The disciples raised the question in Acts 1:6 "When they, therefore, were come together, they asked of him, saying. Lord, will thou this time restore again the kingdom of Israel?" This was the disciple's main concern at the time and certainly was less concerned about the affairs of the church. Since Jesus had already laid the blueprint of the coming age and the signs in Matthew 24:3 " And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?
After Jesus' resurrection, he did not attempt to address his disciples concerning the previous questions, He knew that their perspective needed to be changed from the Kingdom of heaven agenda to the Kingdom of God agenda. The Kingdom of God is an extension of the Kingdom of God- in a land-based kingdom of the coming age on the earth. The disciples are no longer part of the kingdom of heaven, as Christ no longer wanted them to be concerned with that mystery, as he had first revealed to them in the Olivet discourse in Matthew 24, and like all other parables like the Tares and the Wheat. Isreal is no longer in the view but the church- the church age. In Acts 1:7 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.
Times and seasons refer to Israel alone, the church has no timetable, seasons, or even numbers allocated to it by God. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 5:1 " But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you." In other words, the times and seasons are for other dispensational times in the bible but not for the church age to know. Before the resurrection of Christ Jesus, for the disciples, the church was a mystery. But from now, Isreal's kingdom is to become a mystery to them. Some may say, What will happen to earth and Isreal after the rapture of the church? The answer is that we as the church, do not need to know that! It is a mystery. Although we are given few passages on revelation from chapter 5 onward of the destruction and judgments to come on earth. But furthermore, Christ goes on the say that In acts 1:8 "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
This is the business of the church! To spread the gospel of Christ Jesus throughout the earth, and not the times and seasons of Israel. Israel's times and seasons are God's business, not ours.
