LOOKING FOR THE BIGGER PICTURE
1. In this final lesson we'll take a look at some of the larger themes of Acts. This will help us to get the big picture. If we want Luke's main message we need to pay attention to what he stresses. If we can get the bigger picture, we can more wisely fit the details together.
GOOD NEWS: GOD AT WORK
2. We used to see signs at roadworks or at building sites which said, DANGER: MEN AT WORK. Luke is anxious for us to understand that God is at work in the person of Jesus Christ. In Acts, it isn't the apostles or elders or missionaries or world governments who are in charge. God is in charge! What happens in the story Luke unfolds is the work of God. Chance, good or bad luck, fate, chaos, the stars, the unknown—these or a combination of these are the forces by which many people explain the past, present and future. Luke stares us right in the face and says: The good news is: God is and God is at work!
3. The God who is at work in Acts is the God of the fathers. He is one who has shown himself faithful in a million ways to millions of ancients. But his faithfulness is seen as never before in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The God of Jesus Christ is the God of OT promises. He is the God of the Jewish fathers but he is more than that—he is the God of all humanity. Creation says that! He is the one who graciously blessed Abraham and his descendants, but he also created all men. Despite the fact that they sinfully departed from him, God continued to bless mankind with rain and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with gladness. He gave them life and land in which to live. (See this in passages like 14:15-17; 17:24-28). Now he comes in Jesus Christ offering life with himself. Ask Luke who the central figure in his story is and he would quickly and decisively tell you: "God, of course!" But it is equally important for Luke's purposes to tell us that the God who is at work is the God who was intimately involved with the OT worthies and the Israelite nation! (All this relates to the next couple of themes.)
THE FULFILLMENT PRINCIPLE
4. Tirelessly, Luke tells his readers, in one way or another, that what he narrates is nothing new! The events of his narrative are the fulfillment of long-standing promises which God made to and through the seed of Abraham. Luke claims that what happened in his story happened because God was faithful to his word, faithful to his purpose, faithful to his promises.
5. What happened in Acts 2:1-4 is the fulfillment of Joel 2. What happened to and through Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of Gen 12:1-3; Deut 18:15-18; Psalms 2, 16, 110; 2 Sam 7. To choose out a handful of verses this way may tempt you to think this is all there is to support the "fulfillment principle" theme—resist it. The promises and purposes of God aren't discovered by some independent verses, they permeate the whole OT. Peter wants his peers to know this, so having quoted Moses, he says this of what is happening before their eyes (Acts 3:24): "Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days." When he's on trial before Agrippa, Paul had this to say (Acts 26:22): "I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen." In 13:32 he says: "We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us their children, by raising up Jesus" and he goes on to show that the psalmist had foretold this. Peter claims that by the Spirit of God, David knew God would fulfill his promises to David's house and spoke of Christ's resurrection (Acts 2:29-31). When James speaks about the mass conversion of Gentiles, he insists that this is what the prophets foretold (15:13-18). We must finish with this but you need to get the feel for how important this truth is to Luke as he writes to assure Theophilus and us.