The Apostles Receive Their Commission - 1:6-8

The Apostles received their commission - 1:6-8

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

This section begins with once again revealing the lack of understanding of the apostles - ...Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?...From the opening of the gate we see that the disciples misunderstood both the nature of the Kingdom and the relation between the Kingdom and the Spirit. John Calvin said, "there are as many errors in this question as their are words. The verb, the noun and the adverb of their sentence all betray doctrinal confusion about the kingdom" The verb 'restore' shows that they were expecting a political and territorial kingdom. The noun 'Israel' shows that they were expecting a national military kingdom. And the adverbial clause, 'at this time' shows that they were expecting the kingdom's immediate establishment. So what we have in verses 7-8 is Jesus response/correction to their misunderstanding.

The NT authors understood the OT prophecies concerning the seed of Abraham, the promised land and the Kingdom as having been fulfilled in Christ. Although Paul does predict a widespread turning of Jews to Christ before the end, he does not link it with the land.

So How does Jesus respond to his disciples misunderstanding:

1. The Kingdom of God is spiritual in its character: The Kingdom of God is NOT a territorial concept. In his reply Jesus reverted to the topic of the Holy Spirit, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you - It is important to remember that his promise that they would receive power was part of his reply to their question about the Kingdom. The reference to the Holy Spirit defines its nature. The kingdom of God is his rule set up in the lives of his people by the Holy Spirit. It is spread by witnesses, not by soldiers; through a gospel of peace, not a declaration of war; and by the work of the Spirit, not by force of arms, political manipulation or revolutionary violence. The fact is that, although it must not be identified with any political ideology or program, it has radical political and social implications.
   
2. The Kingdom of God is global in its membership: Jesus said, "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" and Jesus promised that the Holy spirit would empower them to be his witnesses. They would begin in Jerusalem, the national capital in which Jesus had been condemned and crucified and which they were not to leave before the Spirit came. From that point the Christian mission would begin to grow, as Jesus gave his people a universal commission to go and disciple the nations.
   
3. The Kingdom of God is gradual in its expansion: The Apostles question included a specific reference to timing, "...will you at this time restore the kingdom..." Jesus said, "...It is not for you to know times or seasons..." The Bible tells us that the secret things belong to God, so if that is the case, we need not spend our time attempting to figure them out. Why? Because it is the revealed things which belong to us, and we should be content with that. So, even though they were not to know the times or date, Jesus points them to what they should focus on: that they would receive power so that between the Spirit's coming and the Jesus' coming again, they were to be his witnesses throughout the world. The whole 'interim' between the Pentecost and the Return is to be filled with the world-wide mission of the church in the power of the Spirit. Christ's followers were both to announce what He had achieved at his first coming and to call people to repent and believe in preparation for his second coming. Lesslie Newbigin said, "The church is the pilgrim people of God. It is on the move-hastening to the ends of the earth to beseech all men to be reconciled to God, and hastening to the end of time to meet its Lord who will gather all into one...It cannot be understood rightly except ina perspective which is at once missionary and eschatological."
   

So here's the deal: When the Spirit came in power, the long awaited promise of God's reign which Jesus inaugurated and proclaimed, would begin to spread. It was spiritual in its character (transforming the lives and character of its citizens); global in it's membership (including Gentiles as well as Jews), and gradual in its expansion (beginning at once in Jerusalem and then growing until it reaches the end of earth and time.)

So how does this apply to us: The apostles had a mistaken view of the Kingdom of God, for a couple reasons: (1) They believed God loved them more than anyone else, and therefore was ready to destroy oppressors like Rome, and set them up to rulers of all. This is much like today's prosperity gospel, because God has saved them or chosen them, then God owes them, because they are his... Is there any area in your life in which you think God owes you at the expense of your 'oppressor' (2) They put their personal security, power and rights over others. They cared more about themselves than the global missio dei...this is a result of the mentality that we have ONLY been saved from...this makes it all about us, the remedy is to ask God to open our eyes to the true meaning of the scriptures, to give us His heart for those other and different from us, and to realize that we have been saved from, so that we could be saved to...

So Jesus' response is the same to us:

1. The Kingdom of God is spiritual in character: We are not at a political, social, or cultural war. It is not the democrats vs. the republicans, atheist vs. deists, rich vs. poor, etc, etc...Jesus' Kingdom was not inaugurated to make the United States of America the 'New Jerusalem' nor to make his church 'superior to others'. Rather to change us with his Holy Spirit from the inside out, to fill us with humility, as we are just like every other human on this earth, and because of that knowledge and humility we should be driven to our knees in prayer for spiritual change. Now in saying that, we must also realize that the Kingdom values come into collision with secular values. Therefore when the Spirit of God has broken through in our lives we must ask, "do our values/way of life contradict or stand in opposition to the values and culture of our day, so that people stand and take notice not of us, but of God?"
2. The Kingdom of God is Global in It's Membership: Most of us are guilty of the following process: Jesus saves us, we leave our friends from the world, join a church, make new friends, and live in our Christian Gangs. All this is, is taking the gospel and hoarding it to ourselves, creating God in our image, and showing God how honored he is to have us on his impotent team. But the Kingdom of God is not about me or you, it is about us, it is about the world, all of creation, all socio-economic classes, all nationalities, all ethnic groups...So, we must repent, we must ask God, where is the 'end of the earth' for my family. Is it my neighborhood, is it my job, my place of hobby, is it all three? I'll go ahead and answer that for you, "YES" We need to live like we really believe that we were saved to the mission of God, and that we live where we live, work where we work, and hobby where we hobby for that reason - period. So if this is the case, let us ask the question, "Has the proclamation of the Kingdom left our living rooms and churches?" Meaning, are we speaking and living this message loudly in our neighborhoods, places of employments and places of hobby, or have we simply internalized it?
3. The Kingdom of God is gradual in expansion: This is for the hyper-proclaimers...RELAX. Don't be that guy, you give the rest of us a really bad name. God knows the time of salvation for all that he will save. So you can sleep good at night even if you didn't call all your neighbors together and preach at them. We are called, to live Kingdom Values, Walk in Kingdom Character, and Speak Kingdom Truth, God does the rest...so rest in that, be intentional, be incarnational, be missional - don't attack!