrance upon the fruition of the immortal hope, into close and grateful analogy with things that passed and that were ordained directly under the eye of our Founder and Lord himself.

2. They are in manifest consonance with the objects and moral advantages of very much of our appointed waiting. Once ascertain and announce time, and it is manifest that a whole range of moral advantage in our education would be swept away, and a vast range of disaster would tyrannously usurp its sacred place.

3. They help comfort every reverent mind, every humble heart, that instead of its first impression being true, that arbitrariness is the hard bondage under which we live, this is the very last thing that can be true. And they help to convince of the greatness of him who, with all the deep counsel of his own purposes, neither forgets nor is baffled in securing the advantage of his own children.

III THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE PERIOD OF WAITING.

1. It is spent "in prayer." Not in an ill-concealed, graceless return to ordinary work, and which might at any other time have possibly been sacred duty, but which was not so now. Times, the honest work of which is prayer, may well belong to every good life. That of Jesus owned to them. And this was just such a time.

2. It is spent in united prayer. "With one accord." Persons, voices, hearts, hopes, all were accordant. What an augury, what an example, what a type!

3. It is spent in persevering, united prayer. They "continued." No sense of weariness crept over them; no dullness, no monotony, struck them in this their worship and liturgy.

4. To the company and unanimity of the apostles were added "the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brethren.

(1) There is no priesthood here, nor any proxy of Divine worship and service. Round the apostles are gathered various others, whose worship, prayer, and thoughts are all the same.

(2) There is here no exaltation of man and depreciation of woman. Twas a happy augury, this little early incident before Christianity was fully planted, of the place that it would give woman; and a happy earnest of the fact that nowhere does woman rank so high as where Christ and his pure truth have the fairer sway at all events, if not yet the perfect sway.

(3) Mary, the genuine mother of Jesus, acknowledges his Deity. She joins "in prayer;" and "his brethren" do the same. What quiet telling witness to Jesus, and to our "faith and hope toward" him, this may justly be felt!

(4) As Jesus began his earthly career from the stable, so the compacted body of his Church begin theirs from the upper room. It is not the temple, it is not even the tabernacle, it is not a consecrated place heretofore. The company, the prayer, the o"er hovering Spirit, "waiting" to alight, these consecrate. The grandness and sacredness of temple and of church all had and have their meaning and their use. But there is truth of so much greater and deeper force in Christ and his people, that wherever they are, that is "the house of God and the gate of heaven," that is the really grand temple, that the sacred Church. Happy, threefold happy, this early picture of Christ"s "little flock." "Who shall harm them? What shall move?" And though but some six weeks had passed since they were seen plunged in the faithless gloom of the three days, this has traveled far into the past. It is no wonder. A little time suffices for dawn to drive away the darkness. How differently this present interval of ten days is passing! So when darkness, storm, and fear are vanishing, all is hushed in peaceful prayer, and the Church "waits" with a just and blissful expectancy! B.

Vers. 12-14. New associations with the upper chamber.

In the Revised Version "an upper room" is translated "the upper chamber," which permits us to identify the place of the "tarrying of the disciples" with the chamber in which Christ"s last words were spoken, and the Lord"s Supper was instituted. Show what indications there are that some of the disciples had private dwellings in Jerusalem. John took the mother of our Lord to his own home; Mary, the mother of Mark, had a house to which Peter went; Nicodemus, as a ruler, would have a large house; and if Joseph of Arimathaea had a private garden and tomb outside the city, we may be sure that he had a mansion inside. Recall the suggestions and associations of this "upper chamber." How full it would be of the presence of their Master! How solemn with the recollection of his words, and the sufferings through which he had passed! It was a" holy place." Set out the individuality of the company the apostles, the women, the disciples; need not think that all the disciples made by our Lord were assembled here. The hundred and twenty names only represented those in Jerusalem, and those from the country who were attending the feast. Fixing attention on the attitude and occupations of this company, we see illustrated

I THE UNION OF BELIEVERS. "One accord." The basis of the accordance was their common faith in Christ. It is the only basis of unity for the Church still. One in Christ. Brothers because sons.

