How Can Jesus Be All-knowing If He Said He Didn't Know the Day or Hour?
1) Direct answer
Jesus is all‑knowing as God, but when He said He didn’t know the day or hour, He was speaking from the position of the Son—the servant role in flesh—where that knowledge was veiled and not given to be revealed through that office.
2) Scriptural explanation
- The Bible says, “Of that day and that hour knoweth no man… neither the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32). That’s Jesus speaking as the Son.
- Yet the same Scripture declares, “God was manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16), and “in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). So the One in Him—the Father—knew all things.
- Jesus said, “The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works” (John 14:10). The indwelling Father is the all‑knowing God.
- The disciples confessed to Jesus, “Now are we sure that Thou knowest all things” (John 16:30); and Peter said, “Lord, Thou knowest all things” (John 21:17). So He is not ignorant in His Godhead.
- As the Son, He took the form of a servant and humbled Himself (Philippians 2:7-8), grew in wisdom (Luke 2:52), hungered, slept, and wept. That shows the true human vessel.
- After the resurrection He said, “All power is given unto Me” (Matthew 28:18), and He told them, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power” (Acts 1:7). The times are held in the Father’s authority—God’s own counsel.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- There is one God. He was above us as Father, came among us in a body as the Son, and now dwells in us as the Holy Spirit. It’s not three Gods, and it’s not three persons—it’s one God revealing Himself in different offices.
- As man, Jesus could say, “I thirst,” and sleep in the boat; as God, He stilled the storm. As man, He wept at Lazarus’ tomb; as God, He called Lazarus out by name. So when He said the Son didn’t know that day and hour, He spoke from the servant position where that mystery was not to be made known.
- If He were merely a limited second person, how could Scripture say He “knows all things”? The answer is simple: the body is the Son; the indwelling is God. The Father in Him knew; the Son, as the obedient servant, did not reveal it.
Short reinforcement
No contradiction—just the mystery of God veiled in flesh. The same Jesus is truly man and truly God manifested: as the Son He submitted; as God He is all‑knowing.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Earnestly contending for the faith once delivered
55-0815 §22
But He found that little woman. Oh, He said, "Thy faith has saved thee." For she felt in her heart, with faith in Him, that if she could touch Him, she'd be healed. That was Jesus yesterday. That's Jesus today. That's Jesus forever. He never said, "I healed you." He said, "Your faith has healed you." If a little woman's faith will pull Jesus around in the crowd, and pick her out and tell that her faith had made her whole from that blood issue, that's the same Jesus tonight. Amen. Jesus didn't claim to be a big pers...
And knoweth it not
65-0815 §54
Jesus said to Nicodemus from the ecumenical council of His day; come to Him by night, and said, "Master, we know You're a teacher, comes from God, because no man could do the things You do, unless God is with him. He said, "Verily, I say unto you except a man be born again, he can't even see the kingdom of God." He said, "Me, an old man, enter into my mother's womb to be born? He said, "Now, how am I going to tell you heavenly things, when you won't even believe earthly things?"
Testimony
50-0814 §2
All right, I want to read from the Scripture right quickly and go into the prayer line. It's found in John the--the 4th chapter and beginning with the 46th verse. So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. And when he had heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea to Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said unto him, Except you s...
Believest thou this?
51-1003 §57
It was the darkest of hours the woman with the blood issue had ever seen. She had spent all of her money, then Jesus come along. It was the darkest hours that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had ever seen, then Jesus come along. It was the darkest hour that Jairus had ever seen when he said his little daughter twelve years old had done died, then Jesus come along. It was the darkest hour that old blind Bartimaeus had ever seen down there, then Jesus come along. That's right. He's always there at the darkest of hour...
Sirs, we would see Jesus
57-1211 §20
So God did it that way because He said He would hide it from the eyes of the wise and prudent, and would reveal it to babes such as would learn. God is not known by how much education you have. God is known by what faith you have. God is not known by science, neither is He knowed by any culture, but He's knowed by faith. And through grace He projects Himself to His believer. It's through an act of grace that God projects Himself to the people. If we would start to follow Him for a little bit, then we would know mor...