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 are written in the Revelation.
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&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.