II THE WAITING OF OBEDIENT TRUST. They did not know what was coming. They could not have explained their Lord"s promise. They did not understand or know, but they could trust, and show the trust by simple obedience.

III THE OCCUPATION OF WAITING BELIEVERS. They "continue in prayer." Prayer, which is "the Christian"s vital breath," is the Church"s "atmosphere." And they who are sincerely waiting for God will be found constantly and earnestly waiting on him. For even the fulfillment of his promises God loves" to be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A Sabbath-day's journey - The Jews generally fix this to two thousand cubits, which is not a mile.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Acts

THE ASCENSION

Act 1:1 - Act 1:14.

The Ascension is twice narrated by Luke. The life begun by the supernatural birth ends with the supernatural Ascension, which sets the seal of Heaven on Christ’s claims and work. Therefore the Gospel ends with it. But it is also the starting-point of the Christ’s heavenly activity, of which the growth of His Church, as recorded in the Acts, is the issue. Therefore the Book of the Acts of the Apostles begins with it.

The keynote of the ‘treatise’ lies in the first words, which describe the Gospel as the record of what ‘Jesus began to do and teach,’ Luke would have gone on to say that this second book of his contained the story of what Jesus went on to do and teach after He was ‘taken up,’ if he had been strictly accurate, or had carried out his first intention, as shown by the mould of his introductory sentence; but he is swept on into the full stream of his narrative, and we have to infer the contrast between his two volumes from his statement of the contents of his first.

The book, then, is misnamed Acts of the Apostles, both because the greater number of the Apostles do nothing in it, and because, in accordance with the hint of the first verse, Christ Himself is the doer of all, as comes out distinctly in many places where the critical events of the Church’s progress and extension are attributed to ‘the Lord.’ In one aspect, Christ’s work on earth was finished on the Cross; in another, that finished work is but the beginning both of His doing and teaching. Therefore we are not to regard His teaching while on earth as the completion of Christian revelation. To set aside the Epistles on the plea that the Gospels contain Christ’s own teaching, while the Epistles are only Paul’s or John’s, is to misconceive the relation between the earthly and the heavenly activity of Jesus.

The statement of the theme of the book is followed by a brief summary of the events between the Resurrection and Ascension. Luke had spoken of these in the end of his Gospel, but given no note of time, and run together the events of the day of the Resurrection and of the following weeks, so that it might appear, as has been actually contended that he meant, that the Ascension took place on the very day of Resurrection. The fact that in this place he gives more detailed statements, and tells how long elapsed between the Resurrection Sunday and the Ascension, might have taught hasty critics that an author need not be ignorant of what he does not mention, and that a detailed account does not contradict a summary one,-truths which do not seem very recondite, but have often been forgotten by very learned commentators.

Three points are signalised as occupying the forty days: commandments were given, Christ’s actual living presence was demonstrated {by sight, touch, hearing, etc.}, and instructions concerning the kingdom were imparted. The old blessed closeness and continuity of companionship had ceased. Our Lord’s appearances were now occasional. He came to the disciples, they knew not whence; He withdrew from them, they knew not whither. Apparently a sacred awe restrained them from seeking to detain Him or to follow Him. Their hearts would be full of strangely mingled feelings, and they were being taught by gentle degrees to do without Him. Not only a divine decorum, but a most gracious tenderness, dictated the alternation of presence and absence during these days.

The instructions then given are again referred to in Luke’s Gospel, and are there represented as principally directed to opening their minds ‘that they might understand the Scriptures.’ The main thing about the kingdom which they had then to learn, was that it was founded on the death of Christ, who had fulfilled all the Old Testament predictions. Much remained untaught, which after years were to bring to clear knowledge; but from the illumination shed during these fruitful days flowed the remarkable vigour and confidence of the Apostolic appeal to the prophets, in the first conflicts of the Church with the rulers. Christ is the King of the kingdom, and His Cross is His throne,-these truths being grasped revolutionised the Apostles’ conceptions. They are as needful for us.

From Act 1:4 onwards the last interview seems to be narrated. Probably it began in the city, and ended on the slopes of Olivet. There was a solemn summoning together of the Eleven, which is twice referred to {Act 1:4, Act 1:6}. What awe of expectancy would rest on the group as they gathered round Him, perhaps half suspecting that it was for the last time! His words would change the suspicion into certainty, for He proceeded to tell them what they were not to do and to do, when left alone. The tone of leave-taking is unmistakable.

