The Father and the Son

A question I see pretty frequently when chatting online is, "Does Jesus know the day and hour of His return, not that He is heaven, or is that information still known only to the Father? The question is obviously referring to Matthew 24:36 and to Mark 13:32.

"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." is the way it is recorded in Matthew, and in Mark the only significant addition are the words, "nor the Son." "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

It's an interesting question, and I think it should be carefully addressed, especially because of some current teachings out there which make statements that God does not have full knowledge of future events. I think that the underlying motivation for the question is this: If Jesus truly had two natures, and was not only fully human, but was also fully God, then how is it possible that there could be something He didn't know, since God knows everything?

Luke 2:40 reads; "And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him."

Just six verses later we read; "46 Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers."

Those verses do not say that Jesus was not all-knowing, but we do know that as a human being, the Bible says that; "though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered." Hebrews 5:8 The word for "learned" in the Greek is "manthano," and really has more to do in this context with the sense that Jesus, by His habit of free-hearted submission to the Father, experienced what such total obedience meant in His case.

There are people who have a definite problem with the idea that Jesus could not have known something, but the Scriptures state plainly that He did not know the day and the hour of His second coming at the time that they were written. I would advise a closer look at the word, "know," as used in Matthew 24:36, and in Mark 13:32. The Greek word for "know" is "oida." In Matthew 25:12, Jesus uses the same word in a different way. "
"But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you."

In this parable of the Ten Virgins, that statement doesn't mean that the bridegroom had never laid eyes on them and had no clue who they were, but instead that they were not now guests of his. In His submission to the Father, I believe Jesus was saying to His disciples that they should not know the hour of His coming. I believe He was using the word "know" in total submission to His Father's will as regarded the timing of His second coming. Since it was not revealed to man, it would be inconsistent with His Father's will for Him to reveal this information, and inconsistent with His role as an obedient Son. Do I believe Jesus is omniscient? Yes. Do I believe that there is anything that the Father knows that the Son does not? No.