Acts of the Apostles, Lesson 1: Chapters 1-2

in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen Heavenly Father gracious lord I thank you so much for this day I thank you for all these people here who have a desire to learn your word we ask that you send your spirit upon all of us here help us to understand our call and our mission as Catholic Christians strengthen us give us the gifts of the Spirit that we might produce the fruits of the spirit we lift lift up to you all of our intentions and the intentions of our family as we dedicate this Bible study to the patronage of the Apostles Peter and Paul at the name of the Father the Son of the Holy Spirit amen all right we're off to a good start just about 15 minutes after the hour so open up your holly biffle's please Acts chapter 1 verse 1 now while you're doing that I just want to briefly point out the outline of today's lesson today's lesson is really hard just because of the way things worked out normally I would teach today's contents chapter 1 the Ascension of our Lord and chapter 2 the birth of the church Pentecost normally I would spend you know an hour one presentation on each chapter because there's so much there but as I said because of the way things worked out I'm going to attempt the impossible we're going to try to talk about all of it tonight so so we can move on for next week but there's a lot of really good stuff there I do recommend I forgot to mention this the Catholic the Ignatius Study Bible is awesome then of our Bible over here she's writing down the title is awesome there's another book witness witnesses are the Messiah by Stephen Pimentel I can never pronounce his name you could take a look at these books afterwards but there's just so much great stuff these chapters are jam-packed so needless to say let's look at them let's unpack them so those look at part 1 all right chapter 1 focusing on the Ascension of our Lord and as well as the election of Matthias so before we do that well let's just read chapter 1 verse 1 I have a very brief introduction so it starts off by saying in the first book of Theophilus I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up after he give he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the Apostles whom he chose them we'll just stop right there and make it some quick introductory remarks first who wrote the book of Acts I think a lot of people know that it's Luke Luke wrote the gospel first to this dude named Theophilus and now he's writing the sequel so to speak now we don't know if the office is an actual person or not because Theophilus is Theo and then fellows all right from the origin of the word love it means lover of God God lover so it could very well be an actual person Theophilus and he's writing to this person and describing the gospel of the kingdom and so on and so forth so whether it is or not fine but in a real way Luke is writing to all us Christians we are all God lovers lovers of God and so state Luke in a certain way is writing a letter to us talking about all that Jesus taught and did through his church now in the book of Acts so if you can sort of pretend if it's not too weird that your Theophilus or theophylline all right pretend it your Theophilus or Theophilus and it Luke's writing to you and he's going to write all these great things so that's the author that's the recipient the date of the writing is in the mid early to mid 60's because obviously Peter and Paul are living by the time it stops and and Luke just stops abruptly like all of a sudden it's done okay so we know that it must have been in the early 60s because Peter and Paul didn't die until I if I'm not mistaken it's like 63 ad something like that and then a major theme there are many themes a lot of great stuff in the book of Acts but the major theme is how Jesus is building his kingdom which is the same thing as the Catholic Church the Catholic Church is the kingdom of God and he's building it and it you know throughout all guiding all nations into the kingdom through the power of the Holy Spirit building the kingdom through the power of the Holy Spirit that is the overarching theme for those of you who are with me in with Matthew we saw how Jesus comes he preaches that the gospel of the kingdom and he establishes it through his Paschal mystery right the passion death resurrection of our Lord and obviously were going to see in a moment the Ascension as part of that now he's building the kingdom through the Ministry of the Apostle so that's what we're going to be looking at over these next seven weeks all right so that's chat just very very quick bullet points in verse two Luke goes on he says to them he presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs we'll just stop there really quickly Jesus appeared to his apostles after his passion with many proofs and the Ignatius Study Bible outlines a number of these proofs and they're incredible because the resurrection happened it is a historical fact our Lord died and then he rose again it wasn't like he was beaten to within an inch of his life and sort of recovered thanks to the the balm and the myrrh that they stuffed him with or they tried today actually get the chance to but in the cave like there's some vapors in the cave that helped him to revive no Jesus died isn't he resurrected and he proved it to his apostles with many proofs first of all first and foremost the empty tomb the tomb was empty second he presented himself to his apostles face to face and not all of them believe doubting Thomas comes to mind of course not all of them believes he's during these 40 days we're going to see he had to prove this to them not only that I witnesses saw him they touched him all right they ate with him ghosts do not eat okay Jesus appeared he bodily manifested his own resurrected body to the apostles to prove to them of course that he rose from the dead Paul talks in first Corinthians how he appeared to more than 500 people at once not just a few individuals okay who they appeared to they've had have made up the story but he appeared to a vast crowd of over 500 people all right and there's no way like people say oh yeah they're all hallucinating right they're on shrooms or they're smoking something oh jesus is here no like that doesn't really happen it's impossible if he's appearing to over 500 people I don't care how good those shrooms are you know you can't have a collective vision here okay anyways moving on then he appeared finally to Saul those silent persecutor of the church who converted and who became the apostle to the Gentiles all various many proofs of our Lord's resurrection all right so good let's move on he appeared to them during forty days and speaking of the kingdom of God let's just talk really quickly about the the forty days and I'll read a little bit more and do some commentary the 40 days 40 days is super important super important I'm sure you all have heard of course the significance the number 40 it's a time of trial time of testing a