Ep 372 – Acts 1:6-11

In verses 6-11 of Acts 1, Peter is going to address the Kingdom of God. The disciples of Jesus had a strong desire to see it come about. They had followed Jesus, in part, because they had heard the testimony of John the Baptist, as he preached that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. They had even heard Jesus preach the very same message. And they had spent more than three years of their lives following Jesus, hoping that He was going to set up His kingdom on earth and assign each of them positions of power and authority. But with Jesus’ death, all those hopes had quickly faded. Then, when He rose from the dead and appeared to them, their hopes and dreams were restored. But once again, they were to see their Messiah and friend leave them. This time, not because of death, but because He was returning to heaven. What they were going to learn was that the kingdom Jesus came to set up was of a spiritual nature, and they were citizens of it. While He returned to heaven, they were going to remain behind and continue His ministry of calling others into His heavenly kingdom through acceptance of God’s gracious gift of salvation made possible through the death and resurrection of His Son. The King had come and, one day, He was going to return. But in the meantime, the citizens of His Kingdom had work to do.