Question
TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH
Acts 1:8
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Read v. 8. What does this passage tell us about the purpose of the Holy Spirit coming on you?
What does it mean to be Jesus’ “witness”? Why is witnessing about Jesus necessary?
Verse 8 talks about becoming a witness in Jerusalem. How might this location be applicable to Christians living in this postmodern age? (Galatians 4:26; Revelation 21:2,9-11; Ephesians 2:6-10)
Consider the call to be a Jesus’ witness in “Judea”. In what respect is Judea different from other parts of the land of Israel? What would it be like to be Jesus’ witness in the land of Judea? What practical applications can you think of for yourself?
Think about Jesus’ disciples becoming witnesses in Samaria. What did the Jews of Jesus’ day think of the people living in Samaria? (John 4:9) What can we learn from the Lord who wants his disciples to be witnesses in Samaria?
This passage talks about believers becoming Jesus’ witnesses “to the ends of the earth.” What does “to the ends of the earth” mean? Can you think of any practical applications for people living in this highly advanced generation?
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Message
Four Spiritualities
Acts 1:8
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
The New Year’s message was “Our goal to please Jesus”. So we set the goal clear. The previous Sunday we studied, “Jesus the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Today is a follow up, that is, what we need to do practically to PLEASE Jesus, the Way.
So let us read the key verse. This is the key verse for the book of Acts. Four gospels are what we believe in. The Book of Acts calls for action. I have believed and therefore I have spoken! That is the life that lives as Jesus’ witness.
But witnessing does not come naturally. It requires empowerment. The Holy Spirit is the source of power. The four spiritualities then correspond to the four branches of the Spirit’s empowerment: hope, faith, love, and a spirit-filled life.
God's word is God-breathed, so we understand God's word is loaded up with “spiritual” meanings that are related not only to the physical world but also spiritual world. Once Jesus said, "Spirit gives life to man, but flesh counts for nothing." So when we read the Scriptures we delve into the spiritual meanings in them.
Acts 1:8 then has not just physical dimensions but also spiritual dimensions. For example, when it talks about four locations, that is, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and ends of the earth, we understand that they refer to not just physical locations but also lands with spiritual imports. Viewed this way, we can understand that the four places correspond to the four different spiritualities according to which the Holy Spirit wishes his children to live as Jesus' witnesses. Now here are the four spiritualities.
First, Jerusalem Spirituality
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem..." Here, Jerusalem refers to not just a physical Jerusalem but also a spiritual Jerusalem which is also known as the heavenly Jerusalem or the New Jerusalem.
In regard to this usage the Apostle Paul states in Ephesians 3:10, “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms...”
One of the meanings of the expression 'my witnesses in Jerusalem' is 'my witnesses born in Jerusalem'. This means our origin as Christ's witnesses is from above. We are born in heavenly Jerusalem. Speaking of this reality Paul says, "You have come to the heavenly Jerusalem" or "the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother." In regular term we express the same truth by saying, "Our citizenship is in heaven" or "you have a dual citizenship - the citizenship in the U.S. and the citizenship in God's kingdom."
On a practical level, this spirituality means that we put our eternal hope in the eternal kingdom of God namely the home in the heavenly Jerusalem, and while we are on earth we live as a man of God's mission sent to do His will.
So the Jerusalem spirituality is the spirituality that puts hope in God's kingdom. It is based on the transformed view of life, that is, your life and my life here on earth in a physical body is just like a man on a business trip. The other day Missionary Philip went to Brazil on a mission journey. His hometown is in Downey. But he is on a journey. So since he left his home, he always thinks about the time to come back to Downey. Likewise, while on earth we are on a spiritual mission journey. We live here for a while to do the work God has prepared for us to do. Then when our work is done, we go back home in the Heavenly Jerusalem. The Apostle Paul expressed the same truth saying essentially that a believer is the wife (or bride) of Jesus Christ. And God had already seated us believers with Christ in the heavenly Jerusalem, that in our generation he sent us the members of his bride (or church) to this world to do the work which he had already prepared in advance for us to do (Eph 2:10).
Once you understand this reality, you no longer try to take a root in this world. You rather strive to do God's work first, second, and third. When Jesus came he set the perfect example of this: he said "I am from the Father and I am going back to the Father" or "As long as it is day we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work." John 9:4 On the New Year's day missionary John Kwon expressed the same goal and attitude by prompting all to make it a goal to please Jesus Christ.
In short, the Jerusalem spirituality is the life that lives by putting hope in God's kingdom, and in this hope we live a life that is mission centered.
Second, Judean Spirituality
"You will be witnesses … in all Judea..."
Now let us go to the land of Judea. The land of Judea is known as the Judean "wilderness". The land of Israel consists of three blocks of land: from South to North, first there is Judea, then Samaria in the middle, then Galilee to the far north. These lands are different in precipitation. Galilee area has the most amount of rain, then Samaria has a moderate amount, and Judea has the least amount. Once you go down further south of Judea you have a spread of desert where no crops can grow. Judea then is the land where there is the minim necessary amount of rain for the crops can grow.