time of preparation and that's certainly true now good the Old Testament right the Israelites were in the desert for forty years excuse me via Jesus was in the desert for forty days and there are so many different examples of this but what it is it's a preparation for ministry so Jesus went into the desert for forty days before he began his ministry to the people right the church follows the way of the Lord so the church the Apostles are going to have this period of four of preparation for 40 days receiving instruction before they begin their ministry starting with Pentecost okay same thing is true with Moses I mentioned that wandering the desert so Moses received instruction from God after being on the mountain for forty days and then you received the law right as we're going to see with Pentecost the Apostles receive now forty days of instruction before they receive the new law which we'll talk about a second so this period of 40 days is super super important they're they're getting ready for their their mission their ministry to evangelize all nations so that we got it we got to focus on that for just a little bit now I want to read a little bit more just a few more verses and we'll point out a couple different things about the kingdom about the Holy Spirit and talk about that are going with me so far all right so starting with verse 3 here so they're speaking about the kingdom of God and while staying with them your translation it should have eating with them they weren't just like eating you know fish and chips there this is a phrase they're eat mister celebrating the Eucharist he is celebrating the Eucharist with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the father which he said you heard from me for John baptized with water but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit so when they had come together they asked him Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel he said to them it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the father has fixed by his own authority but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to all the ends of the earth okay stop now let's talk them in letter D here in your note so that way you don't again for those of you who are new you don't have to bust your here or your wrist taking notes and all this stuff you just follow along restoring the kingdom to Israel there talking about the kingdom of God this is important obviously because this is a great theme of the Gospels Jesus came to preach the arrival of the kingdom so they're thinking all right the kingdom the kingdom of David and this little map kind of highlights here the extent of David's kingdom his Empire really it was vast and they're hoping on Jesus is obviously the son of David he's obviously the Messiah so okay let's start see the kingdom let's start you know kicking some Roman butt and reestablish everything and so that's why they asked this question will you restore the kingdom they don't quite understand the nature of the kingdom and the time of its establishment okay Jesus doesn't he kind of they ask when he tells them how in a kind of an elusive way it's not for you to know the times or the seasons why is that because starting at Pentecost the kingdom is going to become are going to start the process of being reestablished where the Lost Tribes of Israel and the Gentile nations will be gathered together into that kingdom when will that be complete at the end of time it's not going to be till the end of of all time that the kingdom will be finally established so that's why Jesus says it's not for you to know the times of the seasons it's gonna take a long time it's already been 2,000 years it could easily go for another 2,000 years we don't know I mean you never know alright so we think you don't know when it's going to be established it will be established but not in the way you think and it won't be right now as you think okay so then he says but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you this is you know there to wait for the promise of the Father and of course this is the Holy Spirit this this word power is Dunamis dynamite dynamite you will retest the word we get the word dynamite from the Greek word power you will receive dynamite when the Holy Spirit comes upon you for them to carry out this mission okay so what is the promise of the father was the promise of the father and the son to send the spirit and the Spirit is going to do the power of the Spirit the church the kingdom will be built up I just want to point out a couple of verses here to make some connections for you in John 14 25 and 26 Jesus tells his apostles I have said all these things to you while I am still with you but the Advocate the Paraclete you know the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name will teach you everything and remind you of all that I said to you and two chapters later he says something very similar I still have many things yet to say to you but you cannot bear them now it's just like you imagine the poor apostles I got it there is just too much kinda like how me you might feel in these classes right when the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears and he will declare to you the things that are to come so the apostles are you know they're being prepared by Christ but when the Holy Spirit comes upon them they will receive this dynamite this power the agenda spirit will guide them into all truth and that's what happens in the church today sometimes it takes a long time you ever heard that the fact that the church moves at glacial speeds hear that before it's very true other than Rome for five years let me tell you it is true all right the church moves at glacial speeds we come to understand the mysteries of what Christ taught the Apostles deeper and deeper and deeper not changing it just understanding it more and more so this is the promise of the Father the Spirit is the power that they'll receive then Jesus says to them you shall be my witnesses now the greek word here is martyr's you will be my martyrs do you want to be Christ's martyrs yes you know I learned the wrong things your the answer is yes ladies and gentlemen yes is the answer do you want to say now obviously martyrs we enter this could be quite violent quite physical people literally dying for their faith which happens in every single century I heard it said that there have been more martyrs in the past century alone than in all the previous centuries combined okay so people can die physically however we're all called to die in a metaphorical spiritual sense died to ourselves die to our passions discipline ourselves okay that's what prayer fasting and obedience prayer fasting and almsgiving I should say is all about okay we die to ourselves we carry our cross we offer our sufferings up to the Lord and we will be as witnesses okay so it could be physical but it also could be very real metaphorically and spiritually speaking then he tells them you'll be my witnesses we're