upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 9. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11. Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
In Jerusalem Christ, by his angel, had appointed his disciples to meet him in Galilee; there he appointed them to meet him in Jerusalem again, such a day; thus he would try their obedience, and it was found ready and cheerful; they came together, as he appointed them, to be the witnesses of his ascension; which here we have an account of. Observe,
I. The question they asked him at this interview. They came together to him, as those that had consulted one another about it, and concurred in the question, nemine contradicente—unanimously; they came in a body, and put it to him as the sense of the house; Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? Two ways this may be taken.
1. "Surely thou wilt not at all restore it to the present rulers of Israel, the chief priests and the elders, that put thee to death, and, to compass that design, tamely gave up the kingdom to Cæsar, and owned themselves his subjects! What! Shall those that hate and persecute thee and us, be trusted with power? That be far from thee." Or rather,
2. "Surely thou wilt now restore it to the Jewish nation, as far as it will submit to thee as their king !" Now two things were amiss in this question:
(1.) Their expectation of the thing itself. They thought Christ would restore the kingdom to Israel, that is, that he would make the nation of the Jews as great and considerable among the nations as it was in the days of David and Solomon, of Asa and Jehoshaphat; that, as Shiloh, he would restore the sceptre to Judah, and the lawgiver; whereas Christ came to set up his own kingdom, and that a kingdom of heaven, not to restore the kingdom to Israel, an earthly kingdom. See how apt even good men are to place the happiness of the church too much in external pomp and power! As if Israel were not glorious unless the kingdom were restored to it, nor Christ's disciples honoured unless they were peers of the realm; whereas we are bid to expect the cross in this world, and to wait for the kingdom in the other world. See how apt we are to retain what we have imbibed, and how hard it is to get over the prejudices of education! The disciples having sucked in this notion with their milk, that the Messiah was to be a temporal prince, they were long before they could be brought to have any idea of his kingdom as spiritual. See also how naturally we are biassed in favour of our own people! They thought God would have no kingdom in the world, unless it were restored to Israel; whereas the kingdoms of this world were to become his, in whom he would be glorified, whether Israel sink or swim. See also how apt we are to misunderstand scripture, and to understand that literally, which is spoken figuratively, and to expound scripture by our schemes, whereas we ought to form our schemes by the scriptures. But when the Spirit shall be poured out from on high, our mistakes will be rectified, as the apostles' soon after were.
(2.) Their inquiry concerning the time of it; "Lord, wilt thou do it at this time? Now that thou hast called us together, is it for this purpose, that proper measures may be concerted for the restoring of the kingdom to Israel? Surely there cannot be a more favourable juncture than this." Now herein they missed it, [1.] That they were inquisitive into that which their Master had never directed or encouraged them to inquire into. [2.] That they were impatient for the setting up of that kingdom in which they promised themselves so great a share, and would anticipate the divine counsels. Christ had told them that they should sit on thrones, (Luke 22, 30.) and now nothing will serve them but they must be in the throne immediately, and cannot stay the time; whereas he that believeth, doth not make haste, but is satisfied that God's time is the best time.
II. The check which Christ gave to this question, like that which he had a little before given to Peter's inquiry concerning John, What is that to thee? v. 7. It is not for you to know the times and seasons. He does not contradict their expectation that the kingdom would be restored to Israel, because that mistake would soon be rectified by the pouring out of the Spirit, after which they never had any more thoughts of the temporal kingdom; and also because there is a sense of the expectation which is true, the setting up of the gospel-kingdom in the world; and their mistake of the promise, shall not make it of no effect; but he checks their inquiry after the time.
1. The knowledge of this is not allowed to them, It is not for you to know, and therefore it is not for you to ask. (1.) Christ is now parting from them, and parts in love; and yet he gives them this rebuke, which is intended for a caution to his church in all ages, to take heed of splitting upon the rock which was fatal to our first parents—an inordinate desire of forbidden knowledge, and intruding into things which we have not seen, because God has not shewn. Nescire velle quæ magister maximus docere non vult, erudita inscitia est—It is folly to covet to be wise above what is written, and wisdom to be content to be no wiser. (2.) Christ had given his disciples a great deal of knowledge above others, (To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God,) and had promised them his Spirit, to teach them more; now, lest they should be puffed up with the abundance of the revelations, he here lets them understand that there were some things which it was not for them to know. We shall see how little reason we have to be proud of our knowledge, when we consider how many things we are ignorant of. (3.) Christ had given his disciples instructions sufficient for the discharge of their duty, both before his death, and since his resurrection, and this knowledge he will have them to be satisfied in; for it is enough for a christian, in whom vain curiosity is a corrupt humour, to be mortified, and not gratified. (4.) Christ had himself told his disciples the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and had promised that the Spirit should shew them things to come concerning it, John 16. 13. He had likewise given them signs of the times, which it was their duty to observe, and a sin to overlook, Matt. 24. 33. 16. 3. But they must not expect or desire to know, either all the particulars of future events, or the exact times of them. It is good for us to be kept in the dark, and left at uncertainty concerning the times and moments (as Dr. Hammond reads it) of future events concerning the church, as well as concerning ourselves; concerning all the periods of time and the final period of it, as well as concerning the period of our own time.
Vol. vi—B
