The Final Question

Acts 1:6-8

“Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.””

This is the last thing the disciples asked Jesus before he ascended into heaven. They didn’t know it then and I’ve often wondered if they did would they have asked a different question.

I have no way to know for sure, but I’ve thought about this question a lot and I don’t think they would change a thing.

For us, it’s hard to understand their question, it feels so unique to the disciples. And it’s probably a question none of us would ever ask Jesus, let alone make our last one. I also think we don’t really understand what they were truly asking. We read it with our 2000 year distant arrogance as if this question is the bumbling request of disciples who still don’t understand Jesus.

But I think they understood Jesus at this moment more than they ever had, and while the baptism of the Holy Spirit had yet to come, they had finally come to understand who Jesus really was and the mission of his life and theirs.

This question isn’t about how much they still wanted Jesus to overthrow Rome, or their misunderstanding of a Messiah who would set up a physical kingdom in the here and now. For them, this was the unanswered question of everything they now knew. Jesus was the true King of Israel and the fulfillment of many long awaited promises. Most had been fulfilled through the death and resurrection of Jesus, but when would that final restoration come? Their question was because they finally believed Jesus.  

In those 40 days Jesus equipped them with everything they needed to know but couldn’t understand before the cross and the resurrection. A handful of gospel accounts and five verses in the book of Acts might be the only details we are given, but the evidence of their scope and significance is found in the rest of the New Testament. And their question reveals the things Jesus taught them.

It reveals that there was work to be done after the resurrection of Jesus.

It reveals that the nature of that work is restoring all that has been lost.

It reveals that the kingdom that Jesus has initiated is going somewhere and doing something, and at some point, it will come to a glorious and climactic conclusion.

It also reveals a unique mystery and tension in the story of scripture that most of us minimize about God’s plan for his oldest friends: Israel.

Each of these simple revelations could be pursued in an entire book, but for us, we must see Jesus’ answer.

The disciples wanted to know the details of how this would all end, when it would all end, and how the deepest desires of their hearts and the promises of God would be experienced. They were asking Jesus about things he had taught them, and sharing a desire that beats within every soul, no matter the uniqueness of the longing of our individual hearts and lives:

Is it now?

My guess is if you got to have one last question with Jesus, it would be different than the disciples.

But I am convinced your question would be of the same substance.

It would be a question of the deepest longing of your heart that would end with, “Is it now, Jesus?”

And to this we see Jesus’ answer: “I know you care about the timeline, but I need you to trust me with the way the timeline is going to unfold. You have to trust me with the end, and learn to follow me in the how.”

This is what we must see.

They wanted to know about “now.”

But Jesus needed them to be more concerned about “how.”

If we are going to partner with Jesus for the renewal of all things, we must exchange our desire for “now” and learn how to live out the “how.”

God controls the end. That’s not our job. To follow Jesus is to release control of where the story goes, and when the story ends. Our job is simply to be witnesses of the true king and the true kingdom wherever the story takes us.

Maybe 40 days of conversations really can be understood in five verses.