in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth this is the marching orders of Jesus Christ to his apostles you're going to start witnessing preaching the kingdom first in Jerusalem then to Judea and Samaria then to the ends of the earth and wouldn't you know it that is the plot for all of the Acts of the Apostles Jerusalem is chapters 1 through 7 okay then name's branch out they go into all the rest of Judea and Samaria which is basically chapters 8 through 12 then after that of course with Paul they the gospel is preached to the ends of the earth it's preached even as far as Spain Paul makes it to Spain according to tradition the whole known Roman Empire parts of the head received the gospel okay so that is the marching orders of Jesus Christ and we're still in this third section right here this third you know of the part where we are called to go and evangelize and do missionary work to all the ends of the earth now right there are people of course who don't know who Christ is but there isn't a square inch on the face of the planet that isn't under the authority of some bishop now okay so we've done a lot of work we still have a lot more work to do but this is these are the orders that we received the Apostles received and we inherit from the Apostles okay so well with me now it's time to look at the Ascension okay let's just read a few verses it's amazing how few verses are actually given to the Ascension but how packed it is alright so verse 9 and when he had said this as they were looking on he was lifted up in a cloud took him out of their sight and while they were gazing into heaven as he went behold two men stood by them in white robes and said men of Galilee why do you stand looking into heaven this Jesus who has taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven alright stop that's it that's it for the reservoir for the Ascension so what's going on I want to talk about two things basically what what the cloud I want to talk about I also want to talk about why no why he's going up into heaven after all because when we talk about the Paschal mystery the Paschal mystery ever notice mentions the passion death and resurrection of our Lord right but the Ascension is the last and really important part of the Paschal mystery without the Ascension the Paschal mystery isn't complete so what's going on here with the with the Ascension well first and foremost this is the heavenly enthronement of our Lord he is the son of David he is the Messiah the son the son of God okay he came to fulfill all things fulfill the law and the prophets now the son of David the king must receive his throne must he not yes he must so when did he do that at his ascension when he right when he ascends into heaven to state to sit at the right hand of God he receives his throne and he receives his kingdom his power his Dominion did this is the heavenly enthronement of Jesus Christ now this is a direct fulfillment of a very complicated passage in Daniel chapter 7 Daniel 7 let me just erase that a second Daniel 7 in Daniel 7 Daniel has this crazy vision right some people mind to think he was smoking something he sees these beasts you know rising up out of the sea and they symbolize the different kingdoms and then after that he sees this I saw coming with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man what was Jesus favorite title for himself son of man when he reached the Ancient of Days a term of course for God the Father and was presented before him he received Dominion splendor and kingship all nations peoples and tongues will serve Him his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion that shall not pass away his kingship one that shall not be destroyed sowing of course the Son of man rises up on the clouds of heaven is presented to the Ancient of Days which is what happens here descent at the ascension he receives his throne his kingdom but it doesn't stop there because the just a few verses down it says this then the kingship and the Dominion and the majesty of all the kingdoms under the heavens shall be given to the people of the Holy Ones of the Most High your translation might say shall be given to the Saints of the Most High whose kingdom lasting kingship whom all dominions shall serve and obey God the Father gives the kingdom to his son who then commits it to us his church the church is the kingdom and we are all inheritors of this royalty you're all you know you women you truly are princesses all right we are royalty you know when we're baptized we participate in Christ's threefold office of priest prophet and King Saint Peter talks about how we are a royal priesthood okay he commits the kingdom to us the Saints when do you think he begins that he begins established he commits the kingdom to us it's a couple of answers but specifically in our context Pentecost and which we're going to see in just a little bit all right so that's what he's doing when he's rising up to heaven receiving the kingdom now is he going on a little cumulus cloud sort of like on a surfboard I got that image in my head right he's on a surfboard going to see you guys I'll be back soon no it's not a cumulus cloud what is the cloud it is the Shekinah glory cloud that we've seen all the way back the beginning of the Old Testament the book of most books of Moses the Shekinah glory cloud it's not Shekinah by the way a Shekinah which a little quick tip for he brooo you ever want to pronounce a Hebrew word put the emphasis on the last syllable for example a Dom not Adam but a Dom the Shekinah hallelujah all these different things but I digress so this is what the cloud is all about and I got it longer longish quotation from the Catechism but it's worth it alright so just follow along it's worth it what is this glory cloud alright the shake and what is that all about well it says this paragraph 697 and the theophanies of the Old Testament a theophany is a manifestation of God okay and that the often ease of the Old Testament the cloud now obscure now luminous reveals the living and saving God while veiling the transcendence of his glory with Moses at Mount Sinai right what haven't Mount Sinai the cloud comes cover the mountain okay lost my place at the tent of meeting what happened the tent of meeting at the end of Exodus they built the tent of meeting and the cloud came down the glory cloud filled it okay during the wandering of the desert how did the power that people guide it in the desert pillar of fire pillar cloud or smoke what you might have okay with Solomon at the dedication of the temple again same thing the glory cloud came and filled the temple everybody had to leave because it was so thick okay that's the Old Testament in the in the Holy Spirit Christ fulfills these figures the Spirit comes upon the Virgin Mary and overshadows her the same greek word used for the overshadowing of the cloud over the temple so that she might conceive and give birth to Jesus on the mountain of Transfiguration the spirit in the cloud came and overshadowed