| Prudens futuri temporis exitum |
| Caliginosa nocte premit Deus— |
| But Jove, in goodness ever wise, |
| Hath hid, in clouds of thickest night, |
| All that in future prospect lies |
| Beyond the ken of mortal sight.—Hor. |
As to the times and seasons of the year, we know in general, there will be summer and winter counterchanged, but we know not particularly which day will be fair or which foul, either in summer or in winter; so, as to our affairs in this world, when it is a summer-time of prosperity, that we may not be secure, we are told there will come a winter-time of trouble; and in that winter, that we may not despond and despair, we are assured that summer will return; but what this or that particular day will bring forth, we cannot tell, but must accommodate ourselves to it, whatever it is, and make the best of it.
2. The knowledge of it is reserved to God as his prerogative; it is what the Father hath put in his own power; it is hid with him. None besides can reveal the times and seasons to come; known unto God are all his works, but not to us, ch. 15. 18. It is in his power, and in his only, to declare the end from the beginning; and by this he proves himself to be God, Isa. 46. 10. And though he did think fit sometimes to let the Old Testament prophets know the times and the seasons, (as of the Israelites' bondage in Egypt four hundred years, and in Babylon seventy years,) yet he has not thought fit to let you know the times and seasons, no not just how long it shall be before Jerusalem be destroyed, though you be so well assured of the thing itself. He hath not said that he will not give you to know something more than you do of the times and seasons; he did so afterward to his servant John; but he has put it in his own power to do it or not, as he thinks fit; and what is in that New Testament prophecy discovered concerning the times and the seasons, is so dark, and hard to be understood, that, when we come to apply it, it concerns us to remember this word, that it is not for us to be positive in determining the times and the seasons. Buxtorf mentions a saying of the Rabbins concerning the coming of the Messiah; Rumpatur spiritus eorum qui supputant tempora—Perish the men who calculate the time.
III. He cuts them out their work, and with authoritv assures them of an ability to go on with it, and of success in it; "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons, that will do you no good; but know this, (v. 8.) that ye shall receive a spiritual power, by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon you, and shall not receive it in vain, for ye shall be witnesses unto me and my glory, and your testimony shall not be in vain, for it shall be received here in Jerusalem, in the country about and all the world over," v. 8. If Christ make us serviceable to his honour in our own day and generation, let that be enough for us, and let not us perplex ourselves about times and seasons to come. Christ here tells them,
1. That their work should be honourable and glorious; Ye shall be witnesses unto me. (1.) They shall proclaim him King, and publish those truths to the world, by which his kingdom should be set up, and he would rule. They must openly and solemnly preach his gospel to the world. (2.) They shall prove this, shall confirm their testimony, not as witnesses do, with an oath, but with the divine seal of miracles and supernatural gifts; Ye shall be martyrs to me, or my martyrs, as some copies read it; for they attested the truth of the gospel with their sufferings, even unto death.
2. That their power for this work should be sufficient. They had not strength of their own for it, nor wisdom or courage enough; they were naturally of the weak and foolish things of the world; they durst net appear as witnesses for Christ upon his trial, neither as yet were they able. "But ye shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, (so it may be read,) shall be animated and actuated by a better spirit than your own; ye shall have power to preach the gospel, and to prove it out of the scriptures of the Old Testament," (which, when they were filled with the Holy Ghost, they did to admiration, ch. 18. 28.) "and to confirm it both by miracles and by sufferings."
Note, Christ's witnesses shall receive power for that work to which he calls them; whom he employs in his service, he will qualify them for it, and bear them out in it.
3. That their influence should be great and very extensive; "Ye shall be witnesses for Christ, and shall carry his cause," (1.) "In Jerusalem; there ye must begin, and many there will receive your testimony; and they that do not, will be left inexcusable." (2.) "Your light shall from thence shine throughout all Judea, where before ye have laboured in vain." (3.) "Thence ye shall proceed to Samaria, though at your first mission ye were forbidden to preach in any of the cities of the Samaritans." (4.) "Your usefulness shall reach to the uttermost part of the earth, and ye shall be blessings to the whole world."
IV. Having left these instructions with them, he leaves them; (v. 9.) When he had spoken these things, and had said all that he had to say, he blessed them; (so we were told, Luke 24. 50.) and while they beheld him, and had their eye fixed upon him, receiving his blessing, he was gradually taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. We have here Christ's ascending on high; not fetched away, as Elijah was, with a chariot of fire and horses of fire, but rising to heaven, as he rose from the grave, purely by his own power; his body being now, as the bodies of the saints will be at the resurrection, a spiritual body, and raised in power and incorruption. Observe,
1. He began his ascension in the sight of his disciples, even while they beheld. They did not see him come up out of the grave, because they might see him after he was risen, which would be satisfaction enough; but they saw him go up toward heaven, and had actually their eye upon him, with so much care and attention of mind, that they could not be deceived. It is probable that he did not fly swiftly up, but moved upwards gently, for the further satisfaction of his disciples.
2. He vanished out of their sight, in a cloud, either a thick cloud, for God said that he would dwell in the thick darkness; or a bright cloud, to signify the splendour of his glorious body. It was a bright cloud that overshadowed him in his transfiguration, and most probably this was so, Matt. 17. 5. This cloud received him, it is probable, when he was gone about as far from the earth as the clouds generally are; yet it was not such a spreading cloud as we commonly see, but such as just served to enclose him. Now he made the clouds his chariot, Ps. 104. 3. God had often come down in a cloud, now he went up in one. Dr. Hammond thinks that the clouds receiving him here, were the angels receiving him; for the appearance of angels is ordinarily described by a cloud, comparing Exod. 25. 22. with Lev. 16. 2. By the clouds there is a sort of a communication kept up between the upper and lower world, in them the vapours are sent up from the earth, and the dews sent down from heaven; fitly therefore does he ascend in a cloud, who is the Mediator between God and man, by whom God's mercies come down upon us, and our prayers come up to him. This was the last that was seen of him, the eyes of a great many witnesses followed him into
