06.03.02 - The Book of Acts
6.3.2 THE BOOK OF ACTS The passage related to the kingdom immediately above provides an excellent introduction to the first reference to Jesus’ second coming in the book of Acts. After Jesus’ resurrection it appears that the disciples still did not understand what Jesus meant when He said: "My kingdom is not of this world." Consider Acts 1:6-11: When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Notice the following:
1. Jesus did not tell them the time of the "restoration of the kingdom." He could not actually answer this question, because the question was improper (like the classical "when did you stop beating your wife?"). Had he given a time, they would have inferred that His concept of the kingdom was identical to their’s, which it was not.
2. The response that he did give refers to the day of Pentecost when the first people were commanded to be baptized by His authority and into Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins. This established the church, which is synonymous with the kingdom, as we shall show below.
3. Note the similarity between this reply and the reply that Jesus gave to Pilate in John 18:37: "Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." Both refocus attention for literal worldly kingdoms to what is really important: the truth. The most important aspect of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was the communication of the truth.
4. Relative to the second coming of Jesus, the two men in white apparel said Jesus "shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." This is totally consistent with everything that we have established so far. As you recall, on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the apostles enabling them to preach the gospel as the Lord gave them guidance. A very interesting part of Peter’s sermon has to do with the kingdom. He had quoted an Old Testament scripture written by David and was arguing that it applied to Christ, not David (Acts 2:29-36):
Men [and] brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. The following conclusions can be drawn from this passage:
1. David spoke prophetically that one would sit on his throne. Peter said that he was, in fact, speaking about the resurrection of Christ. The resurrection of Christ put Jesus on "the right hand of God exalted," a throne far superior to any that David ever sat on.
2. Jesus is king. He has ascended to the throne. The kingdom, is "not of this world" -- not a political kingdom. Jesus is far above all such rule and authority (Rev 5:1-14).
3. Premillinialism assumes that Jesus will leave this throne and take on a worldly throne for 1000 years. There is certainly no evidence of that here. We need to recognize that Jesus is king now, and that all Christians are citizens of His kingdom. As we continue our survey of the scriptures which relate with the second coming, we need to seek out and find anything which relates to Jesus coming to this earth and establishing a worldly kingdom. If the bible does not teach it, neither should we. This is all that we found in the book of Acts with regard to the second coming.