As those who have received the divine life, we not only know what the kingdom of God is; we become parts of this kingdom. If a dog could be born of the human life and thereby become a human being, this human being would automatically become a part of the human kingdom. Do you not have the divine life? Yes, you have the divine life, and because you have this life you are part of the kingdom of God. Although we can understand these matters, it is impossible to explain them to unregenerated people.
The kingdom of God is the spreading of Christ as life to His believers. This spreading is the propagation of Christ as life to His believers to form a realm in which God rules in His life. In His preparation of the disciples, the Lord Jesus must have helped them to have the proper realization concerning the kingdom of God. The disciples must have begun to see that they were part of the propagation, the spreading, of Christ, and thereby were part of the kingdom of God.
In Acts 1:4-8 the Lord Jesus charged the disciples to wait for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Verse 4 says, “And meeting together with them, He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father which, He said, You heard from Me.” The promise here and in Luke 24:49 is different from the promise in John 14:17. The promise in Acts 1:4 and Luke 24:49 is the promise of Joel 2:28-29, fulfilled on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4, 16-18), for the outpouring as the power from on high for the believers’ ministry economically. This is different from the Spirit of life, who was breathed into the disciples (John 20:22) by the resurrected Savior on the day of resurrection for His indwelling so that He might be life to them essentially. The promise of the Lord in John 14:17 was fulfilled on the day of His resurrection, when the Spirit was breathed into the disciples as the breath of life. However, the promise of the Father in Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:4 was fulfilled forty days later, on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit as the mighty wind blew upon the disciples.
It is important that we differentiate the promise given by the Lord in John 14:17 from that given by the Father in Joel 2:28 and 29. Many Bible readers mix these two promises together. The promise given by God the Father in Joel 2 and then mentioned by the Lord Jesus in Luke 24 and Acts 1 has nothing to do with the promise given by the Lord in John 14. In Acts 1:4 the Lord Jesus seems to be saying, “I have told you about the promise of My Father. Now you must wait in Jerusalem for the fulfillment of this promise.”
In Acts 1:5 the Lord went on to say, “For John indeed baptized in water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” This was to be accomplished in two sections. First, the Jewish believers were baptized in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (2:4). Second, the Gentile believers were baptized in the house of Cornelius (10:44-47; 11:15-17). In these two sections all genuine believers in Christ have been baptized in the Holy Spirit into one Body once for all universally (1 Cor. 12:13).
Verse 6 says, “So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, Lord, are You at this time restoring the kingdom to Israel?” The kingdom of Israel, for which the apostles and other devout Jews were looking, was a material kingdom. This kingdom differs from God’s kingdom of life, which Christ is building up through the preaching of His gospel.
In asking the question recorded in verse 6, the disciples apparently were forgetting the divine life that was within them. Their concept was related to the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. This traditional concept was in the minds of all Jews. Peter, John, James, and the other disciples had the concept that the kingdom of Israel would be restored. Day by day they were hoping for the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. However, in 1:3 we are told that the Lord spoke to them not about the kingdom of Israel but about the kingdom of God.
Although the Lord spoke to His disciples concerning the kingdom of God over a period of forty days, they may have been concerned more for the kingdom of Israel than for the kingdom of God. Their hearts may have been occupied with the kingdom of Israel. The Lord also spoke to them about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Both the kingdom of God and the baptism in the Holy Spirit are matters relating to the New Testament economy. However, as indicated by their question in verse 6, the disciples even then may not have had a proper understanding of these things.
In response to the question raised by the disciples, the Lord Jesus said, “It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father has placed in His own authority” (v. 7). Here the Lord seems to be saying, “Leave the restoration of the kingdom of Israel to God’s sovereignty. Forget about the kingdom of Israel, and receive My word concerning the kingdom of God and the baptism in the Holy Spirit.”