Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 1:7

"And he said unto them, It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father hath set within His own authority." — Acts 1:7 (ASV)

Jesus’ answer to his disciples’ misguided question is not a denial of any place for the nation of Israel in God’s future purposes (cf. Romans 9–11, which speaks not only of a remnant within Israel responding to God but also of the nation of Israel still being involved in some way in God’s redemptive program). Rather, it stresses the fact that the disciples were to revise their thinking about the divine program, leaving to God the matters that are his concern and taking up the things entrusted to them. Jesus’ insistence that “it is not for you to know” echoes his teaching in Mt 24:36 and Mk 13:32. The “times” (GK 5989) and “dates” (GK 2789) refer to the character of the ages preceding the final consummation of God’s redemptive program and to the particular critical stages of these ages as they draw to a climax (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:1). These “the Father has set by his own authority”; they must not be the subject of speculation by believers—a teaching that, sadly, has been all too frequently disregarded.