The Already-Not Yet and the Actual Message of the Book of Acts

 In Acts 1:6-11, Luke lays out for the reader a foreshadowing of the message he will present in the rest of the book, namely, that the kingdom will not be restored to Israel until all Israel is restored, and this includes both Jew and Gentile that must be gathered into the one body of Israel first.

       So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

As we have seen in Daniel, Luke here expands on this theology by indicating the already-not yet nature of the kingdom. First, the disciples ask when Christ will restore the kingdom to Israel, which tells us that this is the subject with which the book will concern itself. Second, the fact that the new era of the new covenant has come is signified by the coming of the Spirit of God, and that the disciples are not merely to testify of Christ and to disciple Israel alone, but rather to go as far as the ends of the earth, which indicates that Gentiles will be brought under the Davidic throne and become Israel as well (something the book will indicate time and again throughout). Third, the Son of Man imagery in Daniel, where Christ is lifted up in the clouds to the Ancient of Days in order to receive the kingdom exists here in Acts in two stages rather than the singular one in Daniel. In Daniel, the reception of the kingdom from the Father when the Son of Man goes up in the cloud is parallel to the Son of Man coming and destroying all other nations, including the persecutor of Israel. Luke, however, has split the event in two. The first is a reception of the kingdom in Christ’s exaltation depicted as His riding upon the cloud to be seated at the right hand of the Father and claim not only God’s sovereign throne but also the mediatorial throne of Israel as the descendent of David.

Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:29-36)

Sitting at God’s right hand is parallel to receiving all rule and authority, i.e., God’s cosmic, sovereign authority that he has always had but has now been given to Christ as a reward.

These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand over the invisible realms, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Eph 1:19-23).

Notice that being seated at the right hand of God is parallel to being exceedingly above, i.e., cosmically seated above, “all rule and authority and power and dominion, every name that is named both in this age and in the one to come.” So all things are in subjection to him in the sovereign rule sense but he is head over the church, which Paul calls the commonwealth/citizenry of Israel in Ephesians 2:12-22.

 But this is a position above all rule and authority, not the abolishment of it, as one reads of in Daniel 2, 7, 8, and 11-12. As Paul continues argues in the passage that follows 1:19-23, the ruler of the present age is “the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience (Eph 2:2), who is most-likely “the devil” and “the evil one” Paul identifies in 6:11 and 16. In Ephesians 6:12, Paul presents these wicked rulers and forces as still ruling the current world.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the invisible realms.

Likewise, both Paul and John present Satan as being both the god of this age (2 Cor 4:4) and the one who has ruling and conquering authority to give to not only the nations but to the most powerful nation ruling an empire, i.e., Rome (Rev 12-13).

Christ is said to rule until the time all his enemies are placed as a footstool under his feet, an ancient Near Eastern and biblical phrase that refers to the conquering and abolishment of a rival authority. In Pauline theology, this occurs at the time of Christ’s return, which is parallel to the resurrection of saints in 1 Corinthians 15:22-28.

ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ πάντες ἀποθνῄσκουσιν, οὕτως καὶ ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ πάντες ζῳοποιηθήσονται. Ἕκαστος δὲ ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ τάγματι· ἀπαρχὴ Χριστός, ἔπειτα οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ αὐτοῦ, εἶτα τὸ τέλος, ὅταν ⸀παραδιδῷ τὴν βασιλείαν τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρί, ὅταν καταργήσῃ πᾶσαν ἀρχὴν καὶ πᾶσαν ἐξουσίαν καὶ δύναμιν. δεῖ γὰρ αὐτὸν βασιλεύειν ἄχρι οὗ θῇ πάντας τοὺς ἐχθροὺς* ⸆ ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ. ἔσχατος ἐχθρὸς καταργεῖται ὁ θάνατος· πάντα γὰρ ὑπέταξεν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ. ὅταν δὲ εἴπῃ °ὅτι πάντα ὑποτέτακται, δῆλον ὅτι ἐκτὸς τοῦ ὑποτάξαντος αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα. ὅταν δὲ ὑποταγῇ αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, τότε °[καὶ] αὐτὸς ὁ υἱὸς ὑποταγήσεται τῷ ὑποτάξαντι αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα,* ἵνα ᾖ ὁ θεὸς °¹[τὰ] πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until the time which He is going to put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.  For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.

The already-not yet is seen in this verse as Paul states . Ἕκαστος δὲ ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ τάγματι· ἀπαρχὴ Χριστός, ἔπειτα οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ αὐτοῦ “But each one in their own order: Christ as firstfruits then those who belong to Christ at his Parousia/coming.” Paul states that it is at this time that the end has come when he says εἶτα τὸ τέλος “then comes the end.” The word ὅταν “when” “at which time” in the phrase ὅταν καταργήσῃ πᾶσαν ἀρχὴν καὶ πᾶσαν ἐξουσίαν καὶ δύναμιν refers to τὸ τέλος. It is at that same time of the end, which is also the same time of the resurrection of those who belong to Christ, that Christ will καταργήσῃ πᾶσαν ἀρχὴν καὶ πᾶσαν ἐξουσίαν καὶ δύναμιν “abolish all rule and all authority and power.” Paul then says that this is why he is reigning. His reign is not a result of having put all of his enemies under his feet as though he rules their mediatorial positions now, but rather it is a intermediate cosmic reign where he sits in God’s position and orchestrates the salvation of Israel, i.e., his nation, the church. When that is completed, he will hand that cosmic throne back to the Father and return at his Parousia to expand the throne of David to the ends of the earth by abolishing all of the enemies of Israel/the church that have authority over it, including death.

So the already-not yet understanding of Pauline theology is echoed here in Acts, where Christ has ascended to save Israel, not to overthrow the Roman Empire yet, as Christ’s work of abolishing the world’s rulers in the invisible realm is at his return in the clouds, and since these rulers choose whomever they wish to rule, they will continue to put wicked men upon the throne even as Christ gathers from the nations his kingdom, the kingdom of God manifest mediatorially through Israel/the church.

Luke will argue in the book that Israel is made up, not merely of Jews, but anyone, Jew or Gentile, who believe and receive the Holy Spirit. The original question the apostles ask, therefore, should be understood as their inability to see the already-not yet plan of God at the beginning of the book and by the end of the book have been enlightened as to God’s plan, which is a plan that not only incorporates both Jews and Gentiles, i.e., all who repent and believe into Israel, but logically, therefore, must take a lot of time between his ascension and Parousia in order to first gather Israel from the nations before the day he has set to judge the world (Acts 17:30-31; 28:20, 28).

Hence, the reason for Christ's first ascension is given in Acts 5.

ὁ θεὸς τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν ἤγειρεν Ἰησοῦν ὃν ὑμεῖς διεχειρίσασθε κρεμάσαντες ἐπὶ ξύλου τοῦτον ὁ θεὸς ἀρχηγὸν καὶ σωτῆρα ὕψωσεν τῇ δεξιᾷ αὐτοῦ °[τοῦ] δοῦναι μετάνοιαν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν. καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν μάρτυρες τῶν ῥημάτων τούτων καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον °ὃ ἔδωκεν ὁ θεὸς τοῖς πειθαρχοῦσιν αὐτῷ

The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you violently murdered by hanging him on a beam of wood. This man God exalted to the position of Royal Founder and Savior at His right hand in order to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:30-32)

So the reason for Christ's exaltation is in order to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel, not abolish authorities or take over the physical world yet. That will be the second coming, not the first. Hence, the church's mission is gospel-centric as it looks for the members of Israel as they make disciples of people within the nations (Matt 28:18-20).