WAITING IN THE UPPER ROOM
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on June 1, 2022 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: June 1, 2022 from Acts 1:12-26
Theme: This passage shows us what the disciples were doing while waiting for the Holy Spirit.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
This morning, we come to the story of a remarkable period of time. It’s a seven-day1 period of time the likes of which will never again be repeated. This passage—the latter half of the first chapter of Acts—teaches us about that brief period between the ascension of our Lord after His resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
We ought to be very grateful that, today, we live in the age in which the Holy Spirit has been given. The Holy Spirit mediates the presence of Jesus to us in a way that is much deeper and more profound than could have been enjoyed in His physical presence. The Lord Jesus could only be ‘with’ the disciples back then. But now, He abides ‘in’ us through His Spirit. But what were those early disciples doing while they waited in that remarkable, never-again-to-be-repeated ‘transitional’ period between the Lord’s ascension and the Spirit’s empowerment?
This passage shows us that they were doing four things. First, we see that
1. THEY PRAYED TOGETHER IN JOYFUL UNITY (vv. 12-14).
Luke tells us in verse 12 that after the Lord had ascended,
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey (v. 12).
Now; before He ascended, the Lord Jesus had told His disciples, “tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). They could not be His witnesses until after the Holy Spirit had been given to them. And so, they obeyed Him and went back to Jerusalem. That distance from the Mount of Olives, through the Kidron Valley, to the temple in Jerusalem is only about three-quarters of a mile or so. It would be the brief kind of trip that would be permitted on the Sabbath. And they weren’t sad and grieving when they made the journey. Far from it! The very end of Luke’s Gospel tells us that they worshiped Jesus and returned to Jerusalem “with great joy”; and were “praising and blessing God”. The joy of our Lord’s resurrection, and His ascension, and of His promised return was overwhelming their hearts. And so, they got to Jerusalem and waited.
Luke goes on to tell us;
“And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying …” (v. 13a).
Luke uses the definite article in this verse, and tells us that this was “the” upper room. And so, while we can’t be certain of it, it may have been the same upper room in which they had enjoyed the Passover meal with Him before His betrayal, or even the same room in which He had appeared to them after His resurrection. All eleven of the remaining twelve apostles were there;
Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers (vv. 13b-14).
They were waiting. But as we can see, they weren’t idle. They were continuing—in an ongoing and unified way—in prayers and supplications. Luke 24:52 tells us that they were also continually in the temple. They were not neglecting worship.
And look who else was present in the upper room. We’re told that the women who were there had been following our Lord during His earthly ministry. They had been present to see His crucifixion, and were there to see His burial, and were even the first ones to bear witness to His resurrection. They were counted among His disciples. We’re also told that our Lord’s mother was there. It’s important to note, however, that the apostles were not praying to her. She was praying to the Lord along with them. She was counted among His disciples along with all the rest. And also present were our Lord’s half-brothers. At one point—in John 7:3-5—they had mocked His ministry because they didn’t believe in Him. But after the resurrection, they believed in Him and were numbering themselves among His followers. Later on, two of those half-brothers—James and Jude—would write letters that are contained in the New Testament. One of them, James, would become the first pastor of the first church in Jerusalem. And there were many others present. As we read on, we find that there were many more who were present in this upper room at this time.
So; here we see that one of the things the disciples did during this brief, week-long waiting period was to gather together to pray and make supplications and worship the Lord with joy.
We also see that—at one point—they realized they had important business to attend to. Luke tells us that …
2. THEY CAREFULLY ASSESSED THEIR SITUATION (vv. 15-20).
In verses 15-17, we’re told;
And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said, “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry” (vv. 15-17).
It may be that Luke has told us about the 120 because this would help us to appreciate how much—and how quickly—the church grew after the Holy Spirit was given. Peter was empowered by the Spirit on that first day to preach—resulting in 3,000 new followers of Jesus. Shortly thereafter, he preached again—resulting in many more being added. Luke 4:4 tells us that “the number of men came to be about five thousand”—which may mean that, if women and children were included—the numbers went from 120 or so to tens of thousands in just a few days! Truly this was a work of the Holy Spirit!
But at first, there were only 120 gathered. And they had important business to attend to. One of the twelve—one who had “obtained a part of this ministry” of witness—had been lost. Judas had betrayed the Lord. He had served as a guide to those who arrested Jesus. This had been promised in the Scriptures—in Psalm 41:9; where the Lord prophetically spoke through King David and said,
Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me (Psalm 41:9).
Luke then goes on to tell us, in verses 18-19, a little of the horrible story of what had happened to Judas after his betrayal of the Lord;
(Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out. And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood); (vv. 18-19).
