The eleven apostles returned to Jerusalem filled with joy and thoroughly suffused with the spirit of adoring worship. Both in the temple and in a certain upper room, which was their usual place of meeting, they continued in prayer and supplication. The disciples, most of whom had been dispersed by the tragic events of that last and fateful Passover, had gathered again, with renewed and fortified faith, about the great fact of the Lord's resurrection. Christ had become "the firstfruits of them that slept," " the first begotten of the dead," and "thefirstborn" of the race to rise from death to immortality.
Many righteous ones who had slept in the tomb had been resurrected, and had appeared in Jerusalem, revealing themselves unto many. The universality of the resurrection of the dead was soon to become a prominent feature of apostolic teaching. The first official act undertaken by the apostles was the filling of the vacancy in the council of the Twelve, occasioned by the apostasy and suicide of Judas Iscariot.
Sometime between the ascension of Christ and the feast of Pentecost, when the Eleven and other disciples, in all about a hundred and twenty, were together "with one accord in prayer and supplication," Peter laid the matter before the assembled Church. Peter affirmed the necessity of completing the apostolic quorum. Two faithful disciples were nominated by the Eleven, Joseph Barsabas and Matthias.
The Eleven fully realized that on them lay the responsibility, and in them was vested the authority, to organize and develop the Church of Christ. The selection of Matthias was accomplished in a general assembly of the Primitive Church; and while the nominations were made by the apostles, all present appear by implication to have had a voice in the matter of installation.
The principle of authoritative administration through common consent of the membership was exemplified in the choosing of Matthias. A few weeks later, the selection of "seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom," who having been sustained by the vote of the Church, were set apart to a special ministry by the laying-on of the apostles' hands. "Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting"
"Cloven tongues like as of fire," by which each of the Twelve was invested, was seen by those within the house, but apparently not by the gathering crowds. The apostles spoke to the multitude, and a great miracle was wrought, by which "every man heard them speak in his own language"; for the apostles, now richly gifted, spake in many tongues, as the Holy Ghost, by whom they had been endowed, gave them utterance. There were present men from many lands and of many nations, and their languages were diverse. In amazement some of them said: "Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?"
"Strong drink gives to no man wisdom; it steals away his senses and makes of him a fool," Peter said. Peter was the president of the Twelve. It was the Jewish custom, particularly on festival days, to abstain from food and drink until after the morning service in synagog, which was held about the third hour, or nine o'clock in the forenoon.
The apostle cited ancient prophecy embodying the promise of Jehovah that He would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. He characterized Jesus of Nazareth as "a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know" "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain," he said.
Citing the inspired outburst of the psalmist, he showed the application of these scriptures to the Christ. Peter proclaimed as in voice of thunder: "Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ" The power of the Holy Ghost could not be resisted; to every earnest soul it carried conviction.
They that heard were pricked in their hearts, and in contrition cried out to the apostles: "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Now that they were prepared for the message of salvation, it was given without reserve. "Repent," answered Peter, "and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" Those who repented and confessed their belief in Christ at that memorable Pentecost were received into the Church by baptism, to the number of about three thousand.
The apostles were born again through baptism into a newness of life. They endured in the faith and continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. To them faith in the Lord Jesus Christ was of greater worth than the wealth of earth. Signs and wonders followed the apostles, "and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." Through the bestowal of the Holy Ghost the apostles had become changed men.
As made clear to them by the Spirit of Truth, the scriptures constituted a record of preparation for the events to which they were special and ordained witnesses. Peter, who but a few weeks earlier had quailed before a serving-maid, now spoke openly, fearing none. Seeing once a lame beggar at the Gate Beautiful which led into the temple court, he took the afflicted one by the hand, saying: "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee"
He ascribed all praise for the miracle to the Christ whom the Jews had delivered up to be slain. In merciful recognition of the ignorance in which they had sinned, he exhorted them to expiatory penitence. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out," he said.
