Between the Words & Lines

"In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day He was taken up into heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had shown." Acts 1:1-2

The Bible, God’s word, is incredibly rich, full to overflowing with teaching, wisdom, and illustration. I have often said we must slow down our reading and the study of it in order not to miss so much. So let’s do that for our devotional today. Word by word, and phrase by phrase. We will only scratch the surface of all that can be ascertained, but we will not gloss over the first two verses as is so easy to do and not get something out of it. Every verse in scripture is a resource to know God. If you want to get deeper you must dig and keep learning how to dig, better.

Note #1 …”In my former book” - refers to the Gospel of Luke, the author of Acts. Luke is also writer to Theophilus. I named my cat Theophilus which has real biblical application.

Note #2 … “Theophilus” means ‘lover of God’ - Luke probably picked a generic meaningful name to include all reader.]

Note #3… “I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach” - Jesus did and taught so much, Luke tries to begin to share as much as he can.

Note #4… “until the day He was taken up into heaven” - refers to the Ascension of Christ.

Note #5… “after giving instructions” - is about the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:16-19

Note #6… “through the Holy Spirit” - completes the cycle from to the Father, to the Son, now through the Holy Spirit who was to come soon.

Note #7… “to the apostles He has chosen” refers to the 11 disciples (Judas is dead and his replacement had not been chosen yet)

This is very elementary, but it is what we must know to begin to study the Bible more deeply. I encourage you to get a good Study Bible with notes and read them. Only then will the Bible more likely come alive for you. The more you understand, the more easily you can understand more. Keep studying, slow down, dig deeper. His Word is full and deep, so we never have to be empty and shallow.

In His Word,
Pastor Fred

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