If Jesus is God, why did He not know when He would return?

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If Jesus is God, why did he not know when he would return? We're going to answer that question.

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You can also discover more on GotQuestions .org. Speaking of his second coming, Jesus said,

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No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the

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Father. The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is God and we know that God is omniscient.

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So it seems strange that Jesus would say that he did not know when he would return. The key to understanding

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Jesus' seeming lack of knowledge in this matter lies in the nature of the Incarnation.

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When the Son of God became a man, he remained fully God, but he also took on a true human nature.

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Jesus retained all the attributes of divinity, yet as a man, he voluntarily restricted their use.

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This was part of the self -emptying or self -renunciation spoken of in Philippians.

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When Christ entered our world, he laid aside the privileges that had been his in heaven.

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Rather than stay on his throne in heaven, Jesus made himself nothing. When he came to earth, he gave up his divine privileges.

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He veiled his glory and chose to occupy the position of a servant. There were times when

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Jesus publicly manifested his divine knowledge and power on earth. On those occasions,

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Jesus' demonstrations of his divinity were directed by the Father. On other occasions, he had no such directive from the

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Father and he kept his glory veiled. On all occasions, Jesus obeyed the Father's will.

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I always do what pleases him, he said. So when Jesus said he did not know when he would return, he was actively humbling himself and taking the form of a servant.

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Since no other mortal knows the time of Jesus' return, that information is the

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Father's alone. Jesus voluntarily restricted his knowledge on that point. It was part of Jesus' submission to the

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Father and his mission to live a human life. Some think Jesus apparently chose to give up the rights to be privy to during his earthly ministry.

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The knowledge of when he would return was one of those things. Jesus, now exalted in heaven, truly knows all, including the timing of his second coming.

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That answers the question, if Jesus is God, why did he not know when he would return?

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