Jesus’ Instruction to Disciples: Focus Beyond Israel

Scripture: Acts 1:6–14

⁶ So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set 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, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ⁹ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰ While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. ¹¹ They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

¹² Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. ¹³ When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. ¹⁴ All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers

Questions

1. What do the disciples mean when they ask about restoring the kingdom to Israel?
2. If we are not going to the times and seasons where are we meant to put our focus?
3. Why does Jesus send the disciples to Jerusalem to wait on the Holy Spirit and not provide the Spirit Immediately?

Background

Related Scriptures: John 17:1–11

When the disciples asked Jesus prior to the Resurrection when the end would come he said “no one knows” after his Resurrection he says, “It is not for you to know”.

During his ministry Jesus focuses on the “Kingdom of Heaven” or “God’s Kingdom” the disciples though look forward to “The Kingdom of Israel”.

Chrysostom: Without saying anything to him of the Holy Spirit, they put this question, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” They did not ask when, but whether it would be at this time, so eager were they to learn the day. But it seems to me they had no clear notion of the nature of that kingdom, for the Spirit had not yet instructed them.… For their affections were still formed by sensible objects. They had not yet become better than they were before. Thus from now on they had higher conceptions concerning Christ. Therefore, since their minds were elevated, he also speaks to them on a higher level. For he no longer tells them, “Not even the Son knows the day,” but says, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.”^[1]

Reflection

The first thing that stands out to me when I read this passage is the question the disciples ask Jesus, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus frequently spoke about the coming kingdom, but he always spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven or God’s kingdom. The disciples don’t ask about the kingdom Jesus was instituting they want the kingdom restored to Israel. Even here after forty days with Jesus following his resurrection they are still struggling to exactly what Jesus came to do. They do not ask Jesus about the fulfillment of God’s kingdom, instead they want a kingdom restored to Israel. I am confident that in their minds they would have seen God’s kingdom and a kingdom of Israel as synonyms, but that is part of the problem. The disciples are still in the mindset that God’s kingdom still comes through them (or at least their people) having power. Now I understand their desire to see Israel freed from Roman occupation and to have self-rule established. But that is not the message that Jesus wants them to focus on. Instead, Jesus points their minds in a different direction.

Jesus says to the disciples that they should not be focused on the future, but Jesus does not stop there. Notice that Jesus does not simply say, “you don’t get to know the future” he continues by giving them a mission. The disciples were concerned with Israel, their home yet Jesus redirects them. Jesus takes them from their home to the ends of the earth. The disciples were focused on their home and the power that they wanted for their people. Jesus says that this is not where they needed to be focused, instead they should be focused on spreading his message to the world. The disciples still saw the world in terms of elevating their own people, they wanted Jesus to give them control. Jesus wanted the disciples to see the entire world and the universal need for his message. Jesus wanted them to stop focusing on what they wanted him to do for them and start focusing on what we can do for others. This is why he leaves them with a message to take the Gospel outward and a promise of the coming Holy Spirit.

I was encouraged this week to think on the fact that Jesus makes the disciples wait ten days to receive the Holy Spirit. Yes, on one level we can point to the fact that ten days later, on the feast of Pentecost, there would have been far more people in Jerusalem to hear the message. But another real reason why Jesus may have made the disciples wait for ten days is to give them time to pray and meditate on the words he left them with. He is offering them time to align their thoughts with Jesus’ final earthly instruction. For ten days the disciples had to ponder that Jesus wanted them to proclaim his message beginning where they were, then to their enemies and the enemies of their people, then to those people they never concerned themselves with. The disciples had wanted Jesus to stay on Earth and rule a physical kingdom of Israel, and Jesus sent them away telling them not to concern themselves with this but ensure that the world heard the Gospel. He showed them how their priorities did not align with his and it was when they began to come to terms with this that they made themselves partners with the Holy Spirit.

Jesus wanted the disciples to see how they fit into the kingdom; they were to continue Jesus’ message and operate in the power of Jesus’ Spirit. The disciples’ wanted a simple earthly kingdom for their people which Jesus governed, Jesus wants a world where humanity govern themselves by his message. This requires that Jesus’ disciples then and now trust him enough to leave and sit in his message long enough to embody it and the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ ascension is a time for the disciples to meditate on who they are, what they want, and who Jesus called them to be. This event marked a time for them to prepare themselves for the Holy Spirit who would enable them to carry out the message that Jesus had called them to accomplish. Not to set up an earthly kingdom but to spread the message of Jesus’ kingdom to everyone they encountered.

---

^[1] Francis Martin and Evan Smith, eds., Acts, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, 7.