“. . . Jesus in his human body, He belongs to humanity whom God withheld from knowing or announcing the exact hour.”
Questioned verse: [Mark 13:32] “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
ANSWER: Jesus claimed that He came down from Heaven only to do the will of the Father [John 6:38]. He did not come to Earth to do His own initiative. Meaning, Jesus can do anything only that he followed the will of the Father. He has many roles assigned by the Father to Him in coming to Earth; He is the savior or purifier of the world, bringer or confirmer of the new covenant, builder of the Kingdom or Church, and a prophet or speaker of the Father. Being a prophet or speaker of the Father, He talks only what the Father commanded Him to speak. Let us read what Jesus said;
[John 12:49] “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.
Jesus spoke it under the will of the Father who commanded Him to glorify Him. If you glorify someone it means you praise, exalt, honor, revere, or even serve him. And that is what Jesus did to the Father, kindly read;
[Psalm 50:15] And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.
[John 17:4] “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.
[John 11:41-42] They took the stone away. Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank You for hearing Me. I know You always hear Me. But I have said this for the people standing here, so they may believe You have sent Me.”
COMMENT: In this verse Jesus reasons why He looked up the sky and gave thanks to the Father, it is for the people to believe that he is sent by the Father. In this act, Jesus glorifies the Father in the eyes of the people who have been observing him.
In exchange, the Father glorifies Jesus. The Father and the Son are glorifying each other. So why is it that the Father glorifies Jesus if he is not divine? Kindly read;
[John 13:31-32] Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately
[John 17:1] Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You,
Jesus also claimed that He and the Father are one [John 10:30 & Isaiah 9:6], And He is in the Father and the Father dwells in Him;
[John 14:10-11] Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The things I have told you don’t come from me. The Father lives in me, and he is doing his own work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or believe because of the miracles I have done.
What the Father knows, the Son also knows for They are one in nature. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does (John 5:19). Jesus knows the exact Hour, but He said so in following the will of the Father. In fact, not only He knows what will become after the Tribulation Day, but He will be the one to come with great power. He said in [Mark 13:24-27];
24But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
25And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
26And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
27And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
Jesus is God in spirit and human in body. In His human nature, He prayed to the Father because that should humans do. On the other side, in His divine nature, He accepted worship from the people (Luke 24:52). It is not for the people to know the exact time fixed by God (Acts 1:7), so Jesus in His human body, He belongs to humanity whom God withheld from knowing or announcing the exact time of Last Hour.
Moreover, imagine the situation if God told the people the exact hour of the Tribulation, what might happen? God purposely hide this matter from us so that to test our faith in Him. Likewise, certainly there would be a massive panicking beforehand. Jesus described the Judgment Day as the most terrifying moment of men. People will flee to caverns in the rocks and crevices in the cliffs, away from terror (Isaiah 2:21). The stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken [Matthew 24:29], the sun will stop shining, and the Earth will be covered with darkness. Just as the exact hour of our death, God needs to hide it for us not to be panicked and terrified.
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