Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Empowered to Tell
For whatever reason, there is something empowering about the feeling of knowing something that other people do not know. Maybe you hear some bit of news and you say, “I knew that, but I didn’t have permission to say.” It makes us feel smarter in some way.
Imagine you literally had the physical presence of the Lord Jesus right here, right now, and you could ask Him any question. I think that I would have the tendency to disdain other people and to get a little smug by having such access to the One Who knows everything. Well, the disciples probably battled this at times, and certainly they had curiosity. The Bible says in Acts 1:6, “When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” They had a valid question, and they knew the Person to ask. Did Jesus answer their question?
Jesus said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Essentially, Jesus said, “I am not going to answer your question, but I am going to give you something better. I am going to give you power instead.” When would they receive it? “After that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.”
Jesus wasn’t so much interested in fulfilling their curiosity as He was in empowering their witness to tell what they did know. Today, God does not want us to feel empowered by knowing something others do not know. He wants to empower us so that others will know what we do know.
God is not primarily interested in gratifying your curiosity either. What He is interested in is your being obedient with the knowledge that you already have. God wants to empower your witness in order to help other people come to Christ.