The next matter of great importance to all students of the Acts is the question of the apostles concerning the

restoration of the kingdom to Israel, and to this we shall address ourselves in the next section, sufficient preparation

having now been made.

Were the apostles right when they asked the Lord about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel? Were they

actuated by Jewish prejudice? Should they have asked concerning the church instead? An affirmative answer has

been given by different students to each of these questions.

But what are the facts? The Lord had spoken to the apostles about the baptism of the Spirit that they should

receive `not many days hence' (Acts 1:5), and the next verse records their question which we are considering:

`When they therefore were come together, they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again

the kingdom to Israel?' (Acts 1:6).

It is essential to keep in mind that during a period of forty days, the apostles had received instruction as to the

Old Testament passages that spoke of Christ and His kingdom. Among these the following from Isaiah would make

plain the connection between the outpouring of the spirit, and the restoration of Israel:

`Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be

counted for a forest ... My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting

places' (Isa. 32:15-18).

A number of like passages would occur to any well-taught reader of the Old Testament, such as the apostles

were, and until the reader is in possession of at least some of these passages, he cannot be competent to judge the

matter of the rightness of the question in Acts 1:6. Coupled with this let us remember that He Who opened up the

Scriptures during those 40 days, at the same time `opened He their understanding' (Luke 24:45). In the face of such

a comprehensive statement is it possible to maintain that prejudice and ignorance prompted the question of Acts 1:6?

Isaiah's prophecy divides into two great sections; the first, chapters 1 to 39, deals mainly with Israel's rejection;

the second, chapters 40 to 46, deals mainly with Israel's restoration. This second section opens with the words:

`Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that

her APPOINTED TIME (see margin) is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned' (Isa. 40:1,2).

The word rendered `warfare' in the A.V. occurs in Daniel 10:1, where it is rendered `the time appointed'. This

prophecy of restoration makes immediate reference to `the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness'. The apostles

would know the close connection between John the Baptist and this prophecy, hence their pertinent question in Acts

1:6. Isaiah 43 contains the promise:

`I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the

south, Keep not back: bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends of the earth' (Isa. 43:5,6).

Jeremiah, too, is a prophet of rejection and restoration. First, the Lord declares that He will:

watch over His word to perform it (1:12) (which word, here, was a word of judgment and wrath).

In chapter 31:28 the Lord says:

`And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw

down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD'.

These words refer to Israel as a nation, and not to `a church', as verses 35, 36 bear testimony: