but ye will receive power, the Holy Spirit having come upon you, and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
The disciples had just asked Jesus about the kingdom, and this was His answer: not a prediction about Israel, but a job for the present. Everything hangs on two things He promises here — power from outside them, and a role that centres on Him.
The Question Behind the Answer
The disciples wanted to know whether the kingdom was about to be restored to Israel. One writer notes how the Lord's reply shifts the focus:
The Lord had been speaking of the kingdom of God. Their minds, however, still ran on restoring the kingdom to Israel... Their question gave the Lord the chance to show what the plan would be for the age that was opening. We see again what we saw in Luke 24: the centre of the plan is not Israel but Christ. The coming of the Spirit would mean power — not power to make the apostles restorers of Israel, but power to make them "witnesses to Me" — witnesses to Christ to the ends of the earth.
Power, Not Authority
The word translated "power" here is not the same word used a verse earlier, where the Father keeps times and seasons in His own authority:
But they would receive power ("dunamis"). This is not authority, which is what the word "power" means in verse 7, but vital energy, given when the Holy Spirit came upon them. It would make them witnesses to Him. They would begin at Jerusalem, then spread out to Judea and Samaria, then to the far reaches of the earth. What a contrast to a kingdom kept inside Israel!
The Command to Wait
The same instruction came with a restraint attached: they were to stay in Jerusalem until the promise arrived. One commentator draws out why the Lord held them back:
Do not try to speak for Me until the Spirit of God comes. Only the Spirit of God can do the work of God. He is the only power in this world for God. If we try to serve Him in our own strength, the result will be disaster. I do not suppose Satan cares at all about a man preaching the gospel in his own strength and wisdom.
Witnesses to a Rejected and Risen Man
He does not point them to a cause but to Himself. One writer describes the position Christ held at that moment:
This is not yet the visible kingdom that belongs to the age and world to come. For now it is a matter of testimony in the power of the Holy Spirit, and that testimony depends on His coming and His presence. They were to be witnesses of Christ. They were not yet reigning with Him. They were His witnesses to a Man rejected yet risen, despised by men, above all by the Jews and by Jerusalem, but about to be exalted by God in heaven. All of it comes from grace.
Beginning at the Worst Place
The order of the four places is itself a message. The testimony starts where the crucifixion happened and moves outward:
Look how the Lord defines the circle now. The Cross had been accomplished, with all its wonderful fruit for God and man. That threw down every barrier that had kept the nations apart. Salvation, like a shining river, could now go out to the ends of the earth. It began at the guiltiest spot of all, and it kept widening and flowing on until — thank God — it reached us Gentiles, who sat in the dark.
How Samaria Was Actually Reached
The word came true, but not in the way you might expect. It took a persecution to push the message out of Jerusalem:
In this chapter we see the work of God extending, and reaching the Samaritans. This was quite in keeping with the Lord's word in Acts 1:8, though the twelve apostles were not the ones God honoured to do it. The rage of the enemy was the immediate cause of this spread of the gospel... The enemy, as often before and since, over-reached himself. It only led to the spread of the truth, for "those who were scattered went about preaching the word."
What Makes Someone a Witness
He said they would be witnesses, not just that they would speak. One writer draws the line between the two:
A witness may preach, but not every preacher is a witness. A witness is someone marked by what he has seen and heard while keeping company with the Lord... Stephen was the outstanding example of this. Not when he exposed the stubborn hearts of the Jews, but when he prayed, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them," while they stoned him in their murderous hatred.
Summary
- Redirected. They asked about a kingdom for Israel. He answered with a testimony about Himself — "the centre of the plan is not Israel but Christ."
- Powered. What they receive is not authority over times and seasons. It is vital energy, given when the Spirit comes upon them.
- Restrained. Until that power came they were not to speak for Him, because work done in our own strength ends in disaster.
- Widening. The gospel starts at the guiltiest spot on earth and flows outward: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth. Persecution only pushed it further.
- Embodied. He said "you will be my witnesses." A witness is someone marked by keeping company with the Lord — as Stephen was, praying for the men who stoned him.