The Author of Life and the Stone (a two part series)
Both at SUB 207/209 @ 6:00pm
Join us for our welcome dinners! Each welcome dinner will cover one part in a two part series concerning the book of Acts. Meet other believers and hear testimonies from fellow students. Come and enjoy two evenings of fellowship.
"The Author of Life...whom God has raised from the dead" (Acts 3:15) and "the stone...which has become the head of the corner" (Acts 4:11) are two particular and deep expressions used by Peter in his proclamation to the Jews concerning the death and resurrection of the Christ.
The people denied the holy and righteous One and asked that a murderer be released instead of Christ. Little did they know that He was the author, the origin, the very originator of the divine life and that His death would usher in the fire, the impulse of this released divine life, on the earth (Luke 12:49-50; John 12:24).
The people also considered Him as nothing; they did not realize that He was the stone, the very building material of God's spiritual building, which became the chief cornerstone. They did not realize that His death would initiate this stone filling the whole earth (Daniel 2:34-35).
Those who crucified the Lord thought that they were terminating a troublemaker—actually their thrusting Him into death was the threshold that ushered Him into resurrection and ascension, into another realm. Now He is available as the divine life and the building material to anyone who believes into Him.
The Lord's ascension at the end of the gospel of Luke was not the end of His activity. Rather, the Man-Savior's ascension was another initiation. Christ's ascension was His inauguration, His initiation, into His heavenly ministry. The Lord's conception was His first initiation, and His ascension was another initiation. His conception was the initiation of His life and ministry on earth; His ascension was the initiation of His living and ministry in the heavens. Hence, Christ's ascension was not the termination of His activity; instead, it was His initiation into further activity—His ministry in the heavens.
The first book written by Luke, his Gospel, describes the Lord's first initiation and His life and ministry on earth. There is the need of the second book, the book of Acts, to tell us into what kind of living and ministry the Lord has been initiated through His ascension. Therefore, Luke had the burden to write a second book to unveil the living and ministry of the ascended Christ. In Acts we see how the Lord lives and ministers in His ascension.
We would emphasize the fact that, according to the Gospel of Luke, the Lord lived on earth. That life and ministry were initiated by His conception and concluded by His resurrection. Then after His resurrection the Lord Jesus ascended to the heavens. This ascension was not a termination but another initiation. This initiation brought Him into a new realm, that is, into the heavens, where He now has another living with another ministry. This living and ministry are carried out not by the Jesus who was merely conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin and born in Bethlehem; it is carried out by the ascended Christ. The resurrected and ascended Christ is now living in the heavens and ministering there. What is He doing there? He is distributing Himself as divine life and building material into His lovers throughout the entire world for the building up of His Body, which is His fullness for His expression.
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified. And when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, What should we do, brothers? ~ Acts 2:36-37
But you denied the holy and righteous One and asked that a man who was a murderer be granted to you; And the Author of life you killed, whom God has raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And upon faith in His name, His name has made this man strong, whom you behold and know; and the faith which is through Him has given him this wholeness of health before you all. ~ Acts 3:14-16
Let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified and whom God has raised from the dead, in this name this man stands before you in good health. This is the stone which was considered as nothing by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner. And there is salvation in no other, for neither is there another name under heaven given among men in which we must be saved. ~ Acts 4:10-12