The prohibition against leaving Jerusalem implies that they would have done so if left to themselves; and it would have been small wonder if they had been eager to hurry back to quiet Galilee, their home, and to shake from their feet the dust of the city where their Lord had been slain. Truly they would feel like sheep in the midst of wolves when He had gone, and Pharisees and priests and Roman officers ringed them round. No wonder if, like a shepherdless flock, they had broken and scattered! But the theocratic importance of Jerusalem, and the fact that nowhere else could the Apostles secure such an audience for their witness, made their ‘beginning at Jerusalem’ necessary. So they were to crush their natural longing to get back to Galilee, and to stay in their dangerous position. We have all to ask, not where we should be most at ease, but where we shall be most efficient as witnesses for Christ, and to remember that very often the presence of adversaries makes the door ‘great and effectual.’

These eleven poor men were not left by their Master with a hard task and no help. He bade them ‘wait’ for the promised Holy Spirit, the coming of whom they had heard from Him when in the upper room He spoke to them of ‘the Comforter.’ They were too feeble to act alone, and silence and retirement were all that He enjoined till they had been plunged into the fiery baptism which should quicken, strengthen, and transform them.

The order in which promise and command occur here shows how graciously Jesus considered the Apostles’ weakness. Not a word does He say of their task of witnessing, till He has filled their hearts with the promise of the Spirit. He shows them the armour of power in which they are to be clothed, before He points them to the battlefield. Waiting times are not wasted times. Over-eagerness to rush into work, especially into conspicuous and perilous work, is sure to end in defeat. Till we feel the power coming into us, we had better be still.

The promise of this great gift, the nature of which they but dimly knew, set the Apostles’ expectations on tiptoe, and they seem to have thought that their reception of it was in some way the herald of the establishment of the Messianic kingdom. So it was, but in a very different fashion from their dream. They had not learned so much from the forty days’ instructions concerning the kingdom as to be free from their old Jewish notions, which colour their question, ‘Wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?’ They believed that Jesus could establish His kingdom when He would. They were right, and also wrong,-right, for He is King; wrong, for its establishment is not to be effected by a single act of power, but by the slow process of preaching the gospel.

Our Lord does not deal with their misconceptions which could only be cured by time and events; but He lays down great principles, which we need as much as the Eleven did. The ‘times and seasons,’ the long stretches of days, and the critical epoch-making moments, are known to God only; our business is, not to speculate curiously about these, but to do the plain duty which is incumbent on the Church at all times. The perpetual office of Christ’s people to be His witnesses, their equipment for that function {namely, the power of the Holy Spirit coming on them}, and the sphere of their work {namely, in ever-widening circles, Jerusalem, Samaria, and the whole world}, are laid down, not for the first hearers only, but for all ages and for each individual, in these last words of the Lord as He stood on Olivet, ready to depart.

The calm simplicity of the account of the Ascension is remarkable. So great an event told in such few, unimpassioned words! Luke’s Gospel gives the further detail that it was in the act of blessing with uplifted hands that our Lord was parted from the Eleven. Two expressions are here used to describe the Ascension, one of which {‘was taken up’} implies that He was passive, the other of which {‘He went’} implies that He was active. Both are true. As in the accounts of the Resurrection He is sometimes said to have been raised, and sometimes to have risen, so here. The Father took the Son back to the glory, the Son left the world and went to the Father. No chariot of fire, no whirlwind, was needed to lift Him to the throne. Elijah was carried by such agency into a sphere new to him; Jesus ascended up where He was before.

No other mode of departure from earth would have corresponded to His voluntary, supernatural birth. He carried manhood up to the throne of God. The cloud which received Him while yet He was well within sight of the gazers was probably that same bright cloud, the symbol of the Divine Presence, which of old dwelt between the cherubim. His entrance into it visibly symbolised the permanent participation, then begun, of His glorified manhood in the divine glory.

