Acts 1:6-7

⁶ “So when they came together, they asked Him, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ ⁷ Jesus replied, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.'”

I hope that you are enjoying this series and that it answers questions or maybe just settled queries for you. I do not want to belabor the point too much longer, but I have heard too many people in the Lord’s churches talk about how the church has replaced Israel – that the final act of rebellion by rejecting Jesus to the cross set their fate and now the church has replaced Israel. This is sad to hear; it truly is because it calls into question all the promises that God made to us.

If God can renege on Israel, then maybe He can renege on the promises made to us. This is scary. The salvation we have was designed by, imagined, paid for, and secured for eternity by God. We do nothing except accept it. We cannot save ourselves, and we cannot keep ourselves saved; it is all God, ALL GOD!!

In our passage today, a short one recorded in Acts by Doctor Luke, we find the 11 remaining Apostles and others who are there asking a question about the Kingdom of Israel. They wondered if Jesus was about to restore the Kingdom of Israel. If you look at the other Gospels, Matthews tells us that Jesus gave the group their marching orders, Matthew 28:18-20,

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.”

Mark 16:14-18, “Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name, they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.'”

These are all parts of the same conversation that Jesus had on the Mount of Olives with His Apostles before He left. We see Luke 24:50-52,

“And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.”

The Holy Spirit does not lead Luke to give us details about the conversation until he begins writing in what we know to be the book of Acts. In this book, right off the top, Luke records the final conversation between Jesus and these men. There was noted excitement here; some feared, yes, and there were some doubts and unbelief, as was recounted in Mark’s version. But here these men were, and before them stood Jesus the risen Savior. One who could feed more than 5,000 with a few loaves and fish, One who could heal all manner of diseases, and One whom they had seen raise the dead. One whom they had seen crucified, and here He stood before them.

If anyone could overthrow the Romans, it was Him, and so, the natural question was, ‘Hey, Lord, are we going to destroy the Romans and take our nation back?’ You and I would have asked the same question. Here is the question from Luke’s account, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus could have said NO, this is not going to happen; there is no more Israel. But He did not; rather, He told them that only the Father knows when this will happen.

The inference here is that the Kingdom of Israel will be restored at a pre-determined time that only God the Father knows. There will be a new Kingdom of Israel, and these men were not asking about the New Jerusalem described to us in Revelation; they were asking about the present one that they lived in. Jesus knew that. He led these men to believe that God the Father had a set time in place when He would restore the physical Kingdom of Israel. Well, you and I can see the physical Kingdom of Israel in its growing form right before our very eyes. There is no Temple yet, but Daniel tells us that it will come; Daniel 9:27,

“He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven,’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple, he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

There will be a Temple for the Man of Sin to defile and where the Jews will perform sacrifices for the first half of the Tribulation period in a false peace that is negotiated by a man whom they will accept as the Messiah. This false messiah will turn on them and defile their Temple. But the Temple will be there to be defiled. If the Temple is there, run by Jews and where the sacrifices are being performed, then the Jews have control of the Temple Mount or some degree of agreement with their Muslim counterparts. As we can see, there is no such ‘peace’ right now. But it is coming. This is the precursor to Revelation 19, when Jesus comes to take His place in Jerusalem on the throne of his father, David.

Jesus assured them that the Kingdom of Israel would be restored but in God’s timing. In the time in between, the Lord’s churches are to tell the world what Jesus did to pay for their sins on Calvary. Let us be about the Father’s business.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding

Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook (live broadcast of Sunday’s Message at 11 am): https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch

Join us on Zoom every Sunday (10:30 am) for Sunday Service AND every Tuesday at 8:00 pm for Bible Study: Meeting ID: 700 794 460 Passcode: 032661; https://us02web.zoom.us/j/700794460?pwd=M3NFRG91ZW5Sa2Z3amVyWkFnYXd6QT09

Online: https://www.mmbchurch.ca

Email: support@mmbchurch.ca

Revelation 4:1-2, Revelation 7:1-8

“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, ‘Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.’ Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.”

I hope that you have enjoyed and maybe learned something through our walk as we learn more and more about God’s relationship with and to Israel from the very first covenant with Abraham until after the church age is over.

