I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Acts 1-3.

    The first thing I want to point out is that between His resurrection and His ascension, Jesus ate food on a regular basis (Luke mentions “Once when He was eating with them…”). That tells us that Jesus’ resurrected body was a physical body. When the disciples asked Jesus when He would overthrow the Roman Empire, He told them the dates and times for that were not for them to know. This clearly tells us that we cannot learn the date of Jesus’ return by studying prophecy. Another thing which Luke lets drop as if it was a minor point is that there were others among Jesus’ disciples aside from the Twelve, who had started following Jesus when He was baptized by John and were still among His followers after His resurrection. We do not know how many, but we know it was significantly more than two (if it had only been four or five, it seems to me that they would have just drawn lots between all of them rather than nominate two for selection between).

    I want to bring to your attention, and mine, that the disciples experienced the power of the Holy Spirit in a way which no one could miss. There were some who dismissed it a them being drunk, and I am sure there were those in the crowd who thought they were crazy, but the key thing is that people outside the room knew that something was happening. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, people notice.
    In this passage we have two speeches by Peter where he called on the people listening to repent. After each speech we are told that many people joined the disciples in worshiping Jesus. In both speeches Peter accused his listeners of being responsible for Jesus’ death. He does not sugar coat it. He makes no caveat that some of them were not present in the city at the time (although many of those present would not have been). In the second speech Peter allows that they acted in ignorance, but under Jewish Law ignorance was no excuse for sin. Peter was not afraid to call those he was calling to repentance sinners. He was not afraid that they would be offended. There is a time and a place for tact. When we are calling people to repentance is not that time or place.