ACT 1
1
The Promise of the Holy Spirit
1 In my previous account, Theophilus, I documented the comprehensive record of everything that Jesus initiated in both action and teaching during His earthly ministry,
2 extending to the very day when He was received into heaven, having first delivered specific directives through the Holy Spirit to those apostles He had personally selected and commissioned,
3 to these same individuals He also demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that He was genuinely alive following His crucifixion and suffering, presenting Himself through numerous convincing proofs and making repeated appearances to them throughout a forty-day period and delivering teachings concerning the kingdom of God.
4 During one gathering when He had assembled them together, He issued a firm command that they were not to leave Jerusalem but rather to remain there and wait expectantly for the fulfilment of the Father's promise, about which He reminded them, saying that they had heard this directly from His own lips previously,
5 for John had administered baptism using water as the physical element, but they would experience baptism with the Holy Spirit as the divine agent, and this momentous event would occur within just a few days from that present moment.
6 Therefore, when the disciples had gathered together on this occasion, they proceeded to question Him earnestly, inquiring, "Lord, does this present time mark the moment when You will restore and reestablish the kingdom to Israel?"
7 He responded to them, saying, "The precise times and specific seasons are matters that the Father has fixed by His own sovereign authority, and it is not within your jurisdiction or privilege to possess knowledge of these appointed moments.
8 However, you will most certainly receive supernatural power and dynamic ability when the Holy Spirit descends upon you, and you shall become My witnesses—those who testify concerning Me—beginning in Jerusalem, then expanding throughout all the region of Judea, extending into Samaria, and ultimately reaching to the most remote and distant corners of the entire earth."
The Ascension of Jesus
9 After He had completed these instructions, while they stood watching with their own eyes, He began to be lifted upwards, and a cloud enveloped Him and received Him, removing Him completely from their sight.
10 As they continued gazing intently and fixedly upwards into the sky during the time He was departing, suddenly and without warning, two men dressed in white garments appeared and stood beside them,
11 and these messengers addressed them, saying, "Men of Galilee, why do you continue standing here looking upwards into the sky in this manner? This same Jesus, who has been taken up and removed from your presence into heaven in the way you have just witnessed, will return in exactly the same manner as you observed Him ascending into heaven."
The Divine Choice of Matthias
12 Following this extraordinary event, they returned to Jerusalem from the mount known as the Mount of Olives, which is situated in close proximity to Jerusalem, approximately the distance permitted for travel on the Sabbath day.
13 Upon their entry into the city, they proceeded upwards to the upper room where they had been staying—this group consisted of Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.
14 All these individuals were continuously devoting themselves with a unified purpose to prayer, joined together with the women and with Mary the mother of Jesus, and along with His brothers who were also present.
15 During those particular days, Peter rose to his feet and stood up in the midst of the gathered brothers—at this time there was an assembled crowd of approximately one hundred and twenty persons gathered together in the same location—and he addressed them,
16 "Brothers and fellow believers, it was absolutely necessary that the Scripture should reach its fulfilment, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand prophetically through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became the guide and leader for those individuals who arrested Jesus.
17 For this man Judas was originally numbered among our company and had obtained his designated share in this ministry and apostolic service."
18 (Now this particular man acquired a piece of land with the compensation he received as payment for his unrighteous deed, and when he fell headfirst with great force, his body burst open violently in the middle section and all his internal organs and intestines spilled out.
19 This incident became widely known to all the residents who were dwelling in Jerusalem, with the result that this particular field came to be called in their native language Akeldama, which, when translated and interpreted, means Field of Blood.)
20 "For it stands written in the book of Psalms:
'Let his dwelling place become desolate,
and let there be absolutely no one to inhabit it';*
furthermore,
'Let another individual take his position.'*
21 Therefore, it is necessary and required that one man from among those who have accompanied us during the entire period of time when the Lord Jesus moved about and conducted His ministry among us—
22 beginning from the baptism administered by John and extending all the way until the day on which He was taken up and removed from our presence—one man selected from among these must become and serve as a witness alongside us concerning His resurrection from the dead."
23 So they put forward two men for consideration, Joseph who was called Barsabbas (and who also bore the surname Justus) and Matthias.
24 Then, having offered prayer, they said, "You, Lord, who possess complete knowledge of the hearts of all human beings, show clearly which one of these two men You have chosen
25 to take the position in this ministry and apostolic office from which Judas turned away in order to go to his own place."
26 Then they cast lots for them to determine the divine choice, and the lot fell upon and indicated Matthias; and he was counted together with the eleven apostles.
Notes
20 Quoted from Ps. 69:25
20 Quoted from Ps. 109:8
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ACT 1: AFINT
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
