My burden in this message is to point out the position of the book of Acts in the arrangement of the contents of the Scriptures. We need to ask this question: where does the book of Acts stand among all the books of the Bible? The book of Acts is between the four Gospels and the Epistles, which include the book of Revelation. Hence, the book of Acts is a dividing line. Before Acts, we have the four Gospels as the continuation of the Old Testament. After Acts we have the Epistles with the book of Revelation as a conclusion.
The book of Acts can be compared to the backbone in the human body. The backbone divides the human body into two parts, the right side and the left side. Many problems in the body are caused by weakness in the backbone. If a person’s backbone is weak, he cannot be strong. We may say that the book of Acts is the backbone of the New Testament dividing it into two parts: (1) the Gospels and (2) the Epistles with the book of Revelation.
When some hear us say that the book of Acts is the dividing line and “backbone” of the New Testament, they may say, “In the past you divided the books of the New Testament in a different way. Now you are arranging the New Testament books in another way.” We should not be bothered by this, since there are many different ways of dividing, or arranging, the books of the Bible. We should not be limited to one way. The present way of dividing the New Testament books emphasizes the crucial importance of the book of Acts in the New Testament.
The four Gospels speak of the Lord Jesus on earth. But where is Christ in the book of Acts? In this book Christ is in the heavens. Acts does not unveil to us a Christ on earth; it reveals a Christ who is in the heavens. Concerning the Lord’s ascension, we do well to consider the following stanzas from Hymns, #132:
Lo! in heaven Jesus sitting,
Christ the Lord is there enthroned;
As the man by God exalted,
With God’s glory He is crowned.
He hath put on human nature,
Died according to God’s plan,
Resurrected with a body,
And ascended as a man.
God in Him on earth was humbled,
God with man was domiciled;
Man in Him in heav’n exalted,
Man with God is reconciled.
Lo! a man is now in heaven
As the Lord of all enthroned;
This is Jesus Christ our Savior,
With God’s glory ever crowned!
How wonderful that Christ is now in heaven as the Lord of all enthroned! In Him God on earth was humbled, but now, also in Him, man is exalted in heaven. This is the Christ revealed in the book of Acts, the book that stands between the Gospels and the Epistles.