What is the story of the New Testament?

We now pass on to the book of Acts. It is the second part of the New Testament. All this that we have been speaking of, — the three gospels and the one, — are the Genesis, they are the life of Christ Himself personally. Then comes in Exodus, the history of the Church. The Lord, raised from the dead, brought out from the grave, is about to ascend, but before He ascends He gives His disciples again the promise of the Holy Ghost. They are to tarry at Jerusalem until they receive power from on high. And then in the first chapter of Acts, He goes up to heaven. In the second chapter the Holy Ghost comes down from heaven.

The book known by the name "The Acts of the Apostles" (The oldest manuscript, the Sinaiticus, dating from the 4th century, given the title simply as "The Acts," which is no doubt the better name for the book(, follows the four Gospel records. This is its proper place. The books of the New Testament have been correctly divided into five sections, corresponding to the first five books, with which the Bible begins, that is the Pentateuch. The four Gospels are the Genesis of the New Testament. Here we have the great beginning, the foundation upon which the subsequently revealed Christian doctrines rest. The Book of Acts is the Exodus; God leads out from bondage a heavenly people and sets them free. It is the great historical book of the New Testament given by inspiration, the beginning of the church on earth. The Pauline Epistles are the Leviticus portion. Holiness unto the Lord, the believer's separation and standing in Christ; what the believer has and is in Christ, by whose blood redemption has been purchased, are the core truths of these Epistles. The Epistles of Peter, James, John and Jude, known by the name of the Catholic Epistles, are for the wilderness journey of God's people, telling us of trials and suffering; these correspond to the Book of Numbers. The Book of Revelation in which God's ways are rehearsed, and, so to speak, a review is given of the entire prophetic Word concerning the Jews. the Gentiles and the Church of God has therefore the same character as Deuteronomy.

The promise, the psalm and the prophecies all point to one Person. And what a Person! The virgin Mary received the most marvellous news ever given to a woman. She was to give birth to a son. His Name would be called Jesus (Jehovah the Saviour). He would be great. The One to be born was the Son of the Highest, who would sit on the throne of His father David. His Kingdom would have no end. The Holy Thing that was to be born would be called the Son of God. No human generation would be involved in this conception. It would be accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit. This was a miracle which surpassed human comprehension. This marvellous message from heaven guarantees that the Old Testament prophecies will be fulfilled to the letter. Sadly, the Gospel narrative ends in the rejection and death of the Son of David. But God's purposes for the earth were not frustrated, and He had other purposes too which are to be fulfilled. The rejected Saviour ascended to God's right hand after rising from among the dead. From that exalted position the Holy Spirit was sent down into the hearts of those who believed in Jesus. The church, the assembly, was formed of the called out ones and the church period began. It has lasted almost two thousand years. Soon, perhaps very soon, the church period will end as described in 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 13-18. From that moment God will resume direct intervention in the worlds affairs. From Revelation 6 to 18 there is a preview of what will happen on earth after the church is caught up to be with Christ. This period culminates with Christ coming in judgment to establish His Kingdom as King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19).

The Gospel of Mark closes with these words: "So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, [His disciples] He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God; and they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following." The record of this mighty working of the grace of God is given in the Acts of the Apostles. It was carried out under the administration of the ascended Lord and in the fullness of the power of the Holy Ghost come down from Him. It is a record that grows in interest as it is studied. The Lord had commanded His disciples to preach repentance and remission of sins among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem (Luke 24). We may well marvel at this for Jerusalem was the most desperately wicked city on earth; its history was one of blood-guiltiness; it had not only slain the prophets but crowned its crimes by crucifying Him who was its Messiah and God. But where sin abounds, grace does much more abound.

But the Lord had foreseen that persecution would come upon His disciples, as first of all it came upon Him. He had said to them, "When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another." Accordingly the believers in Jerusalem were all scattered abroad, except the apostles. But in other places they did not cease their work of witnessing for Christ. They went everywhere preaching the word. And wherever they preached the word, the same Holy Spirit was behind the preaching, and the preaching was effective, so that men were brought to confess the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria men heard of the death, the resurrection, and the glorification in heaven of Him, Whose words many of them remembered, Whose miracles they had seen, Whose gracious presence they had missed from their streets. Now they heard that He had shed His precious blood for the ransom of souls, and that God had received Him into glory on high.

We were considering last week the establishment of the church of God at Pentecost through the operation of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven by the exalted Lord and Christ. The church was then formed, but it was needful according to the purpose of God that this church should extend itself territorially, that it should expand numerically, that it should develop potentially, and become a great witness for the absent Lord throughout the world. And the subject now before us is how this development was brought about. In dealing with it we might consider historically the whole of the Acts of the Apostles, which describes the way in which the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and faith in Him were spread in those early days; and we might further consider the remainder of the New Testament after the Acts, for the Epistles, especially those of Paul, give us that holy teaching whereby the growth of the church is permanently secured. But in the time available we can only look at the matter from a general point of view, as the Lord may help.

Christianity at the beginning had no separate priestly order. Its first converts went everywhere preaching the Lord Jesus. They were the first to spread abroad the glad tidings of salvation, even before the apostles themselves had left Jerusalem. (Acts 8:4) In course of time, when converts were found sufficient in any place to form an assembly, they came together in the name of the Lord on the first day of the week to break bread, and to edify one another in love. (Acts 20:7) When the opportunity came for an apostle to visit such gatherings, he chose elders to take the oversight of the little flock; deacons were chosen by the assembly. This was the entire constitution of the first churches. If the Lord raised up an evangelist, and souls were converted, they were baptised unto the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This was, of course, outside the assembly, and not a church act. After due examination by the spiritual as to the genuineness of the evangelist's work, the assembly being satisfied, they were received into communion.

We open the New Testament and find on the first page of it the story told in simple language and in about 250 words. It is a subject on which the imagination might have run riot, as it did in the numerous fables and legends that gathered about it as spirituality declined and superstition advanced in the early centuries of the Christian era; but in this God-breathed account of it, the imaginations of man's mind are excluded, and every sentence of the story bears the Divine imprimatur. “ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream saying. Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take to thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS; for He shall save His people from their sins .”

Directly we open the New Testament, we are face to face with the blessed fact that the time had come, in the history of this ruined and guilty world, when God had intervened for the salvation of men through the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we read, "Thou shalt call His name JESUS (i.e., Saviour) for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21). In order that this salvation might be available for all, Christ Jesus "gave Himself a ransom for all" (1 Tim. 2:4-6). When ascended to glory, the message is still that there is no salvation in any other, "For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). So, from the birth of Christ to His ascension, we see set forth in Him the grace of God that brings salvation for all men.

The New Testament is the book of the Mediator. In its first chapter there stands twice over in capital letters the name of its great subject, its true title, JESUS. "Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins" (v. 21). "She brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS" (v. 25); and Jesus is Emmanuel; GOD WITH US. The prophetic Scriptures, to cheer the faith of those who lived in those dim days, had foretold His coming: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (Mic. 5:2). That word was fulfilled when Jesus was born in Bethlehem; then He appeared who was able to speak to man on God's behalf, and to speak to God on man's behalf, for He is God and man.