Most true to human nature is that continued gaze upwards after He had passed into the hiding brightness of the glory-cloud. How many of us know what it is to look long at the spot on the horizon where the last glint of sunshine struck the sails of the ship that bore dear ones away from us! It was fitting that angels, who had heralded His birth and watched His grave, should proclaim His Second Coming to earth.

It was gracious that, in the moment of keenest sense of desolation and loss, the great hope of reunion should be poured into the hearts of the Apostles. Nothing can be more distinct and assured than the terms of that angel message. It gives for the faith and hope of all ages the assurance that He will come; that He who comes will be the very Jesus who went; that His coming will be, like His departure, visible, corporeal, local. He will bring again all His tenderness, all His brother’s heart, all His divine power, and will gather His servants to Himself.

No wonder that, with such hopes flowing over the top of their sorrow, like oil on troubled waters, the little group went back to the upper room, hallowed by memories of the Last Supper, and there waited in prayer and supplication during the ten days which elapsed till Pentecost. So should we use the interval between any promise and its fulfilment. Patient expectation, believing prayer, harmonious association with our brethren, will prepare us for receiving the gift of the Spirit, and will help to equip us as witnesses for Jesus.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

journey

About 4854 feet.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Election of Matthias.

The return to Jerusalem:

v. 12. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath-day’s journey.

v. 13. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas, the brother of James.

v. 14. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren.

The ascension of Jesus took place on Mount Olivet, east of Jerusalem, not very far from the town of Bethany, Luk 24:50. its distance from the Jewish capital is a Sabbath-day’s journey, seven and a half stadia (a little over 1,500 yards) There is no contradiction between the accounts concerning the location of the various places and the exact spot where the ascension occurred. The summit of the mountain was approximately seven and one-half stadia from Jerusalem, Bethany was almost twice that distance, and the ascension took place in the Bethany neighborhood, on the southeastern slope of the hill. After the removal of their Lord in such a miraculous manner the disciples returned to Jerusalem. Note how exactly Luke describes the geographical location for his non-Jewish readers. At Jerusalem they were to wait for the great miracle of the outpouring of the Spirit. So they went to their usual meeting-place, to the upper chamber, probably in the house of one of the disciples. The disciples held public meetings In the Temple, Luk 24:53, principally in the interest of mission-work. But for mutual consolation and encouragement they met at the houses of members of the congregation. The names of the chief men and of some of the women of this first congregation are here recorded. Peter is named first, as usual in the gospels; James, the elder, and John, the younger son of Zebedee, are next named. These three head the list as the special intimates of the Lord Then comes Andrew, the brother of Peter: Philip, also of Bethsaida; Thomas, surnamed Didymus; Bartholomew, formerly known as Nathanael; Matthew, the publican, previously known as Levi; James, the son of Alphaeus; Simon the Zealot, of Cana; and finally Judas, the brother of James. All of these men had been preserved, though the storm of adversity occasioned by the Passion and death of Christ had struck them with great severity. But they all were now ready at their post, eager to begin their appointed work and waiting only for the promised power from on high, in the sending of the Holy Spirit. The eleven disciples spent the interval between Ascension and Pentecost in the best possible way; they were engaged continually and perseveringly in prayer, and all with one accord, in the same mind. Their prayers were both general and specific, for they deeply felt their weakness and spiritual poverty, and they were anxious to receive the gift of the Spirit, as promised by their Master. Their action is to be commended as an example for the believers of all time, to join both publicly and privately in the earnest prayer for the gift of the Holy Ghost, without whose power and enlightenment we can do nothing. In this service of prayer the apostles were not alone, for there were with them some of the faithful women, probably those that had ministered to the Lord even in Galilee, and later had made the journey to Jerusalem to be present under the cross, witness the burial, and receive the message of the risen Lord. One woman is mentioned by name, Mary, the mother of Christ. She had not returned to Nazareth, since John was faithfully carrying out the request of the crucified Jesus to consider Mary his mother. Mary was undoubtedly regarded with great respect by the apostles, but there is no indication of the idolatrous homage which was later paid to her in various churches. To this small congregation or inner circle now belonged also the brethren (half-brothers, cousins) of the Lord, who are previously mentioned as unbelieving, Joh 7:5. Just when they relinquished their unbelief and accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord is not recorded in the gospels, but they were staunch adherents of Jesus from this time forward. Note: No matter how energetically a person has formerly opposed the Gospel of salvation, all this should be forgotten as soon as he accepts the Gospel-truth. The conviction of faith, in such a case, is usually coupled with the firm intention to work all the more humbly and sincerely for the once despised Master.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The apostles having seen our Saviour thus gloriously ascended into heaven from Mount Olivet, they return to Jerusalem; which is called a sabbath-day’s journey that is, about two miles. Eight furlongs make a mile, and Bethany, in which was the Mount of Olivet, was from Jerusalem about fifteen furlongs, Joh 11:18. This was the common walk which the Jews used on the sabbath-day, but rather for meditation than recreation’s sakes. The apostles thus returned, assemble together at Jerusalem, where they lay the foundation of the first gospel-church.