Jesus Moses and Elijah Peter James and John and a voice came out of the cloud saying you remember right this is my son my chosen listen to him finally now here's the connection the cloud took Jesus out of their sight out on the side of the disciples on the day of his ascension and will reveal him again as the Son of Man in glory at the final day of is coming this is not a cumulus cloud this is the presence of the Holy Spirit alright God Himself Jesus is being raised up in the power of the Spirit and so the Apostles are seeing this going because they'd haven't ever since the temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar cause been gone there's a lot of debate about that but that's my position okay the clouds been God because the Ark of the Covenant has not been found so that is the significance of the cloud as the fulfillment of the pretzel again is the presence of the Trinity in a real sense all right yeah we can just stop there because we got a lot more to talk about so does that make a little bit more sense with the Ascension the cloud and also what's going on maybe with me all right good very responsive I like that okay so let's stop there and look at the election of Matthias Matthias now I can't I don't have time to read the rest of chapter one but I do want to point out a few things okay as soon as this happens they go back to the upper room keep the st. Luke talked about how Judas died right probably the story cuz of some different accounts but probably what happened he hung himself maybe the rope broke he landed on the rocks everything spilled out gruesome death okay something maybe Hollywood can do he's got the nice facial expression there there it gruesome death now the 12 apostles are no longer 12 they're 11 so the Saint Peter gets up and obviously he's got the authority he's got the keys of the kingdom Peters Peters the man all right throughout the first half of the book of Acts he's the man he's up there out the first half of Acts because he is the Pope because he's got the keys because he's the victor of Christ the rest of the Apostles saved Paul aren't hardly ever mentioned all right it's Peter it's Peters ministry and he he gets up and he says brethren summarizing we got to get a new guy in here Judas advocated he apostatized so we have to elect the new apostle because the Twelve Apostles will represent that will will be actually the foundation of the new people of Israel just like you had 12 tribes of Israel well you're going to have 12 apostles for the new Israel so he says okay we've got to elect a new guy courts a couple scripture passages and they basically say he who has been with us from the beginning who's witnessed the resurrection again you'll be my witnesses he says we've got to have a witness of the resurrection they basically cast lots among these two guys Justus and Matthias and then they enroll Matthias to be the 12th apostle this is very very important this is what we call as Catholics apostolic succession it's been a whole lot of time on this but you know we say the church is one Holy Catholic and apostolic apostolic means we can trace it back to the beginning we weren't founded in 1973 in Boston somewhere when some young charismatic guy graduates from Harvard Divinity School and he decides to start a new church we go all the way back to the beginning and it's all historically traced this is apostolic tradition this is why I am one of the reasons why I became Catholic so get this from the Catechism because you have to see apostolic succession here in Scripture just in case anyone challenges you on that the Catechism says this and the office of the Apostles there is one aspect that cannot be transmitted that is to be a chosen witness of the Lord's resurrection and so the foundation stones of the church the Apostles are witnesses of the Lord's resurrection that cannot be translated however the office itself has a permanent aspect just like the Pope there's always one one office of the Pope head the head of the College of Bishops so Christ promised to remain with them always the divine mission entrusted by Jesus to them will continue to the end of time since the gospel they handed on is the lasting source of all life for the church therefore the apostle took care to appoint successors this is important Jesus entrusted the gospel of the kingdom to the Apostles and in order to protect and interpret that gospel they elect successors to carry it on through the ages so Bishop Peter labaki I don't even know like maybe he's a successor of Matthias I don't know but you could trace it back you know it's a big pyramid thing you can trace it all the way back to the to the beginning apostolic succession super important and by the way this word this Greek word for office the office has a permanent aspect in Greek it's of Pisco pay do you know English word that sounds familiar to episcopate I didn't study English and I study history Episcopal I think someone said it pissed them to see I heard you Episcopacy it's the office of the abit of the Bishop of the Apostles the Episcopacy goes all the way back that's the connections that we have all the way back to the Apostles that's pretty cool I think that's worth knowing okay so they cast lots a lot of people are a little uncomfortable with that right casting Lots for the next guy they don't do that anymore obviously but why did they cast lots well because the Apostles are the new priests are they not they sacrifice that they celebrate is the sacrifice of the mass well in the Old Testament how did they elect new priests the Levitical priests by casting Lots this is a just a simple scripture passage from 1st chronicles 24 you got to go back and read the whole chapter but basically they cast lots corresponding to their kindred the descendants of Aaron and the presence of King David and so on and so forth these priests are being elected through the casting of lots now Peter is like okay this makes sense we're priests we need a new priest let's cast lots we're the new priesthood very important scripture passes for understanding the priesthood of the Apostles and of course their successors and the rest okay that's just that explains very very quickly they just weren't like throwing dice okay move the money aside like we got it like this guy let's go you know it's like there's a reason behind it all right let's move on now we got a whole lot more to talk about those are the bullet points the outline of chapter 1 I haven't lost anybody have I all right so page 2 I just like to read the first 12 or 13 verses of chapter 2 Pentecost I know you all know it very very well but I want to read it to refresh our memories Haven of course to talk about a few things all right so here we go chapter 2 verse 1 when the day of Pentecost had to come they were all together in one place and suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared to them tongues as a fire distributed and resting on each one of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit of God