4 Minute Read
Prepare Your Heart
To the best of your ability, get rid of all distractions. Take a few minutes to breathe deeply and quiet yourself in the Lord’s presence. Then, ask the Lord to speak to you in this time. Let Him know that you will listen and make whatever adjustments He will reveal to you.
Read God’s Word
Exodus 34:1-35:29
Matthew 24:36-51
A Verse for Today
Slowly and reflectively read the following verse(s) and listen to what God will say to you through His written Word. Consider writing down any insights He reveals to you.
Matthew 24:36 (CSB): “Now concerning that day and hour no one knows—neither the angels of heaven nor the Son—except the Father alone.”
Reflecting on God’s Word
To the casual reader, this is a verse that could easily be passed over. There seems to be nothing to grab our attention, to cause us to sit up and dig in.
But this verse gives us some information about Jesus that is incredibly fascinating! Essentially, Jesus said He did not know when He was returning to earth for His second coming.
Our problem arises when we fail to rightly understand the nature of Jesus when He came to earth. The Bible tells us that when He walked the earth, He was fully God and fully man.
As fully God, He knows all things. We could even be a little more specific and say that as God, He never learns anything because He already knows everything completely. As pastor Adrian Rogers used to say: “Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God?”
So, as fully God, there’s no way that Jesus did not know when He was coming back. Yet, that’s precisely what He said.
Matthew 24:36 (CSB): “Now concerning that day and hour no one knows—neither the angels of heaven nor the Son—except the Father alone.” (emphasis mine)
Since Jesus said this and everything He said is true, we can surmise that He was talking not as fully God but as someone who was fully man.
When Jesus left his throne in Heaven to come to earth, he laid aside much that was rightfully his. Maintaining his deity, he laid aside many of his rights and privileges. And as he became a biological man, his knowledge was greatly limited.
And that’s how we can make sense of verses like Luke 2:52. There, we are told that Jesus increased in his knowledge and the correct application of that knowledge (a.k.a. “wisdom).
Luke 2:52 (CSB): “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.” (emphasis mine)
Jesus, as fully God, could not “increase in wisdom.” That would imply that He didn’t have all wisdom to begin with. So, the way we understand verses like Luke 2:52 is that it refers to Jesus as fully man. As a baby in Bethlehem, He did not know all things. So, He had to learn and increase in knowledge and wisdom.
Let’s go back to Matthew 24:36. The fact that Jesus told us that even He did not know when He was coming back tells us that He legitimately became a man when He came to earth. While He maintained His deity, His deity was relegated to the background. He lived His life on earth as a full-fledged man.
After all, a man is the one responsible for destroying God‘s perfect creation. Genesis 3 tells us all about it. So, since a man lost a relationship with God and lost paradise, a second man had to come and regain what was rightfully lost. Jesus is our second Adam who fixed what the first Adam messed up.
1 Corinthians 15:45–49 (CSB): “So it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being;’ the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. Like the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; like the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.”
Because Jesus temporarily laid aside many of His rights and privileges in Heaven and became a man (with limitations that God does not have), we have a way for us to gain Heaven. All who trust in the infinite God/Man, Jesus Christ, receive His forgiveness and righteousness and are being fitted for Heaven.
So, yes, Jesus didn’t know everything when He walked on Earth. His divine knowledge was limited for the time He came to provide salvation for us. But His limitations were necessary so that He could gain back what the first Adam lost. And He did that for you and me!
Spend Time in Prayer
Lord Jesus, I never cease to be amazed at how much You gave up to provide me with forgiveness and eternal life. I will spend the rest of eternity praising You and thanking You for all You have done. But I won’t wait until then to express my gratitude. I will say it right now: Thank You, Jesus! Amen.
Going Deeper
If you want to go deeper, check out this article by Got Questions: “Why is the humanity of Jesus important?”
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Matt Ellis is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Polk City, Florida (fbcpolkcity.com).
Matt’s Musings 