“And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which He said, you have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence.”
The question before us is, “Is this a personal commandment to eleven men or a corporate commandment to the whole of the Church?” There are two ways to identify the people standing in front of Jesus. They are the disciples of Jesus but they are also the founding members of the Church. So, in issuing this commandment, was Jesus commanding 11 men, or was He issuing a foundational commandment to the Church?
The answer we decide to embrace affects all of the Church universal. Obedience produces life but disobedience produces death. The command is either universal to the Church and the whole Church should obey it or it is historical and has no bearing on the daily lives of Christians today at all. In Matthew 28:18, Matthew records that it was at this same time that Jesus informed His disciples that all power in heaven and in earth had been granted to Him. That being the case, this is the first commandment Jesus issues with this power.
Please allow me to once again visit Philippians 2:6-8. Jesus, being a member of the triune God, the creator of all things created according to Colossians 1:16 laid aside His Godhood to come to earth as a human baby. He lived and died and at His resurrection, was given a “name above every other name, a name at which every knee should bow.” This is the “all power” Jesus speaks of just before issuing the command that is our text and it is reflected in the Greek word Jesus has chosen to issue the command. It is a military term a person of great authority would use to convey an important order. The question before us is, “Did the early Church see this command, issued with all power, as a personal commandment to 11 men, or, did they see it as a corporate command to all the Church?”
At some point between Jesus’ death on the cross and the day Jesus issues this command some 30 days later, Jesus has drafted and ratified a new covenant, having fulfilled the old covenant drafted and ratified by His Father. A covenant fulfilled is a covenant ended. In order for Jesus to have been highly exalted and made Lord at His resurrection, given all power, the Lord of the old covenant must first strip Himself of that title and power. This makes the Father God Lord before Jesus’ resurrection. It was the Father God who made Jesus Lord. This little fact reveals the authority with which Jesus issues this commandment, the first commandment Jesus issued with the authority of the new covenant, the authority of Almighty God.
Now, ask yourself this; “Would the first commandment of the new covenant, issued with all power and authority in the heavens and the earth, be a personal commandment to a small group or would it be a foundational commandment to all those who partake in the new covenant?” Would Jesus use this level of authority to command His closest friends or does the level of authority suggest a greater purpose? Everything within me screams, “The most important commandments to the Church come first, followed by those of lesser importance to individuals or small groups.” In Matthew 22:36, one of the lawyers asked Jesus, “What is the greatest commandment of the law?” Jesus answered, “The first.” The same principal would apply to the new covenant.
Every covenant God has made with mankind has had commandments which governed it. These commandments became the law of the covenant. In that Jesus issued a new covenant after fulfilling the old covenant; the new covenant must have commandments, commandments that could not be revealed until after the covenant was ratified. We know the new covenant was ratified after Jesus’ resurrection as Hebrews 9:12-15 describes how Jesus gathered His blood back up after the cross and took it to heaven to sprinkle it over the furniture of the heavenly tabernacle. After Jesus issued the command of Acts 1:4, He issued two other commands and ascended into heaven. If these are not the commandments governing the new covenant, where are they?
Jesus could not issue commandments unique to Him before His death because He lived and died under the authority of His Father’s covenant. Jesus could not be seen as a usurper of His Father’s authority; He could not be seen as insubordinate and still fulfill His Father’s covenant. Jesus had to be completely faithful to the old covenant until the old covenant was fulfilled. Jesus could not issue His own commandments while His Father’s commandments were still in force without transgressing His Father’s authority and sinning against the old covenant.
Thus, the commandments of the new covenant can only be found post resurrection and could only be issued by the author of the new covenant. Therefore, the commandment found in Acts 1:4 must be the foundational commandment of the new covenant and is certainly issued to the founding members of the Church, not eleven men. Moreover, if the command to go out and preach the gospel to all people, found in Acts 1:8, is a corporate command, issued to the whole Church, surely the one that precedes it is a corporate command. Any personal commands should follow the corporate and the most important personal commands would come first, after the corporate.
The idea that Jesus would issue a personal command to His disciples first, before issuing any commands to His Church, is asinine in my opinion. It would mean Jesus treasured His disciples above His Church and thought higher of His disciples than He did of His Church. It is beyond all reason. Jesus did not suffer and die for eleven men; He suffered and died for His Church. Moreover, the command deemed to be corporate by most church leaders to go out preaching the gospel is hinged on the command of Acts 1:4. Jesus said, “You shall receive power from the baptism with the Spirit and be witnesses to me.” The being a witness is tied to the baptism by the word “and.” If there is no baptism there can be no witness! While it was certainly foundational to the apostles, it seems clear the command to wait for the baptism with the Spirit is foundational to the Church.
While it seems apparent Jesus addressed the disciples in Acts 1:4, gathering them about Him to issue this commandment. The angel who spoke to them after the ascension said, “Ye men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven.” Since the angel addressed, “men of Galilee,” it is reasonable to believe those were all that were present. However, the question is, “Did the disciples perceive the commandment as a personal commandment or a corporate commandment? Was the commandment issued to eleven men, or was it issued to the founding members of the Church?
