Scripture: "Jesus showed Himself to His disciples, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God."—ACTS i. 3.
When Christ began to preach He took up the message of John: "the Kingdom of heaven is at hand." Later on He spoke: "There be some of them that stand here which shall not taste of death till they have seen the Kingdom of God come with power." That could not be until the King had ascended His throne. Then first He and His disciples were ready to receive from the Father the great gift of the Holy Ghost, bringing down the Kingdom of God in its heavenly power into their hearts.
Our text tells us that all the teaching of Jesus, during the forty clays after the Resurrection, dealt with the Kingdom of God, and it is remarkable how Luke, in the last verses of Acts, sums up all the teaching of Paul at Rome; he testified to the Kingdom of God, he preached the Kingdom of God (Acts xxviii. 23, 31).
Christ seated upon the throne of God was now King and Lord of all. To His disciples He had entrusted the announcement of the Kingdom, which is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. The prayer He had taught them: "Our Father, which art in heaven, Thy Kingdom come," had now for them a new meaning. The rule of God as seen in heaven came down in the power of the Spirit, and the disciples were full of the one thought—to preach the coming of the Spirit into the hearts of men. There was now on earth good tidings of the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom of God ruling and dwelling with men, even as in heaven.
In the last command our Lord gave to His disciples (Acts i. 4, 8) we shall find the great essential characteristics of the Kingdom put in great power.
1. The King—the crucified Christ. 2. The disciples—His faithful followers. 3. The power for their service—the Holy Spirit. 4. Their work—testifying for Christ as His witnesses. 5. Their aim—the end?: of the earth. 6. Their first duty—wait¬ing on God in united unceasing prayer.
If we are to take up and continue the prayer of the diciples, it is essential to have a clear and full impression of all that Christ spoke to them in that last moment, and what it meant for their inner life and all their service.
