Notes:
(vs 7)
It Is Not For You to Know
They ask a good question and Jesus doesn't rebuke them for asking it, he simply tells them it isn't their business to know. There are some things (many) that knowing will not do us any good and may harm us. The tree of knowledge is not the tree of life. Accepting God at his word and waiting upon him is better than analyzing rationalizing and predicting what God is up to. It is enough to know that our God knows. Knowing God is always better than knowing information.
(vs 8)
Identity
The Holy Spirit is power if a new and different kind than any power ever entrusted to men. It is a received power not an earned power or a built power. He is the power and it cannot be separated from his presence.
At This Time
Jesus's teaching about the kingdom must have been like his other teaching: plain in some aspects and completely opaque in others. After 40 days of teaching about the kingdom the followers of Jesus are anxious for the kingdom to come but mistaken about what the kingdom meant.
Is it God's fault we don't understand his teaching? Sometimes I tend to subconsciously place the blame for my misunderstandings at the feet I God. And there is some evidence that Jesus taught the crowds in ways they could not understand (mt 13:10-17) but not these people. They are the ones who have the keys and he tells them plainly about the kingdom. And still they are struggling to understand. Why? God's teaching is clear but our paradigms are not changed. In order to have God teaching we need God hearing. These followers heard kingdom and thought of power exercised through men. But God was telling them about a kingdom where power would be exercised through a Spirit.