gave utterance now there are dwelling at Jerusalem Jews devout men from every nation under heaven get that lots of people from different nations I should say lots of descendants of Israel from other nations who are in Jerusalem verse 6 and at this sound the multitude came together and they were bewildered because each one heard them speaking in his own language and they were amazed and wondered saying are not all these men are speaking Galileans I can take from Berlin I mean who are these guys ok how is it that we here each of us in his own native language parth ian's and Medes and Elamites and it goes on and on and on whole bunch of people from a whole bunch of different places how do we how do they speak our languages verse 12 and they were all amazed and perplexed saying to one another what does this mean looks like you're right what does this mean what does it mean but others mocking said they are filled with new wine not just drunk was Galilee as they like drink before they go fishing they're just drunk okay all right what does this mean well I want to look at Pentecost again quickly broad strokes in three different ways number one I want to look at look at in terms of it the actual feast and this was a Jewish feast known by many different things the feast of weeks the feast of firstfruits we suppose a lot of different names for it but I want to look at it as the feast itself especially in the context of the feast of firstfruits then I want to look at it in terms of the events at Mount Sinai in the Old Testament as well as the Tower of babble babble babble Rhodes all babble okay you ready now the feast of weeks or it's also known as the feast of first fruits this was one of the one that one of three great pilgrimage feasts in Jerusalem okay people had to come to Jerusalem to celebrate it that's why we have people from all different nations coming to Jerusalem okay because they had to make a pilgrimage there and this originally wasn't offering this I think is really fascinating I just love the Jewish feasts it was an offering of two leavened loaves one leavened loaf was for the jet the Jewish people themselves offered up to God the other leavened loaf was for the Gentiles the Gentile nations together all right offered up to God as a feast of firstfruits 50 days after Passover Penta about 50 right cost 50 days after Passover is this feast all right now getting into some of the cool meaning right the Old Testament you know the typology that I like to talk about all the time Passover can refers to what Jesus was talking about in John chapter 12 remember he said unless the grain of wheat dies he cannot bear much fruit he was talking about what his own resurrection has his own death and resurrection he will die the grain of you know we will die then afterwards it will rise again and bear much fruit okay so Passover refers to when it dies and when it bears much fruit it's going to be we're talking about now with Pentecost and the church the church is the fruit of Pentecost we'll look at that right now first Jesus is Paschal minister Jesus himself and his resurrection is the first fruits okay get this you Paul says this explicitly in first Corinthians 15 st. Paul says in fact Christ has been raised from the dead the firstfruits of those who have died the first fruits of those who have died he rises from the dead because we're not we're not going to suffer we're going to be risen from the dead Christ went first so since death came through a human being Adam the resurrection of the dead has also come through human being Jesus for all died in Adam so all will be made alive in Christ but each in his own order Christ the firstfruits rises from the dead then at his coming those who belong to Christ we too will rise to new life in our own time at the end of time okay so Christ is the pre and there's a whole lot more to be said about this but what I really want to focus on is okay Christ is the first fruit in his resurrection after that grain of wheat dies but we as the church will participate in his resurrection when do we first get the first taste of the first fruit so to speak which at the church as a whole at Pentecost because the Pentecost receives new life the new law or the church receives new life new law okay the the very life of the Trinity so at Pentecost and the whole church with the Ministry of the sacraments we all participate in Christ passion death resurrection and ultimately isness in his ascension right you know that's what baptism is we go under we die we rise up to new life Christ is the firstfruits and the church we cease the Holy Spirit we also will be a fruit so to speak okay so there's a whole lot more to be said but that's the connection with the actual Jewish feasts all right being presented to God the Father Jews and Gentiles by the way I forgot that part all right we're 11 low presented up to God together symbolically through those two two loaves okay so that's pretty interesting but what's really interesting is Mount Sinai if you go back to Mount Sinai all kinds of things happen right you know the story very very well I'm sure I'm sure you remember for great things four key signs took place at Mount Sinai when the people were there okay at the foot of the mountain number one great sound okay are the people with Erick earthquakes and rumbling it was just it was loud and people were scared the knees were knocking together they didn't want to approach it the mountain they were they were freaked out it was so loud the appearance of fire on the mountain okay made him even scared her okay intelligible speech was there how did God speak to Moses through the Thunder so the Thunder and the lightning Moses understood the people didn't but Moses understood this communication with God and then finally at the end the giving of the law the people received the law how on two tablets of stone get that it's important to tablets of stone now this is all the Old Testament receiving of the law the theophany of God with a great sound the fire the speech all this different stuff so I'm sure you've already made the connection in your mind right the New Testament at Pentecost is a new Mount Sinai it is a new mount site fulfills the events that happened at the original Mount Sinai the original Mount Sinai was what will you say a type of Pentecost okay it's the fulfillment of all those signs all right what do we have you've got the great sound got the tongues of fire you got the intelligible speech but then what about the giving of the law what is the giving of the law here at Pentecost the Holy Spirit Himself so st. Thomas says she Thomas Aquinas now knew the law of the New Testament is the Holy Spirit and God gives it to the new people of Israel at Pentecost and if we go back and look at a couple of just two now Old Testament passages this is very very clear it's zekiel 36 says this I will take you from all the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land this is new Exodus language remember I keep talking about