Living Between Mission and Kingdom

Who can blame the disciples for the mistake of thinking that Jesus was about to restore the kingdom to Israel; there before them stood the once crucified Messiah now alive once more and he had spent the past 40 days speaking to them about the kingdom.

So Jesus response to them is a rebuke, but it is gentle in nature. He makes clear that they are mistaken at every point, the kingdom will not be a physical kingdom but a spiritual one. The kingdom will not be now but it will come at the time and season appointed by God. The citizens of the kingdom will not be the Jews alone, but people of every nation.

This is the mission of the church and the commission of Jesus to his disciples. He sends them out as witnesses to the ends of the earth. Yet even in this act, there is a tie back to the coming kingdom, for as the message goes forth, so the time of consummation draws nigh.