THE ASCENDED KING - Acts 1:6-11

Waiting for the Promise of the Father and the Purpose of the Kingdom

If you have a copy of God's Word with you, and I hope that you do, please turn in it with me to Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1 is where we're going to be starting in verse 6 as we go into week 3 of our study through this letter written by Luke, giving us a detailed eyewitness account of the work of the Holy Spirit through the life of the apostles and the early church, through accomplishing the heavenly ministry of King Jesus.

So let's start reading there in verse 6 of chapter 1 of Acts. Luke writes, So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?

This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. This is the reading of God's perfect, holy, inspired word. Let us bow once again. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit would illuminate our hearts and minds to its truth.

We thank you, Lord. We humble ourselves before you and acknowledge our frailty in understanding your clear, precise, exact words to us. We pray that today as I seek to expound upon these words, to explain these words, that you would give me wisdom, that I would not say anything that would contradict your truth.

I pray for all of us in here that we would be able to see what it is that you are telling us here through these words. And that as we ask each week that we not simply be hearers of the word alone, but that we be doers of that word.

Help us to obey it. Help us to see it for what it is and to be changed by it. We thank you for, thank you for your truth. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Well, last week we saw how Jesus had ordered his disciples back in verse four of chapter one to wait.

To wait on what? To wait on the promise of the Father. And that promise of the Father was the power of the Holy Spirit that would come upon them not many days from now. And how that principle of waiting applies to us today in our need to wait upon the Lord.

Instead of trying to do things in our own timing and in our own power. And if you remember, one of the points that we honed in on to help us to wait on the Lord was our need to understand the purpose of the kingdom.

Our need to understand the purpose of the kingdom. For when we understand what the kingdom is, how this kingdom works, and what this kingdom is accomplishing, it will help us. It will help us to wait on, it will help us to serve King Jesus, the king of that kingdom that we are in.

And it will help us to do so in ways that he has called us to serve him in that kingdom. For we need to know what it is that we are doing, and understanding what we belong to will help us in doing so.

And in our text today, we will see how Christ, he corrects his disciples that are there before the ascension, he corrects them in their understanding of this kingdom so that they can better wait, understand, and serve him.

And this must be important because it's the very last thing that Jesus would tell his disciples before his ascension. And this was, of course, providential for this was the very last question that the disciples had asked him, and that was not by accident.

Jesus did not simply react to their question. He sovereignly knew their question, and this is precisely what he wanted to leave them with before he was to ascend. And of all the questions that could have been asked, God ordained that it would be this.

One.

The Kingdom Restored to Israel and the Question of Timing

He said, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And I get why they would ask this. This is what they've been waiting on for generations. These disciples that had followed Jesus, they grew up hearing that the Messiah was to come.

The prophets had told of the Messiah to come and restore Israel, and this is what they have always known for generations and generations. So before Jesus is ascending into heaven, they're thinking, well, you've resurrected.

You've done what you said you were going to do here now. Is it time? Is it time to restore the kingdom?

It is.

They asked it. You can tell that they think they know, but they still have so many questions about what this looks like. Four, this question is a dense and deeply rich question. It actually, it's actually four questions.

It's four questions packaged into one. There's so much about this that they think that they know, but here's the thing, at least they're self-aware enough to know that for the past three years, they thought they've known some things and everything they thought that they knew Jesus had turned upside down and completely changed how they perceived it.

And so they ask a question about time. Will you at this time? They ask a question about kingdom. Will you restore this kingdom to Israel? They ask a question about Israel. Will you restore this kingdom to Israel, right?

And they ask a question about restoration. Will you restore? They have no doubt that these things will happen, but how and when is what they're a little foggy about. And the way that Jesus responds to their question in verses seven and eight lead some to believe that Jesus simply responded with, it's not for you to know times and seasons.

Giving them somewhat of an answer about time, yet ignoring the other three elements of their question, concluding that since Jesus did not, in their interpretation, correct them about the kingdom of God being restored to Israel, that Jesus is conceding that this kingdom will be restored to national Israel.

Because you got to realize that this is all the concept that these disciples have is they're thinking very earthly. They can't think heavenly. They're thinking here and now. And that's what the prophecies were about, the restoration of Israel, meaning that Jesus in their minds will one day, Jesus is going to return.

He's going to sit on the throne of David there in Jerusalem with the temple rebuilt. Well, the temple was okay then, but in the future, people think now that the temple rebuilt in some kind of an earthly reign.