this right all the people will be gathered together into the kingdom starts off with that language and I will sprinkle clean water upon you now what could that refer to uh baptism all right and you shall be clean from your uncleanliness and from all your idols I will cleanse you a new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove from your body the heart of stone which is what the law symbolized God wrote on stone because the stone symbolized their hearts and I will give you a heart of flesh I will put my spirit within you and make you follow my statutes and to be careful to observe my ordinances the people of Israel and the Old Testament couldn't follow the law because they didn't have the old didn't have the spirit they were incapable of following the law because they lacked the spirit now Jesus elevates the law to a greater standard and we thought it was hard in the Old Testament it's really hard now I mean Jesus go read go read the Sermon on the mountain again and tell me that's not difficult alright but we can obey it now because we've got the spirit it's written on a heart of flesh where this is the what's called the circumcision of the heart which we'll talk about a little bit later here's another passage I'm sure you recognize it from Jeremiah 31 the days are surely coming says the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah this is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days says the Lord I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people now this is important because he's talking about you know giving the law right in writing a our hearts at Mount Sinai God descended on the mountain not upon the people here at Pentecost God descends upon the people he gives his spirit to them each individually the fire didn't fall on the mountain the fire fell on each person you think of each person as an itty-bitty Mountain so to speak if you want to god gives himself individually to every person interiorly as well it gives them a new law okay so I want to just point out one thing since we're talking about Mount Sinai and the after Peter preaches how many people converted 3,000 people are there are there coincidences in Scripture no why 3,000 go back to Mount Sinai after Moses came down from the mountain he found the people worshiping in the sort of hedonistic prostitution right just golden calf representing power pleasure okay strength they're worshiping and he's he's ticked off because they just swore they would obey the gobei God not a month goes by here they are falling into old Egyptian practices again so Moses says who's with me the Levites get up and they slaughter the people who led this rebellion how many people died 3,000 that's right so 3,000 people died at the first Mount Sinai but in the new Mount Sinai 3,000 people are brought to life that is a goose bump moment wow my skull just shrunk just felt it that's powerful all right that's typology okay so um I did want to point out one thing before like a tower of babel fire is purifying but it's also a sign of judgment okay fire like paul talks about this all the time precious metals are purified in fire right that's what suffering really is on this on this light we suffer to purify us so it could be good the fire could also be bad alright so depends on our obedience we obey we're purified we disobey we suffer okay I want to point that out really quickly because and the just like the people here have the opportunity to obey or disobey they chose Bay so too do we when we receive the Holy Spirit we can obey or disobey it's our choice so I want to just point that out really quickly okay so let's move on to the third aspect and that is the Tower of Babel now at Babel if you go back to Genesis 10 and 11 specifically 11 there were 70 languages it says there are 70 languages because that's how many nations were listed in what's called the table of Nations in Genesis 10 ok so 70 languages for 70 nations and we see it often this number 70 throughout the Old Testament right Moses elects 70 helpers right does he not because ultimately that's going to point out to how Israel is going to minister to the 70 nations at the Feast of Tabernacles they sacrifice 70 bowls because it was symbolic to make a set the people of Israel made a sacrifice on behalf of all the other nations that was their role okay so we got these 70 nations and at Babel they disobeyed I don't have time to get into it but essentially unite they use their unity to rebel against God they try to establish a kingdom for themselves all right in in opposition to God and so God has to spread them apart he's got Heston to break up their unity and he does it by confusing your speech so they're all confused like you know pass me to Lulu what is a blue I don't understand living there they start going on errors going all confused so they don't understand each other now at the new that Pentecost is a reversal of Babel finally now God is reversing the confusion of languages and they all understand each other now okay because again the point is to reunify all the nations into one people of God that is the goal of the kingdom the Catholic Church you enough reunify absolutely everybody okay so that's why we see everybody here and actually the Apostles - people from all different nations they understand and I'll just give you one scripture passage just just to prove my point okay so that way my case may rest I rest my case Isaiah 1111 talks about this very thing on that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant left of his people from Assyria from Egypt from Pathros from Ethiopia these are the same countries mentioned here in act 2 same ones what a coinkidink alright he will raise the signal for the nations and will assemble the outcasts of Israel and gathered a dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth that's the mission and it's starting right then and there and it will go for another however many years 10,000 more years who knows okay I doubt the world's going to end this year so don't sell your stocks okay they're falling anyways you might want to sell them alright so that that's the goal that's what's happening is reversal of Babel okay now before we move on I want to point out something super super quick and that is the Sacrament of Confirmation I cannot give it justice but basically confirmation is like a mini Pentecost for each of us it is the strengthening of the Holy Spirit so that way we can become witnesses to the outside world to the cultures of the society and when we're through baptism but especially a confirmation we receive the gifts of the Spirit I can't I don't have any time to talk about it but it's worth mentioning right they give the wisdom of counsel of piety a fear of the Lord knowledge and understanding and fortitude these are the gifts of the Spirit I need these gifts if I'm going to go out and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ I need courage I need strength I need understanding I can't go out there and just you know