No One Knows the Hour or the Day

We established yesterday that it is not God's desire that we know the exact time of His return. What is surprising from today's reading, is that Jesus doesn't know either! If He is God, how could He not know something that God knows? At it's heart, this is a question about the Trinity, which is a concept that is simple and yet so mysterious and confusing. We know that though Jesus is equal with the Father, they are two distinct people with very different roles. If they were one in person, there would be no need for Jesus to pray to God the Father because He would essentially be talking to Himself. But because they are different people,( though equal in deity), they have need for communication. And because they have different roles in the Godhead, it is entirely possible that there are things Jesus does not know simply because it is not His role. This does not diminish His deity, but does set Him apart. According to Jackie's comment, Beth Moore interprets this as something God intends as a surprise for Jesus. We don't really know why He doesn't know, but it doesn't seem to frustrate Jesus and therefore should not bother us.

It is also important to understand that Jesus had two natures. He was fully God and fully man. In order to be fully man, He voluntarily restricted His divine powers and cooperated with the limitations of humanity. He used His divine power only in keeping with the Father's will and it was evidently not His will that Jesus know the time of His return. It was not until after Christ's resurrection that He shed His humanity and took on His fully glorified being. So does He know now, when the day of His return will come? I have no idea! The Bible does not tell us.

Tomorrow's reading: Mark 14:1-26; Matt. 26:1-30; Luke 22:1-30