The Bible is full of God’s promises to Israel, and we have explored these over the past few weeks. If you are a student of the book of Revelation, sadly, many people are not, and many churches refuse to teach from the book; yet, in this book, there are clearly defined lines that show who God is predominantly working with at the time.

In the Old Testament, we see some Gentile persons like Rahab, Ruth, and Naaman, to mention a few. The focus, however, from the end of Genesis 11 to the end of the Gospels, is the nation and people of Israel. For a brief period in the book of Daniel, God, through a Jewish prophet, tells us about the Gentile kingdoms that He will raise up on the earth. But even then, they are recorded in relation to Israel. The Medes would begin freeing Israel from Babylon, the Persians would fund the rebuilding of the city, the Greeks would provide a language for the New Testament, and the Romans would build roads to transport the Gospel all over Africa, Europe, and parts of Asia Minor. But the revelation of the kingdoms all centered around Israel.

In Revelation 1-3, we have letters from Jesus to seven churches, all of whom were around at the time that John was writing the book of Revelation. These churches basically demonstrate 7 eras of the church age. There are churches from each era in all of the eras, but there is a predominant church type for each era.

At the end of the church era, we then jump into chapter 4, and John, the last of the Apostles who is still alive and a part of the very first church established by Jesus, is called up into Heaven. The phrase ‘come up here,’ which he is instructed to do after he hears a ‘voice like a trumpet speaking’ is the very word that is translated as rapture. It means to be caught up; thus, John is caught up and is in Heaven. After this event, the church is not mentioned again in Revelation. The writer, led by the Holy Spirit, never mentions the local churches ever again in Revelation.

In the next few chapters, we see scenes that are happening in Heaven, and in chapter 7, we are introduced to the nation of Israel and specifically the twelve tribes. The tribes are named; there are 12,000 men chosen and marked from each one. If you keep reading the chapter, it jumps back to Heaven, and there in Heaven is a multitude from all nations.

Revelation 7:9-10, “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'”

In the next few chapters, there is chaos rained on the earth by God, and then we meet two witnesses on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and the whole world is watching them. Even right now in our time, the world is beginning to focus again on Israel. She is in the news and in the headlines once again, and she will continue to be as we get closer and closer to the transition from the church age and back to God dealing with Israel as He prepares her to receive her Messiah.

In Revelation 13, the Man of Sin defiles the Temple in Jerusalem with an idol called an image. There is a rebellion; the Jews realize that they have been duped, and they recall Antiochus Epiphanes and his defilement of the Temple, and they cry out. In Revelation 19, Jerusalem is surrounded by the armies of the Man of Sin, and Jesus shows up in the clouds to defend Jerusalem, Israel, and the Jews who are still living. This is all about Israel, all about that sacred land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is about the throne of David, which is the throne that is promised to Jesus as His own on earth one day. Here are a few of the prophecies:

2 Samuel 7: 12-13, “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

Luke 1: 32-33, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

Isaiah 16:5, “A throne will even be established in lovingkindness, and a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David; moreover, he will seek justice and be prompt in righteousness.”

These are just a few examples of the promises that God gave to David, that there would be one to sit on his throne forever. Luke clearly tells us that Jesus is the one who will sit on David’s throne. God is not done with Israel.

Pray for the peace of Israel, and one day soon, my brothers and sisters, we will walk in Jerusalem and see Jesus, David, Abraham, Isaac, Elijah, and the multitude of people who have worshipped God as their One and only. We will see true justice offered to the whole world from Jerusalem, and Jesus will be the face of that justice. No, God is not done with the Jews; if anything, we are seeing the beginning of what He is about to do.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook (live broadcast of Sunday’s Message at 11 am): https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch

Join us on Zoom every Sunday (10:30 am) for Sunday Service AND every Tuesday at 8:00 pm for Bible Study: Meeting ID: 700 794 460 Passcode: 032661; https://us02web.zoom.us/j/700794460?pwd=M3NFRG91ZW5Sa2Z3amVyWkFnYXd6QT09

Online: https://www.mmbchurch.ca

Email: support@mmbchurch.ca