But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

Just before Jesus ascended to heaven, His disciples asked Him about the restoration of Israel – giving the Jewish people the prominence promised by the prophets when the Messiah’s reign was fully realized. Jesus told them it was best they didn’t know that, but He had something even better for them.

Jesus promised, but you shall receive power. If the national kingdom they wanted would be delayed, the power they needed would not. They would soon receive power with the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised power, but not the power to dominate and subject others; this is the power to spread God’s message of reconciliation in Jesus Christ, bring people to true freedom in Jesus.

The promised power meant that Jesus could promise these once-weak disciples, you shall be witnesses to Me: The natural result of receiving this promised power would be that they would become witnesses of Jesus, all over the earth.

Notice that this really wasn’t a command; it was a simple statement of fact: When the Holy Spirit has come upon you… you shall be witnesses of Me. The words shall be describe what will happen, not what they had to do. In other words, Jesus didn’t recommend that they become witnesses; He said they would be witnesses.

If we want to be witnesses, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The best training program for evangelism is of little effectiveness without the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus told them where they would be witnesses: in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. As Jesus mentioned each of those places, we may imagine the objections the disciples might think of in regard to each of the places of ministry Jesus described.

– Jerusalem: Wasn’t that where Jesus was executed at the word of an angry mob?
– Judea: Was not the ministry of Jesus ultimately rejected by those in Judea?
– Samaria: Many Jewish people of that day were deeply prejudiced against the Samaritans.
– In the end of the earth, the Gentiles were seen by some Jews of that day as nothing better than fuel for the fires of Hell.

Yet God wanted a witness sent to all of these places, and the Holy Spirit would empower them to do this work. Since I live in what would be an “end of the earth” from Jerusalem, I’m glad what they started continued to the present day!

That command didn’t end with those first disciples. Today, God has a Jerusalem, a Judea, a Samaria, and an end of the earth where He wants His people to be His witness. But remember: we need the power of the Holy Spirit to do it. Ask and receive today.

Click here for David’s commentary on Acts 1

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4-5)

Right before He ascended to heaven, Jesus gave His disciples important instructions. First, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem. At this moment, Jesus had nothing else for the disciples to do other than to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit (here called the Promise of the Father). Jesus knew that they really could do nothing effective for the Kingdom of God until the Spirit came upon them.

Jesus commanded them to wait.

– To wait means the Father’s promise of the Holy Spirit was worth waiting for.
– To wait means that had a promise the Holy Spirit would come.
– To wait means they must receive the Spirit; they couldn’t create an experience themselves.
– To wait means they would be tested by waiting, at least a little.

It is significant that this coming, filling, and empowering of the Holy Spirit was called the Promise of the Father. Even though there is a sense in which this was now also the promise of the Son of God, there is meaning in the phrase, the Promise of the Father.

– It shows that we should wait for it with eager anticipation, because a Promise of the Father who loves us so much can only be good.
– It shows that it is reliable and can be counted on; a loving and powerful Father would never Promise something that He could not fulfill.
– It shows that this Promise belongs to all His children, since it comes from God as our Father.
– It shows that it must be received by faith, as is the pattern with the promises of God throughout the Bible.

Jesus explained more about this Promise when He added, you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. The idea of being baptized is to be immersed in or covered over in something; even as John baptized people in water, so these disciples would be “immersed” in the Holy Spirit.

When would it happen? As Jesus said this right before He ascended to heaven, He added: Not many days from now. They knew that this Promise of the Father would come, but not immediately. It would be days from now, but it would not be not many days.

Jesus had a purpose in not telling them exactly when it would come. One purpose was so the disciples would learn to wait in expectant faith. Even so, we should resist “creating” a move of the Spirit. Instead, we trust the Promise of the Father and have expectant faith regarding the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our life. The real move of the Holy Spirit is worth it.

Click here for David’s commentary on Acts 1

Then the city wall was broken through…. And the king went by way of the plain. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him. (2 Kings 25:4-5)

As the Bible describes the sad events of the fall of Jerusalem, we can picture them in our mind. We read, “the city wall was broken through” and see Babylonian soldiers pour into the city.

At that point, Zedekiah made a last-chance effort to escape capture. He planned a secret break through the city walls and the siege lines of the Babylonians, sending the remnants of his army one way while he went by the way of the plain.

Zedekiah made it all the way to the plains of Jericho – which was a considerable distance from Jerusalem. Maybe he thought that once he made it that far he was safe, and though the kingdom was lost, he still had his life and freedom. Prophets like Jeremiah promised judgment upon Zedekiah, that he would be captured and punished by the Babylonians. As Zedekiah reached the plains of Jericho, maybe he thought he had escaped the promised judgment.

That’s not how it turned out – they overtook him in the plains of Jericho. In the same region where Israel first set foot on the Promised Land as they crossed the Jordan River in the days of Joshua, the kingly line of David seemed to end. In Joshua’s day Israel saw the walls of Jericho fall; now the walls of Jerusalem were fallen, and the defeat was bitter.

With great cruelty, the Babylonians forced Zedekiah to watch as they murdered his sons – and then gouged out the eyes of the king. The last sight King Zedekiah ever saw was the murder of his own sons.

