Long Live the King
Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
Acts 1:1-11:
The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
Throngs line the streets of London. Those who have not joined the tumult, like the little man Zaccheus in Christ’s day, have sought a better view from higher up… hanging out of win-dows, peering over rooftops. The buzz of anticipation courses through the humanity crowd-ing the roadway from London’s Tower to Westminster Abbey. For many, this is a once in a lifetime event. There will be no day like today. From the Tower to the Cathedral it is ALL about the procession. Soon, the buzz gives way to a roar… anticipation gives way to the thrill of the moment… the confetti, the streamers, and the music fill the senses with wonder and awe; the pomp and pageantry of a processional line bedazzles children and parents alike.
But it’s not the pomp and pageantry causing emotions to swell, throats to lump up, or tears to flow. No, the impetus and the cause for controlled bedlam is riding in the midst of the extravagant processional… this is a glorious ride, a ride of little boys and little girls dreams that ends, eventually, at the altar of Westminster Abbey. Awaiting the subject of the proces-sional and the cause for celebration is the Archbishop of Canterbury, who then commences with a swearing of an oath, a promise of allegiance from the nation's great and small. With great ceremony, that one who is cause for celebration, the one who has sworn to protect and defend the people is bestowed an orb, a scepter, and finally, a crown. But more important than the display of magnificent grandeur that speaks to the occasion, the recipient of the crown is no longer heir, but is in fact the beneficiary of a kingdom, the kingdom of the Brit-ish Crown, a kingdom that is worldwide in its scope. A king, his subject, and a kingdom crescendo with thunderous applause from the tumult: Long live the king. This, my friends, is a coronation day in England.
But this is also a day that we know very little about, nor do we hold in much esteem. It’s not just the fact that we are too young to remember the last coronation day in Britain. It really doesn’t matter much to us (other than amusing ourselves at the spectacle). You see, we are Americans and proudly so. And for the past 232 years, we have -- rightly or wrongly -- tossed aside the shackles of a monarch and the monarcy. And in doing so, while we seem to have avoided the tyrannical oppression of an abusive dictator by opting for a democratic republic that has been unmatched in history, I'm afraid we also have lost some of the significance of "king" and "kingdom". If we really understood them well, crowns, scepters, kings and kingdoms are earthly copies of a reality bigger than themselves (and interestingly enough, this connection between earth and heaven is engrained in the pomp and ceremony of the British coronation).
Understanding the Book of Acts
I bring this up for this reason... when it comes to the book of Acts and understanding the church's mission as it is described in Acts, we tend to miss the grand theme running through its narrative simply because we are Americans. How many of us, in reading this passage, think first of the kingdom language? Would it surprise us to find the kingdom and its mes-sage as a recurring theme through the book of Acts?
What Luke says about mission and kingdom doesn't mean all that much to us because it doesn't resonate with who we are as an American people group. In these opening pages of Luke’s second volume to Theophilus, we are confronted with this fact that though we are not people of the British Crown, we are most certainly people of A Crown. Yet more often than not, when Acts 1 is brought to our minds and we consider Christ’s commission of his church, a monarchy is quite distant from our thinking. But it is here in Acts 1. Christ spoke to his disciples “things pertaining to the kingdom”.
Now, the story of Acts 1 is a familiar story to most of us. Etched in many of our memories is the flannel graph picture of Jesus ascending in a cloud with a two angels promising a re-turn in the clouds. And if we were paying attention, we also heard the great commission all over again, this time with the promise of the Holy Spirit and a prediction that seemingly comes true: from Jerusalem to the end of the earth. And that’s all there is to this, right? Acts is the book about the gift of the Spirit because Jesus is gone, now his disciples are left to evangelize the world, and the church age gets underway, and for good measure… there are a bunch of miracles thrown in to help the people believe the disciples… right? Isn’t this what we’ve been told about Acts? Often we are led to believe that Acts is “what happened after Jesus left the building”.
But there’s more to the book of Acts than this. In fact, if this is what the book of Acts is about, and indeed if this is all there is to the church’s commission, then we have not really understood Luke at all.
There are some details in these opening paragraphs that we cannot miss if we are to rightly understand Luke and what he chronicles about the church’s mission.
