City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

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.”

Acts 1:6-8

Reflection

I remember in the 1970s when The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey was all the rage. He said the European Union was the revived Roman Empire and would produce the Antichrist, the Soviet Union would invade Europe, and Jesus would return in 1988. Ed Whisenant doubled down on Lindsey’s predictions in his book, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will be in 1988. When that prediction failed, Harold Camping predicted the end would come in 1994. When that date passed, he recalculated and predicted the date was May 21, 2011. 

Unfortunately, such predictions are not unique in Christian history, but Jesus anticipated such questions and dealt with them from the outset. In the passage of scripture above, when the disciples asked Jesus whether he was about to restore the kingdom to Israel, Jesus gave a three-part answer.

First, he told them the time of such happenings (“chronos”) and the appointed seasons (“kairos”) are not something for them to know. If we can’t know such things, we shouldn’t waste our time trying to figure them out.

Second, Jesus told them what to be concerned about: being empowered to be witnesses for Jesus. Evangelism—sharing the gospel and leading people to the Lord. This, Jesus says, should be our focus, not on setting dates or speculating about the end times.

Third, Jesus adjusts the disciples’ thinking. They asked when Jesus would restore the kingdom to Israel.  In response, Jesus said they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Their thinking was too small. The disciples thought the kingdom was for Israel; Jesus told them the kingdom was for the whole world. Jesus didn’t dash their hope; He adjusted their scope.

Application

Lindsey and Whisenant sold millions of books, but imagine what might have happened if the millions of Christians who bought those books and spent hours reading them would have taken heed of Jesus’ words above. What if they had spent that time making disciples?

We don’t need to know the date when the kingdom of God will achieve its fullness on the earth. We only need to know our role.

Prayer

Lord, help me always to be focused on the mission of making disciples. In Jesus’ name, amen.