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Acts 1:6–8
“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” (v. 8).
During the forty-day period after the resurrection of Jesus, our Savior instructed His Apostles in various truths about the kingdom of God and His person and work. He was preparing His followers for His return to heaven, telling them that they would soon be baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:1–5). In today’s passage, we read the last words of Jesus before His ascension.
A question from the Apostles prompted Jesus’ final remarks to them: “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (v. 6). Their question reflects the Old Testament promises and hope that the people of God, Israel, would one day be set over all the nations. Millennia before, our Creator promised Abraham that his descendants would be kings (Gen. 17:6). Throughout the subsequent generations, the prophets predicted a day when Israel would be the greatest of all kingdoms, ruling and reigning over the peoples of the earth (Isa. 2:1–4; Amos 9:11–12). The Davidic king would embody this reign in a special way, with the rulers of the earth having to choose between honoring God’s appointed ruler and meeting their own destruction (Ps. 2).
No doubt, the Apostles at that moment saw this in nationalistic terms, with Jews reigning over gentiles. Over time, however, they would learn that true Israel includes everyone who trusts in the Messiah (Acts 10; 15:1–21). Therefore, it is notable that Jesus did not say that the Apostles’ question was wholly illegitimate. Instead, He said that the time of the full exaltation of Israel was not theirs to know (1:7). The Israel of God—all people who trust in Jesus alone, Jew and gentile alike—will certainly rule and reign over the earth alongside Christ, who perfectly embodies all that Israel is supposed to be (2 Tim. 2:12). Yet that will not occur until Jesus returns, and the day and hour of that return has not been revealed to us (Matt. 24:36).
The Apostles did not learn the time of Israel’s full restoration, but they did learn that the Holy Spirit was about to come and empower them to be Christ’s witnesses. They would testify to the truth of Christ’s person and work to the ends of the earth, establishing the facts of the case, as it were, as courtroom witnesses are required to do (Deut. 5:20; Prov. 12:17; Luke 24:48). Without the Spirit, the Apostles—and the entire church—cannot fulfill the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18–20). Dr. R.C. Sproul comments, “The reason for the outpouring of the Spirit . . . is so that we can do the job that Jesus gave the church to do.”
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
John Calvin comments on Jesus’ remarks concerning the fact that it was not for the Apostles to know the time of Israel’s restoration: “We must think this to be a universal precept, that being contented with the revelation of God, we think it a heinous crime to inquire any further.” We must strive to speak only where God has spoken and not to go beyond His Word as we seek to make disciples of all nations.
For further study
- Proverbs 14:25
- Isaiah 44:1–5
- Luke 3:15–17
- Luke 11:5–13
The bible in a year
- Genesis 3–5
- Matthew 2