be all scared I need the Holy Spirit to strengthen me as I go out and so do all of you so do all of you and also the other thing is if we're living a life of the Spirit we should be producing through to the spirit and st. Paul talks about this love joy patience sorry jump one peace forbearance kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control this is fantastic question do you see that fruit in your life or not if you don't you need to return to the sacraments and you need to return to prayer if you don't see that fruit when Jesus this is tough this is tough I know but what would Jesus said if a tree doesn't bear good fruit what will happen to that tree it will be cut down so we've got to be producing good fruit living in the spirit it's all I'll say about that don't want you to stone me so we're talking about ax you know okay so let's move on chapter or not chapter but page three Peter gets up now and addresses the crowds I'm out to start doing a little bit more jumping ahead now put you're with me now right it's all fun stuff you're letting some good stuff okay so Peter gets up now the first time he got up he was a private you know he's demonstrating his authority amongst the the the people of the Upper Room the first Christians by the way there's 120 in the upper room which according to Jewish law Jewish custom you can start a new community of believers with 120 people so here we go a new community of God and new Israel is being developed and Peter stands up and demonstrates his authority amongst the people now he gets up in public and demonstrates his authority he is the Vicar of Christ he's got the keys so he gives up he stands and he speaks and then he quotes this long passage from Joel and let me just read it really quickly he says this verse 17 and in the last days it shall be God declares that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams yes and on my men servants and on my maid servants in those days I will pour out my spirit and they will prophesy and I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth beneath blood and fire and vapor of smoke the Sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon in the blood before the day of the Lord comes the great and manifest day and it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved right what's this all about the end of the world right Armageddon as we might think most of you I think we're with me with the Gospel of st. Matthew if you didn't attend the Gospel of st. Matthew which we just finished the other week I've got the entire course online so I will mention a little a couple of quick things in context with that shows you come together for you but basically let's look at a couple things number one Peter starts off in the last days what does that mean does that mean like Armageddon time like mm whatever 58 the last days refers to the end of the old covenant world the beginning of the Messianic age which of course would be the time of Christ and up to our time as well and the restoration of Israel with the Gentiles we've already seen a number of passages referring to that the last days are the days we are living in now and it started with Christ got some Old Testament passages in your notes but I want to quote Peter again in 1st Peter 1:20 he says this he meaning Jesus was destined before the foundation of the world but was revealed at the end of ages for your sake again the end of ages for your sake Jesus was revealed the end of ages starts with Christ then probably st. Paul and Hebrews chapter 1 says this long ago God spoke to our ancestors and many in various ways by the prophets but in these last days he has spoken to us by a son whom he appointed heir of all things through whom he also created the world we are living in the last days so st. Paul says st. Peter okay - good authorities I would say these are the last days it doesn't refer to the tribulation of you know God knows what right you know Kirk Cameron did that movie and all the - never mind all right so if it's referring to the end of the Old Covenant world it also refers to the end and the destruction of what what was the center of the Old Testament world the temple Jerusalem in the temple would be destroyed and that's what Jesus talked about in Matthew 24 so Peter is making reference to this and that's important because if you go back and read all of Joel - it's all about the destruction of the temple the first time it was destroyed so you can't take a text out of context remember a text out of context is a pretext a text out of context is a pretext Peter is quoting Joel - because he's going to keep quoting judgment upon Jerusalem - what they've done to Christ and also the rebellion that they've had against against the Apostles okay so that's the last days the signs and the wonders right all these signs and wonders he's talking about in the head in the earth below what are the signs and wonders well read contextually Peter says right after this in verse 22 Jesus of Nazareth a man attested to by God with deeds of power wonders and signs that God did through him among you as you yourselves know Jesus himself performed signs and wonders did he not you better believe he did and not just Jesus but when Jesus said you will do things greater than these right did you not say that to the Apostles throughout the Acts of the Apostles many times they too did many signs and wonders ok the Apostles did okay people are being healed because of Peters was it Peters shadow and Paul's handkerchiefs incredible stuff that even Jesus didn't do okay so the signs and wonders are being performed for them before their very eyes so that they would repent and believe in Christ and they didn't now the Sun being darkened what happened when Jesus was crucified Sun was darkened earth shook temple you know temple shook the curtain was torn all of those things that happen at the moment of Christ's crucifixion are for shadows of what would happen to the city at large forty years later okay now one more thing going back to the whole Sinai conversation we had that first generation at Mount Sinai they all died remember they rebelled against God and 40 years later they had all been dead because they rebelled against God this first generation here at the time of Christ what happened 40 years after Pentecost the temple is destroyed by Titus in the Romans okay it's all about the temple that's what he's talking about and that's why he says call upon the name of the Lord and you'll be saved later in verse 40 he says save yourselves from this crooked generation that crooked generation is a phrase used about the first generation at the Exodus all the same stuff okay I think I proves my point okay so that is the the signs in the Wonder so the day of the Lord I kind of skipped ahead a little bit let me just say this really quickly the great day of the Lord is of course what would you imagine the day of judgment against Jerusalem here's passage for you because I know I've only got about five to ten minutes