Acts 1:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

They learned that the Jews were rejected, and that the Gentiles would enter the Kingdom of God instead of them. To know that this will be is a great thing. But to grasp that someone will reign, or when he will reign, is nothing great. Paul learned what "man may not utter" (2 Cor 12:4). He learned all that preceded this world. Which is harder to know, the beginning or the end? Obviously, the beginning. Moses learned this and, by counting the years, shows when it was and how long ago. Solomon also knew this, and therefore said, "I will not forget to recount the things from eternity" (Prov 8:21). Therefore the apostles later learned that the time was near, as Paul also says, "The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing" (Phil 4:5-6). But at that time they did not yet know, though signs had been given them. As Christ had said, "not many days from now" (Acts 1:5), but did not mark the time exactly because He wished them to be watchful, so He acts now too. On the other hand, here they do not ask about the end of the world, but about the kingdom. Therefore they said, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" But He did not reveal even this to them. They had also asked Him earlier about the end of the world. Then He answered them with greater severity, so they would not think their deliverance was near, and so He would expose them to dangers. Now He answers not so, but with greater gentleness. And so that His words would not seem offensive to them or merely an evasion, listen to how He immediately promises to give them what would make them rejoice. He added, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (v. 8).

For He had revealed to them truths far higher than this. He revealed that He is the Son of God, that He is equal to the Father, that He rose, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, that the judgment will come, and that He sat down at the right hand of the Father. Tell me, then, what is more important: to know that He will reign, or to know when? Paul learned things that it is not lawful for a man to utter (2 Cor 12:4). Moses learned the beginning of the world, and when and how many ages ago it was created. He counts the years, though to know the beginning is generally harder than to know the end. Yet the apostles did not ask the Lord about the final consummation of the times, but, "Will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He did not reveal even this to them. As He had answered before, turning them away from this thought so they would not think deliverance from troubles was near, but would know that they still had to face many dangers, so He answers now, only more gently: "But you shall receive power." Then, so that they would not ask Him again, He immediately ascended. Moreover, lest they ask, "Why do You leave us in uncertainty about this matter?" the Son says, "which the Father has put in His own authority." But the Father's authority is certainly also the Son's authority. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whom He wills. If, when something extraordinary and wondrous must be accomplished, the Son acts with the same authority as the Father, then this is even more so in matters requiring knowledge. For to raise the dead, and with authority equal to the Father's, is far greater than to know the day. See Acts 1:8.

It may seem that they did not fully understand that the Son does not know, since they ask Him as one who knows. But understanding that the mystery of not knowing is the divine economy of silence, they now ask because they suppose that after the Resurrection the time for speaking has come. The Son does not tell them that He does not know, but that it is not for them to know. For the Father has put this in His own authority. Therefore, if the apostles regard that day, of which the Son does not know, as a matter of divine economy and not of weakness, shall we say that the Son does not know this day because He is not God? God the Father appointed the day in His own authority, not so that it might become accessible to human knowledge. The Son, when asked earlier and saying that He did not know, now did not answer that He did not know, but that it was not for them to know. For the Father has placed the times not in His knowledge, but in His authority. Since day and season exist within the limits of times, it cannot seem that He who is going to restore the kingdom of Israel does not know the day and season of its restoration. But, instructing us to understand His birth through the particular conditions of the Father's authority, He did not answer that He did not know. Showing that the possibility of knowledge was not given to them, He declared that this lies in the mystery of the Father's authority.

They differ in this: in the first, the reason for not knowing the times is presented as Jesus Christ's own not knowing, while in the second it is human weakness.

It cannot be doubted that Jesus Christ, not only as God but also as man through the hypostatic union with the Godhead, knew the times, years, days, and hours when anything was to be.

He said economically that the Son did not know, in order to put an end to excessive curiosity in the apostles. This is sure and undoubted.

Why, then, cannot men know times and seasons? Because, He says, the Father has placed them in His own authority.

And not only the seasons, but all things generally are under the dominion of His sovereignty. Yet when He wills, He reveals them to men.

For what reason does He so possess the seasons that He did not grant men to understand them? God changes times and seasons as He wills, extending or shortening their course.