The answer is found in verse 15 of chapter one as 120 souls gathered in the upper room in obedience of the commandment. If the commandment was understood by the disciples to be a personal command to the disciples alone, they would not have allowed these other people to join them in obedience out of respect for Jesus’ command. For the other 109 souls to join in where they were not invited is not admirable behavior. I have to believe Jesus’ statement that all power had been given to Him in heaven and earth was not overlooked by the disciples, especially in the light of His ascension. No, I believe when the other 109 believers joined the 11 disciples, both parties agreed it was the right and fitting thing to do. None of the parties viewed the command as personal to just the disciples.
Furthermore, Acts 2:4 testifies “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” The fact that all were filled, not just the 11, further illustrates the universal nature of the commandment. If the commandment to wait for the baptism with the Spirit was a personal commandment directed at 11 men alone, the Holy Spirit would not have baptized 120; He would have baptized the 11. There is no way this commandment was understood as a personal commandment by the charter members of the Church, neither the 11 disciples nor the other 109 who joined them in obedience.
The testimony of the first Church members is that the commandment to be baptized with the Holy Spirit is universal to all Church members. Furthermore, the testimony of the Holy Spirit is that the commandment to be baptized with the Spirit is universal to all the Church. If the Holy Spirit had baptized 11, He would have confirmed this commandment to be personal to 11 men; He would have confirmed the position of the modern Church. The fact that He baptized all 120 gathered in the upper room confirms the universal nature of the command to all the Church, and that the modern Church is wrong.
Moreover, in Acts 10, when Peter is sent down to preach the gospel to the household of Cornelius, at the point when Peter said, “Whosoever believes in Him shall receive remission of sins,” the holy Spirit baptized these first Gentile believers just as He did the 120 gathered in the upper room in the beginning (Acts 10:43-46). This further illustrates the commandment of Acts 1:4 to be universal to the Church, the foundational commandment of the Church, not a personal commandment to 11 men from Galilee.
We are not told the people of Cornelius’ household were seeking to obey the commandment, only that an angel told Cornelius where to find Peter. The fact that these people were baptized without seeking obedience illustrates the importance of this baptism in the Church and served in that capacity for the apostles who were astonished that those of Cornelius’ household received the same baptism the 120 had in the beginning. This served to confirm to the apostles the necessity of the baptism with the Spirit in Church life.
We are told in John 16:13-14, the Holy Spirit will not speak of Himself, He will not initiate on His own; He will only represent Jesus. Thus, in Acts 10:44-46, what we see is the desire of Jesus to baptize all believers with the Holy Spirit. Sure, it is a commandment, but it is the overwhelming desire of the Saviour as illustrated by the fact that as soon as these believers were able to believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit baptized them with Jesus.
Now, by way of explanation, in John 4:14, Jesus tells the woman at the well He can give her water that if drunk will become a well of water springing up within her into everlasting life. In verse 10, He identifies this water as Living Water. However, in John 7, Jesus stands up and cries out with a loud voice, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink, He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of His belly will flow rivers of Living Water.” John continues with, “this He spoke of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified” (Jn.7:37-39).
Now, in Acts 10:43, Peter is preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first faith of this gospel is belief in Jesus, that is to say, belief in His death on the cross as payment for sins. This is the faith of the heart that leads to righteousness spoken of in Romans 10:10. The word, “in,” means, “to be clothed by,” and it is by this faith that believers are clothed by Jesus’ righteousness. However, in John 7:37, Jesus extends an invitation to the thirsty. In this verse Jesus does not use the word, “in,” but the word, “on.” The word, “on,” means, “a place arrived,” and it is through belief in Jesus’ death that believers arrive at His resurrection, where the prudent thing is to recognize Jesus’ authority and obey His command to be baptized with the Spirit, at which point the Holy Spirit will flow out of your belly as a river. Only believers in Jesus’ death can receive the baptism with the Spirit. Sinners must be washed clean before the infilling can occur.
But notice the passion with which Jesus spoke on that last day of the feast. He stood up in the midst and shouted with a voice loud enough for all to hear clearly what was on His heart. In John 20:21 Jesus breathed on His disciples, saying, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” So in Acts 1:4, when Jesus commanded them to wait for the baptism with the Spirit, they already had the well springing up to everlasting life. They had received the well of Living Water Jesus told the woman at the well about.
Now, the word, “baptism,” means, “to saturate.” So the believer who receives Jesus’ death on the cross as payment for sins has the Holy Spirit living on the inside of him but has not yet been saturated with the Holy Spirit, nor can he saturate himself with the Holy Spirit. Only Jesus can do that through obedience of His commandment. It is the law of the new covenant. Romans 10:10 begins with, “For with the heart man believes unto righteousness,” that’s the first faith that saves from sins, but then continues, “and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” The gift of tongues, as it rolls over your tongue, is your confession that you have submitted yourself to Jesus as Lord and obeyed His commandment. It is faith on the resurrection of Jesus that brings eternal life.
