It is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to investigate a matter. (Proverbs 25:2) God plays hide and seek with humanity. I believe He has embedded knowledge within His creation for us to search out and in that searching, His primary desire is not that we stack up knowledge, but to reveal Himself as we discover HOW He has secreted such knowledge away. It's like He has hidden treasures for us that motivates us to explore and, in the exploring, we come face to face with THE Treasure of all Treasures - Him!
Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals (i.e. Feasts of the Lord) and for days and years. (Genesis 1:14) God's creation is His calendar and time clock. The calendar rolls us forward in a circular-linear fashion, while His time clock counts down from creation's first moment. God's goal is to reclaim us and redeem us and restore us to what we threw away - absolute communion with Him.
So, when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, are You restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. (Acts 1:6-7) In this event, Jesus' disciples were asking their resurrected Son of David Messiah if NOW was the time God wanted to restore David's kingdom as promised. Why not? They had the rightful heir, perfectly righteous, all-powerful, and now UNKILLABLE! (Who wouldn't want that kind of king?)
But Jesus tells them quite plainly, "No."
It's not time to restore David's kingdom, Israel. In fact, the disciples won't know the time or season when it will take place. Time = chronos: the length of time between now and then. Season = kairos: the God-ordained moment of the actual event. "Time and season" is also a Hebrew idiom for the Feasts of the Lord. But when you bring alongside Jesus' other prophecies about the End and the believers alive at that time, the only thing they won't know is the day and the hour...but they WILL know the time and season.
In other words, they will know they've passed God's ordained time of waiting and will know that the Day of the Lord is at hand and they will know which set of feasts during a particular year will be fulfilled by Jesus' return, His conquering of the earth, and the start of Israel's kingdom (the time of the Jews).
God has set His calendar and His clock. He is in total control. He reveals the innerworkings to those who will search out such things. Why? He wants all to be prepared. He wants none to perish. He loves you.
The Truth Barista, Frothy Thoughts