Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 33 · February 2
Ye Shall Be Witnesses
“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.”
What was the last question the disciples asked him?
They asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel. Forty days after the resurrection, and they are asking about the calendar.
He declines. It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. Then the sentence that replaces the one they wanted: But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. He does not correct their politics or explain the kingdom. He redirects the whole subject onto what they will be doing while they do not know.
Witness is a courtroom word and Acts uses it precisely. Twenty verses later, choosing a replacement for Judas, the qualification is a man who companied with them the whole time, from the baptism of John to the ascension, to be a witness with us of his resurrection. A witness was there, and says what he saw, and the argument against him has to come from somebody who was not.
Now the geography, which reads like a table of contents for the book you are holding. Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth. Samaria is the offensive item on that list for everybody standing there, and it is not optional.
They stood looking up until two men in white asked them why. The promise had already been made and it does not depend on the looking. The power comes, the Spirit comes, and the assignment is smaller and heavier than the one they applied for: be there, and say what you saw.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 33 is What to Wear (Colossians 3:12).