Acts is a continuation
The first thing we need to see is that the book of Acts is a continuation of the book of Luke. Some have wondered if Luke is one book with two halves, two volumes that make up one series, or two distinct books written at two different times with Acts as a sequel. I tend to believe that what Luke is describing in these opening verses is the second in a series of two volumes that are to be understood as a complete unit. When Luke says, “In the first book, O Theophilus” and then moves on to what he has else to say to Theolophilus, he is connecting Acts to the Gospel of Luke in a very concrete way. So much so, that the first few verses of Luke not only function as an introduction to the Gospel of Luke, they function as an intro-duction to the book of Acts as well. Turn to Luke 1:1-4:
Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.
Just two things to note from Luke 1 for our study this morning from this passage. First, Luke says the content of his gospel is both “an orderly account” of and based on “eyewit-ness” accounts of Christ’s ministry, death, and resurrection. This is important because the witnesses of Acts 1 are the very witnesses from whom Luke has received his account. Luke is the beneficiary of those who become witnesses from Jerusalem to the end of the earth. And it isn’t merely Luke who is a beneficiary. Theophilus himself has been taught the same gospel of which the disciples were eyewitnesses.
The second thing we need to see here is that the certainty that gave rise to Luke’s motivation in writing his gospel is the same consideration for the book of Acts. Acts’ has in its purview not merely an accounting of what Theophilus is taught, but a certainty that is inherent to the very gospel being proclaimed by the eyewitnesses. Acts isn’t simply a record, nor does it merely contain patterns for the church *to do*. The book of Acts is life-giving gospel. Wo-ven into the very fabric of Luke’s account of the beginning of the church is the gospel; in fact it is the gospel that brings the church to life.
Christ’s continued mission
The literary connections between the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts lead us to the second major consideration of our Acts 1 text this morning. The book of Acts is Christ’s continued mission. Do not, and I repeat, do not miss the clever language chosen by Luke to link his gospel with the book of Acts: “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach”. Here he does not say in the gospel he dealt with what Christ *did* and *taught*. No, the first book was just the beginning. The beginning of what? The beginning of Christ’s activity and teaching on earth. What you have in the gospel of Luke, Theophilus, is only the beginning of what Christ is doing and teaching on the earth. The inbreaking of heaven into the Bethlehem night sky announcing the Incarnation, God become man, is just the beginning. It’s not the end. There’s more, so much more that Christ is doing on the earth and here is the book of Acts as an accounting of it. In fact, while the disciples were witnesses to Christ’s ministry, death, and resurrection, I Luke, am an eyewitness of what Christ has been doing on the earth since that time. Christ’s activity of gathering a people for himself and His work on behalf of that people did not end with his death, resurrection, or even ascension. No, Christ has continued to be active in the affairs of His people. Thus, the book of Acts is not really the Acts of the Apostles as it is traditionally rendered. It is better understood as the Acts of Christ through His Spirit, or as John Stott so eloquently puts it, “The Continuing Words and Deeds of Jesus by His Spirit through His Apostles”.
Do not make the mistake of thinking that because Christ is no longer visible on earth that His activity has gone dormant, or, as we may be tempted to think, that Christ has passed the torch to the Spirit and now it is the Spirit’s turn to work. Acts is primarily about Jesus Christ. This doesn’t mean that this is not the age of the Spirit, for it indeed is that. But the Spirit has descended because Christ ascended and the Spirit is at work doing the deeds of Christ.
Christ’s continued kingdom message
And this point leads us into our third major consideration of our passage as we look forward to the rest of the book of Acts... because Acts contains the continuation of what Christ began to do and teach while he was walking among men, Christ’s kingdom message in Acts is a continuation of what was begun in the gospel of Luke. In the brief 40 days between Christ’s resurrection and ascension the body of Christ’s continuing education of his disciples is apparently two-fold: the kingdom of God, and wait for the promise of the Father, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The latter of these two things becomes more apparent in the last half of chapter 1 here and in chapter 2 of Acts… the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost becomes a foundational event in the church as a new creation of Christ in the New Covenant. But… we are not going to take up this part of the discussion this morning.
The first part of Christ’s message to his disciples is what we are looking at… verse 4… Chr-ist taught the kingdom of God, something that was true of his ministry on earth from the very beginning. Curious, isn’t it. If you had 40 days with the disciples before leaving their physical presence, what topic would you choose? Would it have been “kingdom”? Christ reaches for the very essence of who he is and what he has accomplished. This subject of kingdom doesn’t merely reach back to the early days of his ministry, or his cousin John the Baptist’s for that matter: repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. No, this reaches back to the very Messianic nature of the Incarnation. This reaches back to the very earliest of those grand promises, and indeed back to the garden. The gardenic mandate that had been forsaken in the fall was for man to have “dominion” over the earthly kingdom of God… and, as redemptive history unfolds beyond the garden, it isn’t long before Joseph is having dreams about a “ruler” to which all the other heavenly bodies will bow, and Jacob is prophesying that a scepter will come from Judah’s line. These prophets know that there would come One who would re-establish the dominion abdicated by Adam. There would come One who would perfectly fulfill that dominion mandate.
