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.
Looking at the unseen
58-1003 §73
Now, not the way He was dressed, because all the Easterners dressed the same. He could been a Greek; he could been an Egyptian; he could been many things. But Jesus said, "He's an Israelite. And he's honest, and is no guile in him." He said, "How did You know it?" He said, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree, I saw you." That was Jesus yesterday. If He's the same today, and dwelling in us, when He promised He would, and will make known to this man... He might be here for financial troubles. He m...
We would see Jesus
58-0523 §2
This time we're just trying to get acquainted with each other, and I'm sure you love Him. I just stepped into the door, and heard you saying, "Amen," to what Mr. Vayle was saying, and you believe God, and believe that He still lives, and He isn't any different from what He ever was. He isn't any smarter; He can't be any smarter, because He was infinite to begin with. And so, everything that He says, every statement He makes, has to be perfect, because if He could grow in knowledge like we did, then He would be smar...
Sir, we would see Jesus
63-1112 §45
And we find out that as He was talking, speaking about John and about what a great person he was, He said, "If you can receive it, this is he who the prophet spoke of, 'I'll send my messenger before my face.' " See? And they said, "Well, then why does Elias say, one time when he was speaking on it, said ... Why did Elias say that the first thing was ..." Or, "Why did the scribes say," pardon me, "that Elias must first come?" And He said, "Elias has already come and you didn't know it." See? See? Those trained men w...
Confirmation of the Commission
62-0122 §76
The man that was born blind had a very convincing testimony that He was the Messiah. Now, the poor man, he didn't... When ... them theologians all caught him up in a crowd up there and said, "Say, we know that you were born blind." Said, "We know that you had no eyeballs, even, in the sockets." Said, "We know you were born blind." He said, "Who healed you?" And he said, "The man told me that I was healed." Said, "I know he healed me." Said, "I know it." Said, "Well, now, that man is a sinner. We know he is a sinner...
God hiding Himself in simplicity
63-0412E §73
Now the Messiah was told---how He would come, where He'd be born, what He would do, what his ministry would be, and what time He would arrive. But by the time He arrived those ministers and clergymen of that day had so many traditions, and they thought just exactly how He would come. And the Pharisees says, "If He ever comes, He'll be a Pharisee." The Sadducees says, "Nonsense. Not with that bunch of self-righteous. He'll be a Sadducee." But when He come, He was neither one. He never asked their... God didn't have...