Acts, part 1, a Quick Summary

Tav is the last of the 22 Hebrew letters and it links up with Song of Songs in the Old Testament and Acts and Revelation in the New Testament. The symbolic meaning of this letter is mark, sign or cross. We saw in the first tav book, Song of Songs, that there is a strong correlation between these books and this letter having to do with consummation and marriage. The number one major theme of the book of the Acts of the Apostles is the receiving of the Holy Spirit followed by the profession of Christ to the Jews at Pentecost and then to the Gentiles. This was the beginning of the Christian church which is, in all respects, the beginning of the Bride of Christ.

In Acts the first nine chapters recount the rise of the early church with Peter being the prominent character; the rest of the book follows with the conversion and ministry of the Apostle Paul. The book of Acts is written by the physician, Luke, who spent much time alongside Saint Paul, traveling and witnessing. In his previous book Luke wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the ascension. That book was written to a certain Theophilus, a man who was probably wealthy enough to help Luke get his information published, and Acts is also addressed to this same Theophilus. His name, by the way, means “lover of God” or “loved by God.” With that in mind I like to think that these books were written personally to me.

The thesis verse of Acts is found in chapter 1, verse 8, when Jesus says the following:

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

You can divide this book and align it with this statement since first we find the apostles witnessing in Jerusalem (through Acts 8:3), going into Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:4 – 13:3) and to the ends of the earth (Acts 13:4 – 28:31) spreading the good news and building the church.

Next week in part 2 we’ll look at the acrostic verses for clues as to what to focus on in Acts. What? You don't know what acrostic verses are? They're also called alphabetic verses. You can learn more here.