Through the prophet Ezekiel, God made a strange promise to Zedekiah. God promised that Zedekiah would be caught and taken as a prisoner to Babylon to die there – but he would never see Babylon (Ezekiel 12:13). The strange promise was fulfilled. Zedekiah was caught and taken to Babylon – but since he was blinded on the plains of Jericho, he never saw the land of his exile. The Jewish historian Josephus confirms that Zedekiah was kept in a Babylonian prison until death.

The promise of God’s judgment against Zedekiah was true and certain. That is the nature of God’s promises. However, it is also the nature of God’s more pleasant promises. He promised to never leave or forsake His people (Hebrews 13:5); the promise is certain and true. God promised to forgive our sins when we humble confess them (1 John 1:9); the promise is certain and true.

I could go on and on, but you get the point. The truth and certainty of God’s promises doesn’t have to be bad news for you. In Jesus Christ, it can be the best news. Believe His good and pleasant promises for you today.

Click here for David’s commentary on 2 Kings 25

And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. (2 Kings 23:37)

Josiah was a ruler over Judah, the kingdom of the two southern tribes of the children of Israel. The cruel Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom, but the southern kingdom of Judah lasted more than 100 years after the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel.

Josiah’s reign was a bright light in a dark season. There were bad kings before and after him, but Josiah was different. He loved the LORD, loving and honoring God’s word. The spiritual revival that came in Josiah’s day started when they came back to the Word of God. In the best sense, it was a “back to the Bible” movement.

Eventually, Josiah died in battle against Egypt. Before Josiah’s time, many leaders in Judah thought Egypt would protect them from the rising power of the Babylonian Empire. Prophets like Jeremiah warned Judah not to trust Egypt, and Josiah resisted them – but he died in the fight against Egypt.

After Josiah’s death, the next kings of Judah were terrible. The people pushed and demanded until Josiah’s third oldest son named Jehoahaz was crowned king of Judah. Jehoahaz was a disaster; he was the people’s choice, not God’s man. He reigned for only three months. 2 Kings 23:32 says that “he did evil in the sight of the LORD.” The people’s choice had his reign cut short when the Pharaoh of Egypt removed Jehoahaz from Jerusalem and put him in prison.

Pharaoh then took another son of Josiah – Jehoiakim, one of the imprisoned Jehoahaz’s older brothers – and made him the puppet king of Judah. Pharaoh also forced massive taxes on the kingdom of Judah. Even as they were forced to pay these taxes to Egypt, Jehoiakim selfishly built himself a new palace, and he did it with slave labor.

What 2 Kings 23:37 said about Jehoiakim was true – He did evil in the sight of the LORD. Jehoiakim, like his brother Jehoahaz, did not follow the godly example of his father Josiah.

Jeremiah 36:22-24 describes the great ungodliness of Jehoiakim – how he even burned a scroll of God’s word. You see, the Prophet Jeremiah told King Jehoiakim that God would send the Babylonians to conquer Judah and Jerusalem, and do it to discipline and humble their proud, disobedient rulers and people.

Jehoiakim didn’t like what God said, so he burned the scroll where the word was written. He wasn’t the first one to hate God’s word and try to destroy it – but he didn’t succeed. The Bible tells us that the Word of God lasts forever. No king or mob can destroy it. Instead, those who resist God and His word are ultimately destroyed in their rebellion.

Josiah honored God’s word; his son Jehoiakim literally burned it. We always want to be on the side of those who love God’s word, not those who hate it.

Click here for David’s commentary on 2 Kings 23

So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess…. And they spoke with her. Then she said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants— all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read.’” (2 Kings 22:14-16)

In the days of King Josiah, they found the long-neglected book of the law – the Scriptures, the books of Moses and maybe a few more – in the temple. When they read the book they were deeply convicted of sin, and made confession and repented. But what to do next? The spiritual leaders of Judah needed spiritual guidance.

It is fascinating to see that they went to Huldah the prophetess. We know little of this woman other than this mention here (and the similar account recorded in 2 Chronicles 34:22). With the apparent approval of King Josiah, Hilkiah the priest consulted this woman for spiritual guidance.

However, he didn’t go to Huldah for her own wisdom and spirituality, but that she was recognized as a prophetess, and she could reveal the heart and mind of God. She knew the word of God and could declare it.

At that time, there were certainly other prophets in Judah. From Jeremiah 22:15-16 we know that Jeremiah was alive at this time (Jeremiah 22:15-16) – but they didn’t go to him. The prophet Zephaniah was also present (Zephaniah 1:1), but they didn’t knock at his door. For some reason – perhaps spiritual, perhaps practical – they chose to consult Huldah the prophetess.

Her message, at least at the beginning, wasn’t positive. She assured the spiritual leaders of Judah that judgment would surely come. Speaking as a prophetess of God, she gave them this message from God: I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants.

King Josiah and the priests knew that Judah deserved judgment, and that judgment would indeed come. Judah and its leaders had walked against the LORD for too long and would not genuinely repent so as to avoid eventual judgment.

The way God used Huldah to deliver this message reminds us that from time to time, God will use an unusual messenger. There were other faithful, more established prophets God could have spoken through at this point (such as Jeremiah and Zephaniah). Yet God used a simple, otherwise unknown woman, who was filled with His Holy Spirit.

We may never know all the reasons God used Huldah, but I know one big reason. Huldah is a great example to us because she was familiar with all the words of the book. If you want to be God’s messenger, the first thing to do is to put your focus on all the words of the book. It is in the book that God most perfectly reveals Himself to us and we come into real relationship with Him.

Click here for David’s commentary on 2 Kings 22