This is possibly what those disciples envisioned in their minds. However, I would argue that this is certainly not what scripture teaches, and I don't believe that Jesus ignored their question. Jesus is not saying, well, you say, will you now restore the kingdom to Israel?

He's not just leaving them to think, okay, yeah, national Israel. I would argue that Jesus actually answers their question, and He corrects their understanding of the question that they're asking about the kingdom, about Israel, about restoration, and about timing.

He gave them a better understanding. So the first thing that I want us to see is He answers the question about time. He answers the question about time. Look there at verse 7. He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.

You see, He had already given them an answer about time. He had already answered the question before they had actually asked the question. Back in verse 4, what does He say there? He says there in chapter 1 of verse 4, He says, and while staying with them, He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to, as we talked about last week, what?

Wait for the promise of the Father. And what is that promise? The end of verse 5, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. He's giving them a time indicator at some level. I believe Jesus is telling them, you want to know, but it's not your place to know.

It's your place to wait. You're asking, were you at this time, Jesus?

Is this it?

Is this the culmination of all of it? He's saying, it's not your place. You don't have the authority or the rank to know that. It's your place to wait. The Father has fixed these things by His own authority.

As Daniel said, He changes times and seasons. He removes kings and sets up kings. This is God. God is sovereign. It's like a soldier wanting to know what the sovereign king has planned. It's not his place.

He must simply wait for that king's command at the moment the king is ready to give the command. That king has a plan. They're not privy to it, but they must obey it in the timing that it's given. Yet just like us, these disciples get impatient.

Another thing to key in on is this phrase, the Father has fixed. The when, the where of this kingdom has been strategically timed by God. And I think back to what Paul said in Romans 5, he says, at the right time.

Christ died for the ungodly. At the very moment, not early, not late, but at the precise moment that God had fixed. God has a plan for this kingdom. He has meticulously orchestrated every single molecule in the universe towards this at every moment.

And so these disciples, hey, Jesus, were you at this time? Is it time? We've been waiting, we've been walking with you for three years. Is it time? You just resurrected. We just saw a massive miracle.

Like, this is crazy. It's time, right?

It's not for you to know. I just told you to wait. The Father has a perfect timing. You don't need to know the timing because that timing is going to come exactly when the Father has fixed that timing, that he has sovereignly set it.

And here's some beauty inside that fixing that gives us comfort, that should have given them comfort, is the fact that God, his plan will not be thwarted if he has fixed it. If Christ died at the precise moment that he was meant to die at the right time for the ungodly, if God has set the time when the kingdom was to be established, and the kingdom was to be fulfilled, and everything in between, if he has already set the time when Christ will return, if all of it is already set, there is absolutely nothing that you could do or not do by knowing or not knowing when that's coming.

It's happening regardless. There's beauty in that. This is Jesus answering them. He's like, you're a soldier. Trust the king. Trust the timing and the plan. He answers the question about time, but secondly, he answers the question about kingdom.

The Holy Spirit, the Ascension, and the Reign of Christ

Look there at verse 8, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You say, well, okay, I don't understand how that connects to an answer to the kingdom. This doesn't feel like an answer, pastor.

As we said, he had already told them to wait for this, to wait for the Holy Spirit power to come upon them, and it will at Pentecost. We'll see later. And he had been talking to them about the kingdom of God as we saw back in verse 3.

That's what he's been doing. In this 40 days since his resurrection before his ascension, what's he been doing? He's been talking to them about the kingdom of God. He's been prepping these guys. These things are connected.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a crucial element of the institution of this kingdom. You realize that? The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a crucial element of this kingdom. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is God dwelling with his people.

That's what he's doing. That's what the church is, right? How did God dwell with his people with Israel?

Where?

In the temple. They had to go to a place. That's where God dwelled with his people, right? How did he got dwell with his people in the garden? He walked with them. He was with them. So we see God dwelling with his people all through.

And now for the restoration, which we'll get to in a minute, but through the restoration is God is now dwelling with his people. He is no longer in a temple. He's in me, us. He's in us. So this kingdom is established at Pentecost, the people of his kingdom, a spiritual kingdom of power.

This is all connected to what was about to take place after he answers their question. Look down at verse 9. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.

I told you last week with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we have the ascension and we have the kingdom. These are all interconnected, right? That's why we're looking at this. We have this idea in this moment at the ascension with this picture of white billowy clouds, right?

Jesus standing on top of them and they're slowly raising up like a cloud escalator into the sky and the disciples are all standing there going,.

Bye, Jesus.

And Jesus is like, bye, guys. And it's just a slow-moving process, right? That's kind of how we have the ascension kind of built up in our minds. However, this was something far more magnificent and significant than that.

