and, being assembled with [them], commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the promise of the Father, which [said he] ye have heard of me.
Between the resurrection and Pentecost, the Lord tells the apostles to do nothing but wait in one city. Why wait, why in Jerusalem, and what is "the promise of the Father"?
The opening phrase, "while staying with them," appears in older versions as "being assembled with them." A note in the margin offers a different reading again. One writer tests it against what Peter later said about the days after the resurrection:
The day of His final departure was near. The disciples were hearing His last instructions. Being assembled with them — or, as the margin puts it, "eating with them" — the Lord told them not to leave Jerusalem... The margin's reading would fit well with what Peter said to Cornelius and his friends (10:41): that the disciples ate and drank with the Lord after He rose from the dead... What times those must have been! What grace they show!
The Lord adds that they had heard this promise from Him. One writer traces what that memory would have brought back:
They remembered what He said to them in the upper room, after He gave them the Lord's Supper. The Lord had made the astounding statement, "It is better for you that I go away"... He said, "If I do not go away, the Comforter will not come, the other Comforter. The One Who is coming will come to take My place, and He will be to you even more than I have been. He will live with you, not for three years, but will stay with you for ever."
People often mix this gift up with two other works of the Spirit. One commentator separates them, and shows why the timing depended on Christ's leaving:
It matters greatly that we understand this. Many wrongly apply the Spirit's baptism either to miraculous displays or to the new birth... The question here is not the great basic need of sinful people at all times to be born of the Spirit. Still less is it those gifts... It is the immense and lasting privilege of the church: the Holy Spirit sent down in person to stay with the saints and to be in them... This depended on the Son's going away. If He did not go away, that other Advocate, the Spirit of truth, would not come. But once the work of reconciliation was done, Jesus went on high and sent the Spirit down here.
This settles an old puzzle. In John 20 the Lord had already breathed on the disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit. Yet here He still tells them to wait.
Was this giving of the Spirit the gift spoken of in John 7:39; 14:17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-13? No. In Acts 1:4, at a later date than the one John writes about here, the Lord told His disciples that they were still to wait for the promise of the Father.
The promise also pointed them away from Israel's earthly hopes:
The sending of the Holy Spirit also led them out of the Jewish field of promises that were only earthly. The Father's promise of the Holy Spirit was a very different thing from the promise that Jehovah, the God of judgment, would restore the kingdom of Israel by His power.
The command fixes them in one place together, and that detail carries weight:
Acts 1:4 reminds us that the early disciples did not receive the Holy Spirit one by one. The Lord commanded them to gather at Jerusalem and wait there for the promise of the Father, the blessed Holy Spirit of God... The Spirit came and formed the believers into one body — Christ the Head in heaven, the believers the body on earth.
Being told to wait was itself a test, and one writer draws out what they did with it:
Fallen nature cannot wait. It is impatient, because it distrusts God. The Israelites could not wait for Moses to come down from the mountain. King Saul could not wait for Samuel to come. The Lord tested the disciples at this very point. He said "Wait," and they gathered in Jerusalem in submission to Him, bound together in the bonds of Divine love, and waited as He had said.
That wait was for one occasion only. God answered their prayers, and the answer stands:
The hundred and twenty people gathered there took their stand on that promise. They prayed and received the answer. If we now ask for the Holy Spirit to be sent, we are centuries behind the time. He is here. How sad it is to neglect His presence!
- Promised — the Father's promise is the Holy Spirit Himself, a Person sent to stay for ever, not a burst of miracles and not the new birth.
- Purchased — the gift waited on Christ's going away. He finished the work of reconciliation, went on high, and sent the Spirit down.
- Postponed — the breathing in John 20 was not this gift, since the Lord still tells them here to keep waiting.
- Placed — the Lord kept them together in Jerusalem, because the Spirit came to form one body, not to visit believers one by one.
- Past — their wait tested their obedience, and prayer carried them through. Ours is over: the Spirit has come and remains.
For John indeed baptised with water, but *ye* shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit after now not many days.
The risen Jesus spends forty days with His disciples. Then He leaves them with a command to wait and a promise to hold on to. That promise sets John's baptism beside something new. It raises three questions: what is this baptism, when did it come, and who is included?
The verse works by contrast. One commentator draws the line between repentance and the power Christianity brings:
Repentance did not, of course, stop under Christ. In a world of sin it will always be the necessary path of a soul born of God. Still, a soul turning to God, with a sense of sin and self-judgment, is one thing. The divine power that sets evil aside is another. That power rests on a redemption accomplished by the grace of God. This is the characteristic blessing of Christianity.
