Read the Old Testament Background below
I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. (Gen. 17:7)
Before Jesus came on the scene, Judaism was not even close to experiencing the fullness of God’s covenantal-promises to Abraham. Thus, the Jews were looking forward to the time when these promises would be fully realised. For Luke (the writer of Luke and Acts), Jesus’ birth marks the start of this era (Lk. 1:55; Rom. 4). Central to the promises was the hope that Israel’s relationship with God, currently dented through their sin, would be restored and deepened[1] and they would experience the blessings and liberation accompanying this.[2] Thus in Luke (Luke’s aptly titled first book!) Jesus’ story is presented primarily as a fulfillment of prophecy, with Jesus identified as the one who brings the promised salvation to fruition – albeit there’s both now and not-yet elements to this. In Acts, the story continues as Luke describes the journey of the gospel as it grows from its Jewish and Judean origins to become a worldwide, community-transforming, Gentile-inclusive movement – within which the Spirit plays the leading role.
If you have a bit longer :-)
➡ How should we apply Acts to our lives today? Acts records the life and growth of the early church so it’s highly relevant for us today! But how much of their journey should we aspire too? For example, should we take lots to decide the leadership team because they did so in Acts 1? Should we hold all our stuff in common? Should we expect the Spirit to play as prominent a role now as he did then? Probably you think “no” to the first, “not sure” to the second and - hopefully! - a massive “yes” to the third! But on what basis?! (i.e. How do we decide what experiences of the early church we should seek to emulate and which we can regard simply as being what they did then but not necessarily a norm for all time?)
