Times And Seasons

In Acts 1:6 the apostles asked, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And His reply was, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power. This is a very strange answer in view of the fact that these apostles could have turned to Daniel 9:20-27 and have found their answer. For there it is told when the Messiah should be cut off and also that after 70 weeks of Israel being in the Holy City, the Messiah should come. That would be the setting up of His kingdom. And according to the figures given, that would be A.D. 85.

We wonder why the Lord did not set them right by quoting Daniel. Of course 85 came and went and there was no restoration of the kingdom. On the contrary, about 15 years before 85 Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple burned. So the only answer to why the kingdom did not begin in 85 is Acts 28:28. The kingdom was postponed and the administration of the mystery intervened and is still going on. Israel will not be revived till after the 2 days of Hosea 6:2 . Will this be 2,000 years?

The first usage of the expression seasons is in Gen 1:14, where the lights were set in the firmament to be for signs and seasons, and for days, and years. According to the Companion Bible note, signs were things to come, and seasons appointed times. So even the signs of the zodiac were prophetic (See Companion Bible Appendix 12).

Another thing that puzzles us is that in Acts 1:7 the apostles are not to know the times or the seasons, yet in 1 Thessalonians 5:1 Paul states that these people of Thessalonica should already know the times and seasons and that there was no need of his writing about them. Why this statement? A lot of theologians have never realized that about 10 years before this John had his revelation and these people knew about it. In the 16th verse of the chapter before, Paul mentions things that would later be written in the Book of Revelation (about AD 96). There is the answer.

The Word has been very exact about prophetic times and seasons. Abraham was told that 430 years after he left Haran, Israel would leave Egypt. It proved to be true. In Dan 9:2 we read that Daniel understood from the prophecy of Jeremiah that the desolations would be 70 years. So Daniel could figure when they would be over and Israel return. For further light on this, read 2 Chr 36:21 and Jer 25:11,12 and Zec 1:12 & Zec 7:5.

Now back to the 2 days again. The present times begin either with Acts 28:28 or the destruction of Jerusalem in 70. From 70 until the last few days, the people and the Holy City have not been together to fulfill prophecy. But it looks as if they now were going to have all the city. But since the 70 weeks of Dan 9 began with the dedication of the temple, we may not be too sure when the 70 weeks will be resumed. We just do not know.

And we mention these things because many want to know when the Lord will be manifested with His church. It seems that we are not to know that but we can now that as the time of Israel approaches we can be sure the time of our hope draws near.

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