Acts 1:6-8 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

When they, therefore, were come together That is, after he had led them out of the town to the mount of Olives, and was come to that part of the mountain which was above Bethany, (see Luke 24:50,) being full of expectation, that he had brought them thither with a view to some remarkable transaction; they asked him, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? Wilt thou now break the Roman yoke from off our necks, and immediately erect the kingdom of the Messiah? Their minds were still full of a temporal kingdom to be erected by Christ, in which the Jews should have dominion over all nations; and “they seem to have expected, that when the Spirit was in so extraordinary a manner poured out, and the world, according to Christ's prediction, (John 16:8,) convinced of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, the whole nation of the Jews would own him for their Messiah, and not only shake off its subjection to the Romans, but itself rise to very extensive, and, perhaps, universal dominion. The word αποκαθιστανεις, [here rendered wilt thou restore,] intimates the shattered and weakened state in which Israel now was. And I cannot but think,” says Dr. Doddridge, “our Lord's answer may intimate, it should at length be restored, though not immediately, or with all the circumstances they imagined.” And he Waving a direct answer to this curious question, and leaving it to the Spirit of truth and wisdom, which was shortly to be given, to rectify the mistaken notions on which they proceeded in it; said, It is not for you, &c. It will not be of any use to you, in your work; to know the times or the seasons Of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. Besides, this is one of the things which the Father hath thought fit to conceal from mortals, in the abyss of his own omniscience. This only is of importance for you to know, that you shall receive power Fortitude, strength, and ability; after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you In his various gifts and graces; and by these aids ye shall be witnesses unto me Both by word and deed, by preaching and suffering, and by various miracles, which you shall be enabled to perform; both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, &c. 1st, You must begin at Jerusalem, where the Holy Spirit shall be poured out upon you in his extraordinary gifts, in the presence of multitudes of its inhabitants, and of strangers assembled there to celebrate the feast of pentecost; where you shall be enabled to do many miracles, and where many will receive your testimony, and they that do not will be left without excuse. 2d, Your light shall from thence shine through all Judea; where before you laboured in vain. 3d, Thence you shall proceed to Samaria, though at your first mission you were forbidden to preach in any of the cities of the Samaritans. 4th, Your usefulness shall not be confined to these countries, but shall be extended to the utmost part of the earth, and you shall be blessings to the whole world.