In Acts 1.6 the apostles asked Jesus, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

John Calvin commented: “There are as many errors in this question as words.”

But Calvin, otherwise rightly beloved in many respects, was himself the one who erred. For Jesus did not correct or rebuke the content of their question. Rather, he said:

“It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (vv. 7-8)

He affirmed the restoration of the kingdom to Israel as an epoch that “the Father has fixed by his own authority.” Then He said essentially that it wasn’t their business to figure out its timing, but to pray, receive the power of the Spirit, and to bear faithful witness to Christ as messengers of the Gospel. -BA Purtle