NOTES for Act 1:1-26
The apostles find themselves in a state of waiting: they no longer see the risen Lord in the flesh, yet they do not yet live by His presence, which will be revealed to them in the experience of Pentecost, when they “receive power” from the Holy Spirit. Their state resembles ours in many ways. We have never seen the Lord Jesus “according to the flesh” at all, and as for the Spirit, we often live by anything but His breath within us. This makes the way the apostles lived through those ten days very important for us. As we read these lines again and again, we find in them the path we should follow if we too desire the “acquisition of the Holy Spirit” promised to everyone who believes in Jesus. First of all, it is a path of earnest prayer, of communal love for one another and—as shown by the principle on which Matthias and Barsabbas are chosen—of remembering Christ's earthly life, His death, and His Resurrection.