Naturally this Judean land and her inhabitants look to the Lord God for survival and prosperity. Why did God design the environment of this land this way? The answer is to let people look to God and live by faith in Him. As they live by faith in him, rather than by what they see here in a physical world, they learn to be happy and joyful through the fellowship with the Lord. Otherwise they end up indulging in what is the visible. They bury their nose on the things of the world. As they forget the Lord they go from bad to worse. They live like animals or insects.
It is interesting to note that unlike the southern Kingdom called Judah (which was located in Judea), it was the northern kingdom called Israel (which was located in the north) that became secular way ahead of the kingdom of South. They lost faith in God a lot faster than the people of South.
So the spirituality for the people in the land of Judea to live by is the life that lives by faith in God, not by sight in what is visible. Speaking of this truth, the Apostle Paul says, "We live by faith not by sight; we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
Life that is by faith makes a whole lot of difference to our life as a witness of our Lord Jesus. The first difference is the life that praises the Lord. If we live by faith in the Lord, the Lord deeply satisfies the deepest needs of our soul. So although the environments may be as barren as the Judean wilderness, you always can sing joyful sons. Although the circumstances are bad, as you look to the Lord, your mouth is filled with the praises of God. This spiritual reality is even embedded in the name Judea which means Praise the Lord.
We can see this example even in the way God trained the Israelites. Where did God train the Israelites? After saving the Israelites out of Egypt, the Lord God led them through the desert land. He did it for 40 long years. Why did the Lord God train them this way? It was to help them to live by faith in God, not by what they in this barren world.
From a practical standpoint, this way, that is, the life that goes by the Judean spirituality, is the key to living as a good and faithful witness. In a mission field, if you try to build your own life security here on earth, you cannot be a good witness of our Lord Jesus.
For this very reason when our Lord Jesus left the world, he did not give his disciples even one studio apartment. Since Jesus did not give them any money, they had no choice but to gather at the Lord's temple, and pray there all the time. They must have frequented to the small apartment unit owned by the mother of the Apostle Mark. That was all they had.
We see tons of examples of witnesses going by the Judean spirituality. For example it was in the Judean desert that John the Baptist began his ministry. It was in the Judean desert that Jesus first went out, won victories over the devil's temptations, and began his ministry.
In this year then let us all pray to live by faith in God, not by sight. Then the Lord God will enable us to live as a good witness of our Lord Jesus.
Third, Samarian Spirituality
Now let us go to Samaria. When we go to Samaria with what kind of spirituality are we to operate? How are we to witness our Lord Jesus? We can find the answer to this question in the way our Lord Jesus did. While he was in the land of Israel the Jews did not go there. They avoided the area. Why? They avoided the people living in the Samaritan area because they regarded the Samaritans as worse than dogs. They classified Samaritans as their enemies.
In our own generation as well, many church-going people maintain many Samaritans. The Bible says, "Make disciples of all nations. But in their minds they classify a certain people as no good. They do not approach them much less talk to or have fellowship with them.
We can see this being the case when we think about how many we categorize as enemies. In the church fellowship as well, you have many enemies. You know everyone is different and each person has his or her own opinion. And the fact that he or she has a different opinion on one subject or another does not mean that he or she is your enemy. Yet how often do we find them and treat them as our enemies?
Yet Jesus commanded saying "love your enemies" (Luke 6:35)
So the Judean spirituality is the spirit of love. It is with this spirit of love alone that we can be good witnesses to the modern day Samaritans.
Fourth, ends of the earth spirituality
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Here 'ends of the earth' has not just a physical dimension but also a 'spiritual' dimension. So 'ends of the earth' means not just remote places like Fiji Island or the Amazon Jungle, but the end times of the earth. The similar expression in the Bible is the life in the 'last days'. Technically it is the time when the time of our Lord Jesus' second coming drawing near.
What is the life of the end times of the earth like? In regard to the end times our Lord Jesus said something interesting: 'When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth?'" Or think about what Jesus said in Matthew 24:12, "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold." What about the opinions of the Apostles like the Apostle Paul or the Apostle Peter? Let us stand and read 2 Timothy 3:1-5, "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--Having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them." Or in 2 Peter 3:3 it is written: "First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires."
Then with what kind of spirituality are we to live by? In the parable of the ten virgins our Lord Jesus speaks of the spiritual condition of people living the end times. The wise virgins did one thing in common: that is, to greet the bridegroom the wise took oil in jars along with their lamps, but the foolish did not take oil; they took only lamps. Since they ran short of the oil, they could not see the bridegroom coming. After the wise went into the wedding banquet, the door was shut. The foolish were left outside gnashing their teeth. This is too sad.