There was no encouragement to a belief that their sins could be annulled by wordy profession. A due season of repentance was their privilege, if so be they would believe. As Peter and John thus testified, the priests and the captain of the temple, together with the ruling Sadducees, came upon them toward evening, and put them in prison to await the action of the judges next day. On the morrow they were arraigned before Annas, Caiaphas, and other officials, who demanded of them by what power or in whose name they had healed the lame man. Peter, impelled by the power of the Holy Ghost, answered: "Be it known unto you all, and to all the
The hierarchy learned to their consternation that the work they had sought to destroy through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was spreading now as it had never spread before. In desperation they commanded the apostles, "Not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus." But Peter and John answered boldly: "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye"
So abundantly was the gift of healing manifest through the ministrations of the apostles that as formerly to Christ, now to them, the people flocked, bringing their sick folk and those possessed of evil spirits; and all were healed. So great was the faith of the believers that they laid their afflicted ones on couches in the streets, "that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them." The high priest and his haughty Sadducean associates caused the apostles to be again arrested and thrown into the common prison. But that night the angel of the Lord opened the dungeon doors and brought the prisoners forth, telling them to go into the temple and further proclaim their testimony of the Christ. This the
The officers who were sent to bring the prisoners to the judgment hall returned, saying: "The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without" The high priest accused the prisoners by question and affirmation: "Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name?" Yet, how recently had those same rulers led the rabble in the awful imprecation, "His blood be on us, and on our children"
Peter and the other apostles, undaunted by the august presence, and undeterred by threatening words or actions, answered with the direct counter-charge that they who sat there to judge were the slayers of the Son of God. Ponder well the solemn affirmation: "We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree"
Gamaliel, who was a Pharisee and a noted doctor of the law, was the teacher of Saul of Tarsus. He directed that the apostles be removed from the hall, and warned his colleagues against the injustice they had in mind. Gamaliel's advice prevailed for the time being, to the extent of causing the apostles' lives to be spared. But the council, in contravention of justice and propriety, had the prisoners beaten.
Stephen was among the "seven men of honest report" who were set apart under the hands of the apostles. He was zealous in service, aggressive in doctrine, and fearless as a minister of Christ. Stephen was a man eminent in faith and good works, through whom the Lord wrought many miracles.
Some of the foreign Jews, who maintained a synagog in Jerusalem, engaged Stephen in disputation, and being unable "to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake," conspired to have him charged with heresy and blasphemy. He was brought before the council on the word of men suborned to witness against him. The perjured accusers further testified that he had repeatedly spoken blasphemously against the temple, and the law, and had even declared that Jesus of Nazareth would some day destroy the temple.
The charge was utterly false in spirit and fact, though possibly in a sense partly true in form. When the Sanhedrists looked upon him, his face was illumined, and they saw it "as it had been the face of an angel" In answer to the charge, he delivered an address, which on critical analysis appears to have been extemporaneous, nevertheless it is strikingly logical and impressive in argument. The delivery was abruptly terminated, however, by a murderous assault.
In effective epitome Stephen traced the history of the covenant people from the time of Abraham down. He pointed out that Moses had foretold the coming of a Prophet, who was none other than Jehovah. It is plain to be seen that Stephen's speech was not one of vindication, and far from a plea in his own defense. It was a proclamation of the word and purposes of God by a devoted servant who had no thought for personal consequences.
In forceful arraignment he thus addressed his judges: "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost" He exclaimed in rapture: "Behold I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God" This is the first New Testament record of a manifestation of Christ to mortal eyes by vision or otherwise, subsequent to His ascension.
The priestly rulers cried aloud, and stopped their ears to what they chose to regard as blasphemous utterances. They hurried him outside the city walls and stoned him to death. True to his Master, he prayed: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" And when he had said this, he fell asleep. So died the first martyr for the testimony of the risen Christ.
The blood of Stephen the martyr proved to be rich and virile seed, from which sprang a great harvest of souls. Among the disputants who, when defeated in discussion, conspired against Stephen and brought about his death, were Jews from Cilicia. Associated with them was a young man named Saul, a native of the Cilician city of Tarsus. This man was an able scholar, a forceful controversialist, an ardent defender of what he regarded as the right, and a vigorous assailant of what to him was wrong. He was a student of the law under the tutelage of Gamaliel, one of the most eminent masters of the time.
