Acts 1: God’s perfect timing
And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
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 in 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.”
Acts 1:4-11
Jesus is risen! Luke, the author of Acts, has left off his previous account with Jesus having risen and appearing to his disciples. The disciples’ sorrow has turned to joy. And they have a mission that Jesus charged them with - to go and make disciples of all nations.
The natural human reaction would be ‘well let’s get on with it!'. It's certainly my reaction sometimes - when I get an idea in my head, I want to start acting on it straight away. Others may be different - they wish to take time to consider a course of action, to plan and to reflect.
Regardless of our own idiosyncrasies, God has his own timing. He tells the disciples not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Holy Spirit. They could not build the church on their own strength, but needed the Holy Spirit's help.
Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? the disciples ask. They still don't fully get it - not understanding that Jesus' kingdom is a heavenly one, not an earthly one, and he has not come to restore Israel's political power, but to build a new Israel - that is the worldwide church of believers, Jew and Gentile. But once the Holy Spirit comes on them at Pentecost, the veil is lifted and they remember the things Jesus has taught, preaching and writing them down (known to us as the Gospel accounts) as they come to understand in full.
It's difficult to make a universally specific application to these verses - the disciples received a specific instruction from the incarnate Jesus himself, and it related to the coming of the Holy Spirit - an event that has already happened. However, we can take a general application - God knows what we need, when we need it, and when we are ready to fulfil the mission he has set for us. There are people we read of in the Bible who are both young and old - Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born (Genesis 21:5), whereas Jeremiah described himself as a 'youth' (Jeremiah 1:7). Simeon and Anna both waited their entire lives to see the coming of the incarnate Jesus (Luke 2:25-28), and yet Timothy was a young man when we read of his ministry (1 Timothy 4:12).
So we shouldn't be disheartened when God closes a door - it is possible that he is saying 'wait'.
Comments
Post a Comment