6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 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.” 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. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 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.”
Now is not the time for God to restore the kingdom of Israel. The reader will understand that God is not going to restore a royal kingdom, but he has established the kingdom of Christ. The Kingdom of Haven has already arrived in Jesus Christ. Now the Kingdom has to expand and grow. It will do so through these disciples.
Jesus reminds them that they are his witnesses. They will now take the good news to the ends of the earth. The kingdom rests in their hands. And so now the Kingdom rests in our hands, not to deny forgiveness to repentant sinners, but to forgive repentant sinners. Just as Jacob slept at the foot of the gates to heaven. So the church rests at the gates of heaven, pointing people to the only way, Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ has died for the forgiveness of sins. He has redeemed his people. He has established his kingdom, and will return to restore all things to the way they were supposed to be. He will return and judge the living and the dead. He will raise some to eternal life and others to eternal judgment.
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