And this Messianic Ruler, as redemptive history moves along, is then tied to David and So-lomon… the House of David is promised a kingdom and a king whose rule and reign is FOREVER so that when the time comes for the Lord Adonai to descend Jacob’s ladder and take on human garb, Luke records for us in chapter 1 of his gospel: “…in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” And as has been promised since the days of Jacob and Joseph and now to Mary, sure enough in a Bethlehem manger is born One who is accompanied by angels who announce to shepherds: For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. The Messiah, the Warrior King has been born to the house of David, a house that will reign forever and ever.
But this isn’t a throne that is merely handed to the Messiah. The heir to David’s throne emerges as a champion for his people in a journey to secure and win His throne. Luke notes in Luke 4 that Christ’s kingdom is at the heart of the devil’s temptation. The devil offers Christ the kingdoms of the world; Christ resists the temptation, and later in the same chapter preaches another kingdom, a kingdom that is set over against all of the kingdoms of the world: the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, 43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” 44 (Luke 4:42-44).
Having beaten the illegitimate claim to the throne, Luke tells us that Christ went “through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.” And at other times Christ sent out the disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God. The preaching and teaching of the kingdom of God is mentioned 9 times in the book of Luke; the subject of king and kingdom is referenced another 31 times, meaning the gospel of Luke alone has more than 40 references to the kingdom of God; the kingdom is central to Luke’s account of the Christ event. Theophilus cannot understand the nature of who Christ is and what He came to accomplish, he cannot even ponder the manger scene, without the rule and reign of “Messiah” permeating that understanding. This kingdom that long ago had been foretold, this kingdom that long ago had been promised to the Messiah is finally and fully coming to its fruition in Jesus Christ.
This emergence of a King and his kingdom continues in Acts. 7 times in Acts… almost the same number of times as the gospel of Luke… the preaching and teaching of the kingdom is highlighted. In the opening verses of Acts 1, Christ preaches the kingdom in the 40-day in-terval between the resurrection and ascension. This will be the task of the disciples as the King ascends to and is exalted on his throne. And not only does Acts begin with Christ teaching the kingdom of God to his disciples, but the book ends with the same note… Paul is in a house in Rome, where (Acts 28:23ff) “... many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets... Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.” The book ends precisely where it began: the preaching and teaching of the kingdom of God.
Christ’s continued kingdom
Is it any wonder then, with kingdom being a central theme of Christ’s message and life work, that the storyline in the book of Acts that continues what Christ began to do and teach swings on a question about the kingdom? And that’s our fourth consideration this morning: Acts is about Christ’s continued kingdom. Everything that happens in Acts not only intersects with the popular verse we’re used to hearing (Acts 1:8), but the context of that verse in the first place: verse 6ff: “Therefore (whenever we see therefore, we understand it is explaining the results of something…. As a result of Christ preaching the kingdom) when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The disciples ask, “will you at this time restore the kingdom?” and Christ answers, “you will be witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” They are asking “kingdom”, and Christ is answering “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the end of the earth”. Acts 1:8 is the answer to the question posed in 1:6. How many of us have heard a sermon or sat in a Bible study over Acts 1:8 and have never considered verse 6?
This is stunning. Against the backdrop of the gospel of Luke and its 40 mentions of the kingdom of God, including 9 mentions of the proclamation of the kingdom – including proc-lamation by the disciples, the question posed in verse 6 is stunning. John Calvin quips in his Institutes, “there are as many errors in (the disciples’) question as words”. An exaggeration for sure, but the point is made. Even in Christ’s final days on earth, even as he spends his time, again, reinforcing what has been taught concerning the kingdom of God… in light of His death, and resurrection, no less… like the disciples on the road to Emmaus who had hoped that Christ was “the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21), the disciples misunderstand not only the nature and scope of Christ’s mission and work, but the nature of their own mis-sion and message. They were looking for something political and visible. They wanted something they could taste, see, and touch. It’s hard not to view this question in light of another point of debate in the gospel of Luke with which Theophilus was already familiar: who among us is the greatest?