The cloud spoken of here is a reference to the Shekinah glory, like what we see back in Exodus 40, that cloud that covered the tent with Moses. This is the glory of God. It's like the cloud mentioned at Jesus's baptism.

You remember that? Where that cloud, the voice of God comes through and declares, this is my beloved son with whom I am well-pleased. This cloud is the visible manifestation of God's presence, God's glory, and God's approval.

It's the Shekinah glory. So this isn't speaking of literal clouds and Jesus going up with a cloud and riding a cloud like a care bear, right? I just aged myself. Those of you that didn't grow up in the 80s don't know what I'm talking about.

This is something significant. The glory of God is being manifested right in front of their eyes. Can you imagine the sight? The resurrected Jesus, their rabbi, their teacher, their friend, the one that they had lived life with now for three years, they've seen him die, they've seen him resurrect, and now he's ascending wrapped in the glory of God.

His very glory being manifested right before them before he disappears and he's no longer with them in a physical sense. This must have been overwhelming for these men. They must have been in awe of this situation of the glory of God being seen.

And look at verse 10, and while they were gazing into heaven as he went, probably wondering, is he coming back?

What do we do now?

We're mostly overwhelmed by the glory of God. I can't imagine seeing the sight and not just being like, I don't know where my thoughts are. This is overwhelming. The greatness of the creator being manifest right here in front of me.

It says, behold, two men stood by them in white robes. Notice the similarity of these two angels from the temple or from the empty tomb.

Right?

It's probably the same messengers. These are angels. These are messengers. That's what angel means, right? They're not called angels. They're just, the word angel just means messenger. These are messengers of God.

And these men, they stand there in these white robes, verse 11, and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? I think if I was confronted with that, I would be like, what do you mean?

Why do I stand looking into heaven? You see what I just saw? Like, I don't want to even leave this place.

I don't even want to move.

I'm overwhelmed by this. I don't think this is a reference, by the way, of them looking up into the sky, which I do think that Jesus did a sin, and they are looking upwards. But I don't think that's the point of these angels saying, why do you stand here looking into heaven?

I think it's more of a reference of them trying to figure out and ponder heavenly realities that they are not yet privy to. They're trying to figure out things like, what is happening? Where do I go? How can we get there?

What do I do from here? But look at what the angels say to them. This Jesus, your friend, your savior, your God, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

Notice that phrase is repeated, into heaven. Seems repetitive when you're reading through it, but there's meaning. It's as if they are emphasizing the fact that where Jesus is going is separate from here.

There's a spiritual reality, a spiritual realm that is separate from this creation. They're driving the distinction of what Jesus has just done, what just happened, and how it is separate from the state in which they are in, in this very moment.

Notice also that they say, who was taken up. This Jesus who was taken up, the father is the one taking him. There's significance here because it's pointing to the fact that his task on earth is done. He was born.

He lived the life that he was meant to live. He died the death that was the very death that we deserved, but that he had set out to die in that very moment, at that very time, at the right time, at the perfect time.

He died for us who were unworthy. And then at the perfect time, three days later, raises from the dead, is there for just a short time as he walks with them, shows the world what 500 witnesses actually saw him risen.

And now the father says, you've accomplished it. You've done what we, the father, the son, the Holy Spirit, made a covenant to accomplish before we'd even created it. And your earthly ministry is done, and he brings him.

In his glory, we see the glory of the pre-incarnate Christ. We see the very glory that Christ himself was in before he was made like us, before he set aside his prerogative of his position. And then we actually see something even greater.

We see him raised up into a position that we will talk about in a moment. What is the significance of this? Where is Jesus going as he's being taken up by the father into heaven? Well, there's a number of scriptures that tell us.

It's all over scripture. We see it all through the New Testament telling us where exactly Jesus is, while he's in heaven, okay? But I love Stephen's version in Acts 7. I love Stephen's version. This is before Stephen is stoned to death, right?

Stephen goes and preaches a single sermon, probably his only sermon ever. And what happens to him? He gets stoned. But before he's stoned, he says, where he said, he sees this vision. Behold, I see the heavens open and the son of man, Jesus Christ, standing at the right hand of God.

Boy, that would give you hope to be stoned, wouldn't it? God, in his goodness and in his grace, gives Stephen a little glimpse into glory, into heaven. And he shows him, hey, me, the one you're being stoned for, you're about to be killed for, you're about to lose your life for, I want to show you where I am.

