WITNESSES

ACTS 1:6-11

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

It’s no exaggeration. The faith of every student of Jesus in the world today is built on the foundation of the testimony of these Witnesses.

These first students are the ones who were with Jesus. Saw His miracles, heard His teaching and more importantly witnessed His death and resurrection.

Now to them He assigns the task of establishing the credibility of faith.

They will need special supernatural help for this unique task. That’s why Jesus tells them – you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.

To preach Jesus' message with perfect recall and to put into writing the life and teachings of Jesus with precision, they must be inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Then to be credible witnesses, they must have the Spirit’s help to personally live out their lives in faithfulness to the Teacher.

Finally, they must put the ultimate stamp of authenticity on their message through a willingness to die for the truth of what they said. These witnesses must seal their testimony in their own blood!

All this they did! And for this, every student of Jesus today is in their debt. For without the acts of the apostles, there would be no reliable foundation for our faith today.

But how would those who first heard these eye-witnesses know if their testimony was true or not?

Why could their contemporaries be expected to believe even before the life of Jesus was accurately recorded? And prior to the time when these witnesses would confirm their testimony by dying for it?

For that first generation, Jesus gave His messengers power to perform miraculous signs and wonders to immediately show the power of heaven was behind their message – you will be my witnesses.