Luke does not chronicle for us whether or not Christ was dismayed at their question. Yet, as is Christ’s gracious teaching habit, he does not answer their question in a way they (or we, for that matter) would have expected, while at the same time answering the question decidedly. We could spend another or two sermons trying to unpack all there is to unpack in verse 8, but for our kingdom purposes this morning, we must be content in understanding verse 8 as the answer to the question in verse 6.
Christ’s kingdom scope
And this is the fifth point of consideration this morning: the scope of Christ’s Kingdom is the entire world. The disciples ask a question that betrays their continued lack of under-standing about Christ’s mission and in verse 7, he first tells them that it is not for them to know the times or the seasons the Father has fixed by his own authority, a statement quite similar to one that he has already made… that the Son himself has not been privy to such information (Mark 13:32ff). And then he answers, more directly, their question. Don’t miss the significance of the English word “but” at the beginning of verse 8. That word “but” points to the subtle rebuke and contrast Christ makes between his answer and their expectations. The disciples were still thinking way too small in terms of the scope of the kingdom, and too fleshly in terms of the nature of the kingdom. This kingdom is not what they thought it was supposed to be. They ask a question in terms of a nation and land. Christ answers with a different kind of nation, land, and kingdom, a kingdom that will eventually expand to fill the entire earth. The disciples may be myopic in their focus and their expecta-tions, but Christ certainly isn’t. A kingdom beginning in Jerusalem? Yes, that was to be expected, given what the prophets had said about the Messiah’s kingdom. You can almost hear the disciples nod approvingly… certainly there we expect Christ to rule from Jerusalem… but the nods begin to slow when Christ adds “all Judea” and then “Samaria”, and as the scope of Christ’s kingdom is widened, the truth begins to sink in. Christ, the Good and Gracious Shepherd even to the end, is reorienting their hearts and their eyes of faith to that which cannot be seen, a kingdom that is not of this world.
If there were any doubts among the disciples about the nature and scope of Christ’s kingdom and his message, he erases them with his final kingdom boundary marker: to the end of the earth. Once again, Christ wants his disciples to see beyond the finiteness and limitedness of Moses. Here he is invoking the Abrahamic covenant; Remember the promise to Abraham that through him all the nations would be blessed? Welcome to Christ’s kingdom, the fulfillment of that promise. Christ the Warrior-King has been given a kingdom that spans the entire globe. The “all nations” of that promise to Abraham find their blessing in King Jesus and His realm. This is picked up in Luke 24, where we have the other link between Acts 1 and the book of Luke: Christ says “this death and resurrection were necessary…that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you.” This language of Luke 24 is the language of Acts 1:8... you are witnesses of my death and resurrection to all nations beginning at Jerusalem.
But it’s not just the Abrahamic Covenant in view here. Even here in Luke 24 and Acts 1:8, Christ is reaching back even further to the mandate in the garden… there in the garden the dominion mandate was to fill the earth and subdue the earth and to have dominion over eve-rything that moves on the earth. The original dominion mandate for Adam was to have dominion over the entire earth. Now, a second Adam has come and has inaugurated his king-dom… a kingdom that begins in Jerusalem, moves out to Judea, and then to Samaria… this is a kingdom that is going to expand until it fills the entire earth. And this commission is given to disciples who will carry that kingdom message over the expanse of the globe. Chr-ist’s answer to the disciples question in Acts 1:6 is simply this: the kingdom they expected, a kingdom that is grounded in the original mandate to Adam to fill the earth with God’s image bearers, is fulfilled as the church fulfills its commission.
Christ’s kingdom trajectory
Acts 1:8 then is Christ’s kingdom trajectory. Much has been made by commentators and theologians and pastors throughout church history as to the relationship between Acts 1:8 and the rest of the book of Acts. It’s pretty obvious that the rest of the book of Acts follows this Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, “to the end of the earth” trajectory. The church is birthed at Pentecost in Jerusalem and before Acts closes Paul is in Rome, not quite the end of the earth, but certainly well beyond Samaria. And in that day and age, Rome was considered “the end of the earth”. But what has been missed by too many is that this trajectory from Jerusalem to the end of the earth is characterized as “kingdom expansion”. And if we were to follow the trajectory through the storyline of the book of Acts, we would find that this kingdom expansion occurs as Christ from the heavens orchestrates the increase of the Word and the increase of his church (Acts 2:41,47, 6:7, 9:31, 12:24, 16:5, 19:20).
