NIKKI STEVENSON | Co-Host, Former Adventist Podcast |
When I was a Seventh-day Adventist I often had two contradictory reactions to the Bible. At times it felt dry, lacking the kinds of details I thought would make it engaging. Then, when details did appear, I often skimmed past them because they were the kind that didn’t seem to matter to me today in the 21st century. Looking back, I can see how self-focused that posture was. I was reading Scripture, scanning for personal instruction instead of recognizing it as a record of real events in real history that lead to a real Person. The problem was not the Bible. The problem was my posture before it.
Acts confronts that posture immediately, which may be why I didn’t gravitate toward it as an Adventist. Luke did not write to satisfy our preferences for cinematic detail or to make us feel as though the story is primarily about us and our journey to faith. He wrote to a real man in history to give an orderly account of what had actually taken place.
Luke was confident that the events he recorded could sustain scrutiny and give certainty to those who believed. When we remember that this letter was written to a real man in the first century and has been preserved across centuries for us to read today, it changes how we approach it. We are not imagining a distant world. We are being invited to examine history.
The first two chapters establish the framework for everything that follows. They are where we will begin our walk through the book of Acts. I hope you’ll open your Bible with me as we go.
Luke Anchors the Story in Verifiable History (Acts 1:1-3)
Luke opens Acts by rooting it in his first letter to Theophilus. At the end of his Gospel, he briefly records the ascension of Jesus. Now, as he begins Acts, he returns to that moment and slows the story down. He expands it. There was a time when I would have mistaken this for contradiction in Scripture, but Luke is not contradicting himself. He provides additional detail that prepares us for the birth and expansion of the church. He is being deliberate.
Luke reminds Theophilus that Jesus, “presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs.” The Greek word there is tekmerion (Strong’s 5039) describing convincing or demonstrative evidence—proof that establishes fact. Luke wants his reader to understand that the resurrection was not rumor, but an event supported by evidence.
I love that Luke chose this word. He didn’t merely describe the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus as “signs”. The word he used points to decisive evidence, which aligns with Luke’s purpose in writing. What Jesus did after His resurrection was verifiable. He appeared to them over a period of forty days. He spoke with them. He was seen by them. He ate with them and was touched by them. This was not a mass hallucination or a disembodied voice from the sky. He appeared in His body and stood before them.
A Very Jewish Question About the Kingdom (Acts 1:4-6)
In these verses we see that Jesus ordered the disciples not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father. The story of Acts would begin in a specific place, at a specific time, with a specific act of God. They were to remain in Jerusalem until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Luke begins Acts not with movement initiated by the apostles, but with waiting on God to move and equip. The church did not begin with a grassroots apostolic effort. It began with the fulfillment of divine promises and provisions.
In verse 6 Luke records the final exchange between Jesus and His apostles before He is taken up. After forty days of instruction about the Kingdom of God, and after their minds had been opened to understand the Scriptures, they ask, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”.
Before the cross, the disciples often failed to grasp what Jesus was saying. He told them about His betrayal, suffering, death, and resurrection but they didn’t comprehend any of it.
Before the cross, the disciples often failed to grasp what Jesus was saying. He told them about His betrayal, suffering, death, and resurrection but they didn’t comprehend any of it. He also described the kingdom in ways that unsettled their expectations. Again and again we see that they did not understand Him.
After the resurrection, however, something shifted. Jesus did not leave His disciples in confusion. When misunderstanding arose, He corrected it directly. He rebuked their slowness to believe (Luke 24:25), corrected their misunderstanding about His bodily resurrection (24:39), opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (24:45), and over forty days spoke to them about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). He taught them with evidence while enabling them to understand Him.
The same disciples who once struggled to grasp what Jesus meant were now being instructed by the risen Christ. They were being enabled to understand His suffering, His resurrection, their mission, and the Kingdom of God. These are not the confused disciples of Mark 8. Luke does not record this question casually. He places it immediately before the ascension. The positioning forces the reader to wrestle with it. This is not background noise. It is a part of the framework of the book.
