THE DISCIPLES’ QUESTION
CONCERNING THE RESTORATION
OF THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL
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.1
In reading W. Lee's interpretation of many passages of Scriptures I am sure I am not the only one to have failed to notice how he defended his points by sometimes attacking not just others interpretations but even their persons, by considering two different terms as synonyms, and in certain cases even by attacking men of the Bible (think about Job, David, or James) and some part of the Bible itself.
In reading the LS of Acts, or the footnotes on Acts in the RcV, there are many instances when W. Lee is not afraid to blame the apostles for basically disagreeing with his interpretation. The verse in question is the first of this series.
The Lord spent 40 days with His disciples speaking about the kingdom of God. Probably He gave them a review of what He taught them in the Gospels (as W. Lee says). If this is the case, then it is not difficult to know what He said. I believe I have provided some hints in my previous posts about what the kingdom of God is in the Gospel of Luke. I know I did not do a thorough examination of the subject but as I said I only provided some points to be considered (so I beg anyone who is reading these posts to go through the entire book of Luke and see for himself).
After 40 days something happened. “They therefore, being come together, asked him saying, Lord, is it at this time that thou restorest the kingdom to Israel?” (Darby) The word therefore (in Darby, Asv, and other translations) has the meaning of because of that or for that reason. Because the Lord spoke to them for 40 days about the kingdom of God therefore the apostles asked Him about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. It was a simple logical question prompted by the things they heard during those 40 days.
"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."1
Unfortunately, W. Lee blames the apostles for being occupied with their traditional Jewish concept. This is exactly what the Lord didn't do! If the question was really off topic, I guess the Lord could have just dismissed them as really bad students (after 40 days any teacher would have question his students I.Q.) Or He could have answered in the same way He answered Philip when he asked Him to show them the Father. Joh 14:9 Jesus says to him, Am I so long a time with you, and thou hast not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father; and how sayest thou, Shew us the Father?
So, if the Lord didn't rebuke them why man (not just W. Lee) is not afraid, yes afraid, of finding faults in people who had been at Jesus Christ feet for 3 years, + 40 days of intense “training”, who received the Holy Spirit, whose mind had been opened....and so on.
Isn't there in the entire Bible a longing of God's people to finally see God's coming and the establishment of a righteous kingdom and the avenging of the blood of His martyrs? (Psa 74:9 We see not our signs; there is no more any prophet, neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. Psa 74:10 How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy contemn thy name for ever? Rev 6:10 and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O sovereign Ruler, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth? Rev 6:11 And there was given to them, to each one a white robe; and it was said to them that they should rest yet a little while, until both their fellow-bondmen and their brethren, who were about to be killed as they, should be fulfilled.) And yet, God says wait, this thing is not for you to know.
"Seven things are hid from the children of men, and these are they; the day of death, and the day of consolation, and the depth of judgment, and a man knows not what is in the heart of his neighbour, nor with what he shall be rewarded, and "when the kingdom of the house of David shall return", and when the kingdom of Persia shall fall. T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 54. 2. Vid. Bere**** Rabba, sect. 65. fol. 57. 4. (l) Apud R. Sol. Jarchi in Gen. ii. 2. (John Jill's Exposition of the Entire Bible, e-Sword)
Another problem with W. Lee's interpretation is that he makes a little change in the preposition used by the apostles. They asked about the restoration of the kingdom
to Israel but in the LS of Acts and in the RcV it is the kingdom
of Israel. And this was not a slip of the pen (or tongue) because he said kingdom of Israel 5 times over just two pages. I guess this little change suited well Lee's interpretation. Now maybe someone would say I am too nit-picking. I will admit that if the claims of the RcV were not so high, I would have approached it with more “grace”, and if the author of it had treated God's people in the Bible with more grace, I would promptly have done the same. But, in any case, even among the unbelievers reporting exactly other people's words is crucial in a court of law or even in a simple conversation. How much more to repeat verbatim the words in the Scriptures.
The last point is that according to W. Lee Christ is building the Kingdom of God. There is not a verse in the New Testament that says that Christ is building the kingdom of God. How then can W. Lee make this claim? By considering the church and the kingdom of the heavens in Mat. 16:18-19 as synonyms. I believe the two terms are not synonyms as I have already tried to explains in my posts on the Gospel of Matthew.
That's all for now.
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Notes
1. Witness Lee, Life-Study of Acts page 30, Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim California, first edition May 1986