Week 27—Wednesday Acts 1:1-5
Acts 1:1-5
EIGHT STEPS IN THE DIVINE IMPACT
We recapitulate the elements in the Divine Impact:
1. The Word became flesh: “I have dealt with all that Jesus began” (Acts 1:1). The gospel begins with Jesus, the Incarnate, the Particular, not with Christ, the universal. You cannot get to the universal except through the particular. When you want to jump to the universal without any particular, you find a contentless universal. The only content in that universal is the one you read into it, which is false.
2. The Word became Guidance: “All that Jesus began to do and teach . . .” (vs. 1). It was first “do” and then “teach”; his teaching was a revelation of his doing. He practiced before he preached, and his preaching was an unfolding of that practice. Therefore, his preaching was the Word become flesh.
3. The Word became Continuous: “All that Jesus began.” His doing and teaching was not an end—it was a beginning. The Incarnation was to be continuous in his followers. The Word became flesh was to become flesh in them.
4. The Word became Redemptive: “After his passion . . .” (vs. 3). When this Word came into contact with human sin, it crimsoned into sacrifice—the cross. Had the gospel been a philosophy or a moralism, this would not have happened. But since the gospel was a Person, it bled.
5. The Word became alive: “He presented himself alive” (vs. 3). The Word was alive when it came into contact with human sin, and it was more alive after the offering of himself at the cross.
6. The Word became Final Power: “Until the day when he was taken up . . .” (vs. 2). This man on a cross becomes the Son of Man on a throne of final authority—at the right hand of God.
7. The Word becomes Within: “Given commandment through the Holy Spirit . . . you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (verses 2, 5). The Word becomes authority within.
8. The Word becomes Total Program: “[He] taught them about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3, NEB). A total answer to the total need.
O Lord Jesus, we thank you for this Divine Impact. It could not be more wonderful or more complete. It takes in everything and redeems everything. Are we grateful? Read the gratitude on our hearts. May we be the extension of the Word. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: If God made these eight steps toward me, how many steps will I make toward God today?