What Were They Thinking?
What Were They Thinking?
By Jonathan C. Brentner
In November of 1943, the USS Iowa carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a meeting with Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill to discuss future plans regarding WW II. Somehow the crew of a nearby ship, the USS William D. Porter, mistook the USS Iowa for a German ship and fired a torpedo at it. Fortunately, the missile missed its target and the President continued safely to his summit. Although we do not know all the details that led to this error, we are still left wondering, “What were they thinking?”
In the 1984 NBA draft, the owners of the Portland Trailblazers chose 7’1” Sam Bowie over 6’6” Michael Jordan. Bowie slowly faded into obscurity while Michael Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to six world championships. Although it’s easy to judge with 20/20 hindsight, we still wonder, “What were they thinking?”
At first glance, we might also ask this question in regard to a question the disciples posed to Jesus just moments before He ascended into heaven, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).
Why Would the Disciples Ask Such a Question?
The confidence of the disciples regarding such a future kingdom for Israel raises questions in my mind. After watching the Jewish rulers demand Christ’s crucifixion, what made the disciples so confident the Lord would soon restore the kingdom to Israel thus benefiting these very same leaders? Why did the disciples think Jesus would initiate a glorious restoration for the same Israelites whose rejection of Him had led to His being mocked, scourged, whipped, and nailed to a cross?
Many in the history of the church used this behavior to justify their belief that God has forever rejected the Israelites. But the not the disciples, the ones who had watched the Jews demand Christ’s death.
In spite of all they saw and heard, the disciples remained confident of the Lord’s intention to restore Israel and even thought He might do it in the very near future.
Jesus’ Response
Jesus did not respond to their question in a way one might expect. He simply said, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority” (Acts 1:7). Jesus did not contradict, ridicule, or refute the premise of their question that He would someday restore a kingdom to Israel. Instead, He told the disciples they could not know the timing of this restoration as this was something the Father alone had determined “by his own authority.”
Christ’s answer is quite revealing. First, after listening to the Lord talk about the “kingdom of God” during the weeks after his resurrection (Acts 1:3), the disciples remained convinced God would someday restore Israel. Second, Jesus did nothing to quell the disciples’ hope, but simply suggested their timing was off. In the meantime, Jesus said their task was to be His “witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
I know some take Jesus’ response to be a sarcastic rebuke to His disciples; however, I believe this reads far too much into His answer.
If the disciples had woefully missed the point of Jesus’ teaching regarding the kingdom in the weeks after His resurrection, the Lord might have responded to them in a way similar to how he did with Philip in the upper room. Do you remember His answer to this misguided question, “Lord show us the Father, and it is enough for us” (John 14:8)? In the next verse we read Jesus’ rebuke, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?”
Jesus always let His disciples know when they had missed the obvious. However, Jesus did not do this in response to this question. If they had been wrong about the future restoration of a kingdom for Israel, I believe He surely would have let them know.
So, What Were They Thinking?
I believe the disciples’ assurance of a future for Israel stems from what Jesus taught them after His resurrection. Beginning with the two on the road to Emmaus and later with all the disciples, Jesus explained how He fulfilled all the Old Testament Scriptures (Luke 24:25-27; 44-47). This certainly would have included future as well as fulfilled prophecies, would it not? Luke 24:27 says, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Either His disciples were terribly confused and had totally misunderstood Jesus’ recent teaching about the kingdom (Acts 1:3) and how He fulfilled prophecy or they based their question on what had Jesus recently told them.
Based on Jesus’ response, I believe it’s the latter. Rather than admonish them for their missing the main point of His teaching, Jesus simply corrected their mistake about the “when” of the kingdom and redirected their focus to the task at hand, that of proclaiming the Gospel.
So what were the disciples thinking?
Perhaps they remembered Jesus’ previous reference to a passage such as Jeremiah 30:1-3, which speaks of the future restoration of Israel, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. For behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.”
They could also have recalled the Lord’s teaching on other Old Testament prophecies where God repeatedly promised He would someday “restore the fortunes” of His people, the Israelites (Jer. 31:35-36; Zeph. 3:20; Joel 3:17, 20; Isa. 62).
Despite all the recent evidence to the contrary, the apostles remained certain God would keep His ancient promises to Israel. They assumed that the rejection of Christ by the Jews did not nullify God’s promises to them. Is this not a good way to think?
As New Testament believers, we have the expectation of Jesus’ appearing to take us home and an eternity in the new earth and New Jerusalem. Despite the long wait that has caused many to look elsewhere for the fulfillment of this hope, we know God keeps His Word. He will establish His kingdom upon the earth.
The world may wonder, “What are they thinking?” But we, like the disciples, rest in the certainty that Jesus will fulfill all that is written about Him.