Reflection on Acts - Living in Post-NT Days
I had started reading the book of Acts in May with a desire to receive a revelation on the mighty and powerful work of the Holy Spirit through the apostles.
(After all, the book of Acts is the one book in the Bible where the Holy Spirit is mentioned so many times. 70 times actually!)
I don't know if you've ever felt like this, but every time I read the book of Acts, I would think to myself - "so many names of places!" I picture a mental map in my mind as I followed the apostles travel from one place to another. And I got lost. 😂
How many of you are with me on this?
I Googled "map of book of Acts" on the internet and numerous images of "Acts maps" appeared. Below is (I promise you) one of the simpler versions of the map.
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| Source: Internet |
Look at all those locations! And imagine traveling and covering all those grounds without having the luxury of air travel?
Putting aside the geographical challenges, my heart was filled with thanksgiving the entire time I was reading the chapters in the book of Acts, for the reasons below.
1) Praise the Lord for the complete written Word of God!
What a blessing and privilege it is to be living in these post-NT times. Not just because we have the luxury of air travel 😅, but simply because, compared to the believers in the time of Acts, we have both the OT and NT.
Think about it, we have scriptures from the OT prophets, we have the gospels, we have the book of Acts, we have the apostles' epistles. We didn't have to wait for the disciples/ apostles to come and tell us all the things we now already have in the Bible, the complete written Word of God!
The believers in the time of Acts waited. They waited for the apostles to travel and reach their locality. They waited for letters to be delivered.
And often, the believers did not have the full story of the biblical truth. The disciples in Ephesus were taught on John's baptism. They knew neither the baptism in the name of Jesus nor of the Holy Spirit. Until the Apostle Paul came to them.
Unlike the disciples in Ephesus in Acts 19, we have the full Scripture today!
In fact, not only do we have the full written Word, we also have so many different Bible translation versions to enable us to fully grasp the meaning of each verse. Not to mention the fact that we can have physical copies of the Bible and digital copies on all our devices.
Isn't that something to be wholeheartedly thankful for?
2) Thank God for technology!
I mentioned that the believers in Acts had to wait. And boy, did they wait! They must be a truly patient bunch!
Take for example the conflict over circumcision and the apostles' decree to the Gentile believers in response to this conflict. They had to 'come together to consider this matter' (Acts 15:6) and 'send chosen men of their own company' (Acts 15:22) to the Gentile. The Gentile believers had to wait for the men (and letter) to arrive to read and know what had been decided and instructed.
In our day today (in the midst of the pandemic restriction), this will be resolved via online meetings (Where I am now, we're in a lockdown. So, yes, one doesn't even need to get out of the house to come together) and issuance of a memo or email.
And to get the news out faster, one can use all kinds of communication platform - social media, WhatsApp, phone call... You name it! Communications are instant.
3) Thank God for modern day epistles!
And with technology, we have available at our fingertips, regardless of where we are, countless resources - online sermons, teachings, material.
I think of these online Christian resources as our modern day epistles. As Apostle Paul wrote letters to the early churches, preachers and teachers in our day "wrote" to believers through various online and offline platforms.
The Apostle Paul wrote to specific group of believers in each locality in his time, with the epistle itself reaching the targeted audience after being delivered to them.
With technology, the modern day preachers speak to wider group of believers instantly, regardless of locality and time. Similarly, modern day teachers are able to write to believers instantly, also regardless of locality and time.
The only difference is that the apostles, being inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 3:16), wrote the Written Word while modern day preachers and teachers, being led by the Holy Spirit, preach and teach from the Written Word.
If we were to take a moment and imagine ourselves living in the days of Acts (where we would not yet have the accounts of Jesus fulfilling the OT prophecy in written, or have all the epistles of the apostles), I wonder how would that affect us?
I could hardly imagine how that would be for me myself!
So, beloved in Christ, won't you agree with me - what a blessing it is to be a believer living in these post-NT days!
Let's be thankful for the Written Word of God.
Let's be thankful for having the Written Word of God so easily accessible in our days.