And here observe, 1. How the names of all the eleven apostles are repeated, and distinctly set down, to shew, that although they had fallen from their profession, and forsaken Christ, yet they had recoverd themselves by repentance, and were risen again; and upon their recovery, were continued by Christ in their former office and dignity. O the mighty power of a sincere repentance, to reinstate us in the favour and friendship of an offended God!

Observe, 2. How the sight of Christ’s ascension had established and confirmed the apostles faith: they now adore and worship him, and assemble together to perform their joint devotions to him. True, they looked upon him as a person sent from God, a great prophet, and the Son of David; but his Deity being evinced, and now made evident to them by his resurrection form the grave, and ascension into heaven, they now worshipped him as the Son of God. Luk 24:52

Observe, 3. The place where this Christian congregation did assemble; In an upper room; that is, says Dr. Hammond, in one of the chambers belonging to the temple; in the large upper room, say others, where Christ had lately eaten the passover with his disciples; it was no doubt the most convenient place they could find for that solemnity; an upper room being remote from noise and company, and capacious enough to receive this primo-primitive church, consisting of an hundred and twenty persons.

It teaches us, That all advantages, with respect to time and place, and other circumstances, for the better performance of holy duties, ought to be made use of and improved by us.

Observe, 4. The persons who were the first constituting members of this new constituted church; together with the apostles, mention is made of women in general, and of the Virgin Mary in particular; where we may remark, That this is the first and last time that the scripture makes mention of her after Christ’s death. None of the Evangelists record one word of our Lord’s appearing once to her, during his forty days stay and continuance upon earth after his resurrection.

Doubtless, the Spirit of God in the holy scriptures, by speaking so sparingly of her life, and nothing at all of her death, took care that all those fabulous reprots of her assumption, which have since arisen, should find no footsteps in the word of God. God dealeth with her, as with Moses, of whose sepulchre no man knoweth unto this day, lest it should be abused to idolatry.

The learned Dr. Lightfoot is of opinion, that she continued, under the care of the beloved disciple, unto whom Christ committed her for some time, and at last was taken away by martyrdom, according to Simeon’s prophecy. A sword shall pierce through thine own soul also. Luk 2:35 Which prophecy, he thinks, pointed at the manner of her death: But notwithstanding the silence of the scriptures, the church of Rome confidently affirms, that the Virgin lived sixty-three years, and that all the apostles were at her funeral, except St. Thomas, who desiring afterward to see her holy corpse, the sepulchre being opened the third day, the body was gone, being assumed and taken up into heaven.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE UPPER CHAMBER

