Our Ascended Christ

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

¹In the first book, O aTheophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began bto do and teach, ²until the day when che was taken up, after he dhad given commands ethrough the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. ³fHe presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

⁴And while staying1 with them ghe ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; ⁵for hJohn baptized with water, hbut you will be baptized iwith2 the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

The Ascension

⁶So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, jwill you at this time krestore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷He said to them, l“It is not for you to know mtimes or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. ⁸But you will receive npower owhen the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and pyou will be qmy witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and rSamaria, and sto the end of the earth.” ⁹And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, the was lifted up, and ua cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, vtwo wmen stood by them in xwhite robes, ¹¹and said, y“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, zwill acome in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

¹²Then bthey returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. ¹³And when they had entered, they went up to cthe upper room, where they were staying, dPeter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon ethe Zealot and Judas the son of James. ¹⁴All these fwith one accord gwere devoting themselves to prayer, together with hthe women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and ihis brothers.3

¹⁵In those days Peter stood up among jthe brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, ¹⁶“Brothers, kthe Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, lwho became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. ¹⁷For mhe was numbered among us and was allotted his share in nthis ministry.” ¹⁸(Now this man oacquired a field with pthe reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong4 he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. ¹⁹And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called qin their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) ²⁰“For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

r“‘May his camp become desolate,

and let there be no one to dwell in it’;

and

s“‘Let another take his office.’

²¹So one of the men who have accompanied us during tall the time that the Lord Jesus uwent in and out among us, ²²vbeginning from the baptism of John until the day when whe was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us xa witness to his resurrection.” ²³And they put forward two, Joseph called yBarsabbas, who was also called zJustus, and aMatthias. ²⁴And bthey prayed and said, “You, Lord, cwho know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen ²⁵to take the place in dthis ministry and eapostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” ²⁶And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

⁴⁴Then he said to them, k“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, lthat everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”