Timing Corrected, Expectation Intact (Acts 1:7-8)
While the post-resurrection pattern was to see Jesus correct wrong understandings, in these verses we don’t see correction about the event in question. Jesus had just spent 40 days teaching them from the Scriptures, and He allowed them to retain their anticipation for a future restoration of a Jewish kingdom.
Jesus’ response to their question was to position them rightly under the sovereign authority of the Father who alone fixes times and seasons. He then immediately redirected them toward their mission. He 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.”
The Ascension and Promise of Return (Acts 1:9-11)
The words Luke used to describe the ascension are intentional. He anchors the event in eyewitness testimony: “As they were looking on,” Jesus was lifted up and a cloud took Him out of their sight. The ascension of Christ was a visible, bodily departure witnessed by the Apostles. The men who watched Him go would later stake their lives on what they had seen.
Additionally important, Luke recorded the words of the angels who said, “this same Jesus…will come in the same way.” The Jesus who ascended is the same Jesus who will return. The departure was bodily, and the promise of His return is bodily as well. Luke’s careful wording establishes continuity between the ascension and return of Christ. They guard the hope of the church—the risen Lord who left in their sight will return in like manner. This kind of carefully recorded evidence leaves no room for a symbolic return.
The Apostolic Foundation Restored (Acts 1:12-26)
As we move through the rest of Acts 1, Luke continues building his account deliberately. He records their return to Jerusalem, detailing their path and even specifying the distance. He tells us where the believers gathered and provides the names of those present. Luke intentionally writes with verifiable details.
Luke also gives us our first glimpse of apostolic interpretation. Peter interpreted Judas’ betrayal through the Psalms citing Psalm 69:25 and Psalm 109:8. He reads David’s words typologically, understanding them as having fulfillment beyond David’s own experience. The authority to interpret this way belonged uniquely to the apostles, who would go on to lay the doctrinal foundation of the Church. That authority is not transferable, but the teaching they delivered remains binding.
Luke then records the qualifications for the office of apostle. The replacement for Judas must be someone who had accompanied Jesus from the baptism of John to the ascension, someone who could serve as a witness to the resurrection. Two men are put forward. The apostles pray, entrusting the decision to the Lord who knows every heart, and cast lots. Matthias is chosen and numbered with the eleven. By sharing these details, Luke emphasizes that the apostles were witnesses—not architects of a new religion.
Pentecost: Public and Heard in Every Language (Acts 2:1–13)
When the day of Pentecost arrived, the believers were together in one place. The city was full of Jews who had travelled from across the known world to Jerusalem for the feast. The setting in which the apostles received the Lord’s promise was not private, but public—in the midst of devout worshipers. What followed did not happen in isolation. Luke describes an event that was seen and heard and that would be publicly questioned and even mocked.
They began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance, and Luke emphasized that each hearer understood the message in his own native tongue. He also records the confusion, questioning, and even the accusation of drunkenness.
As the disciples gathered, a sound of mighty rushing wind filled the house. Divided tongues as of fire appeared and rested on each of them. They began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance, and Luke emphasized that each hearer understood the message in his own native tongue. He also records the confusion, questioning, and even the accusation of drunkenness. He does not avoid the criticism; he records both the belief and the skepticism. Fabricated accounts rarely preserve hostile reactions within their own historical narratives.
In his account for Theophilus, Luke takes the time to list the regions represented that day. Parthia, Media, Elam, Mesopotamia, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya near Cyrene, Rome, Crete, and Arabia are not symbolic locations, nor are they anachronistic to Luke’s time. They were real places known in the first century, from which real people had traveled to Jerusalem for the feast. Luke is not describing a private spiritual experience. He writes in a way that invites scrutiny. He is tracing a map that places these events in the real world—one that can be tested against history.