John's baptism belonged to an older order and pointed forward. Another writer sets the two side by side:
John's baptism called for repentance, but it never came out of the Jewish sphere... it was a baptism to repentance for man on the earth, and not Christ's death and resurrection... In fact, John's baptism only taught repentance here below, so that people would receive Christ. Christianity taught the effectiveness of the death and resurrection of a rejected Christ. On that basis they would receive the Holy Spirit, the Comforter come down from heaven.
Two common misreadings are worth clearing away, and one commentator names them both:
Many wrongly apply the Spirit's baptism either to miraculous displays or to the new birth. They do so all the more because He certainly worked in both these ways at Pentecost, and on a large scale. But the reader has only to consider John 14–16 to learn from God's word what is in view here. It is not the great primary need of sinful man at all times, to be born of the Spirit. Still less is it those gifts so freely given to those who confessed the Lord at that time. It is the immense and lasting privilege of the church: the presence of the Holy Spirit, sent down in person to remain with the saints and be in them.
The timing rules out the second misreading:
These disciples were certainly born again before Pentecost. So this baptism was not their new birth.
The Lord gave no date, only a short wait. One writer counts the days:
They saw the Lord during forty days after He rose from the dead. Then ten days passed from His ascension until the day of Pentecost (or fiftieth day) fully came. When it came, the promise was fulfilled.
Those ten days were not empty. No witness could begin until the Spirit came. Yet the disciples could still "take and maintain the safe place of utter dependence upon God" (F. B. Hole).
The Lord's promise names the Spirit, but says nothing about fire. One writer explains why:
His earthly work of the cross was over. All its fruits will come in due time. His heavenly work of baptizing with the Holy Spirit — spoken of so often in the Gospels — was still to come... The baptism "with fire" is left out, because that is still future. The fire of judgment will yet cleanse His kingdom of every stumbling-block and those who practise wickedness. It has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit's appearance in tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost.
This baptism was not only a personal gift. It formed one body, and its reach goes far past the group who heard the promise:
This is a distinctive Christian blessing. From 1 Corinthians 12:13 we learn that by it the body of Christ is formed: "For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free." All real Christians share in this as regards its effects, though not all were present on either occasion when it took place (Acts 2; 11:15–16). Paul was not even converted at the time. Yet he, along with the Corinthians, came to share in it. So do all real Christians, who receive the Holy Spirit. This is an important truth. All true believers share in forgiveness of sins, and they all necessarily have part in this baptism too. That point matters greatly.
- Contrast — John baptized with water for repentance. Christ baptizes with the Spirit, on the basis of a finished redemption.
- Correction — This baptism is not the new birth and not miracle-working. The disciples were already born again; what they lacked was the Spirit sent down in person.
- Countdown — Forty days of appearances, then ten days of waiting, then Pentecost. The wait was short, and the promise came true to the day.
- Cancelled clause — Fire is left out of this promise. Fire means judgment, and that day is still to come.
- Company — Every real Christian shares in what happened that day. Paul was not yet converted, and he came to share in it too.
They therefore, being come together, asked him saying, Lord, is it at this time that thou restorest the kingdom to Israel?
Forty days after the resurrection, the disciples put one last question to the risen Christ. It was about the future of their nation, and He never gave them the answer they asked for.
These men were not confused newcomers. They had a settled hope, and a source for it.
They were Jews, with minds full of earthly hopes and prospects, founded upon the prophecies of the Old Testament. They firmly believed Jesus to be Israel's Messiah, and they counted on Him to remove all difficulties out of the way and set up His throne in Zion. This was more or less in their minds all through their companionship with Him, even beyond death into resurrection.
They had seen Him defeat death. Then came forty days of waiting.
They were happy men, of this we can have no doubt, and triumphant men, eager to tell the glad news of God's public vindication of His well-beloved Son. I have thought, and I pass it on, that they were also impatient men. This comes out in their question, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" There was not a doubt in their minds that He was the King, and no question about His taking the throne. He had conquered death and surely no other enemy could stand in His way. Yet, why did He not do it? Why the delay?
The Lord does not call their hope a mistake. He takes the date out of their hands and gives them something to do in the meantime.
What our risen Lord corrected was not the expectation of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, but the expectation of it "at this time." Instead He confirms the apostles in it, while letting them know that the times and seasons were not theirs to know: the Father put those in His own power… Another work was about to go forward — not Israel's supremacy yet, but a witness to the dead and risen Jesus in the power of the Spirit, in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth… Their error was not so much in the thing itself as in the time.
If the hope itself were empty, this was the moment to say so.
Suppose the disciples were still holding on to an empty dream. Suppose the kingdom was never to be restored to Israel, and Israel's portion was to be explained away as nothing but the Church's blessing. Then Jesus would surely have avoided an answer that encouraged their false hopes. Instead of hinting that these expectations were unfounded, He replies in a way clearly designed to confirm them.