Saul was a violent opponent of the apostles and the Church, and had made himself a party to the death of Stephen by openly consenting thereunto. He wrought havoc in the Church by entering private houses and haling thence men and women suspected of belief in the Christ, and these he caused to be cast into prison. The persecution in which he took so prominent a part caused a scattering of the disciples throughout Judea, Samaria, and other lands; though the apostles remained and continued their ministry in Jerusalem.
As Saul and his attendants neared Damascus they were halted by an occurrence of awe-inspiring grandeur. In the midst of the unearthly glory, a sound was heard, which to Saul alone was intelligible as an articulate voice. In trepidation he inquired: "Who art thou, Lord?" The reply sounded the heart of Saul to its depths: "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest"; and continued, as in sympathetic consideration of the persecutor's situation and the renunciation that would be required of him, "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks"
The Lord told Ananias to visit Saul and minister unto him that he might be healed of his blindness. Saul was a notorious persecutor of the saints, and had come at that time to Damascus to arrest and put in bonds all believers. He sat in darkness for three days, during which period he neither ate nor drank.
Ananias laid his hands on Saul and said: "Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost" The physical obstruction to vision was removed; scaly particles fell from the eyes of Saul, and his sight was restored. Without delay or hesitation, he was baptized. When strengthened by food he communed with the disciples at Damascus and straightway began to preach in the synagogs, declaring Jesus to be the Son of God.
When Saul returned to Jerusalem, the disciples were doubtful of his sincerity, they having known of him as a violent persecutor. Barnabas, a trusted disciple, brought him to the apostles, told of his miraculous conversion and testified of his valiant service in preaching the word of God. He was received into fellowship, and afterward was ordained under the hands of the apostles. His Hebrew name, Saul, was in time substituted by the Latin Paulus, or as to us, Paul.
While in Jerusalem Paul was blessed with a visual manifestation of the Lord Jesus, accompanied by the giving of specific instructions. In explanation of his rejection by the people, Paul confessed his evil past. To this the Lord replied: "Depart; for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles." Once again, as he lay a prisoner in the Roman castle, the Lord stood by him in the night, and said: "Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome"
Paul's personal witness that he had seen the resurrected Christ is explicit and emphatic. With his enumeration of some of the risen Lord's appearances he associates his own testimony. "For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God"
The period of apostolic ministry continued until near the close of the first century of our era. In the course of that epoch the Church experienced both prosperity and vicissitude. At first the organized body increased in membership and influence in a manner regarded as phenomenal, if not miraculous. Through the agency of the Holy Ghost Christ continued to direct the affairs of His Church on the earth. His mortal representatives, the apostles, traveled and taught, healed the afflicted, rebuked evil spirits, and raised the dead to a renewal of life.
We are without record of any direct or personal appearance of Christ to mortals between the manifestations to Paul and the revelation to John on the isle of Patmos. Tradition confirms John's implication that he had been banished thither "for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ" The apostle gives a vivid description of the glorified Christ as seen by him. "Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead," he said.
John was commanded to write to each of the seven churches, or branches of the Church of Christ, then existing in Asia. The final ministry of John marked the close of the apostolic administration in the Primitive Church. Even while many of the apostles lived and labored, the seed of apostasy had taken root in the Church and had grown with the rankness of pernicious weeds. This condition had been predicted, both by Old Testament prophets and by the Lord Jesus.
Personal manifestations of the Lord Jesus to mortals appear to have ceased with the passing of the apostles of old, and were not again witnessed until the dawn of the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. It appears that one feature of the Church organization in early apostolic days was a common ownership of material things, distribution being made according to need. As the members increased, it was found impracticable for the apostles to devote the necessary attention and time to these temporal matters, so they called upon the members to select seven men of honest report, whom the apostles would appoint to take special charge of these affairs. These men were set apart by prayer and by the laying on of hands.
The name means "fiftieth" and was applied to the Jewish feast that was celebrated fifty days after the second day of unleavened bread. It is also known as "the feast of weeks" because according to the Hebrew style, it fell seven weeks, or a week of weeks, after the Passover. Pentecost was one of the great feasts in Israel, and was of mandatory observance.
