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?
- Matthew 3:1-3 “At hand”- drawn near. The “beginning” of the Kingdom of God.
- Matthew 4:12-17 quotes a portion of Isaiah 9
- 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. - 3 The nation has been multiplied
- 4 Israel was still oppressed by Rome when Jesus fulfilled verse 2
- 5 War in Israel has not yet ceased. Israel is attacked from within and from without.
- 7 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.
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- 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 4 th one returning.
1) Babylonians 2) Medo-Persians 3) Greeks 4) Romans
The 4 th kingdom being re-established with many kings. A revived Roman Empire.
Dan. 2:44 44 And 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”.
- Some believe the Kingdom of God is only spiritual, and will never be physically realized.
See Luke 17:20-24 20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 “nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” 22 Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it .
23 “And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them . 24 “For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.
- Acts 14:22 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying , “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”
1:7
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
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 25 For 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. 26 And 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 The idea of the church was a mystery unveiled to the apostles. That is why the disciples were expecting first the Kingdom of God. They were not looking for the “Age of the Church”. A time when Christ would extend salvation to the Gentile world.
1:9-11
Turn to Zechariah 14
Zechariah speaks of the physical return of Jesus Christ to the earth.
SUMMARY
- 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.
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
- 1 John 3:2, 3 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
- God has said that He will come back and judge this wicked world.
- The Christian should look forward to the physical existence of the Kingdom of God.