I'm at the right hand of the father. I am interceding for you. What's the significance of this? With the right hand, it refers to ultimate equal and sovereign authority. He reigns. This means that Jesus is, right now, at this moment, king.

He is the king above all of the created order and all of the spiritual realm. He reigns supreme at the right hand of the father. That's the significance of this. This is what we refer to as the mediatorial kingship of Christ.

This is where he is. A king has an enemy and a king has a nation. And, of course, his enemy has been mortally wounded, but his nation, his people, have received deliverance and power. You see that? Power from what?

What?

The Holy Spirit.

Pentecost.

In that moment, this is all interconnected. Jesus is king, reigning at the right hand of the father. His ascension is tied into showing us that the father is bringing him home after he's accomplished his task.

He has won the victory. He has inflicted the mortal wound to the enemy, and now he is being brought into the right hand of the father in his rightful position as king, and a king has a nation, and that nation receives power.

This moment, the disciples were possibly thinking back to the prophecy of Isaiah as Jesus was speaking here, when he says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you in verse 8.

I want you to turn back with me in your Bibles. Keep your fingers right there and axes. We're going to be going back to Isaiah a few times and axe. It'll be on the screen if you don't have the Scripture with you, of course, but if you're having trouble finding Isaiah, which, by the way, Isaiah 32 is where we're going, remember, open halfway through your Bibles to Psalm, kind of halfway through opens up to Psalms.

You have Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. There's Isaiah. Isaiah 32. And in Isaiah, we see the prophet Isaiah, there is so much prophecy packed into this prophetic book of the coming Messiah.

These are the things that the apostles in this moment, as Jesus is speaking to them, and as Jesus is ascending, they're thinking about these very prophecies, okay? And in Isaiah 32, he's talking about when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, speaks of how the desolation will remain.

Desolation over Israel will remain until, in verse 15, the Spirit, the Spirit. Notice that that's capitalized in your Scripture. What does that mean? The Holy Spirit. The Spirit is poured upon. When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, right?

You see why they're probably connecting the dots here when he's speaking? Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high. The Father sends him. The Father's promise of the Holy Spirit to come, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.

It's very similar to what he says later in chapter 44 of Isaiah. Verse 3, it says, for I will pour water on the thirsty land and the streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring and my blessing on your descendants.

This is the promised Holy Spirit that will come in his kingdom reign. There was desolation. There was dryness. There was famine in Israel prior to Christ. There was a faithful remnant, as we saw in Malachi, right?

There's a faithful remnant there, but overall, there was a spiritual blindness, a spiritual deadness. But the kingdom comes, and the kingdom is initiated with the Holy Spirit bringing power, breathing life into the people.

Well, Jesus says in Acts 8, the second part, you will be my witnesses. Further driving home there, their mind's going back to Isaiah here, probably. Isaiah 43, 12. In Isaiah 43, 12, if you want to look at it, you can.

It's...well, I guess we don't have it. We have the reference on the screen, but you can see it in your scriptures. In chapter 43, I declare and saved and proclaimed when there was no strange God among you, and you are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and I am God.

You are my witnesses. You will be my witnesses. So, the disciples are standing there. They're saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And as he's speaking, he's actually peppering Old Testament prophecy that connects all of this that they would have been looking for, building up to this.

He's referencing these Old Testament passages that are tying in the truth of what he is actually here to accomplish. He's actually answering their question. He's saying, yes, the kingdom, you've been waiting for the kingdom.

These are the very passages you've been waiting on, right? And I am going to show you what they actually mean. You haven't perceived them as you should have. You have been thinking differently. And this gets to our third point.

Israel, the Nations, and the Restoration of the Kingdom

He answers the question about Israel. This is important. This all ties in together with kingdom and Israel because that's what they asked. They had asked, will you restore the kingdom to Israel? And his response, he addresses that question in the last part, I think, of verse 8, when he says, and to the end of the earth.

To the end of the earth. Again, these disciples' minds must have been taken back to Isaiah. So, if your finger's still there in Isaiah, look at chapter 49, verse 6. Now, again, I would encourage you to go back and do a more in-depth study.

In a matter of 45 minutes, I can only address so many of these Old Testament.

Passages.

So, if you want more resources, I can help you with that after this. But I just want to give you a taste of what is actually being said here. In Isaiah 49, verse 6, he says, it is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel.

I will make you as a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Jesus is quoting Scripture in his answer to them. This is what Jesus is doing. He's pointing them back to this truth.

We can now interpret that text with clarity, by the way, because it being reinforced in the New Testament. Not only Jesus referencing it, but actually in Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13, verse 47, that very passage in Isaiah is quoted there.