We find such changes in Holy Scripture. In the time of Joshua, God made the course of one day much longer than the others (Josh 10:12).

In the time of Hezekiah, He changed the number of days of that king's life by adding fifteen years to it (Is 38:5).

In the time of Jonah, He changed three days into many ages, for the city of Nineveh was destroyed only after many ages had passed.

It was not destroyed after three days, as He had decreed and as Jonah had preached (Jon 3:4).

At the time of the end of the world, He will shorten the determined number of days for the sake of His elect (Mt 24:22).

All these examples assure us that God changes both times and the limits of human life. Therefore He either fills a man with length of days or brings sudden death upon him.

Since such changes are mysterious, depend on the authority of the one God, and occur when and as He wills, Jesus Christ said that the Father has placed times and seasons in His own authority.

Because of these very mysterious changes in the limits of times, it is not fitting for man to know them.

God has hidden from us the knowledge of times, not because He did not wish or could not reveal them to us, but because the human mind cannot contain the mystery of the changes that occur in them.

It is not yours, and it is beyond human powers, to know times and seasons. Man cannot know when, how, and why God makes such changes in times.

This, then, is the reason why the God-man concealed from us the knowledge of the end of the world and of the final moment of each person's life.

He hides the times from us, so that He may order them for the profit of our souls.

But let us also consider why Christ did not lead the apostles out of the prejudice to which they were subject.

They considered His kingdom earthly, and asked Him to declare to them the time when He would restore the kingdom of Israel to its former state.

Why, then, did He not answer them as He answered Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world" (Jn 18:36)?

Instead, by answering generally about the unknowability of times, He seemed to confirm their opinion.

He had spoken to them about this more than once, but they could not understand His words. Therefore He said to them, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth" (Jn 16:12-13).

Consequently He left their prejudice to be healed by the Spirit of truth, who was to descend upon them after not many days and cure it by the illumination of His grace.

Meanwhile, having answered their question in general and immediately turned His word to the purpose before Him, He began to speak about the descent of the Holy Spirit and His gifts.

Dan 2:21), "which the Father has put in His own authority." After this the Lord indicates what the apostles' work consists in, and what they must think and care about first and above all. "It is not for you to know times or seasons... but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Their work and their calling is to be witnesses of Christ. They will receive the power and capacity for this from the Holy Spirit. This witness will begin from Jerusalem, continue in its surrounding regions, then pass into Samaria. Spreading farther and farther, it must reach even to the end of the earth.

Therefore He answered it with silence, to their profit" (Theophylact; cf. Chrysostom). By this the Lord does not affirm that they must not and will not know anything of these times and seasons. If the All-knowing One is pleased to reveal this to them, they will know as much as is needful. Thus in due time the times and seasons of the unfolding of the Kingdom of God on earth were revealed to John in the Apocalypse. Something was also revealed to the other apostles (2 Pet 3:3 and following; Rom 11:25 and following; 1 Thess 5:1 and following; 2 Thess 2:1 and following). But they must not investigate this, because they were to be not so much prophets, foretelllers of the future, as witnesses of the past (v. 8). "Times and seasons" is an expression pointing to the second chapter of the book of the prophet Daniel (Dan 2:21). The first word means long periods of time, the second short seasons. By both the Kingdom of God will unfold on earth. But to know them exactly is not their business. The heavenly Father has reserved this for Himself.

He turns the whole fullness of their attention to the almighty will of God the Father, who, as the originating Power, appoints times and seasons for all things. Thus, for example, according to His word, the time of the second coming of Jesus Christ is not known, not only to the angels, but not even to Him Himself as Son of Man (Mk 13:32). The expression "times and seasons" points to verse 21 of chapter 2 of the book of the prophet Daniel. To Daniel were revealed long periods and short seasons in the ordering of the Kingdom of God, the seventy weeks. Much was also revealed to the apostles (see 2 Pet 3:3; Rom 11:26; 1 Thess 5:1), and especially to John in the Apocalypse. But they themselves were not to investigate these and similar times. So also we should not be greatly concerned, for example, with knowing the day of our death. Rather, we must take every care to be always ready for death, and together with it for God's judgment, first the particular judgment and then the universal one.