If Jesus was God, then why did he not know the day and hour of his return?

Is it true that Jesus did not know the day and hour of his return during the days of his flesh? The answer is yes, he did not know, for it is written: "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah (Matthew 24: 36-37). So if Jesus is God, as we Christians claim, then how come he did not know the day and hour of his return? Does that mean he is not omniscient as we claim? The apparent ignorance on the part of our Lord Jesus, respecting his return have been used as an occasion, by wicked and unlearned men to deny his true deity. I must confess that the theme for our discourse today is a difficult one, but the answer to the above question lies in the incarnation of Christ. The bible is clear about the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

In the book of Colossians, it is written: For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2: 9). And in the book of John, it is also written: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1,14). The word that was with God is himself God, and in the fullness of time, the word became a human being. He took an additional nature, a human nature into union with himself, and the bible tells us that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. Jesus Christ being the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, so in order words, God pitched his tent and lived among us.

Paul wrote in his epistle to the Philippians: Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men (Philippians 2: 6-7). It is important to know, that when Jesus came on earth, he did not lose his divine nature, no, he retained it, because God cannot discontinue to be God not even for a single second. On earth, Jesus voluntarily abdicated the use of some of his divine attributes in accordance with the will of his father. For example, when Jesus was crucified on the cross, he could have easily saved himself, but no, he willingly self restricted the use of his omnipotent power to save himself. So, Christ emptied himself not of his divine nature, but laid aside the use of some of his divine attributes which includes his knowledge in respect to the day and hour of his return, during the time of his sojourning here on earth. Jesus Christ in an act of self renunciation gave up the use of certain of his divine prerogatives for a greater purpose. 

John MacArthur, a sound theologian wrote this: Although He was fully God as well as fully man (John 1:1, 14), Christ voluntarily restricted His use of certain divine attributes when He became flesh. “Although He existed in the form of God, [He] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,” that is, to be held onto during His humanness (Phil. 2:6). It was not that He lost any divine attributes but that He voluntarily laid aside the use of some of them and would not manifest those attributes except as directed by His Father (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38). 

When Jesus said: "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah (Matthew 24: 36-37). Jesus did not know the time of his return, because he willingly self restricted his knowledge of his second coming for awhile, whiles on earth as he deemed fit, but on other occasions his omniscience was on full display, see (John 2; 25, 16; 30). Some falsely teaches, that Jesus of a truth knew the day and hour of his return, but only said he did not know, because the disciples were not ready at that time to handle such weighty truth. If that was the case, then Jesus is not trustworthy, then he is a liar and a sinful man and a such we cannot rely on his substitutionary death as the means of our eternal salvation. Then, we Christians are of all people the most to be pitied and we are still in our sins. But Jesus is immaculate in his two natures, he is without sin and this makes him very unique and special to us. The fact that Jesus on earth did not know the day and hour of his return does not in anyway diminish or make him less God. 

The father did not reveal the day and hour of his return to him when he took on flesh, because there has already been an agreement between them, that he will set aside his knowledge of his second coming for our own good, even before the foundations of the world. Many people in our day are very interested in the day and hour of Christ return. Some have even prophesied the exact day of Jesus return, but all their prophecies have turned out to be a lie. But why would you prophesy in the name of the Lord whiles you know from the depth of your heart that the Lord has not revealed anything  to you? It has pleased the Spirit of the Lord to hide the knowledge of the precise day and hour of the second coming of Christ from us, and we are not instructed to pry into such a high and lofty matter which the members of the Godhead has peculiarly reserved among themselves. 

What we are instructed to do as we await the return of our blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ is this: Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11). Learn this, after Jesus rose from the dead, of course he now knows the day and hour of his return, because he has been glorified. He has returned to the glory which he laid aside for awhile when he took on flesh (John 17: 5). He is in the form of God and a such he knows all things including the exact time and day of his return. In the meantime, as Christians the only thing we can do is to serve him wholeheartedly as we anticipate his imminent return, for when he shall appear we also shall appear with him in glory (Colossians 3; 4). We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he his (1 John 3; 2). The imminent return of Christ is the blessed hope we earnestly look forward to, for we know from the truth of the scriptures that when he appears we shall be partakers of his glory. Therefore, let us comfort one another with the biblical doctrine of the imminent return of our blessed Lord and the glory that awaits us (1 Thessalonians 4; 14-16). God bless you

                          A thought to ponder 

 The imminent return of Christ is the blessed hope we earnestly look forward to, for we know from the truth of the scriptures that when he appears we shall be partakers of his glory

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