Some people have felt that what Luke tells us is in contradiction to what we read of Judas in the 27th Chapter of Matthew’s Gospel. For example, we read here that Judas “purchased a field with the wages of iniquity”; while in Matthew, we’re told that it was the leaders of Israel who purchased it. But this presents no conflict when it is remembered that they purchased it with the money Judas threw at them—thirty pieces of silver that were “the wages of his iniquity”. And then, the way Judas died is described differently in Acts than it is in Matthew’s Gospel. In Matthew, we’re told that he became remorseful and had gone out and hanged himself; while here in Acts, we’re told that “falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out”. But again there’s no conflict if we consider that he may have hanged himself over a high and rocky cliff from a flimsy tree branch that broke. And finally, we’re told in Matthew’s Gospel that the “field of blood” got its name from the fact that the leaders purchased it with ‘blood money’; while in Acts, we’re told that it got its name from the dreadful nature of Judas’ death. But there’s no contradiction if we consider that both could be true—and that the name once given by the leaders proved to be ironically appropriate after the news about Judas’ gruesome death became well-known.
So then; Judas was gone … and something needed to be done. The Lord Jesus had promised in Matthew 19:28 that
“… in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28).
Our Lord was careful how He said this. He didn’t say that those twelve apostles—and only those twelve—would be seated. He said only that those “who have followed Me” would be seated. But twelve in total would most certainly be seated—and Judas would not be one of them. It was necessary therefore that a man, from among those who had followed Jesus faithfully, would be chosen to take Judas’ place. The warrant for removing Judas from that position was taken from Psalm 69:25; so that Peter said in verse 20;
“For it is written in the Book of Psalms:
‘Let his dwelling place be desolate,
And let no one live in it’ …” (v. 20a).
And the warrant for replacing him with another was taken from Psalm 109:8; so that Peter went on to say;
“and,
‘Let another take his office’” (v. 20b).
So; here’s another thing that the disciples of our Lord did during this waiting time. They carefully assessed their situation and looked to God’s written word for the answers.
A third thing that we find is that …
3. THEY ANTICIPATED THEIR MISSION (vv. 21-22).
They may have faced a crisis of apostolic witness. But they didn’t consider that the witness would cease. So Peter—having taken leadership in the matter—said in verses 21-22;
“Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection” (vv. 21-22).
Those were the qualifications for whoever must join them in this faithful witness. It’s as Peter said when he preached his great sermon at Pentecost;
“This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses” (Acts 2:32);
or when Peter and John told the Jewish people in the temple that they …
“killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses” (3:15);
or as when Peter told the household of the centurion Cornelius;
“Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead” (10:40-42).
But note in all this that they weren’t neglecting the great commission of our Lord. They were, by faith, anticipating that a witness of the good news of the Lord’s resurrection—and of His gospel—would be going forth into all the world. And so, they made definite plans for it.
And finally, notice that—in making these plans …
4. THEY SOUGHT THE LORD’S GUIDANCE (vv. 23-26).
First, they set forth a couple of men for possible consideration among the twelve. Luke tells us in verse 23;
And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias (v. 23).
Both of these men must have been outstanding followers of Jesus. They must have been among those who—in addition to the original twelve—also followed along with the Lord from the time of John the Baptist’s ministry. They would have seen our Lord alive from the dead; and so, were therefore qualified to be witnesses of His resurrection with the others. And then, having chosen these two men, they sought the Lord’s guidance. Luke tells us in verses 24-25;
And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place” (vv. 24-25).
Note that Peter didn’t make this choice. Nor really did the others They together sought the Lord’s will. And having prayed—without the Holy Spirit having yet been given—they sought to determine the Lord’s will through the means that were practiced in the Old Testament. Verse 26 tells us;
And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles (v. 26).
And so, Matthias became one of the twelve. There’s no reason to believe that this was anything but the will of the Lord; and no doubt Matthias fulfilled his role faithfully. As we go on to read of the ministry of the twelve in the Book of Acts, Matthias would be among them. That wasn’t the end of the story for Joseph called Barsabas, though. He—along with the missionary Silas—was sent by the church to deliver the good news to the Gentile believers in Antioch that they didn’t need to conform to the law of Moses in order to be saved—but could trust in the grace of the Lord Jesus alone (Acts 15:22). He was a partner in one of the most important acts in the spread of the good news throughout the Gentile world.
But what about Paul? Did the apostles choose Matthias when—in actuality—the Lord had chosen Paul? No; not at all. Paul was indeed called to be an apostle; but he never considered himself to be numbered among the twelve (1 Corinthians 15:5). He had not accompanied the others from the beginning. He distinguished his calling from theirs; testifying that he was called “as one born out of due time” and “not worthy to be called and apostle” (vv. 8-9).
* * * * * * * * * *
So; what were the disciples of the Lord doing during this waiting period? They waited before going out to be the Lord’s witnesses—as the Lord had commanded them to do. But they weren’t idle. They were very busy! They prayed together in joyful unity, they carefully assessed their situation and their needs, they anticipated the mission that the Lord had given them and remained devoted to it, and they sought His guidance in preparing for it.
Except for the fact that the Holy Spirit now empowers and leads us as His disciples; their actions during this waiting time present us with some very worthy examples to follow.
1”Seven days” is figured from the fact that there are fifty days from Passover to Pentecost. Jesus rose on the third day after He was crucified; and then appeared to the apostles over a forty-day period (Acts 1:3): 50 – 40 – 3 = 7.
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