The Book of Acts begins with an anticipation of the soon return of Jesus. Peter’s sermon on Pentecost connects the coming of the Holy Spirit to the advent of the eschatological age predicted by Joel. His sermon in Acts 3 looks forward to the “times of refreshing” coming from the presence of the Lord. Yet Jesus does not return, and the eschatological age does not begin, at least not as anticipated by Joel and other prophets. Rather than being concerned over the timing of Jesus’s return, his disciples are to be witnesses “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
In this paper, I will first examine the theme of delay in Old Testament prophetic literature and Second Temple literature (for example, (4 Ezra 4:33-37). Second, I will examine the theme of witness in the Old Testament (for example, Isaiah 43:9-12). Using this data, I will argue that Luke shifts the focus away from the coming of the eschatological age to the mission of evangelism “to the end of the earth” (Luke 24:46-49; Acts 1:8).