The Lord withholds the far future and hands them the near one instead.
Their question He did not answer. "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority." This answer was in keeping with His words before the cross: "Concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Mark 13:32). The distant future was not laid open to them. Of the near future, however, He did speak, and told them about the work to which they were called.
Notice how the Lord treats a question that misses the point.
This provides, as our foolish questions often do, the opening for divine instruction and guidance. We need not always hold back these enquiries from the Lord: it is good to let what is in the mind come out, especially if it comes out to Him. His servants must not lose patience either, even with the odd questions of those who understand least. What matters is not so much the question as the answer.
The disciples' hope was real, but it was too small.
Their hopes had not yet taken a heavenly character… Earthly blessing, with the Messiah among them and Israel head of the nations, was about all they looked for. The Holy Spirit had to be given to them before they could take in the truth of the heavenly calling… They were not wrong to look for the kingdom, for it will yet be set up, and when it comes it will be theirs.
There was more He could have told them, and He did not:
He did not yet tell them that a completely new order of things was coming in. He wisely led them one step at a time.
- Right hope. They looked for Messiah's throne set up in Zion, drawn straight from the prophets — and the Lord never calls that hope a delusion.
- Wrong clock. The words He corrects are "at this time"; He moves the date out of their hands and into the Father's.
- Loud silence. Had the kingdom never been meant for Israel, this was the moment to say so; instead His reply leaves the expectation standing.
- Better question. A poor question brought to the Lord becomes the doorway to His teaching — the value lies in the answer, not the asking.
- Bigger horizon. Their sights were set on one nation's throne; the Spirit would come and stretch them to witness to the ends of the earth.
And he said to them, It is not yours to know times or seasons, which the Father has placed in his own authority;
The disciples had just asked whether the Lord would now restore the kingdom to Israel. His answer moves the question into the Father's hands, and raises two of its own: what "times and seasons" means, and why God keeps it to Himself.
The Lord does not tell them they hoped for the wrong thing. He tells them they asked at the wrong moment.
The Lord corrects the hasty expectations of the disciples: the kingdom was not to appear at once. Their question was about restoring it to Israel at that time. Now the Lord does not at all contradict such a restoration in its season. The salvation of Israel and the restoration of the kingdom to the chosen people clearly belonged to the ways of God that prophecy speaks of. And He lets them know that the Father placed times and seasons in His own authority.
Read the answer as a denial and it becomes strange. A reply about when only makes sense if there is a when.
His reply was not that they were wrong to expect such an event ever to take place. He said, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority." Who would imagine, from such a reply, that their question was about something that would never take place, at any time or in any season?
The phrase is not a general term for the future. It covers God's public dealings with the earth. That is why the Lord withholds it here, while the Thessalonians already knew it well.
"Times and seasons" as relating to the earth are first mentioned in Genesis 1:14, and the same words appear again in Acts 1:7 and 1 Thessalonians 5:1. This expression clearly refers to God's dispensations and dealings on the earth. In Acts 1, the disciples were not to know the time of God's dealings. Yet the Thessalonians did know the manner of God's predicted dealings, and the order in which they would happen. They knew this perfectly, though they did not know about the coming of the Lord for His saints, shown in the previous chapter. But then, that coming has to do with a heavenly calling, while "times and seasons" relate to the earth.
The verse names the Father, not simply "God." Scripture keeps that distinction everywhere.
Scripture always credits the purposes, counsels and plans of the Godhead, including the fixing of times and seasons, to the Father. Note Acts 1:7: "times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority." It just as consistently credits the action, the carrying out of those purposes in creation, redemption, or judgment, to the Son.
If the Father holds the calendar, any effort to work out the date runs into this sentence.
Any effort to calculate and predict the date of the Lord's coming, from Daniel's prophecies or other Scriptures, will be futile, and worse than that. It tries to find out what the Lord plainly says is not for us to know.
Notice who the Lord refused: the men who would later write much of the New Testament.
The apostles gave us the Word of God by the Holy Spirit's inspiration. Yet the Lord said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority" (Acts 1). If the Father in His wisdom withheld this knowledge from them, where is there any sign in the Word that He would reveal it to us?
A poor question can open the door to real teaching. The Lord shows no impatience with it, and His answer puts earth's timing under one control.
Our foolish questions often do this: they open the way for divine instruction and guidance. We need not always hold back such questions from the Lord. It is good to let what is in the mind come out, above all to Him. His servants must not be impatient either, even at the curious questions of those who understand least. What matters is not so much the question as the answer... The measures and the right moments that had to do with earthly changes were under the sole control of Him to whom everything belonged.