Christ’s kingdom expansion
Indeed the entirety of the book of Acts is the answer to the disciples’ question. Luke writes the narrative of the entire book in such a way that the book begins with Christ teaching the disciples the kingdom of God and the disciples follow-up question and ends with Paul in a house in Rome expounding to anyone within earshot “testifying to them the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets”, just as Christ had done with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Acts begins with kingdom and ends with kingdom following the storyline provided in Acts 1:8: “from Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth”.
The means by which the kingdom is expanded is the increase of the word and the constant addition of numbers to the church. The increase of Christ’s Word and the increase of Christ’s church is the kingdom rhythm of Acts… the Word is preached, and as the Word is preached, Christ increases His Word and multiplies His church. Kingdom expansion occurs as the gospel is faithfully proclaimed by Christ's witnesses, and this expansion moves from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and Asia Minor… and ultimately to Rome and the entire earth. Kingdom expansion occurs, as Christ redeems for himself a people, and gathers to himself a church as redemptive history unfolds through the book of Acts and beyond.
Thus, the story contained in Acts is Christ’s expansion of his kingdom from heaven by His witnesses, the church, through the Spirit. This kingdom promised to the Messiah would be noted for its outpouring of the Spirit and indeed this is what we find in Pentecost. It is the Spirit who effects Christ’s rule and reign among his people in the ever expanding kingdom.
Christ’s kingdom witnesses
This brings us to the eighth consideration of this passage. The kingdom expansion is accompanied by witnesses who have been empowered by the Spirit. Without witnesses, there is no trajectory. Christ will accomplish his kingdom purposes through His witnesses. Just as the disciples had proclaimed the kingdom throughout Christ’s ministry, so now also they will be proclaiming the kingdom through His Spirit as witnesses to Christ’s death and resurrection and coming shortly, his ascension. This should give us much pause in our day when some are suggesting that the proclamation of the word is not necessary for kingdom growth. Such an idea is foreign to scripture. The proclamation of the word is necessary for kingdom expansion. This is why Paul later will say, I know nothing, I preach nothing but Christ and Him crucified.
Christ’s Kingdom ambassadors
And that brings us to our last consideration… these witnesses of Christ’s exaltation become the king’s ambassadors to all of the nations. Verse 9: “While they watched, he was taken up”. Lost in the nice little children’s Bible Story about Christ’s ascension into heaven is the significance of Luke’s language and imagery of how it took place. This isn’t merely Christ riding away in a puff of clouds. Twice Luke uses the words “taken up” to describe Christ’s ascent into heaven. These words are deliberately chosen to invoke the image of Elijah being taken up into heaven in a whirlwind in a chariot of fire. This would not have been lost on Theophilus or the early church. This is no ordinary cloud. This is the glory-cloud familiar to Israel symbolizing God’s presence. Theophilus and the church see more than Jesus in a cloud. This is none other than a new and better Elijah being carried into heaven in shekinah glory. And just as Elijah is taken up, Elisha becomes the new ambassador. Like Elisha, the witnesses watching the New Elijah disappear in the glory-cloud are tasked with furthering the mission of the New Elijah who has been taken into glory. The church, the New Elisha, becomes the ambassador for the king and his kingdom, proclaiming the King’s name from Jerusalem to the end of the earth.
Christ’s kingdom coronation
But this is not the only image being invoked by Luke or by God’s divine orchestration of Christ’s ascent. Certainly, a bookend is what we are seeing here in Acts 1. In Luke 2, the exalted One descended heaven and took his residence in a lowly earth-bound manger with the proclamation about the heir to David’s throne on the lips of angels suspended above the earth. Now, the babe in the manger has been exalted up to the heavens and it is the angels on earth heralding an eventual return. The divine humiliation is over. Christ has ascended in shekinah glory. He has been, according to verse 11, “taken up into heaven”. They aren’t merely looking up, they are, like Stephen “gazing up into heaven”. Heaven is mentioned 4 times in the space of one verse. These disciples aren’t simply looking up into the sky. They are gazing *into* heaven. As the glory-cloud ascends, the disciples are given a glimpse of heaven’s throne room. Christ hasn’t merely ascended, but he has ascended to heaven where Peter will say seven days later he was exalted at the right hand of the Father. These disciples on that hillside are now witnesses to nothing other than the Messiah’s majestic coronation.
Oh, if they hadn’t understood it before, they surely understood it now. How they were foolish and slow of heart. They had been looking for an earthly restoration of glory to Israel and now they were witnesses to Christ’s heavenly exaltation in glory. It is no longer shepherds who will carry that message to the streets of Bethlehem. It is Christ-commissioned witnesses who will carry that message to the end of the earth. Without the ascension, there is no mission.
