Posts

Showing posts from March, 2024

Re-Visiting Acts 1:8 concerning Jesus’ Instruction to Witnesses

A s noted in Acts 22:15, a witness simply testifies what he actually saw and/or heard; he is definitely not at liberty to embellish what he is obligated to say by incorporating heresay or fabrication.   It is important to bear this in mind when checking out the following oft-quoted instruction of Jesus prior to His ascension: “… you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the world.” (Acts 1:8)   The question that immediately springs to mind here is what are His witnesses to testify of.   A possible recourse is to look at what the author of Acts already stated in the gospel he wrote earlier — with both books addressed to the same reader, Theophilus (Luke 1:3 and Acts 1:1), mentioned in passing as having interest to “know the certainty of those things in which you [ viz Theophilus] were instructed” (Luke 1:4).   The gospel author dutifully recorded in the last chapter of his first book the following details of Jesus’ instruction (whic

Checking out Biblical Passages about Heaven

We kick off the discussion by casting a glance at the laymen’s common perception of heaven being God’s perpetual domicile.  Since “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1), many have idly wondered where did the Triune God hang out prior to the six-day creation.  It is obviously futile to indulge in such speculation and so we shall check out the following scriptural verses which offer glimpses of divine proceedings presumably held in the heavenly realm: #1      “… there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord , and Satan also came among them” (Job 1:6 and 2:1) #2       “… above the firmament over the living beings’ heads was the likeness of a throne …; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness of a man high above it … This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord ” (Ezekiel 1:26-28) #3       “… I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple