Acts 1:1-11
In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach
2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Jesus’ Ascension Clears Up Kingdom Confusion
My wife and I bought a new tent a week or so ago. You might have seen it set up in the yard last Sunday. Now, I’ve pitched plenty of tents in my life, so I thought that this one should be a breeze. I laid out all the pieces in front of me and then asked myself the question that is the downfall of every member of the male species, How hard could it be?
I looked at the picture on the box to get my bearings – to make sure I knew what the final product was supposed to look like – and then I set to assembling the tent, like I’ve done hundreds of times before. I attach the first pole to one end and then bend it and attach it to the other. I do this three times for the three poles, but they’re all just lying flat on the ground. There are no clips to attach the tent to the poles, nothing to attach the poles to each other, nothing to get the tent off the ground.
That’s when I saw them. There are sleeves that you have to run the pole through before you do anything else. So, I had to undo all the work that I had so confidently started and go all the way back to square one. At that point, I thought I should actually open the instructions and follow them this time.
Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? Your familiarity with something gives you a false sense of confidence. Rather than thinking through what you should do, you just plow ahead, make a bunch of mistakes and then you have to start over and rethink everything along the way?
That’s where we find the disciples this morning. They had been following Jesus for 3 years. If anyone was familiar with all the things that Jesus began to do and teach, it was his disciples. On top of that, Jesus had just spent the last 40 days leading them through Bible bootcamp, opening their minds to understand things from Scripture that they had never been able to put together before. If anyone was equipped to understand what Jesus meant when he was talking about the kingdom of God, it was his disciples.
But perhaps it was precisely that degree of familiarity with Jesus and his kingdom that bred a false sense of confidence in – which was actually a fundamental confusion about – what the kingdom of God really is. Just like me and my tent. “I know tents. This one should be a snap.” The disciples thought to themselves, “We know Jesus. We know kingdoms. Same wavelength, Lord.”
But they weren’t on the same wavelength. Did you notice it the first time we read Acts 1? Verse three reads:
“He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”[1]
In verse six, the disciples ask,
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”[2]
When the disciples heard Jesus talk about the kingdom of God, they immediately imagined the picture on the box – a crown, a throne, armies, authority, power, glory. They were familiar with those things. They had seen them before. They thought they knew what it would take to go from a ragged band of dispersed disciples to a glorious kingdom. It would take power and might to overthrow their Roman overlords. It would take Jesus assuming the throne in Jerusalem and raising their homeland to its former glory. It would feel like heaven on earth.
When the disciples heard Jesus talk about the kingdom of God, they thought they knew exactly what he meant. But what they pictured in their imaginations couldn’t have been further from the truth. The thing about the kingdom of God is that it is not a realm; it’s a reign. The kingdom of God is not a parcel of land with borders and armies and palaces and castles. It’s something entirely different.
Jesus’ answer may seem evasive or non-committal. He doesn’t mention the words kingdom or restoration or Israel at all.
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”[3]
I think this is fascinating. Jesus doesn’t yell at his disciples. He doesn’t say to them, “C’mon guys! Get your heads in the game! That’s not what the kingdom is. This is what the kingdom is…!” He doesn’t say anything about the kingdom, because, frankly, their little human brains couldn’t hear the word “kingdom” and think of anything other than castles and crowns.
So, Jesus calls for patience and humility – “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority” – and then proceeds to tell his disciples what the kingdom of God is without telling them what the kingdom of God is:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”[4]
The kingdom of God is not a realm but a reign. God doesn’t rule over a parcel of land. He claims a place in our hearts by faith. That’s what the disciples didn’t understand. Jesus was already restoring the kingdom. It’s just that the kingdom of God didn’t look like the picture on the box.
Jesus was going to sit on a throne, just not the throne in Jerusalem. He was about to ascend into heaven and to sit at the right hand of his Father there.
Jesus does have all power and authority, but he doesn’t need armies to enforce it or castle walls to defend it. He rules over all things even now from his place at the right hand of his Father in heaven.
Jesus would wear a crown and receive honor and glory and praise. But not from parades of people flooding the streets of every major city shouting his name. He receives praise right now from the angels and saints in heaven, and from all believers here on earth.
The disciples were confused about what the kingdom of God was going to look like. Do you ever share in their confusion? Do you ever wish that his kingdom looked more like the picture on the box in your imagination? Do you get frustrated or disappointed when it doesn’t?
I’ll admit that my heart asks the same question, “Lord are you finally going to restore the kingdom?” We live in a broken world with war and refugees, with mass murders in middle schools and grieving families, with outbreaks of monkeypox and loved ones in the emerge center. How long, Lord? How much longer do we have to endure this? How much longer until you usher in a new era of your kingdom?
They’re not bad questions. Christians from every generation have asked them. The problem comes when we begin to look for something God doesn’t promise or when we reject what he does.
God never promised heaven on earth. In fact, he told us to expect trouble in this world. We shouldn’t expect our politicians to be Christians. We shouldn’t expect society to bend over backwards for our beliefs. We shouldn’t expect life to be free of trouble or worry or anxiety.
But that doesn’t mean that Jesus isn’t sitting on the throne in heaven right now ruling over all things. We may long for more, quicker, more complete answers to our prayers, but as Jesus reminds his disciples here, he is not deaf to our needs. He may not grant the kingdom that matches the picture on the box in our imagination. He promises something better:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.”[5]
From his throne in heaven, Jesus gives you something far more precious and powerful than all the gold in Fort Knox and the combined forces of NATO. He gives you his Holy Spirit to live in your heart by faith.
Sometimes we can feel like that’s so pedestrian and underwhelming, but it’s the Spirit who gives you the strength to believe that your sins are forgiven, that heaven is your home and that when Jesus comes back he’ll take you to live with him there in peace and safety and happiness and joy forever. It’s the Spirit who gives you the strength to endure the hardships and difficulties we face today, knowing that Jesus is currently sitting on the throne at the right hand of his Father in heaven, ruling over all things for your good, giving you your daily bread, guarding and protecting you from all evil.
That’s what the kingdom of God looks like – not a castle or a moat, but the Holy Spirit at the helm of your heart giving you hope and confidence for the future and comfort and guidance for right now. That’s what the picture on the box should look like.
And we don’t have to wonder how to get from A to B. We don’t have to try to reverse engineer the kingdom of God and figure out how to get the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Jesus tells us how his kingdom comes:
“You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”[6]
What insignificant instruments we are to usher in God’s kingdom, but we are the tools God chooses to use to bring his Holy Spirit and hope to the world. We are the ones he sends with his Word to bring comfort to those who mourn and grieve, to bring the message of forgiveness to hearts weighed down by guilt, to bring hope to those who are lost or afraid.
You will be his witnesses. Maybe not in Jerusalem, but around the dinner table as you talk about Jesus and what he means for you and your family on Parkwood Dr. or Norman Ct. You will be his witnesses. And you don’t have to go to the ends of the earth to bring the gospel there. You can just talk to our friends in Mill Woods and they’ll bring the gospel to their family and friends in South Sudan and Ethiopia.
We could conjure up some wonderful imaginations about what this world would look like if Jesus sat on a throne. But the kingdom he promises is greater. It starts with his Holy Spirit ruling in our hearts by faith, and it extends to the world through the Word we bring, and it promises to bring all who believe to the rightful throne of Jesus in heaven where we will live under his care forever.
God give us clarity and confidence about his kingdom, and the courage to proclaim it to the ends of the earth. Amen.
[1] Acts 1:3
[2] Acts 1:6
[3] Acts 1:7
[4] Acts 1:8
[5] Acts 1:8
[6] Acts 1:8