Acts 1:6-8
6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 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.”
In Acts and the Epistles, we find a great deal more about the Holy Spirit and the Church than we do about the Kingdom. But the Kingdom was an important part of Jesus’ teaching. Mark 10:32-40 speaks both of Jesus’ suffering and James and John’s request to sit on His right hand and on His left in the Kingdom. This shows that the Cross carries with it the promise of the Kingdom.
Jesus in Luke 12:32 also assured the disciples that the “‘Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.'” The word “kingdom” in the New Testament deals primarily with the king’s power and rule. “Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” are evidence that God is ruling in our lives, and that we are in His kingdom (Romans 14:17). But that does not exclude a future kingdom.
When the disciples were questioning Jesus about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, they were thinking of the future rule. They knew the prophecies of Ezekiel 36:24-27 and 37:12-14 that promised restoration of Israel to the Promised Land and the outpouring of God’s Spirit. They knew also that God’s promise to Abraham included not only his seed and blessing on all nations but also the land. All through the Old Testament the hope of God’s promise to Israel is connected with the Promised Land. Ezekiel, in chapters 36 and 37, saw that God would reinstate Israel in the land, first in unbelief and then in spiritual renewal. He would do this not because they deserved it but to reveal His own holy name and character. Since Ezekiel also prophesied God’s Spirit to be poured out on a restored and renewed Israel, the promise of the Spirit called this to their minds. Thus, it was more than mere curiosity that caused the disciples to ask about that part of God’s promise.
Jesus did not rebuke the disciples, nor did He deny that it was still in God’s plan to restore the Kingdom (the rule of God, the theocracy) to Israel. But here on earth they would never know the times (specific times) and the dates (proper occasions) of that restoration (cf. Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32-33). These the Father “has set by his own authority.“ He is the only One who knows all things and has the wisdom to take all things into account. Therefore, the times and dates are His business, not ours.
From time-to-time Jesus warned the disciples that no one on earth knows the day or the hour of His return. Mark 13:33 adds “‘You do not know when that time will come.'” (We will not know the season, the month, or the year either.) Then, when the people on that last journey to Jerusalem before the Crucifixion “thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once” (Luke 19:11), Jesus gave them a parable to show them that it would be a long time before He would return in kingly power to rule on earth. In the parable Jesus spoke of a man of noble birth going to a “distant” country, thus indicating a long time. Even so, the disciples obviously had a hard time comprehending this. They did not want to accept the fact that the times and dates were none of their business. Date setting has been a continuing problem down through church history, and date setters are still hurting the gospel witness.
What then was their business? Acts 1:8 gives the answer: They were to “receive power” or “mighty power” when the Holy Spirit came on them. Then their business was to be witnesses to tell what they had seen, heard, and experienced of Jesus (1 John 1:1). This program for witnessing also gives us a virtual table of contents for the Book of Acts: Beginning in Jerusalem (chaps. 1 through 7) they would carry their witness through Judea and Samaria (chaps. 8 through 12) and would continue “to the ends of the earth” (chaps. 13 through 28). It also indicates that Luke, inspired by the Holy Spirit, selected and limited the content of Acts, with the major portion of the book showing Paul’s mission to the Gentiles, climaxing in his ministry in Rome. Luke did not mean, however, that when Paul reached Rome the commission to be witnesses was fulfilled. Rome was the center of the empire, not the ends of the earth. “The ends of the earth were yet to be reached, and thus Acts ends in an open-ended way” so that we are drawn into the mandate to continue to be witnesses everywhere.
God always wanted His people to be His witnesses. In Isaiah 44:8 He called Israel to quit being afraid. But though they were commissioned to be His witnesses, fear hindered. Thus, as a whole, the nation of Israel failed to be the witnesses God really wanted. But God did not give up on His plan. In Isaiah 49:6 He again looks ahead and sees His Servant, the Messiah, bringing the restoration of Israel. The Messiah also is appointed to be “‘a light for the Gentiles.’” He is to be (not merely bring) God’s salvation to the ends of the earth. The call to be His witnesses then makes us Spirit-empowered ambassadors whose lives and ministries are extensions of the Spirit-empowered life and ministry of Jesus (Luke 4:14; cf. Isaiah 61:1-2). Through the Spirit we have met Him. We know Him. We live by Him, with Him, and in Him.
As Christians we need not fail. The baptism in the Spirit is available as an empowering experience. “You will receive power” (Gk. dunamis, “mighty power”). Here again, the power is related to the promise given to Abraham that all the families (of all nations) of the earth would be blessed. Jesus, in Matthew 24:14, told His disciples that “‘this gospel of the kingdom [the good news of God’s power and rule] will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations.'” He also emphasized that His followers could not wait for ideal conditions before spreading the gospel to the nations. This age would be characterized by wars, rumors of wars, famines, and earthquakes. The Greek word for witness, marture, is the word from which we get “martyr.” As His witnesses, believers must go out and spread the gospel to all nations in the midst of all these natural calamities and political upheavals, regardless of the cost. How would this be possible? They would receive power as a result of being filled with the Spirit. This would be their key to success in the Church Age until its final consummation, when Jesus returns. This puts the great responsibility of being Christ’s witness on all who have a personal knowledge of Jesus and are filled with the Spirit. “God wants a community that, like Jesus, gets caught up in the transformation of the world.” There was a marvelous, rapid spread of the gospel in the first century. The tremendous spread of the Pentecostal revival around the world in the twentieth century is evidence that the power of the Spirit is still working today, evangelizing the world and building the body of Christ. Also, more witnesses are becoming martyrs than at any time since the early centuries. But there is still a great challenge, for many cultural groups are yet unreached.
That Luke sees the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of prophecy “is the one point on which there is broad consensus among scholars.” Robert Menzies gives a “concise definition of Luke’s understanding of the gift of the Spirit . . . ‘a prophetic enabling which empowers one for participation in the mission of God.'” He explains further that “Luke does not present reception of the Spirit as necessary for one to enter into and remain within the community of salvation: the source of cleansing, righteousness, intimate fellowship with and knowledge of God.” As we go on in the Book of Acts, we see also that the activity of the Spirit includes not only witness and prophecy, but “joy, discernment, miracle power . . . boldness,” and, I would add, the fear of God, comfort, guidance, and spiritual gifts—all of course “primarily associated with the missionary enterprise of the church.”
From Acts: A Logion Press Commentary
