This same Jesus: Acts 1:11

There were so many issues that have to day with Acts 1:11 I thought it was best to start a new thread with that title. Here is Acts 1:4-11:

4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;

5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,

11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

For this first post I just want to point out that the phrase "in like manner". How is this meant? I believe it is quite easy to pour our own meaning into this. Some say that it means He will come visibly. But that is not necessarily the point of comparison.

Is the "like manner" the same as in, say, Zech. 14?
Do mountains split at His coming and leaving?
Is the like manner the fact that "all eyes will see Him"? If so, why did only a handful see Him leave?

More to come later. (I have to wash some dishes before my wife gets home!)

 

On the contrary. I agree with everything you wrote.

 

Thank you. I thought I did this myself by mistake.

 

Once again - audience relevance and context must not be forgotten. The translation you chose renders "phulai tes ges" as "kindreds of the earth" but it should in fact be rendered "tribes of the land". Many translations reflect this more accurately. A quick check of the Gideon Bible here in this Nicaraguan hotel room has 'linaje de la tierra" - "lineage(s) of the land".

The Greek word "phule", if I remember correctly, occurs over thirty times in the New Testament. Nowhere does it refer to the entire earth. The only time the word is used in the context of a larger area would be those five or so occurrences in Rev. where it is part of phrases like "every tribe, tongue, and nation". Even then the word still means Israel, the following words being wider in scope.

And "earth" is not the whole world but "land", the land of Israel. It is only futurist presupposition that demands that slant.

"they also which pierced him" can very well be rendered "even they who pierced him". The word "kai" is very often used as "even". BTW, this clause is a problem for at least some futurists. Many believe that those who pierced Christ will not have human eyeballs until 1000 years after the coming of Christ! (Not sure, Hank, what you believe on this)

As far as the "eyeball" thing goes, I don't know what else I can add. Can God not use the same word in two different ways? Surely He can, and does. Often. Consider Matthew 8:22:

"But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead."

Here we have two "dead" words in the same clause. Clearly one is spiritual, the other physical.

To argue that both are spiritual would be murder.
To argue that both are physical would be zombiism!

EDIT:
I forgot to add that Acts 1:7 is a reference to Zechariah 12:10 - 14. Clearly the scope of application is Israel and the context is concerning their tribes and families.

"10“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

11On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

12The land shall mourn, each family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves;

13the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves;

14and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves."

 

This word "judge" is an interesting one. It does not mean what many think it does. It is not used in the active sense the word normally brings to mind today.

For example, Matt. 12:41 - 42:

"The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here."

"The queen of the south will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here."

I think the usage is similar.