“And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.”
My Notes
What Does Acts 1:7 Mean?
Acts 1:7 is Jesus's final teaching before His ascension — and it's a redirect. The disciples have just asked, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" (v. 6). They want a timeline. Jesus gives them a mission instead.
"And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons" — the Greek chronous ē kairous (times or seasons) uses two different words for time. Chronos is chronological time — the clock, the calendar, the duration. Kairos is strategic time — the appointed moment, the opportune season, the divinely selected occasion. Jesus says both are off-limits. You don't get the calendar. And you don't get the kairos moments marked on it.
"Which the Father hath put in his own power" — the Greek ho patēr etheto en tē idia exousia (which the Father placed in His own authority) makes the timing exclusively the Father's domain. The Greek exousia (authority, jurisdiction, right) means the Father alone has the authority to set the schedule. Not even the Son, in His earthly teaching, claimed to know the day (Mark 13:32). The timeline is classified.
The verse functions as a correction and a liberation simultaneously. The correction: stop trying to calculate the end. The liberation: you don't have to know. Your assignment (v. 8 — "ye shall be witnesses unto me") doesn't depend on knowing when history ends. It depends on being faithful until it does.
The disciples' question reveals a persistent human tendency: to focus on when rather than what. When will the kingdom come? When will things be made right? When will suffering end? Jesus consistently redirects: that's not your concern. Your concern is the mission I'm giving you. The Father handles the calendar. You handle the witness.
Reflection Questions
- 1.The disciples asked 'when?' and Jesus answered with 'what.' Where are you fixated on timing when God is asking you to focus on the task in front of you?
- 2.The times and seasons are 'in the Father's own authority.' How does surrendering the timeline to God's jurisdiction change your relationship with uncertainty?
- 3.Jesus liberates the disciples from needing to know 'when' and gives them a mission instead. How does having a clear assignment reduce the anxiety of an unclear timeline?
- 4.The human obsession with prophetic timelines persists. What's the difference between healthy anticipation of Christ's return and unhealthy fixation on calculating when it will happen?
Devotional
The disciples asked when. Jesus answered with what.
Their question was reasonable: Lord, is this the time? Are you restoring the kingdom now? They'd just spent forty days with the risen Christ (v. 3). The resurrection had happened. Surely this was the moment everything would be set right.
Jesus says: the timing is the Father's business. Not yours. Not mine to give you. His. And your job isn't to know when. Your job is to be witnesses.
This is one of the most freeing statements in the New Testament, if you let it be. The entire weight of "when" — when will this be over, when will things change, when will God act — is lifted off your shoulders and placed in the Father's authority. You don't carry the timeline. You carry the testimony.
The human obsession with prophetic timelines is as old as the disciples' question and as current as today's bestseller list. We want to know when Christ returns. When the suffering ends. When the kingdom comes in fullness. And Jesus's answer hasn't changed: that's not for you. The Father has it. It's in His authority. It's handled.
What's for you is verse 8: be my witnesses. In Jerusalem. In Judaea. In Samaria. To the uttermost part of the earth. That's your assignment. That's what you control. The timing is above your pay grade — and knowing it wouldn't change what you're supposed to do anyway.
If you've been anxious about the future — obsessing over when things will change, when God will move, when the waiting will end — Jesus says: put that down. The Father has the calendar. You have the commission. Do the next thing He asked you to do, and trust that the timing will take care of itself.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And he said unto them,.... To his disciples,
it is not for you to know the times or the seasons; meaning, not the…
It is not for you to know - The question of the apostles respected the time of the restoration; it was not whether he…
The times or the seasons - Χρονους η καιρους. Times here may signify any large portion of a period, era, or century -…
In Jerusalem Christ, by his angel, had appointed his disciples to meet him in Galilee; there he appointed them to meet…
It is not for you, &c. During the tutelage, as it may be called, of His disciples, our Lord constantly avoided giving a…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture