What Happened Next? The Forty Days Between Resurrection and Pentecost

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, you who still cling unashamedly to the old Book, the old hymns, and the old-time fundamentals of the faith: grace and peace be multiplied unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, our risen, ascended, and soon-returning Saviour.

The resurrection was never meant to be the end of the story. It was the glorious beginning. The stone was rolled away. The tomb stood empty. The angels declared, “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said” (Matthew 28:6). Mary heard her name spoken by the living Lord. The Emmaus road burned with Scripture opened by the Master Himself. The fearful apostles in the upper room saw the nail prints and heard the words, “Peace be unto you.”

And then came the question that still echoes in every believing heart: **What happened next?**

The Bible answers that question with crystal clarity in the opening verses of the Acts of the Apostles. Luke, the beloved physician, picks up exactly where his Gospel left off:

“The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: to whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:1-3)

**Forty days.** Not a fleeting moment. Not a vague impression. Forty full days of deliberate, personal ministry by the risen Christ to His chosen apostles. Here is exactly what happened next:

1. He proved He was alive with many infallible proofs.  

   This was no hallucination, no ghost story, no wishful thinking. Jesus ate fish and honeycomb before them. He invited Thomas to touch the wounds. He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at once (1 Corinthians 15:6). He walked, talked, and taught—just as before Calvary—only now in a glorified body that death could never touch again. Conservative Christians, our faith rests on solid, historical, eyewitness facts, not feelings or philosophies.

2. He opened their understanding to the Scriptures. 

   On the Emmaus road He expounded “beginning at Moses and all the prophets… the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). In the upper room He declared that “all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me” (Luke 24:44). The risen Christ taught the whole Bible as one unified story pointing straight to Himself—cross, tomb, and all.

3. He commanded them to wait for power from on high.

   “Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). Again in Acts 1:4-5: “Wait for the promise of the Father… ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” No running ahead in the flesh. No launching programs in human strength. They were to wait—praying, united, obedient.

4. He commissioned them to be His 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” (Acts 1:8). The Great Commission was not optional for a few super-saints. It was the marching orders for every blood-bought believer until Jesus returns.

5. He ascended to the right hand of the Father.

   “While they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). Two angels immediately assured them, “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). The ascension was not abandonment—it was coronation. Jesus now intercedes for us at the Father’s right hand and will return in the same visible, personal way.

Then came the ten days of waiting. The disciples returned to Jerusalem, gathered in the upper room, continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, and chose Matthias to replace Judas. They did precisely what Jesus commanded. They waited. They prayed. They stayed together. And on the fiftieth day—Pentecost—the Holy Ghost came in power exactly as the Saviour promised.

Conservative Christians, the same risen, ascended Lord who walked those forty days with His first followers walks with us today. Between our own “resurrection day” (when we were born again by faith in Christ) and the fullness of the Spirit’s power in daily living, there is often a waiting season. The question remains: **What will we do next?**

Will we saturate ourselves in the Scriptures as the risen Christ opens our understanding? Will we obey His command to tarry in prayer until we are endued with power? Will we refuse to run ahead in the flesh and instead wait for the Holy Ghost’s clear leading? Will we determine to be His faithful witnesses—starting in our own homes, our own churches, and reaching to the ends of the earth?

The forty days teach us that the Christian life is not a sprint fueled by emotion but a steady walk of obedience. The resurrection guarantees the victory. The ascension guarantees the promise. Pentecost proves that Jesus always keeps His word.

Let us follow the pattern of those first believers. Open the old Book daily. Get on our knees in united prayer. Stay in one accord in our local churches. Wait for the promise of the Father. And when the power comes—as it surely will in answer to obedient faith—we will go forth and turn our generation upside down for the glory of the risen Christ.

Who is on first in this waiting time? The Lord Jesus Christ—risen, reigning, and returning.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, thank You for the forty days that prove beyond all doubt that Your Son is alive forevermore. Open our understanding to the Scriptures as You did for those first disciples. Teach us to wait on You in prayer and obedience. Fill us afresh with the Holy Ghost so that we may be bold, faithful witnesses in our homes, our churches, and to the ends of the earth. Until Jesus comes again, may we live as those who know exactly what happened next. In the mighty name of the risen Lord Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

DMMC 

4-9-26