For so the Lord has commanded us saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth. You see, the people of Israel, and even the disciples had fallen prey to this, had seen the Messiah as a king that will reign over them.

But this kingdom, all the way back into those prophecies, had always been a kingdom for the nations. It wasn't for national Israel. It was for all the nations. And when we see those Old Testament, the Old Testament reinforces and references in light of this kingdom, we see that what God meant is that the nation, the national Israel was simply used by God to bring about the Messiah that would bring about the actual people of Israel.

That may be hard for some of you all to comprehend. You don't have a category for that. I want to say it again. He used national Israel in the Old Testament, in the Old Covenant for the purpose of, and only the purpose of, to bring about his Messiah that would bring about salvation and the kingdom of actual Israel, not national Israel, actual Israel.

And I have it bolded in here because I said it wrong last week. The children of Abraham by faith. If any of you all caught that, I said Adam by faith. I don't know how I misspoke there. So I have it bolded here.

Children of Abraham by faith are true Israel, not national Israel, not the people who are of Abraham by birth, but the people who are of Abraham by faith. This was the whole purpose of Israel in the Old Covenant.

And this is how we answer the fourth question. He answers the question about restoration. He answers the question about restoration. His kingdom began at his ascension. His kingdom was realized at Pentecost.

His kingdom purpose was accomplished at the cross, carried out through his reign over his people and through the church, and will be realized at the culmination of his victory parade. You see, Jesus didn't have to answer their question about restoration.

He didn't have to answer it because his messengers would do it for him after he ascended. Look down at verse 11 there next. Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

What's the same way? Shekinah glory. In Matthew 24, verse 30, we see this. It says, then will appear in heaven the sign of the son of man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. Those nations that did not kiss the sun, those peoples of the nations that did not acknowledge his kingship, though he was still king over them, because of his victory, they will mourn, and they will see the son of man coming in the clouds in the same way that you saw him go, right?

He's coming in the same way, in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, the power and glory of the reigning king. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, right? He says, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

I like how Paul puts that, for he shall reign. He doesn't say that he will reign once he puts the enemy under his feet. It says, for he shall reign until. It doesn't mean he stops reigning after that.

What he's getting at, what Paul's saying is he will reign until. It means that he's reigning now. This is active and present. That's important because we get this idea in American Christianity and our understanding of these end times and all that comes with it, we get this idea that, yeah, Jesus is reigning, but he's not really reigning.

And you look around, you see all the destruction and everything, you go, see, Jesus isn't really reigning. One day he'll reign. He's not reigning right now, but no, no, he's reigning actively present right now.

Paul actually goes on in 1 Corinthians 15 to say that the final enemy is what? It's death. Talk about restoration. Talk about restoration. Victorious King Jesus is not going to return, sit on an earthly throne and tolerate an enemy like death for 1 ,000 years.

You can be certain of that. That is not the reign of a king. No, he has already mortally wounded death by defeating it in his resurrection. It's dying. And when he returns, like a victorious king, riding into the city and the people that he had conquered with a victory parade.

So, you see, there's significance in this because this is what would have happened back then, is a king would come in, conquer a land. His soldiers would come in and do the defeating of that land. And then at a later time, the king would come in with a victory parade in the streets with his soldiers in tow.

It's a victory parade. To do what? He would make his way into the city and he would sit on the throne of that city and then he would make the leaders or the king that was defeated bow before him while he used him as a footstool and then ultimately end him forever.

That's the imagery that we're given about Jesus' return. This is all connected, guys. This is the kingdom of God. When Jesus returns, he's not going to return and then just tolerate the enemy. He's going to return and he's going to make the enemy death bow before him while he puts his feet on it and then he's going to end the enemy completely.

Every enemy will be crushed under his feet because he is victorious, because he is king and he is king now. Those nations, those people, anyone and everyone who does not bend the knee to King Jesus, who do not trust in him and trusting in his righteousness, in his perfect life and his substitutionary death and his victorious resurrection, those who do not come to him in faith will receive the just due penalty of their treason, demands it.

The holiness of God will not tolerate it. He will not look upon that treason lightly. He will not give an opportunity to then bend the knee then. It will be over. He will crush them. They will spend eternity under his wrath, the wrath of a holy and just God.

Oh, but for those, those who have come to him in faith, bow the knee, who have kissed the son, who have been given his very righteousness, who have been purchased and redeemed by his blood, that righteous demand of justice was placed upon Christ at the cross, wasn't it?