12, 13. The walled city of Jerusalem is a quadrangle about twice as long from east to west as wide from north to south. The population is now estimated at fifty thousand, the city without the wall containing the same, though occupying a much larger territory and growing rapidly, as the space within the wall is all densely filled up, crammed and crowded. The walled city stands on a great mountainous table-land, the four prominences of which are Mount Zion, in the southwest; Mount Moriah, in the southeast; Mount Bazetha, in the northeast, and Mount Akra, in the northwest. Jerusalem is by nature the most impregnably fortified city on the globe, the Almighty with His own hand having prepared the site, high up on those great mountains, environed by the deep mountain gorges, designated the valleys of Gihon, Hinnom, Jehoshaphat, and Kidron, completely encompassing the city (really constituting one continuous abyss on all sides except the north). Hence invading armies in all ages have been utterly unable to approach the city except from the north. As it is the city of the Heavenly King, all the kings of the earth in all ages, conscious of the rivalry between this fallen world and heaven, have always held a grudge against Jerusalem and done their utmost to destroy it. Therefore Jerusalem has stood seventeen sieges and been destroyed seven times. After the Romans destroyed it, A. D. 73, the emperors, who were loyal worshipers of Jupiter, Apollo, Venus, Minerva, Diana and other Roman gods, and implacable enemies both to the Jewish and Christian religion, did their utmost to exterminate not only the existence but even the memory of Jerusalem from the annals of the world. Hence the Emperor Adrian in the second century dropped the very name “Jerusalem,” founded a Roman colony on the site, and named it Elia Capitolina, thus obliterating the very memory of God’s holy city. Two hundred years rolled away with no city on the earth called Jerusalem. When the Emperor Constantine, A. D. 325, was converted to Christianity, he and his queenly mother Helena went to Jerusalem and undertook its restoration, restoring the name and doing their utmost to identify the hallowed spots so dear and sacred to every Christian heart. Mount Olivet, east of Jerusalem, across the valleys of Jehoshaphat and Kidron, is the highest in all that region, being two hundred feet higher than Zion, Moriah, Bazenta and Akra on which Jerusalem stands. The city is so densely built as to disqualify the explorer from seeing much of it while within the walls. From the summit of Mount Olivet we enjoy a most capacious and satisfactory view of the whole city. When our Savior ascended into heaven from the summit of this mountain, pursuant to His emphatic mandate, positively prohibiting the disciples from their long cherished privilege of the world’s evangelization till they received the Pentecostal enduement of the Holy Ghost and fire, they returned to Jerusalem, “a Sabbath day’s journey”; i. e., three quarters of a mile.

Entering through the east wall, they travel on through the whole length of the city to that favorite upper chamber on Mt. Zion, in the southwest corner of the city, which memories had already hallowed, because Jesus had there so frequently edified them in His wonderful Bible-school. In this upper chamber not only the twelve apostles, but one hundred and eight disciples, male and female, assembled. Among them, the mother of Jesus and His brothers.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. At the rebuke of the angel, the disciples withdrew their longing gaze from the cloud into which Jesus had entered, and cheered by the promise of his return, (12) " Then they returned into Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which was near Jerusalem, distant a Sabbath-day's journey. " The ascension took place near Bethany, which was nearly two miles from Jerusalem, and on the further side of Mount Olivet. It was the nearer side of the Mount, which was distant a Sabbath-day's journey, or seven-eighths of a mile. We learn, from Luke's former narrative, that they returned to Jerusalem "with great joy." Their sorrow at parting from the Lord was turned into joy at the hope of seeing him again.

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. Then returned they … from the mount called Olivet. See Luke 24:50. The place of ascent was near Bethany. A church now stands on the supposed place. A sabbath day's journey. “The traditions of the elders” defined the distance that might be traveled on the Sabbath. It was a little less than a mile. Bethany is nearly two miles, but Luke here is stating the distance of the Mount of Olives from the city.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Then they returned

"The apostles returned"

a Sabbath day's journey

This refers to the distance which, according to Rabbinical tradition, a person was allowed to walk on a Sabbath day. AT: "about one kilometer away" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

When they arrived

"When they reached their destination." Verse 12 says they were returning to Jerusalem.

the upper chamber

"the room on the upper level of the house"

They were all united as one

This means that the apostles and believers there all shared a common commitment and purpose, and there was no strife among them.

as they diligently continued in prayer

This means that the disciples prayed together regularly and frequently.

translationWords

Jerusalem

Mount of Olives

Sabbath

Peter

John (the apostle)

James (son of Zebedee)

Andrew

Philip, the apostle

Thomas

Bartholomew

Matthew

James (son of Alphaeus)

Simon the Zealot

Judas the son of James

Mary

pray

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

12. τοῦ καλουμένου, as well as the subsequent indication of the locality of mountain, shew us that he for whom the Acts was written was a stranger to these places.

