Acts 1:7

Jesus did not correct the disciples for believing that the messianic kingdom would come. [Note: See John A. McLean, "Did Jesus Correct the Disciples’ View of the Kingdom?" Bibliotheca Sacra 151:602 (April-June 1994):215-27.] He only corrected their assumption that they could know when the kingdom would begin and that the kingdom would begin in a few days.

Amillennialists do not believe that God will restore an earthly kingdom to Israel as Israel but that He will restore a spiritual kingdom to the church, which they believe has replaced physical Israel as "spiritual Israel" or "the new Israel." Premillennialists believe that since the promises about Messiah’s earthly reign have not yet been fulfilled, and since every reference to Israel in the New Testament can refer to physical Israel, we should anticipate an earthly reign of Messiah on the earth following His second coming.

"Jesus’ answer to the question about restoring the reign to Israel denies that Jesus’ followers can know the time and probably corrects their supposition that the restoration may come immediately, but it does not deny the legitimacy of their concern with the restoration of the national life of the Jewish people." [Note: Robert C. Tannehill, The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts , 2:15.]

"This passage makes it clear that while the covenanted form of the theocracy has not been cancelled and has only been postponed, this present age is definitely not a development of the Davidic form of the kingdom. Rather, it is a period in which a new form of theocratic administration is inaugurated. In this way Jesus not only answered the disciples’ question concerning the timing of the future Davidic kingdom, but He also made a clear distinction between it and the intervening present form of the theocratic administration." [Note: Pentecost, p. 269.]

Jesus’ disciples were not to know yet when the messianic kingdom would begin. God would reveal the "times" (Gr. chronous, length of time) and "epochs" (Gr. kairous, dates, or major features of the times) after Jesus’ ascension, and He would make them known through His chosen prophets (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:1; Revelation 6-19).

"In Acts 3:20 [sic 19], the phrase chosen is kairoi anapsuxeos (seasons of refreshing). . . . In other words, the last days of fulfillment have two parts. There is the current period of refreshing, which is correlated to Jesus’ reign in heaven and in which a person shares, if he or she repents. Then at the end of this period Jesus will come to bring the restoration of those things promised by the Old Testament." [Note: Darrell L. Bock, Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church, p. 57.]

"There is a close connection between the hope expressed in Acts 1:6 and the conditional promise of Peter in Acts 3:19-21, indicated not only by the unusual words ’restore’ and ’restoration . . .’ but also by the references to ’times . . .’ and ’seasons . . .’ in both contexts. The ’times of restoration of all that God spoke’ through the prophets include the restoration of the reign to Israel through its messianic King." [Note: Tannehill, 2:15-16.]