Paul later tells the Thessalonians they already know about times and seasons, which looks like a clash with this verse.
There appears to be a contradiction between verse 7 and what Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:1 and 2. But there the point is that they knew well what was going to happen in God's dealing with the earth. Here the point is that we may not know when, since the Father has reserved that for Himself alone. Our business is to give true and diligent witness to Christ.
- Postponed, not cancelled. The Lord corrects their timing, not their hope. His answer leaves the restoration of the kingdom to Israel in place.
- Reserved. "Times and seasons" means God's public dealings with the earth. Their timing rests with the Father alone.
- Withheld. The Lord kept this from the apostles who wrote Scripture. Nothing since suggests He tells anyone else, so date-setting chases what He shut off.
- Redirected. In place of the date He gives a commission: our business is faithful witness to Christ.
- Answered better than asked. A curious question drew out divine instruction. That is how the Lord teaches, and how His servants should bear with questioners.
but ye will receive power, the Holy Spirit having come upon you, and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
The disciples had just asked Jesus about the kingdom, and this was His answer: not a prediction about Israel, but a job for the present. Everything hangs on two things He promises here — power from outside them, and a role that centres on Him.
The disciples wanted to know whether the kingdom was about to be restored to Israel. One writer notes how the Lord's reply shifts the focus:
The Lord had been speaking of the kingdom of God. Their minds, however, still ran on restoring the kingdom to Israel... Their question gave the Lord the chance to show what the plan would be for the age that was opening. We see again what we saw in Luke 24: the centre of the plan is not Israel but Christ. The coming of the Spirit would mean power — not power to make the apostles restorers of Israel, but power to make them "witnesses to Me" — witnesses to Christ to the ends of the earth.
The word translated "power" here is not the same word used a verse earlier, where the Father keeps times and seasons in His own authority:
But they would receive power ("dunamis"). This is not authority, which is what the word "power" means in verse 7, but vital energy, given when the Holy Spirit came upon them. It would make them witnesses to Him. They would begin at Jerusalem, then spread out to Judea and Samaria, then to the far reaches of the earth. What a contrast to a kingdom kept inside Israel!
The same instruction came with a restraint attached: they were to stay in Jerusalem until the promise arrived. One commentator draws out why the Lord held them back:
Do not try to speak for Me until the Spirit of God comes. Only the Spirit of God can do the work of God. He is the only power in this world for God. If we try to serve Him in our own strength, the result will be disaster. I do not suppose Satan cares at all about a man preaching the gospel in his own strength and wisdom.
He does not point them to a cause but to Himself. One writer describes the position Christ held at that moment:
This is not yet the visible kingdom that belongs to the age and world to come. For now it is a matter of testimony in the power of the Holy Spirit, and that testimony depends on His coming and His presence. They were to be witnesses of Christ. They were not yet reigning with Him. They were His witnesses to a Man rejected yet risen, despised by men, above all by the Jews and by Jerusalem, but about to be exalted by God in heaven. All of it comes from grace.
The order of the four places is itself a message. The testimony starts where the crucifixion happened and moves outward:
Look how the Lord defines the circle now. The Cross had been accomplished, with all its wonderful fruit for God and man. That threw down every barrier that had kept the nations apart. Salvation, like a shining river, could now go out to the ends of the earth. It began at the guiltiest spot of all, and it kept widening and flowing on until — thank God — it reached us Gentiles, who sat in the dark.
The word came true, but not in the way you might expect. It took a persecution to push the message out of Jerusalem:
In this chapter we see the work of God extending, and reaching the Samaritans. This was quite in keeping with the Lord's word in Acts 1:8, though the twelve apostles were not the ones God honoured to do it. The rage of the enemy was the immediate cause of this spread of the gospel... The enemy, as often before and since, over-reached himself. It only led to the spread of the truth, for "those who were scattered went about preaching the word."
He said they would be witnesses, not just that they would speak. One writer draws the line between the two:
A witness may preach, but not every preacher is a witness. A witness is someone marked by what he has seen and heard while keeping company with the Lord... Stephen was the outstanding example of this. Not when he exposed the stubborn hearts of the Jews, but when he prayed, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them," while they stoned him in their murderous hatred.
- Redirected. They asked about a kingdom for Israel. He answered with a testimony about Himself — "the centre of the plan is not Israel but Christ."
- Powered. What they receive is not authority over times and seasons. It is vital energy, given when the Spirit comes upon them.
- Restrained. Until that power came they were not to speak for Him, because work done in our own strength ends in disaster.
- Widening. The gospel starts at the guiltiest spot on earth and flows outward: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth. Persecution only pushed it further.
- Embodied. He said "you will be my witnesses." A witness is someone marked by keeping company with the Lord — as Stephen was, praying for the men who stoned him.