Ἐλαιῶνος. Here Ἐλαιών is given as the designation by which the mountain was known. Its name was = Olivetum.

ἐγγὺς Ἱερουσαλήμ, near unto Jerusalem. The A.V. omits to translate the preposition. The mount of Olives is on the east of Jerusalem, between that city and Bethany.

σαββάτου ὁδόν. The journey which a Jew was allowed to take on the sabbath. This was put at two thousand yards or cubits (Heb. ammoth), and the Rabbis had arrived at the measure by a calculation based on their exposition of Exo 16:29, ‘Abide ye every man in his place.’ Here the Hebrew word is takhtav, and this the Talmud (Erubin 51 a) explains to mean the four yards (which is the space allowed for downsitting and uprising), but in the same verse it says, ‘Let no man go out of his place,’ and here the word is makom, and this means two thousand yards. For makom is in another passage explained by nisah = flight, and nisah is explained by gebul = border, and gebul is explained elsewhere by khuts = extremity, and in one place khuts = two thousand yards. For it is written (Num 35:5) ‘And ye shall measure from the extremity of the city on the east side two thousand yards.’

So taking khuts as defined in the last passage, they made an equation khuts = gebul = nisah = makom, and made makom in Exo 16:29 also equal to two thousand yards. The Scriptural passages on which the above reasoning is based are (1) Exo 21:13 ‘I will appoint thee a place (makom) whither he shall flee’ (yanus), and from the verb yanus the noun nisah is formed. (2) Num 35:26 ‘But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border (gebul) of the city of his refuge whither he is fled,’ a passage which connects gebul and nisah. (3) Num 35:27 ‘If the avenger of blood shall find him without (mikhuts) the border of the city of his refuge,’ where gebul is brought into connexion with khuts.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12.] In so careful a writer (see Luk 1:3) there must be some reason why this minute specification of distance should be here inserted, when no such appears in the Gospel. And I believe this will be found, by combining the hint dropped by Chrysostom,—δοκεῖ δέ μοι καὶ σαββάτῳ γεγονέναι ταῦταʼ οὐ γὰρ ἂν οὕτω τὸ διάστημα ἐδήλωσεν … εἰ μὴ ὡρισμένον τι μῆκος ἐβάδιζον ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ σαββάτου,—with the declaration in the Gospel (24:50) that he led them out as far as to Bethany, This latter was (Joh 11:18) fifteen stadia from Jerusalem, which is more than twice the Sabbath-day’s journey (2000 cubits = about six furlongs). Now if the Ascension happened on the Sabbath, it is very possible that offence may have arisen at the statement in the Gospel: and that therefore the Evangelist gives here the more exact notice, that the spot, although forming part of the district of Bethany, was yet on that part of the Mount of Olives which fell within the limits of the Sabbath-day’s journey. This of course must be a mere conjecture; but it will not be impugned by the fact of the Ascension being kept by the Church in after ages on a Thursday. This formed no hindrance to Chrysostom in making the above supposition: although the festival was certainly observed in his time (see Bingham, Eccl. 20:6. 5. There is no mention of it in the Fathers of the first three centuries). Forty days from the Resurrection is an expression which would suit as well the Saturday of the seventh week as the Thursday.

The distance of the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem is stated by Josephus at five stadia, Antt. xx. 8. 6,—at six stadia, B. J. v. 2. 3; different points being taken as the limit. The present church of the Ascension rather exceeds the distance of six stadia from the city.

The use of ἐλαιών, -ῶνος, here (and in reff.) by Luke only is remarkable, especially as the whole passage is so much in his own distinctive style as to preclude the idea of his having transferred a written document.

ἔχον is not for ἀπέχον, but as in τριάκ. κ. ὀκτ. ἔτη ἔχων, Joh 5:5, and in reff.; the space or time mentioned being regarded as an attribute of the subject.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A Sabbath - day's journey [σαββατου εχον οδον] . Lit., having a Sabbath 's way. The way conceived as belonging to the mountain; connected with it in reference to the neighborhood of Jerusalem. A Sabbath - day's journey, according to Jewish tradition, was about three - quarters of a mile. It was the supposed distance between the camp and the tabernacle in the wilderness (Jos 3:4.)

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.