In Matthew 24:3 Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age” (NASB). In verses 4-28 Jesus gave them a detailed description of the signs that would precede His coming and the end of the age. So, the answer to your question is “No,” for Jesus WAS AWARE of “when the end time is.”

Perhaps the scripture you are thinking of is Mark 13:32 which says, “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” The “day” that is being spoken of is THE EXACT DAY that the Lord Jesus will return to this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords to establish His Millennial kingdom. This verse does state clearly that “the Son,” which is the Lord Jesus Christ, does not know the day and hour of His return. Before we consider WHY Jesus didn’t know the exact time of His return, we will show two WRONG INTERPRETATIONS that have been given, one by the enemies of Christ, and one by misguided believers.

  1. Those who deny that Jesus is God seize upon this verse to prove that Jesus was like any other man with limited knowledge. If he was God, they say, He would know the exact time of his return.
  2. Some believers use this verse to show that Jesus “emptied Himself of the attributes of deity,” including omniscience, when he became a man. They base this view on Philippians 2:6-7 which reads, “…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.”

Both of these views can be refuted by 1 Timothy 3:16 which tells us that “God was manifest in the flesh.” We have this same truth in John 1:1 and 14: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was GodAnd the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” It is true that Jesus “veiled His deity in a body of flesh,” but He never ceased being God, with all the attributes of deity.

So, how are we to understand Mark 13:32 which states that “the Son” does NOT know the day and hour of His Second Coming? The answer is quite simple, for even though Jesus was God and thus co-equal with the Father, He did indeed become A MAN AND A SERVANT, as we saw in Philippians 2:7. Jesus made this statement about a “servant” in John 15:15, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you” (NKJV). Jesus became the “perfect Servant” and as such, His Father did not reveal to Him the exact time of His return. One has said, “As God, of course, He does know it. But as Servant, it was not given to Him to know it for the purpose of revealing it to others.”  We need to be clear on this, for there was never a time when He was inferior to the Father, or limited in His knowledge. John 18:4 illustrates this truth, for it states, “Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth.” Jesus “knew all things” because He was “God manifest in the flesh!” But because He was willing to take a place of subjection as the perfect Servant, the Father alone fixed the date of His Second Coming and that date was not made known to the Son for revealing it to others.  (192.3)  (DO)