No, God doesn’t favor one nation over another. His kingdom is open to people from every nation. In Acts 1:6-11, the disciples ask Jesus if he is finally going to restore the kingdom to Israel. Jesus tells them the timing belongs to the Father. Instead, he promises the Holy Spirit’s power so they can be his witnesses from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. He ascends, and angels promise he will return. God’s people aren’t called to be warriors for a nation, but witnesses to the world.
Setting the Scene in Acts 1:6-11
In the previous passage, Luke introduced his second volume and described the forty days Jesus spent with his apostles after the resurrection (Acts 1:1-5). Jesus taught them about the kingdom of God and told them to wait in Jerusalem for the gift the Father promised. Now we come to their final conversation before he left.
To understand the disciples’ question, it helps to remember Israel’s history. Under King David and King Solomon, around 1000 BC, Israel was a united, powerful kingdom. After Solomon, the nation split in two. The northern kingdom fell to Assyria in 722 BC, and the southern kingdom fell to Babylon in 586 BC, when Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. After that came centuries of foreign rule: Persians, Greeks, a brief period of independence under the Maccabees, and finally Rome. By Jesus’ day, Jews had been longing for generations for God to restore the glory days of David.
The Disciples’ Question
With all that history in mind, the disciples asked the question that had been on their hearts for three years.
Acts 1:6-7 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”
You can’t blame them for asking. The angel Gabriel had told Mary that God would give Jesus the throne of his father David (Luke 1:32-33). Jesus had spent most of his ministry among Israelites, and he had just spent forty days teaching about the kingdom. On top of that, he had promised the Spirit, and many Jews expected that God’s Spirit would return in power when he restored Israel. In their minds, everything was lining up.
But their idea of the kingdom was still political and national. Earlier, the disciples had argued about which of them would be the greatest and asked for the best seats in Jesus’ kingdom (Luke 22:24; Mark 10:35-37). They wanted a restored Israel, and they wanted a place at the top.
Jesus didn’t mock their question. He simply said the times and dates belonged to the Father. Christians understand God’s future plans for Israel in different ways. Some believe God will still restore the nation of Israel in a special way (Romans 11:25-29), while others believe his promises to Israel are fulfilled in Jesus and his church made up of Jews and Gentiles. Either way, Jesus redirected his disciples’ attention from the calendar to the mission. Some things aren’t ours to know yet, and that requires trust.
Witnesses, Not Warriors
Then Jesus spoke the verse that outlines the whole book of Acts.
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
The Greek word for power is dynamis, which gives us words like “dynamite” and “dynamic.” In Acts, the Spirit’s power will sometimes show up in miracles. But notice what the power is for. Jesus didn’t say, “You will receive power to overthrow Rome.” He said, “You will be my witnesses.” The Greek word for witness is martys, which later came to mean “martyr” because so many early witnesses paid for their testimony with their lives. The Spirit’s power was given to speak, not to conquer.
The apostles were first of all eyewitnesses. They had seen the risen Jesus and could testify to what really happened. But every believer is also called to be a witness, telling others what Jesus has done. Notice too that Jesus said “you will be,” not “you must be.” It’s more than a command. It’s a promise. God’s message will go out, and the only question is whether we’ll be part of it.
Acts follows this map almost exactly. The gospel begins in Jerusalem (Acts 1–7), spreads through Judea and Samaria (Acts 8–12), and then travels toward the ends of the earth through Paul’s journeys and trials, ending with Paul preaching in Rome (Acts 28:30-31). Interestingly, Luke’s Gospel moves in the opposite direction, starting in Galilee and ending in Jerusalem at the cross. The story narrows to the cross and then explodes outward to the world.
This was God’s plan all along. He chose Israel not to be his favorite but to be his witness to the nations.
Isaiah 49:6 …he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
God never chose Israel only for Israel’s sake. Ever since he promised Abraham that all peoples on earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:3), his heart has been for the whole world. Jesus didn’t come to conquer the nations. He came to bless them.
Why Are You Staring Into Heaven?
Then Jesus was taken up before their eyes.
Acts 1:9-11 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
In the Bible, a cloud often signals God’s glorious presence. A cloud led Israel through the wilderness, filled the tabernacle, and covered Jesus on the mountain of transfiguration. Jesus’ ascension was his return to the Father’s glory, where he now reigns. The ascension happened on the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:12), the place where the prophet Zechariah said the Lord’s feet would stand on the day he comes (Zechariah 14:4).
The two men dressed in white sound a lot like the two men who appeared at the empty tomb (Luke 24:4). Their greeting is telling: “Men of Galilee.” Galilee had a mixed population, and Isaiah called it “Galilee of the nations” (Isaiah 9:1). It was where Jesus first called these fishermen and promised they would fish for people (Luke 5:10). Now they were about to discover just how many kinds of people he meant.
The angels’ question is almost humorous: why are you standing there looking at the sky? It’s still a good question for Christians who love worship, conferences, and end-times charts but never get around to the mission. Jesus left so the church could get to work. Between his ascension and his return, that’s our job.
What This Means for Us
It’s easy for believers in any country to think of themselves as God’s favorites, as if their nation had a special claim on him. The disciples felt the same way. But the kingdom of God isn’t about borders or political power. It’s already established in heaven, and Jesus is on the throne. No nation is favored. Every nation is invited.
That shapes the way we live. We can love our country without confusing it with God’s kingdom. And we can ask where God is sending us: our own Jerusalem (our neighborhood and community), our Judea and Samaria (people nearby who are different from us), and the ends of the earth. In the next lesson, the disciples return to Jerusalem to wait for the Spirit, and their example teaches us what to do while we wait on God (Acts 1:12-26).
Revelation 7:9-10 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
That’s where the story is headed: a crowd from every nation, tribe, people, and language worshiping the Lamb together.
The Takeaway
Does God favor one nation over another? No. The disciples hoped Jesus would restore Israel’s political kingdom, but Jesus gave them a bigger mission. The Holy Spirit would empower them to be witnesses, not warriors, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. Jesus reigns in heaven and will return. Until then, every nation is invited into his kingdom.
