Let’s read Acts 1:4-8: “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; for John truly baptized with water, but shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ Therefore, when there had come together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord ,will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know THE TIMES AND SEASONS which the Father has put in His own authority. 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.’”

Before the Lord Jesus died on the cross, He was trying to prepare His disciples for His final rejection by the nation of Israel which would result in Him being crucified and rising from the dead on the third day (see Matthew 16:21; Mark 8:31: Luke 9:22). But His words fell on deaf ears; in fact, Peter tried to prevent Him from being crucified (Matthew 16:22-23). In His last words to His disciples in the Upper Room, before His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, He instructed them as to His ascension back to the Father’s house in heaven (John 13:31-36; 14:1-2) and then He gave them a promise that they would receive the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-29; 15:26-27; 16:5-15). Yet the disciples failed to grasp this truth of His rejection, death, resurrection, ascension to heaven, and the coming of the Holy Spirit to live in them.

Because they could not understand these truths, their minds and hearts were still thinking of all the promises in the Old Testament about their Messiah establishing His kingdom on earth which would result in Israel becoming the center of His kingdom. Thus, they asked the question, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” The Lord then said, “It is not for you to know THE TIMES AND SEASONS which the Father has put in His own authority.” The words “times and seasons” refer to certain events that had been predicted in the Old Testament for the nation of Israel that had to do with their Messiah coming to set up His kingdom on earth. They did not realize that a NEW DAY (i.e. AGE) was dawning in which they would become part of a “heavenly company” called THE CHURCH and it would be begin by the Holy Spirit’s coming to indwell  them INDIVUDUALLY and form them COLLECTIVELY into the Church, the Body of Christ (see Acts 2:1-4, 47b; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13). Because of this NEW AGE (we call it the “Church Age”) they were not to be concerned with “times and seasons” that had to do with Israel and the nations on earth.

They would eventually learn that the Church would be Raptured to heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) and then the “times and seasons” would unfold on earth, culminating in the coming of Christ to destroy His enemies before He could establish His kingdom on earth. We read of this coming in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4, “But concerning THE TIMES AND THE SEASONS, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when THEY say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon THEM, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And THEY shall not escape. But YOU, BRETHREN, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. YOU are all sons of light and sons of the day. WE are not of the night nor of darkness.” The Apostle Paul made it clear that believers who are part of the church will NOT be here when Christ returns as a “thief in the night” to destroy THOSE who have rejected Him. As these truths were made known to them, they became a real “force for good” in this world by witnessing for Christ (in the power of the Holy Spirit) so sinners could be saved and added to the church.  (DO)  (717.5)