In Acts 1:4, Jesus tells the disciples they had heard Him speak of the baptism with the Spirit. The event recorded in John 7:37-39 is that reference and explains why believers in Jesus are not yet baptized with the Spirit. The well of the Holy Spirit springs up inside the believer but does not flow out. You must have the Holy Spirit inside and outside to be saturated. No matter how hard one might try to get the Holy Spirit to spill out, it is impossible to do so because of the law of the new covenant. Every covenant has laws, or commandments, which govern the covenant. The new covenant is no different. The new covenant, and therefore eternal life, is governed by the law of the new covenant, which states you can only receive through obedience.
The new covenant is governed by its statutes, which is why the command of Acts 1:4 is illustrated to be a corporate commandment by the scriptures over and over again. It is the foundational commandment of the new covenant. It is why Jesus invited any who were thirsty to come to Him to be baptized with the Spirit, illustrating again the command to be universal to all the Church. Jesus was very limited in what He could say about the new covenant before His death because He could not transgress the old covenant while it was in force. Once the old covenant was fulfilled, Jesus could freely institute the new covenant. The translators of the King James Version of the Bible understood the importance of this command as illustrated by the verses containing the words in and on. Both words are translated from the same Greek preposition, “en,” but the context of the verse demands either a belief in or a belief on Jesus.
Now, what does it mean to wait for the saturation of the Spirit? Well, the saturation of the Spirit takes place over an extended period of time. Notice Acts 2:4 again, “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” If there is a beginning, there is an ending. There were about sixteen different people groups present, all speaking a particular language and dialect and each heard one of the 120 tell the wonderful works of God in their native tongue (Acts 2:11). Notice the word, “works.” They were not all telling of one work of God in unison; they were telling of multiple works of God in cacophony. This indicates the speaking with other tongues went on for an extended period of time, long enough for each language group to hear multiple works of God in their particular tongue.
Moreover, Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” The word, “keep,” indicates a daily commitment of obedience. Anything saturated begins to lose its saturation as soon as it is removed from the saturation source. It should be clear the saturation occurs as the Holy Spirit flows from within, thus, believers begin to lose the point of saturation as soon as the Holy Spirit stops flowing from the inside and must speak in tongues again to gain saturation again.
The commandment is essentially a commandment to stay saturated with the Spirit, thus Paul’s admonition is to “be filled with the Spirit,” Ephesians 5:18, the filling being a pseudonym of baptism. Or else, why would Paul admonish a Christian, who has a well of Living Water springing inside the heart, to be filled with the Spirit? Does it not seem more reasonable that He is admonishing the Christian to saturate Himself with the Spirit? The command is to wait for the saturation of the Spirit. Obedience demands a factor of time and to be saturated takes an act of the will to yield to the Holy Spirit as He flows out of your heart over the tongue as a language you have not learned or known. Can you not see that Paul was commanding the Christians to saturate themselves with the Spirit? He was echoing the command of Jesus.
Let’s consider the dynamics. Where or what is the heart of man? Is it not his spirit? If the lost soul is provided a well of Living Water springing up in his heart, the place of his spirit, He is a far cry from being filled with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit would need to flow out of his heart, over his soul and out through his body in order to be filled with the Spirit. This sounds remarkably similar to John 7:38. Jesus said, “All who believe on me, out of his belly will flow rivers of Living Water,” indicating time and volume.
This is the founding message of the Church; this is the foundational commandment of the new covenant, to saturate yourself daily with Jesus through the baptism with the Spirit, that is, to saturate your soul and your flesh with the Spirit of Jesus daily. The saturated Christian is more likely to act like Jesus. The saturated Christian is more likely to exhibit the gifts of the Spirit and do the works of Jesus. Obedience produces blessings while disobedience produces curses.
This again explains Paul’s words to the Philippians, who were already saved from their sins, to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. There are two levels of salvation in the new covenant. Every sinner must believe in Jesus and be washed of their sins but then it is imperative they believe on the Lord and saturate themselves with Jesus constantly. It is up to each of us to judge when we are saturated and reaching the point of saturation changes with each day depending on what outside forces you are subjected to. Just as a piece of cloth placed in the sun dries quicker than one placed in the shade, Christians lose their saturation slower or faster depending on the outside forces brought to bear in their daily lives.
None of the people who were there in the beginning understood the command Jesus issued with all power in heaven and earth to be a personal command to 11 men. Jesus illustrated the command to be universal to the Church with Cornelius’ household and invited every single thirsty soul to partake. Every single entity and every single event shows the command to be corporate, a command to all the Church, not a personal command to a limited amount of people. Still, today the command is judged to be historical, issued specifically to 11 men and obedience by the whole Church is discouraged. Each of us can decide for ourselves whether it is personal or corporate and decide whether we will obey or applaud the disciples for their obedience. Only now, you have the evidence to make an intelligent decision.
Have you ever wondered why the Church has none or very little of the power to witness of the resurrection of Jesus? Have you ever wondered why Jesus seems so distant from those He died to save at times? Have you ever wondered why the godliest of Christians suffer with the most ungodly diseases? The first commandment of the new covenant is being disobeyed by the Church, the very people Jesus died to save. This blatant disobedience flies in the face of everything that is right and true. It is deeply dishonoring of the one who highly honored mankind with His own suffering and death. No wonder Jesus finds it difficult to spend time with His Church.