The Gospel of the Forty Days: Witness, Part 2       We continuing our series of articles on what commands (Ac 1:2) and teachings (Ac 1:3) the resurrected Lord Jesus gave, or might have given, during the forty days before His Ascension, and continue from last week’s discussion of Jesus’ last earthly words: “You shall be my witnesses” (Ac 1:8). We showed how Scripture teaches that the Apostles were to be personal, evidentiary eye-witnesses to the facts of Jesus’ life, suffering and death, resurrection, exaltation at God the Father’s right hand, and God’s appointed judge of the living and the dead.       As the Apostolic and Church Fathers preserved the Apostolic Tradition, the significance of their eyewitness testimony was recognized. For example, St. John Chrysostom (344/354-407 AD) wrote: “How then account for the fact that these men, who in Christ’s lifetime did not stand up to the attacks by the Jews, set forth to do battle with the whole world ...

The Gospel of the Forty Days: Witness, Part 1          We continue our series of articles seeing what commands (Ac 1:2) and teachings (Ac 1:3) the resurrected Lord Jesus gave during the forty days before His Ascension.          One of Jesus’ clearest commands and His last recorded words before He ascended was, “You shall be my witnesses ... to the ends of the earth” (Ac 1:8; cf., Mk 16:15, 20, Lk 24:47-48; cf. Mk 13:10). The Apostles in particular were to be personal witness, even evidentiary eye-witnesses, to the facts of Jesus’ life (Jn 15:27, Ac 10:39), suffering and death (Lk 24:46; Ac 10:39), resurrection (Ac 1:22; 2:32; 10:40-41; 13:31; Lk 24:46-48), exaltation at God the Father’s right hand (Ac 5:32), and God’s appointed judge of the living and the dead (Ac 10:42; cf., Mt 28:18).          Even the authorities were amazed at “uneducated, common men” such as Peter and John but they “reco...