When the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, are you going to free Israel now and restore our kingdom?”
“The Father sets those dates,” he replied, “and they are not for you to know.”
Acts 1:6-7Acts 1:6-7
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
Jesus Is Taken to Heaven 6 While the apostles were still with Jesus, they asked him, “Lord, are you now going to give Israel its own king again?” b are you now going to give Israel its own king again?: Or “Are you now going to rule Israel as its king?” 7 Jesus said to them, “You don't need to know the time of those events that only the Father controls.
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Then Jesus answered, “I am not an earthly king. If I were, my followers would have fought when I was arrested by the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”
Pilate replied, “You are a king then?”
“You say that I am a king, and you are right,” Jesus said. “I was born for that purpose. And I came to bring truth to the world. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”
John 18:36-37John 18:36-37
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom doesn't belong to this world. If it did, my followers would have fought to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. No, my kingdom doesn't belong to this world.” 37 “So you are a king,” Pilate replied. “You are saying that I am a king,” Jesus told him. “I was born into this world to tell about the truth. And everyone who belongs to the truth knows my voice.”
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“When God?”
“When are you going to show yourself? Look at all these heathens, cursing your name in traffic! How they make my life miserable! Could you just step out from the clouds and let them know how upset you are about what’s going on? Show me some retribution, some payback for all me and my friends go through!”
You might be able to imagine this mental conversation, today, and in the minds of the disciples as they talk to Jesus. Is it finally time? Are you going to finally give them “what they deserve”?
Jesus is our king. All too often that means very little, a trumped up title for a gift-giving Santa Claus. It meant the world to the early followers of Christ. It was enough of a claim to send the religious elite into a murderous tizzy.
The early disciples took their limited knowledge of scripture, and the claims of Christ, and made a simple logical leap that Jesus had to correct. “The Messiah is the king in David’s line and Jesus is the Messiah; therefore he’s a king! Maybe he’ll overthrow the Romans tomorrow and setup his eternal kingdom!”
Jesus wanted to be clear. He had no intention of setting up a worldly kingdom, political or otherwise. There would be a time and a place for that, but he wasn’t about to share those details.
One might ask, “Why?” Why not be clear about the when? And it seems reasonable to want to know. Jesus, however, with all the wisdom of God, keeps his mouth closed.
I have a simple reason, born out by the passage of Acts we have looked at. Jesus knew that the disciples focus was misdirected. They weren’t on the same page, yet.
Here, Jesus was attempting to spread the Kingdom of God, a family relationship with the God of the universe. This relationship had the power to transform the heart of people around the world. To shake the way things were done, the way people interacted. To shape the way God could work to heal the hurting, free the oppressed, offer hope to the down-and-out.
The disciples are thinking about getting even. Not to say that they aren’t in tune with the holiness of God, his great sovereignty, even zealous for God to be seen in all his power and glory. But they had missed the point. They expected God to think the same way power-craving people do. “God’s power was to be an overwhelming force that crushed those who didn’t believe.” Instead, they are told of a power that would indwell them and allow them to communicate God’s love to the nations.
Jesus is our king. He rules an everlasting kingdom made up of those connected by His Spirit. He longs to see that Kingdom advance. More than any hope for growth we could have, Jesus sees the full power and potential of a church empowered. A people empowered. Individual lives lived intentionally through prayer and humility, bleeding into the lives next door.
more scripture
For further study on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the relationship to our new life and power, and the “kingdom of God”, turn your eyes to John 3. The popular kid’s story goes far deeper for an adult with eyes and ears ready to see and hear.
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