1:4-6 They seem to be thinking that the “Promise of the Father” was the coming Kingdom.
They weren’t wrong in expecting the Kingdom of God, for Jesus had spoken much about it.
Jesus didn’t rebuke them for asking about the coming Kingdom of God.
The O.T. prophets had also spoken much about the coming of the Kingdom of God.
Two disciples unknowingly spoke to the resurrected Christ as they traveled the road to Emmaus.
Luke 24:21a But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel…
Jesus taught His disciples to pray for the coming of the Kingdom of God.
Matthew 6:10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
The disciples expected to sit on thrones with Jesus.
Matt. 20:20-23; Matthew 19:27,28; Luke 22:28-30
“Regeneration”- new birth, renewal, re-creation, restoring a thing to its pristine state.
Besides the teaching of Jesus, what O.T. references might the disciples have known?
What would cause them to be looking for the Kingdom of God?
O.T. References Regarding The “Kingdom of God”
What did they expect the Kingdom of God to be like?
1. Matthew 3:1-3 “At hand”- drawn near. The “beginning” of the Kingdom of God.
2. Matthew 4:12-17 quotes a portion of Isaiah 9
3. Isaiah 9:1-6 Speaks to Isaiah’s generation about the coming blessings of the Kingdom of God.
a. Verse 2- clearly fulfilled in the time of Jesus Christ.
Matthew tells us that the arrival of Jesus fulfills Isaiah 9:2
b. Verse 6a- Fulfilled. Speaks of the birth of Jesus Christ.
c. Verses 3-5, 6b-7- Clearly, not yet fulfilled.
v3 The nation has been multiplied
v4 Israel was still oppressed by Rome when Jesus fulfilled verse 2
v5 War in Israel has not yet ceased. Israel is attacked from within and from without.
v7 The Messiah (Jesus) was a physical descendant of King David.
The disciples did not yet see an endless increase of the government and the resulting peace that would come when Messiah established His Kingdom
If the disciples knew Isaiah 9:7, it’s no wonder they looked forward to that time.
-
- Isaiah 2:1-4 Speaks of what the disciples were looking for.
a. v. 2, 3 The disciples never saw nations flowing to the House of the Lord, the Temple in Jerusalem.
b. Some might say that this happened at Pentecost, when people of many nations gathered
c. v.4 The disciples did not see the end of war. No generation has seen the end of war.
d. Jesus said to pray for the Kingdom of God. No wonder they wanted to experience this -
Daniel 2:44 speaks of the establishing of God’s kingdom which will have no end and no rival.
Daniel speaks of four world kingdoms which have come and gone, but the 4th one returning.
1) Babylonians 2) Medo-Persians 3) Greeks 4) Romans
The 4th kingdom being re-established with many kings. A revived Roman Empire.Dan. 2:44 44And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
We have not yet seen the Kingdom of God established.
We do not see the nations flowing to the Temple of God in Jerusalem. It hasn’t been rebuilt yet
We do not see the end of war, with military budgets being turned towards agriculture.
We don’t see the land of Israel in the condition of what Jesus called “the regeneration”.
1:7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.
Jesus does not correct their anticipation of the Kingdom being restored to Israel.
He tells them that it is not given to them to know the time of this event.
Instead, Jesus tells them to wait for the power of the H.S. that they might be witnesses of Him.1:8 8But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
There was a misunderstanding in the minds of the disciples.
They did not understand the timeline of God pertaining to the re-establishing of the Kingdom of God.
They did not understand that there would be an event that preceded the re-establishing of the Kingdom of God in it’s fullest sense.
They did not understand about the “Church Age”, the age that we are living in.
The disciples thought that the Kingdom being restored to Israel was going to be immediate.
Jesus had told them that He would build His church. (assembly, called out ones)
They could have easily imagined that Jesus was talking about the nation of Israel as that assembly.
They hadn’t understood that the assembly that Jesus was speaking about was “the church”.Paul called the establishing of the church a mystery.
Romans 11:25-27 25For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”
Turn to Ephesians 3:1-11
1:9-11 9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
Turn to Zechariah 14
-
- The return of Jesus Christ to the earth is still in the future.
- It will be a literal and physical return.
- It will happen after the “Church Age” has come to an end.
- The Church Age ends at the Rapture of the Church.
- After the Rapture of the Church, there will be what Jesus called “The Great Tribulation”
- A 7 year period when God will pour out his wrath on a God hating world.
- People will still be able to be saved during this period.
- But what is called the “Church” will be in heaven with Christ.
- At the end of the Tribulation period, the armies of the world will gather against Israel.
- That is when Jesus Christ will physically return to the earth.
- He will defeat those enemies of Israel.
- Jesus will then usher in what is called the “Kingdom Age”.
- It is also called the “Millennial Reign of Christ”, for it will last 1000 years.
- After the Millennial reign, the Bible says that God will create a new heaven and a new earth.
-
- Isaiah 2:1-4 Speaks of what the disciples were looking for.