Pastor’s Thoughts – 01-04-2026

A person’s last words have great significance to those who love the person. Our Lord’s last words, while He was still on earth and just before He ascended to the right hand of the Father are recorded in Acts chapter one. These words continue to summarize our primary hope as Christians. We wait for His kingdom just as the disciples did, which is shown by their question to the Lord just before His ascension. “So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth’” (Acts 1 6-8). A new year is upon us again and the Lord has yet to bring His promised kingdom. By the wording in verse six, the eleven disciples were seeking to know the most prominent matter on their minds. They fully expected our Lord to establish a literal kingdom. Just as the many passages in the Old Testament spoke of His literal first coming, they anticipated His coming to establish a kingdom on this earth. The question the disciples asked is a legitimate question. “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel” (Acts. 1:6)?

Many theologians ignore this question and Christ’s response. Others say the question was foolish and the disciples still don’t get it. To arrive at that conclusion, a person has to ignore what our Lord Jesus said by response. And He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times and epochs, which the Father has fixed by His own authority” (Acts 1:7). Christ does not rebuke them or correct them! He informs them that the timing of the Father in relation to Messiah coming to establish His kingdom has been set by the Father Himself. He was saying that this is not something for them to know. We should note in the context that it specifically says back in verse 3 that Christ had been, “appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). In other words, the Lord had specifically spoken to them about the promise of His coming kingdom. This was fresh on their minds. The matter of the intervening church age which would soon begin, would be a new entity of God made up initially of Jews, but later predominately of Gentiles and would carry the message of the Scriptures and the coming kingdom. This was a mystery not yet understood by these disciples. Paul later says, “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to enlighten all people as to what the plan of the mystery is which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; so that the multifaceted wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places” (Eph. 3:8-10). Notice that it is through the church, which was the new body God raised up while He also temporarily set Israel aside (Rom. 11:25).

Although according to what Christ said in His reply, we are not to know the times or epochs, He does not say that we are not to long for these promises. The word for “times” is chronos in Greek which literally means a span of time. We now look back 2,000 years and realize how little these disciples would be able to comprehend concerning this span. Epochs is the Greek word kairos which is often translated era or a specifically designed opportunity in time. We now know more, although not fully, what Christ meant for His promised kingdom that is still yet to come. Christ appropriately told them to be focused on doing God’s will and completing God’s mission. We are to do the same today as we also wait for the coming of the Lord.

Our Lord’s last words before ascending addressed His coming again, and His last words in the Bible to John do the same. At the introduction of Revelation John records, “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.

‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty’” (Rev. 1:7-8). This is re-emphasized by John at the close of the Revelation and concludes all the canon of Scripture, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20). Beloved, we do not know what 2026 will hold for any of us, but we do know that our great Blessed Hope is fixed upon our Lord Jesus setting all things right at His glorious coming. Will this be the year which is the beginning of the end of life as we know it in this fallen world? Of course we do not know, but we wait knowing His promises and that He will come. Our hope for the future is not in the ingenuity of mankind which is tainted by sin and corruption, but our hope is in our Lord who will make all things right! Until He comes, we are privileged to earnestly and faithfully contend for the faith. Come Lord Jesus!