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Hi again! As I write this, I’m looking forward to celebrating my favorite holiday (Easter 2024) this weekend. This year, I’m planning to revisit what the Spirit revealed to me in the study of Matthew 28:1-15 we just concluded. If you worked through the passage with me, I hope you also have plans to reflect on what the Spirit showed you from that miracle of miracles. Happy Easter!
Last Week’s Work
MY PERSONAL TREASURE
This time, I’m drawn to the promise I found in v8, “… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” I can’t wait to see how the Holy Spirit uses this “wow!” to help me grow and perfect my walk with God!
Now that I know what to focus on, let’s talk about what I learned as far as the setting of this passage.
WHO (CHARACTERS)
Three characters are referred to in v8:
- you (predicted to be my witnesses in v8 and identified as Men of Galilee in v11),
- the Holy Spirit, and
- my (also referred to as the Lord in v6, and This Jesus in v11).
I’m already familiar with the Holy Spirit and Jesus, the Lord, but I have more questions about the people Jesus made that promise to. I want to know if I have anything in common with them. I’m certainly not a man, nor am I from Galilee, but I do believe I have witnessed Jesus’s miracle-working power myself.
WHERE (LOCATIONS)
Key locations in this text are found in v8: Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
In v10, I discovered Jesus was lifted up into heaven, and (as I mentioned above), v11 identifies the you characters as being of Galilee, which I recognize from other studies I’ve done as being a region north of Samaria and Judea (where Jerusalem is). Of course, this gives me pause. Why would Galileans be called to testify to those living in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria? I definitely want to scratch around this more when I get to Step 4 (Refine)!
I was almost done with this blog when I realized the text doesn’t indicate where this conversation took place. I do see in Acts 1:12, “they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem…” so I’m thinking it happened on Olivet, but I’m not sure. I’ve written myself a note when I get to step 4 to see if Mark, Luke, or John indicate where it happened, since I know Matthew doesn’t mention it in the last chapter of his gospel.
TIMEFRAMES
I can’t believe I almost missed the subtle but powerful word when in v8! I know it always starts a phrase that impacts the timing of something in God’s Word, and I even picked it up in verses 6 and 9! But it wasn’t until I read through the passage again that the Spirit revealed power comes WHEN the Holy Spirit [comes] upon you. In other words, no Holy Spirit, no power.
If you’ve studied with me before, you know this is a constant struggle of mine—to rely on the Spirit for power instead of trying to do things in my own strength.
I also felt a personal connection to the time data in verse 7. To the men’s question about the restoration of Israel’s kingdom, Jesus says, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
The passage doesn’t tell us why Jesus said that, but from my perspective it’s not hard to anticipate one likely reason. If I knew when it was coming, I’m sure I’d waste a lot of time and energy worrying about it and/or trying to change the timing or some other aspect of it.
Dig-In Challenges
I love how the Spirit is already showing me more than I anticipated in this study. I hope you’ve discovered some interesting gems here, too, and it spurs you to work through more of this process. Here’s what I’ll be doing this week:
- PRAY each time I start to study using my prayer from last week.
- MINE: Look for repeated concepts in this passage and, if I find any, consider how that repetition might be relevant to my personal treasure from v8;
- MINE: Locate any special statements (blessings, commands, curses, prayers, promises, and warnings) connected to that treasure; and
- MINE: See if I can find any lists (3 or more similar items mentioned in the text) and their relevance to my treasure.
See you next week!