As children of God, we have become co-heirs with Christ. In Romans we read, “And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory” (Romans 8:17 NLT). This position is again made clear in Ephesians 2:6: “[God] raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” In and through Christ, we have been repositioned. No longer are we children of this world, but rather we are royalty (heirs) in the kingdom of Heaven. As heirs in this kingdom, we have been charged with the advancement of our Lord’s mission. His conquest and His kingdom have become our own because we have been adopted into His lineage. What a mind-blowing truth! But like the earthly king in our illustration, if we are to be effective in our position in Christ, we must discover and wield the power that comes with it. In this chapter we will delve into how we are empowered to fulfill our role in the advancement of His kingdom. Peter declared:

You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9 NLT)

Before we continue further, it is important to note: position always precedes power. We must be positioned in Christ before we can ever do anything for His kingdom.

The Power We Need

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4-5)

Jesus did not suggest that the apostles should wait for the Promise, nor did He recommend that they heed His instruction. Rather, He “commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem” until the Promise had come. Jesus was compelled to place such high importance on this instruction because the empowerment of the Spirit is essential to all kingdom work. He knew His disciples were eager to share the good news of His resurrection and might grow restless in waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1:3 we learn that they had spent days with Jesus, hearing Him teach on the kingdom of God. The Bible states that the apostles had received “infallible proof” of His resurrection. They did not need to be persuaded of the validity of their cause because they had firsthand evidence of Christ’s victory over death. In other words, they were ready to get going!

But Jesus looked at them and said, “Don’t start your ministry. Don’t start preaching the gospel all over the world, and don’t start any churches until you have been clothed with the Spirit’s power” (Luke 24:49, author’s paraphrase). I believe Scripture shows Jesus gave this directive to approximately 500 people (see 1 Corinthians 15:6). But in Acts 1:15, we find that the number of people in the upper room had dwindled to 120. What happened to the other 380 people? I personally believe that with each day that passed, more and more of the original 500 left until only 120 remained. Maybe the 380 who left thought, Let’s go back to the synagogues, start churches, and share the wonderful news of Jesus’ resurrection. After all, it wouldn’t be right to waste a single day in sharing this good news. Only 120 were willing to wait as the Master commanded.