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When the Holy Spirit came, He changed everything. He took weak, ordinary men and used them to “turn the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). Later in this session, you will read through the account of His coming in Acts 2. But first, it’s important to understand the tension and uncertainty that the disciples experienced before being empowered and transformed.
When Jesus left to go to His Father, He left His disciples with an impossible task: Change the world! I can’t imagine what it must have been like for the disciples when Jesus gave them this commission. Remember that these disciples were common, uneducated men. They had given up what little they had and spent the last three years of their lives following Jesus from place to place. Having just witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion, they knew the difficulties and the dangers of proclaiming the message of the gospel. The disciples thought that Jesus was the Messiah, the one who would come to rescue Israel and be their king. But when Jesus was killed as a common criminal, they became disillusioned.
When Jesus was raised from the dead, however, everything changed. After only three days, what had looked like a complete failure turned out to be a resounding victory. The disciples realized that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, so they asked Him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). Once again, they were filled with hope that Jesus would fulfill His mission, rescue His people, and bring peace to the whole world.
Imagine their shock, then, when Jesus said, “No, I’m leaving to go back to My Father. I want you to go out and change the world.” In essence, that’s the Great Commission—“Go into all the world and make disciples” (see Matthew 28:19). In response to the disciples’ question about whether He would restore the kingdom to Israel, Jesus said, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:7–8).