Hey Cameron,
The answer to your question is Yes. It’s Yes. If you look at the first segment in Acts you see all the disciples in a very ambitious & excitable state. They interrogate Jesus about setting up the kingdom immediately. Jesus tells them to “wait.” There is an emphasis on waiting in those first few paragraphs. His instructions are given in an atmosphere of excitement & energy. The disciples want to know what’s next, they want to take over the world, they want to do, do ,do and go,go,go.
Jesus instructed them to “wait” for something. He says, ‘Don’t leave Jerusalem, rather stay until you receive what I told you about.’ Of course, as you know, Jesus is going to baptize them in the Holy Spirit. He says, ‘Stay where you are and “wait” for God to fulfill His promise.’ Jesus tells the Apostles He is going to fulfill God’s promise and they ask if He’s going to restore the kingdom of Israel. It’s obvious that they’re looking for power & authority. Now Jesus was just talking about the kingdom of God, and they are talking about the Kingdom of Israel. They don’t understand what he is talking about. The Apostles want the kingdom to be restored now. They don’t want to “wait,” they want something NOW. They are focusing on the wrong kingdom, and they don’t understand what it is they have to “wait” for. If our focus is on the wrong thing it can cause us to have real difficulty in understanding what God is saying. If we aren’t focused on heaven, then “waiting on God” for anything becomes inconvenient to us. The text seems to indicate this as the motivation for what came next.
Blessings, Leep
