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.
The Angel of God
48-0304 §27
Now, this man here. Look at him, how humble he was. [Gap in the audio.] Sending him. Now, Jesus gave him a rebuke. He said, "Oh, well..." and, Except ye see signs and wonders, you won't believe. We're supposed to believe whether we see any signs or wonders at all. Is that right? But... Now, watch. He tried him out there. The nobleman said unto Him, Sir, come down ere my child die. My, what a feeling. Could you imagine your son dying, and coming out to see the man now to pray for the sick. The Man told him, "Well, e...
Sirs, we would see Jesus
64-0318 §19
Well, they'd say, "Maybe He'd have nail scars in his hands." Just any hypocrite could have nail scars in their hands, thorn prints. And after all, Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high. But how would we ever know who He was? They didn't know Him then because of his dress, because He walked right among men even after his resurrection. And them He'd walked with... And they still didn't know Him, see. It wasn't his dress. He just dressed like anybody else. It wasn't his dress, it wasn't his manner,...
We would see Jesus
58-0612 §24
Listen to His words, now, Saint John 5:19: "Verily, verily (which means 'absolutely'), I say unto thee, the Son can do nothing in Himself, but what He sees the Father doing, that doeth the Son likewise." Now, John 5:19. Now, if the Scriptures cannot be broken, if Jesus did anything without the Father telling Him first what to do, He told something wrong there. "The Son can do nothing in Himself, but what He sees (not hears); what He sees the Father doing, that doeth the Son likewise." In other words, He acted it ou...
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever
54-0824 §17
Now, we'd like to see Jesus. Many would think... A person in this day, usually you'd see them, if they could do works like the Lord did, why, they'd come out boastfully and, oh... But He wasn't that type of person. He didn't boast about anything. He didn't take even any credit for what He did. He give credit to God. Is that right? Why, He said, "It's not Me that doeth the works; it's My Father that dwelleth in Me; He doeth the works." Is that right? Now, let's just imagine like the Greeks did: They wanted to see wh...
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever
58-0207 §29
Now, that was strange, because the Greeks and the Jews, they all dressed alike with robes and beard and sandals. How did He know he was a Jew? How did He know he was honest? And it astonished him. And his attitude represented the whole Jewish nation that ever believed. He said, "Rabbi, when did You know me? This is our first time ever meeting. Why You never saw me. You know nothing about me. And how could You know that I was an honest and just man?" Jesus said, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the tre...