Proclaiming the Risen Christ from the Scriptures (Acts 2:14–36)
Luke not only provides eyewitness testimony and geography to establish historical credibility, but he also records the theological truths proclaimed by the apostles. In Peter’s first sermon we see the Christian faith anchored in prophetic continuity. The man rejected by Israel is identified as the Messiah spoken of in their own Scriptures.
Delivered in Jerusalem before many who had been present only weeks earlier at Passover, this sermon was preached in the very city where Jesus had been crucified. The events that took place were not distant history. The crowds had seen His ministry. They had witnessed the controversy. Some had even joined in the demands that led to His execution. The cross of Christ was still fresh in memory for all who were present.
In his sermon, Peter declares that this same crucified Jesus is the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament. He cites Joel to explain the outpouring of the Spirit. He turns to Psalm 16 to argue that David foresaw the resurrection. He appeals to Psalm 110 to proclaim that the Lord Jesus is now exalted and seated at the right hand of God.
In verses 22-24 Peter said,
“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
And in verse 36 he said,
“Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Within this sermon Peter declared that the crucified Messiah was always in the plan of God. At the same time, he brought to bear upon their hearts the guilt they held for the death of God’s Messiah. The sovereign plan of God was neither an accident nor an excuse. It unfolded according to God’s sovereign purpose, and it was carried out by accountable men. Divine sovereignty did not erase human responsibility.
From Repentance to Fellowship (Acts 2:42-47)
In the closing of Acts 2, Luke shows us what happened when the gospel was preached by men empowered by the Holy Spirit. Those who heard were “cut to the heart” and responded in repentance and baptism. Luke records that about three thousand souls were added that day. Baptism on this scale was anything but private. True conviction led to public repentance and visible fellowship. This pattern will repeat throughout Acts. When the Word is proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit, hearts are pierced, people repent, and the church grows.
The Christian faith was not expressed in private isolation. It was public and communal, committed to God’s word and devoted to one another.
From the birth of the church, believers “devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayers.” The Christian faith was not expressed in private isolation. It was public and communal, committed to God’s word and devoted to one another. Lives were changed, relationships were formed. The apostles persisted in teaching, and signs and wonders accompanied their ministry, marking their message with divine authority. In the midst of this new community, The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
I once approached Scripture primarily looking for instruction on how to be saved. Now I see that these details are not distractions; they are the foundation of the true Christian faith and part of God’s kindness to us. That God chose Luke to detail the birth of the church is one of the most remarkable gifts we have.
A Faith That Stands in the Light
It’s not uncommon for people leaving Adventism to feel disoriented. If Adventism is wrong, what is true? Islam? Mormonism? Agnosticism? The thought of building one’s life on deception again is unbearable. There is caution that settles into the heart, a hesitation to pursue truth for fear of being misled once more. And yet, one thing experience teaches us is that false systems avoid scrutiny. They obscure their origins and resist examination.
Christianity’s foundational claims are rooted in public events, not private revelations given to a single individual. Its beginnings are recorded with names, places, eyewitnesses, opposition, and repentance. Luke writes in a way that situates the gospel in the real world—in events that can be examined and tested against history. Its beginnings are not sanitized; they are detailed. The Bible holds up under careful reading. Christianity is not another leap into unverifiable authority. It is anchored in history, fulfilled prophecy, and a risen Lord.
In the next section of Acts, Luke moves from the birth of the church to confrontations in the temple. A public miracle at the temple will draw another crowd. Another sermon will anchor Jesus in Israel’s Scriptures. And the apostles will stand before the very council that once condemned their Lord. In the chapters ahead, we will continue to see that the gospel, and the people shaped by it, will not retreat from scrutiny. They advance in spite of it. †
- Acts Chapters 1 and 2 - February 26, 2026
- Why I love Acts: History, Honesty, and the Search for Truth - January 8, 2026
- Reformed By the Final Authority - October 30, 2025