Monday
Monday
The Promise of the Spirit
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses … to the ends of the earth.
Acts 1:8
During the forty days that elapsed between Easter Day and Ascension Day, Jesus focused his teaching on two main topics, namely the kingdom of God and the Spirit of God whose coming he, his Father (in the Old Testament), and John the Baptist had all promised. It also seems that Jesus related those two topics to each other, as the prophets had done in the Old Testament, affirming that the outpouring of the Spirit would be one of the major blessings of the Messiah’s kingdom. But the apostles’ understanding of these things seems to have been confused, as is evident from what they asked Jesus. “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (v. 6). Their question was full of errors.
Firstly, in asking about a restoration of the kingdom, it is clear that the apostles were still dreaming of a political liberation from Rome. But in his reply Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit giving them power to witness. The kingdom of God is his rule in the lives of his people. It is spread by witnesses, not soldiers, through a gospel of peace, not a declaration of war.
Secondly, in asking about a restoration to Israel, it is evident that the apostles were still cherishing narrow, nationalistic aspirations. They hoped Jesus would give back to Israel her lost national independence, which the Maccabees had recovered for a brief intoxicating period in the second century BC. In his reply Jesus broadened their horizons. Their witness would indeed begin in Jerusalem and continue in nearby Judea, but it would radiate out “to the ends of the earth.”
Thirdly, in asking whether Jesus was going to restore the kingdom to Israel “at this time,” they were being presumptuous, as they already knew the answer. Jesus first told them that it was not for them to know times or dates, which the Father had fixed by his own authority, and then told them what they could know, namely that they were to witness in the power of the Spirit in ever-widening circles. In fact, the whole interim period between Pentecost and the Parousia (however long or short) was to be filled with the worldwide mission of the church.
For further reading: Acts 1:1–8