Reference no: EM133658066

Question

The early church experienced many historical events in a short period. Jesus' disciples were witnesses of his crucifixion and resurrection. For 40 days, Jesus appeared to them in different moments to teach them about the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3, English Standard Version). Jesus started to show them what they were going to experiment with, comparing it to the baptism of John (Acts 1:5, ESV). Jesus instructed the disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait to receive the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8, ESV). There was the day of the Pentecost, a tradition from the Old Testament during Moses's time.[1] It was a Jewish tradition, and many people came from different regions and received the power of the Holy Spirit. For the early church, it was a mind-changing event; a mix of understanding considering the fulfillment of prophecies, their culture, and how many things could change. Traditionally the Holy Spirit, God's presence, was only present in the Tabernacle. But now they experimented with it themselves. They were going through a change process, receiving the confirmation that Jesus was truly the son of God, and after his ascension the Holy Spirit was going to guide them. Peter's preaching was focused on this, and many accepted his word and were baptized (Acts 2:41, ESV). According to the video "Pentecost & the Eschatological Setting of the Early Church in Acts", there is a new age of the Kingdom of God in which the prophecies from the Old Testament are fulfilled, and it is established that through baptism old things are left behind.[2] Those first days of Christians were life-changing, many became believers of Jesus Christ. Disciples continued preaching the gospel of God and doing miracles in the name of God (Acts 2:47, ESV). However, many disbelievers were not surprised by Jesus Christ, did not accept that Jesus was the son of God, and sacrificed for us. Peter preached about that in Salomon's Portico, letting them know about who Jesus is, how Jews rejected him, why that rejection was critical, and what they needed to do to change the situation (Acts 3: 13-19, ESV). Due to their preaching about Jesus Christ, life-threatening situations came to the life of the apostles and Christians. They were persecuted, Peter and John were interrogated at the council (Acts 4:1, ESV), were arrested and put in prison (Acts 5:18, ESV), and Stephen was arrested (Acts 6:12, ESV) and murdered (7:60, ESV).