We haven’t lost the desire to know the times and seasons of God’s calendar. Books flood the marketplace, offering clues to the end of time and the meaning of certain political decisions and astronomical occurrences in the heavens. It has been true since the first couple ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. We still clutch to the notion that if we knew everything God knows, we would be fine. So, we speculate.

As the book of Acts opens, Jesus has spent 40 days since his resurrection appearing to various groups of disciples. His topic during that period was the kingdom of God. As he approached his ascension, his disciples asked a calendar question. “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). Jesus answered, but not with a simple “yes” or “no.” He answered the question they needed to ask and gave them the information they needed for the season they were in. He had earlier demonstrated that mankind does not need to know the specific dates on God’s calendar when he said that even he (as man) didn’t know. (See Matthew 24:36.) In his answer, he redefined the concepts of Israel, the kingdom, and restoration. They had pictures in their minds regarding all of these things that needed to be replaced by greater and clearer pictures.