Special sacrifices were appointed for the day, as was also an offering suitable to the harvest season, comprizing two leavened loaves made of the new wheat. Because of the unprecedented events that characterized the first Pentecost after our Lord's ascension, the name has become current in Christian literature as expressive of any great spiritual awakening or unusual manifestation of divine grace. 3. Having All Things in Common. —No condition recorded of the early apostolic ministry expresses more forcefully the unity and devotion of the Church in those days than does the fact of the members establishing a system of common ownership of property (Acts 2:44, 46; 4:32-37; 6:1-4).
Over thirty centuries earlier the people of Enoch had rejoiced in a similar condition of oneness. The Nephite disciples grew in holiness, as "they had all things common among them" A system of unity in material affairs has been revealed to the Church in this current dispensation. The blessings of which the people may attain as they learn to replace selfish concern by altruism, and individual advantage by devotion to the general welfare.
Saul of Tarsus was a devoted student and observer of the law, a strict Pharisee. We find no intimation that he ever met or saw Jesus during the Lord's life in the flesh. His contact with the Christian movement appears to have been brought about through disputation with Stephen. In determining what he would call right and what wrong the young enthusiast was guided too much by mind and too little by heart.
As soon as he realized the error of his course, he turned about, without counting risk, cost, or the certainty of persecution and probable martyrdom. His repentance was as genuine as had been his persecuting zeal. It was "hard for him to kick against the pricks" of tradition, training, and education; yet he hesitated not. He was a chosen instrument for the work of the Lord (Acts 9:15); and promptly he responded to the Master's will. Whatever of error Saul of Tarsus had committed through youthful zeal, Paul the apostle gave his all—his time, talent, and life—to expiate.
In accordance with the divine and fateful purpose, Paul was called to do the work, in opposition to which he had been a participant in the martyrdom of Stephen. At the Lord's word of direction Paul was ready to preach Christ to the Gentiles. Only by a miracle could the Jewish exclusiveness of Peter and the Church generally be overcome (Acts 10; and 11:1-18). 5. Rapid Growth of the Primitive Church. Eusebius, who wrote in the early part of the fourth century, speaking of the first decade after the Savior's ascension, says: "Thus, then, under a celestial influence and cooperation, the doctrine of the Savior, like the rays of the sun, quickly irrad
A volcanic island of the Sporades group, now nearly treeless. It is characterized by an indented coast and has a safe harbor. By the Romans it was made a place of exile for the lower class of criminals. John, the author of 'Revelation' was banished thither by Domitian, 94 A.D. According to tradition he lived there at hard labor for eighteen months.
A statement was published by the First Presidency of the Church on February 5, 1916. The answer to this question depends upon what is meant by'receiving' the Holy Ghost. If reference is made to the promise of Jesus to His apostles, then the answer is that the promise was fulfilled on Pentecost.
But the divine essence called the Spirit of God, or Holy Spirit, was bestowed in former ages, and inspired the apostles in their ministry long before the day of Pentecost. We read that Jesus, after His resurrection, breathed upon His disciples and said, 'Receive ye the Holy Ghost' But we also read that He said: 'Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high' (John 7:39) Thus the promise was made, but the fulfilment came after.
The revised version substitutes on a preponderance of authority "office" or, (marginal reading), "overseership," for the erroneous rendering "bishoprick" in the common version. In a better rendering than that of the common text (see revised version), Acts 2:6 reads: "And when this sound was heard, the multitude came together"
Note this exceptional application of the title, Son of Man, to Christ by anyone other than Himself. Observe that "way" here used for the first time to connote the gospel or religion of Christ, occurs frequently in Acts (16:17; 18:25, 26; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). Three versions of this manifestation and its immediate results appear in Acts. The first is the historian's narrative, while the others are given as reports of Saul's own words.
Col. 1:23; see verse 6; also "The Great Apostasy," 1:20, 21. Acts 9:36-43; see Note 6 , end of chapter. Isa. 24:1-6; Amos. 8:11, 12. Matt 24:4, 5, 10-13, 23-26. Acts 20:17-31, particularly 29, 30; 1 Tim. 4:1, 3, 4; 2 Thess. 2:3, 4, 7, 8.