“He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons 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 in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth'” (Acts 1:7-8)
Relevant to you and I is to pay attention to the tension of this scripture. We know at this point Heaven is to receive Christ up, or ascend if you like. Something altogether new has come in with this Christ. A new dispensation. The Word of God made flesh, and tabernacled (literal) among us. (John 1:14)
This Christ has come and become the gospel of God, and the disciples confused again at his leaving and what’s next.
According to Hebrews 1:1, in times past, the way God has dispensed Himself into man has been varied, and now has spoken all things in the Son (Christ the Messiah). If we pay attention to patterns and contrasts in the scriptures we discover in many places this phrase “Not…but” or sometimes also as no, not, but and that is a change in the dispensations. So that what has once taken place, is now a new sight of God, or His Christ so that we can agree with Paul in writing to the Galatians ‘It’s no longer I, but Christ’ or as John would write “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God” (John 1:13)
Do you see the dispensation change? It’s no longer about the former, but all the working values founded on the fact of the resurrection. (See Phil 3:10) They were witnesses of the resurrection, now it’s time to go to work in a new order.
While this seems a bit of simple teaching, we perhaps up to this moment (and maybe it’s just me) just as in Acts 1:7 – we just followed the times and the seasons as the Disciples were quite used to. We pay attention to the outward observances and actions of the world, an organized mandate, or our local church in order to be energized to go and do for the Kingdom of God. 
Like the Disciples we can often pay attention to the Objective, interested in the interpretation of events in our lives. And maybe just sitting around and thinking about Prophecy and when will Christ return. And what’s gonna happen with me in the Tribulation. Or do I feel saved?
All these objective things keep us exactly where we are, as if we’re just waiting for some power outside of us to change our situation. Change our position, or that new job, or house, or role with the company.
So let’s look at the rest of that passage, because in vs.8 He states “But you….”. It is all about “up to you”. You see the would be witnesses because they have seen the risen Christ, over the last 40 days, but most particularly, they are now seeing Him subjectively which is the dispensational change.
So how does that apply to me and you? Well first we have to be honest in our asking. What are we waiting for? Certainly these disciples were, as scripture says “ignorant and unlearned men” not having the logistical expertise to go start “The Church”, for which there had not been a blueprint drawn up over the last forty days. Have we gotten used to others to take responsibility for us, or has God gotten a hold of us inwardly now?
What have we seen of the Christ in the scriptures today? And by faith, do we believe that it’s possible? These are difficult questions I even ask of myself. I am no better than you. I struggle in my faith too. But when the scriptures arrest us subjectively (which means experiential, or a practical hands-on faith) God, by His grace (which is Christ) is striving to move us dispensationally with Him to get a hold of us inwardly.
The problem is if the Word doesn’t grasp us inwardly (unlike Joshua and Caleb) we can wander like the Children did in the wilderness, because they had an out. They could always turn back to Egypt (and in their objective mindset, they did). We too, can have an out and not move on with Him and wander.
The first man Adam, was only grasped objectively, and therefore could only strive to know God in his conscience, and not his spirit (dead because of sin). That dispensation continued on as God was at work to get His Man (the Son) and to make that Son in whom He is well-pleased the fullest, or maturest measure possible.
We are called in this dispensation, on the But side if you will, to carry out subjectively His purposes. Yes, it may be stepping out in faith for that job, that position, that role in ministry. I just want to be able to point out that there is tension in the scriptures and to wrestle down those patterns and contrasts can be helpful.
May He get, or take hold of you inwardly today, instead of the all too familiar outwardly of yesterday. Have a good day!
