Does Jesus know when He will return? Throughout church history people have tried to set dates for the coming of Christ. I think all mature believers would quickly discard any date-setting as heresy. While Jesus clearly taught that no man knows the day nor the hour of His coming, the question I want to answer is does Christ now know when He will return or is it still a mystery to Him? Let’s examine the scriptures closely.
Mark 13:32 says, “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” My mind has a difficult time reconciling that while in human form Christ would not know the time of His coming. The Apostle Paul helps us with this when he writes in Philippians 2, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8).
Now that we understand from Philippians 2 that there were certain things that Christ laid aside in His humanity, my question is does Christ still not know the time of His coming? I believe Revelation 1:1 clarifies the answer. “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John…” I believe the phrase which God gave him to show to his servants means that after Christ died, was resurrected, and then ascended in his glorified body to sit at the right hand of His Father, He now knows when His coming will be.
When you read the Olivet discourse in Matthew 24 & Mark 13, we see that Jesus is teaching Peter, James, John, and Andrew in a private conversation. According to Mark 13:4, they ask Jesus when the last days will be and what will be the sign of His coming? This has been the age old question throughout the generations of the church, and even Christians today are asking the same questions. I find it fascinating that the Apostle John was in his youth when he heard Jesus teach Mark 13. He lived to be in his 90’s and was the last surviving disciple when Jesus revealed to him the book of Revelation, answering the questions they had on the Mount of Olives so many years prior. Not only did Jesus answer these questions for the Apostle John, but for us, His servants.
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