Ask Of Me

Moments before Jesus ascended into heaven, to sit at the Right Hand of His Father, the disciples asked this question, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?”

What was the meaning and purpose of this question? It appears that in spite of all the teaching Jesus did on the Kingdom of God/Heaven during His three year ministry, and during the forty days after His resurrection [Acts 1:3], where He spoke to them, “of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God”, they were still under the influence of the leaven of the Pharisees.

The Pharisees were said to hold to the idea, that when the Messiah came, He would restore the Davidic Kingdom to Israel, with a view to exalting Israel to the head of the nations. [Deut. 28:13]. In the final analysis, they believed that the Messiah would lead them to dominate the world stage, and be at the top or head of the Gentile nations. They believed that Israel would rule the world, with their militaristic messiah on the throne.

So the disciples, seeing all the marvelous and powerful things Jesus did, could easily envision how He could lead Israel to dominate the world stage. Maybe they felt the urgency in the moment. But whatever motivated them to ask this question, it was not based upon what He had been teaching them.

Instead of correcting them for their seemingly misdirected question, He redirected their attention. Jesus responded, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.” In other words, "that information is well above your pay-grade. But here is what I want you to give attention to".

“You shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost 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.”

Actually, in saying the above, Jesus was answering them in the affirmative, .i.e., “Yes, I am going to restore the kingdom to Israel, but not as you have been told all your life.” If the Pharisees thought that the Messiah would catapult Israel to the head of the nations, they weren’t wrong. They were just wrong in how it was to be achieved. They were anticipating a military solution. Instead, the Messiah had a more peaceful way of doing so. He would exalt Israel to the head of the nations through the preaching of the gospel and making disciples out of all the nations. [Matt. 28:19-20]

The Prophet Isaiah puts it like this,

Isa. 2:2. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Isaiah proclaims that the “mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.”

The phrase, “the last days”, as used here by Isaiah, refers to the days of the Messiah, as John Gill points out.

"And it shall come to pass in the last days"
The days of the Messiah, as Aben Ezra rightly interprets it; and it is a rule laid down by Kimchi and Ben Melech, that wherever the last days are mentioned, the days of the Messiah are intended. The days of the Messiah commenced in the latter part of the Old Testament dispensation, or Jewish world, towards the close of their civil and church state, at the end of which he was to come, ( Habakkuk 2:3 ) and accordingly did, which is called the end of the world, and the last days; that is, of that state, ( Hebrews 1:2 ) ( 9:26 ) ( 1 Corinthians 10:11 ) and ushered in the world to come, or Gospel dispensation, which is properly the days of the Messiah, reaching from his first to his second coming;

So the phrase, “last days” does not refer to the end times of man’s history, as many are instructed, but refers to the time of the reign of the Messiah, which began at the end of the Jewish state, or what would prove to be the dissolution of the Israel which was constituted at Sinai. This dissolution occurred when Jerusalem and its temple were completely destroyed in AD 70, just as Jesus prophesied on the Mount of Olives (see Matt. 24, Mark 13, Luke 21)(Also see an indepth study of this topic in Not One Stone, available through Amazon.)

If you doubt that this phrase, last days, addresses the last days of Sinai’s Israel, then listen to the Apostle Paul. He plainly states that the Sinai Law had a beginning, and an ending. In Galatians 3, Paul argues that the inheritance promised to Abraham, was given to him by promise, not by the Law.

Paul argues,

18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

Paul clearly states that the Law cannot bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. This can only be accomplished through faith. He then asks a very important question, “Wherefore then serves the law?”. In other words, Paul is asking, “What purpose did the law perform?” He said that the law “was added”. Added to what? It was added, or placed along side of the promise. It was added because of transgressions, “Until the seed should come.” The law was to serve as a witness to man’s transgression against God, until . . . This word “until” points to the fact that the Law had a termination date. That date was when the Promised Seed should come, and that Seed was Christ [Gal. 3:16].

So when Christ Jesus came on the scene, the days of the Law were numbered. It was about to expire. Not the moral law, i.e., the ten commandments, but the ritual or ceremonial law, officiated at the temple.

Now, we have to ask this question. Were the Pharisees wrong to believe that Israel would be exalted to the head of the nations, i.e., that Israel would rule over the Heathen? The straightforward answer is, No, they were not wrong. However, they were wrong in HOW Israel would come to this place of leadership.

When the disciples asked Jesus if He was about to restore the Davidic Kingdom to Israel, notice Jesus’ response. He did not rebuke them for asking such a silly question. He didn’t say that asking such a thing demonstrates a god-size ego and that they should be ashamed to even think that such a thing could be true. No, He only answered that to know the TIMING of such a thing was above their pay grade. He said, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.”

In this answer, there is no hint that the idea of the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel was wrong, only that God had put the timing of such a thing into His hands alone. By this answer, Jesus is saying, “Yes, God is going to restore the Kingdom to Israel, but exactly when this will happen, is not your concern.”