This parable in Matthew gospel 25 indicates that it is the high time for us to prepare the oil in jars, so the lamp would keep burning. The oil here refers to the Spirit of God. Jars represent our body. In our generation there are many factors that drain or quench the spiritual fire of the Holy Spirit in us. To prevent this from happening, daily we need to get ourselves be filled with God's Spirit by daily repenting and turning to the Lord. For this, we need to read the Bible closely. We need to do the daily bread and mediate on the word deeply. We then can overcome the world. We are ready to serve the Lord. We can be good witnesses of our Lord Jesus even during the end times. This is the ends of the earth spirituality for us to go by.
One word: Hope, Faith, Love, and a Jarful of Oil
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Biblenote
TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH
Acts 1:8
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
We would like to learn more about this passage so that we would carry out the Lord’s will to be his witnesses in our own time and places. [Note: physically, it means what it says, that is, the gospel spreading from Jerusalem to the four corners of the world. Can this passage still be applicable to people living in different locations in different generations such as ours? Does this passage really mean that we all must go out to the ends of the earth like to Fiji Island, the North or South Pole or similar places as missionaries? Or are there any further practical meanings we should consider as the Lord’s will for us? We hope to answer such questions and more through the study.]
Read v. 8. What does this passage tell us about the purpose of the Holy Spirit coming on you?
** It is to be a Jesus’ witness, not to please ourselves or to make our own name or to serve any human or organizational agenda.
What does it mean to be Jesus’ “witness”? Why is witnessing about Jesus necessary?
** To testify about who Jesus is and what he came to fulfill, not just in words but also in actions, not in terms of head knowledge alone but in terms of real life example.
** John 20:31
Verse 8 talks about becoming a witness in Jerusalem. How might this location be applicable to Christians living in this postmodern age? (Galatians 4:26; Revelation 21:2,9-11; Ephesians 2:6-10)
** One application might be for one to actually go to Jerusalem and preach the gospel to the people running around in her streets.
Another application can be to recognize that Jerusalem refers to not just the physical Jerusalem on earth but the spiritual Jerusalem above, for the Bible says that the Jerusalem above is the mother of all believers (including Gentile believers). Other Bible passages, such as Revelation 21:2,9-11 or Ephesians 2:6-10 indicate that although people like the Gentile believers live in the 21st century U.S. they did become the members of the church (called the Bride or Wife of Jesus Christ the husband, the head of the church) together with the Apostles of Jesus, such as Peter or John. So although we the Gentile believers live many centuries thereafter, we too are called to be witnesses sent by God in our generation to do the work God has prepared for us to do ‘in advance’. Then, like the early day apostles, we too ought to live as Jesus’ witnesses recognizing it as God’s mission assigned to us living in our generation.
Consider the call to be a Jesus’ witness in “Judea”. In what respect is Judea different from other parts of the land of Israel? What would it be like to be Jesus’ witness in the land of Judea? What practical applications can you think of for yourself?
** Characteristically, the land of Judea is less favorably endowed in terms of living environments, such as climate, than other areas like Samaria or Galilee. For one thing, the amount of precipitation is at the minimum necessary for crops (like wheat) to grow, whereas Samaria has much more rainfall than Judea, with Galilee and above having more precipitation than Samaria. So Judea is called the “Judean wilderness”. This is still the case in Israel. So Judea can be characterized as a place where the conditions of life are less favorable than other areas.
** It is more likely for one to be complaining than to be praising the Lord, and therefore become a bad witness of our Lord Jesus.
** Even in a difficult land like Judea, as one lives by faith in the Lord, the Lord satisfies the deep needs he has. When one lives by faith, looking to the Lord, rather than to what is visible, one can be thankful and a good witness of Jesus.
Think about Jesus’ disciples becoming witnesses in Samaria. What did the Jews of Jesus’ day think of the people living in Samaria? (John 4:9) What can we learn from the Lord who wants his disciples to be witnesses in Samaria?
** There was a deep rift between the two classes of people. They did not communicate with each other although they were next door neighbors.
** In close communities like the church fellowship there could be many so-called Samaritan territories where people categorize each other and never communicate with one another. Yet Jesus commanded to love one’s enemies, so that through the power of the Spirit of love, one can love one’s enemies and thereby become a good witness of Jesus to people living in the Samaritan territories.
This passage talks about believers becoming Jesus’ witnesses “to the ends of the earth.” What does “to the ends of the earth” mean? Can you think of any practical applications for people living in this highly advanced generation?
** It could mean the ends of earth such as Spain or the North Pole or South Pole. It also could mean the end times of the earth.
** The Bible heavily talks about the end times (or the last days) when the love of many will grow cold. Jesus also asked whether or not when he comes again he could see anyone living by faith. The apostles also gave the same warnings. In the last days when wickedness increases, it is critical for a believer to be filled with the Spirit of God so he would not be like the foolish virgins in Jesus’ parable of ten virgins. Otherwise we cannot be Jesus’ witnesses to people living in this post modern age. [Read Matthew 24:12; 2 Titus 3:1-5; 2 Peter 3:3; Matthew 25:1-4.] So like the wise virgin, we need to fill the jar with oil daily (the jar refers to our body, the Lord’s temple; and the oil refers to the Spirit of God, by repenting and turning to the Lord in deep prayer, being filled with God’s word].