Just what was it that the disciples witnessed? We are given a very brief glimpse in the Old Testament. I had not considered this passage until I read a few weeks back that a passage from 2 Kings forms the underpinnings of England’s coronation ceremony. 2 Kings 11:4-12:
“…in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of the Carites and of the guards, and had them come to him in the house of the LORD. And he made a co-venant with them and put them under oath in the house of the LORD, and he showed them the king’s son. 5 And he commanded them, “This is the thing that you shall do: one third of you, those who come off duty on the Sabbath and guard the king’s house 6 (another third being at the gate Sur and a third at the gate behind the guards) shall guard the palace. 7 And the two divisions of you, which come on duty in force on the Sabbath and guard the house of the LORD on behalf of the king, 8 shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand. And whoever approaches the ranks is to be put to death. Be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in.” 9 The captains did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and they each brought his men who were to go off duty on the Sabbath, with those who were to come on duty on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest. 10 And the priest gave to the captains the spears and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of the LORD. 11 And the guards stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house on behalf of the king. 12 Then he brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony. And they proclaimed him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, “Long live the king!”
It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to see beyond the coronation of young Joash to un-derstand the significance of that glory cloud on a Jerusalem hillside. Throngs lined the streets of heaven. Heaven’s citizens were hanging out of windows, peering over rooftops. The buzz of anticipation coursed through the throngs of saints crowding the celestial roadway from the hillside to the throne room. Oh, for those saints, even those disciples… there was be no day like that day. Soon, the buzz gives way to a roar… anticipation gives way to the thrill of the moment… the confetti, the streamers, and the music fill the senses with wonder and awe; the pomp and pageantry of a processional line bedazzles the Redeemed.
But it’s not the pomp and pageantry causing emotions to swell, throats to lump up, or tears to flow. No, the impetus and the cause for controlled bedlam is riding in the midst of the shekinah glory-cloud… With great ceremony, that One who is cause for celebration, the One who has sworn to protect and defend and redeem His people is bestowed an orb, a scepter, and finally, a crown. But more important than the display of magnificent grandeur that speaks to the occasion, the recipient of the crown is no longer heir, but is in fact the benefi-ciary of a kingdom, the kingdom that had been promised to a Son, a kingdom that is worldwide in its scope. Behold in the midst of the throne stood a Lamb as though it had been slain... and He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat upon the throne… and they sang a new song, And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”
A king, his subject, and a kingdom crescendo with thunderous applause from the tumult: Long live the king who has been crowned with all glory, honor, and power. This, my friends, was Christ’s coronation day in heaven.
Reflection and Response
So what is our response?
First, we must see Christ actively expanding His kingdom from His throne on high through His Spirit. How often have we heard Acts 1:8 preached as if it were an imperative? It is not. You *will be* my witnesses from Jerusalem to the end of the earth. It is a matter of fact. It *will* happen. Christ’s work on the cross and His resurrection guarantee that His plan will not be thwarted. We will be His witnesses… ambassadors of the king.
Second, we must see ourselves as participants in the text and in so doing, see ourselves both as beneficiaries of Christ’s work in expanding His kingdom from Jerusalem to Dayton and Springboro, and as participants in that mission. The message of the kingdom has transversed time and space to give us life, make us a new creation in the New Covenant, and transform our lives. As a transformed people we continue the mission as we ourselves give witness to Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension.
Third, we must see ourselves as recipients of the royal commission in preaching the kingdom. Like those disciples, we are witnesses to the end of the earth with the message of Christ’s death, resurrection, and exaltation. Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. He rules and he reigns over His church from His throne on high. And he effects the expansion of that kingdom through the proclamation of the word through witnesses. To paraphrase what Peter tells the crowd in Acts 2, “let all the world know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus who was crucified”. Let us be about the proclamation of that message, and in so doing, be participants in Christ’s mission to expand his rule and reign through the increase of the word and the increase of disciples to His church.
Do you desire, do we desire for Christ to expand His kingdom through His church? Let us participate in Christ’s mission as witnesses proclaiming His name wherever His kingdom is not visibly found. The book of Acts is about the continuing of Christ’s mission on earth by the church. As we participate with Theophilus in that mission, Christ will expand His king-dom through the power of His Spirit as He increases both His Word and those who call him Lord. -- crb











