Acts 1:6

They therefore, when they were come together, asked him, saying, Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

'DOST THOU AT THIS TIME RESTORE THE KINGDOM TO ISRAEL?'-

Points to Note:

1. This question posed by the disciples has perplexed bible students for years. First of all, what are they asking? Most take their question to be, 'are you now going to make Israel an independent kingdom again' (Beck).

2. Reese notes, 'Their use of the word "restore" shows that they were still looking back to the glorious days gone by--the days of David and Solomon, when the Jewish nation was the ruler of the world--and were still hoping for such days to return..The apostles themselves had entertained ideas that in the restored kingdom they themselves would have places of honor (Mark 10:35 ff). This false expectation was checked, and almost destroyed by his death (Luke 24:21), but His return to life again excited their hopes..They saw now that His enemies had no power over Him. If they killed Him, He would just come back to life. They could not doubt that. being who could rise from the dead could easily accomplish His plans.' (pp. 10-11)

3. Some would say that it is hard to imagine that the disciples still have false ideas about the kingdom of God, seeing that this was the exact subject matter which Jesus had been discussing them (Acts 1:3), off and on over. period of 40 days. But we forget, that three years of teaching hadn't corrected some of their misconceptions either (Mark 16:13).

4. God may have recorded this question, as proof that the apostles greatly needed the guidance of the Holy Spirit! They did need the help of the Holy Spirit before they began to spread the gospel message..'It was not possible for them to preach the gospel of the kingdom until they understood the "nature" of the kingdom' (Reese p. 11)

5. Now McGuiggan has an interesting slant on this question. He denies that the apostles were still operating under the misconception that the kingdom of God would be an earthly and political kingdom. For he argues that they had been taught (Luke 24:25-26; 45; Acts 1:3). In addition, he argues that there is nothing wrong with the word "restore", for the Church is the "restored" kingdom of God, it is true Israel under the reign of the Messiah (Ephesians 1:22; Galatians 6:16), it is the remnant (Romans 11:5). He argues that the only misconception that the apostles were operating under-and would continue to operate under prior to Acts chapter 10, is that the kingdom either exclusively belonged to "Israel", or that salvation for Gentiles was inherently tied to them first becoming Jews. He points out that many O.T. passages had linked the salvation of the "nations" to the Jews (Zechariah 2:23; Genesis 12:3; Isaiah 2:2 ff; Amos 2:11). And that these men thought, until God told them different, that entering the kingdom of God was for the circumcised. That they had not anticipated that the kingdom of God could be entered by the uncircumcised, raw heathen. See Acts 10-11.. Hence the only misconception in the above question is there emphasis on the word "Israel".