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.
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...
Questions and Answers (God being misunderstood)
61-0723E §84
That's the way they say today, "What church do you belong to if you're a Christian? What denomination?" "None." They don't get it. See, they can't understand it. They think a denomination means a Christian. It's vice versa, very much so. But it's misunderstood by the people. Now, we find out that Herod misunderstood it. He couldn't understand it. Nicodemus couldn't understand it, the new birth, when he came to Jesus by night. Someone condemned him. I don't condemn him. He was a good man, he wanted to find out somet...
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever
55-0806 §45
It's too bad that spirit didn't die in that day, but it didn't. Notice, the people it was on died, but the spirit still lives. Just like the Holy Spirit: God takes His man, but never His Spirit. The devil takes his man, but never his spirit. The spirit of those teachers still live today. The teachers are dead, but demons still live on, possessing whatever they can, very scholarly and so forth, "but denying... Having a form of godliness," said the Bible, "but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." Notice,...
Believest thou this?
51-1003 §55
Now, I can see Him after the dark hour struck. The doctor come, said, "Boy's dying." We're taught by... I don't know whether this could be proven or not, but he had hemorrhages of the lungs, and they bled him a few times, and he died. When he died, they packed him out and embalmed his body, and laid him in the grave. First day passed, oh, how sad. Second day passed, oh, how sad. Third day passed, my. Fourth day, Lazarus down there, and the skin worms was crawling in and out of his body. Corruption had set in. The s...