left see a day is coming for the Lord when the plunder taken from you will be divided amongst your myth divided in your midst for I will gather the nations against Jerusalem to battle and the city shall be taken and the houses looted and the women raped half the city shall go into exile but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city okay the day of the Lord for the Old Testament was in reference to when Nebuchadnezzar would come in and flatten the city burn it to the ground and so of course the same language the Jews knew what Peter was talking about this would all happen to Jerusalem again okay so he goes on I'm just going to make a couple quick points he needs to prove the credential so to speak of Jesus and he quotes Psalm 116 this is the first quotation in verse 25 and following I want to focus on one thing he says this quoting David he says for you will not abandon my soul to Hades nor let your Holy One experience corruption or see decay who have made known to me the ways of life you will make me full of gladness with your presence and the Peter talks to the crowds he says this couldn't refer to David did this desert if David would died and his heat he points down right below the upper right below the upper room where they are is the tomb of David not been there but apparently it's just filthy it's disgusting you probably saw it and you were there this is the tomb of David's distressed at home whatever it may be they said that but he's pointing David's right here he's now dust this could refer to David who does it refer to Jesus whom you crucified Jesus was the one who rose from the dead okay and not only did he rise from the dead but he was in verse 32 this Jesus God raised up and of all that we are witnesses very important here Peter's beginning to fulfill the mandate Christ gave him Peter's telling the crowds all these people who think he's drunk we are witnesses to his resurrection and his exaltation at the right hand of God okay and he quotes another Psalm Psalm 110 David did not ascend into the heavens but he himself says the Lord said to my lord sit at right hand until I make your enemies your footstool when did that happen at the Ascension we just studied it so Peter is testifying he's look can I get it can I get a witness right he is witnessing to the resurrection of Jesus and he's witnessing to the Ascension of Jesus and proclaiming that the kingdom of heaven has been established okay and the signs the evidence of all of that is the very events that they just witnessed at the Upper Room the great sound the fire right this speech all these things are there evidence for his audience that the kingdom of God has been established okay so this first sermon that Peter preaches is all about Davidic covenant fulfillment Jesus fulfills the covenant of David he is the son of David that is seated that is seated at the right hand of God now there will be a descendant of David to sit on the throne forever forever Jesus insulin sits on the throne okay so people convert at this point here we are coming to a conclusion okay in chapter 2 verse 37 it says the people were cut to the heart and that refers to this circumcision of heart that I told you to talk about back in Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 6 Moses tells the people you are hard-hearted but the Lord will circumcise your hearts circumcision in the flat pardon me circumcision in the flesh with symbolic of cutting away of sin ok here God says I'll cut your heart you will you'll you will repent inwardly and Moses says this the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants so that will you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul in order that you may live and we're seeing the first fulfillment of that right now after Peter preaches his first sermon not bad for first sermon right they all believe that what shall we do 3,000 of them we know why 3,000 it's a reversal of Mount Sinai what shall we do and Peter says repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ okay get that after he quotes Joel he says he who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved they say what shall we do he says be baptized in the name of Jesus and baptism is super important it's not just enough to say I believe in Jesus and I'm saved you got to be baptized and I'm just giving you three quick verses about this baptism is important that done that make you thirsty that makes me thirsty John 3:5 very very famous you all know it Jesus said truly truly I say to you no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the spirit when I was a Protestant being born of water I didn't get it's like that seems to mean baptism but you know the answer I got he had to be born of amniotic fluid that's stupid no born of water is baptism baptism anyways I digress Titus 3:5 Paul says he saved us not because of any works of righteousness that we had done but according to his mercy through the water of rebirth and renewal of the spirit water and spirit one more passage so I've got 1st Peter 3:21 Peter is using a little typology all right he says God waited patiently in the days of Noah during the building of the ark in which a few that is eight people were saved through water baptism which corresponds to this or which this prefigured now saves you baptism saves you so I've got three pretty good sources of authority Jesus Paul and Peter all talking about the necessity of baptism for the forgiveness of sins and when we're baptized were course we are unified with the Paschal mystery of Jesus Christ we die to our sins were raised up to new life and we receive the spirits and so we could become in Christ's first fruits of the spirit just like the feast okay the end of Acts chapter 2 basically talks about a little bit of Apple Stalag life we'll talk a little bit more about that next time but basically you know they're preaching they perform wonders and signs and they went to the temple together and they broke bread what does break bread mean do they go down have sometimes I said before fish and chips all right no breaking bread is Eucharistic language they celebrated the mass together and they taught they've read they did all kinds of cool stuff okay we'll talk more about that later so that's the beginning that is the beginning of the church that's Acts chapter 1 and chapter 2 and just a second early apostolic laughing mr. slide there but for next time I want to do questions and answers right now but for next time acts three four and five okay so let me open it up to questions now you have

Channel: Dr. Nicholas Lebish - Scripture And Tradition

Views: 29,691

Rating: 4.8373985 out of 5

Keywords: Gospel, Jesus, Christ, Luke, Acts, Catholic, Bible Study, Scriptures, Inspiration, Inerrancy, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit (Deity), Acts of the Apostles (Book), Salvation, Truth, Lord, Prophecy, Prophet, Word, Preaching

Id: qMWZ5UO68Vo

Length: 57min 52sec (3472 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 14 2012