Acts 1:6-8 records an interchange between Jesus and His disciples just before His ascension to heaven.
And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.
You will notice that Jesus does not deny that He is the Messiah who one day will restore the kingdom to Israel. His exhortation for His men is that they are not to be concerned with the timing of that event – that is the responsibility of God the Father alone. Instead, their responsibility was to wait for what the Father did promise (vv. 4-5); namely, His Holy Spirit would come upon them to be powerful witnesses of the Lord Jesus.
Like the disciples, we too watch and wait anxiously for our Lord’s return when He will set up His kingdom. We point to the prophetic signs of Scripture and wonder if His appearing and return will be soon, especially given the current advance of evil in our nation and its implications for the church. While indeed it may be soon, we need to remember that the time is fixed by the Father. In fact, in our day some of the remotest parts of the earth are seeing a breakthrough of the gospel and the church being established as never before and are rejoicing – even when that advance comes with hardship and persecution. The believers there do not see their current circumstances as the time of the end, but as a time of opportunity. Their example is a lesson for us – and the same lesson Jesus was giving His disciples in Acts 1. Regardless of whether Jesus’ appearing and return is soon or distant, our task does not change. We are to be His witnesses in the power of the Holy Spirit and make disciples who will join in the task, with His promise that He is with us even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20).