But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
This verse comes from a long conversation where Jesus's disciples had asked him about the end of the world — when the temple would be destroyed, when history as they knew it would collapse. Jesus described signs and warnings, but then landed on this striking admission: even he, the Son of God, does not know the exact day or hour. This is one of the most debated verses in the Bible, because it appears to place a limit on Jesus's own knowledge. Many theologians have wrestled with what it means for Jesus to not know something. In context, the point seems less about theology and more about posture: stop trying to decode a divine timetable. The Father alone holds that information. The instruction Jesus gives isn't "figure it out" — it's "stay ready."
God, I confess I sometimes want certainty more than I want you. Help me stop chasing timelines and start trusting your timing. Teach me to live awake and present today, holding loosely the things I was never meant to know. Amen.
There's something quietly disorienting about a verse where Jesus says "I don't know." We tend to picture him as the one with answers — the one who calmed storms, saw straight through people's defenses, raised the dead. And yet here, mid-conversation with his closest friends about the most significant moment in human history, he simply says: that's not mine to know. If that doesn't at least slow you down, read it again. Because if Jesus can hold a gap in his own knowledge without anxiety — if he can not know and still trust the Father completely — that's not a flaw in the story. That's a model. The disciples asked because they wanted to prepare, to plan, to manage the fear of the unknown with a calendar. We do exactly the same thing — and Jesus refuses to cooperate with that impulse. You don't get a date. What you get instead is the instruction to stay awake and present: not panicked, not obsessive, just alive to this day, this person in front of you, this unremarkable Tuesday. Living that way — trusting the Father with what even Jesus trusted him with — turns out to require more courage than any end-times calculation ever could.
What does it reveal about Jesus that he openly admits not knowing the day or hour? Does that challenge, reassure, or confuse you — and why?
Be honest: have you ever been more interested in end-times speculation than in actually living well today? What do you think drives that impulse in you?
This verse suggests some things are the Father's alone to know. How do you relate to a God who deliberately withholds certain information — even from his own Son?
How does uncertainty about the future shape the way you invest in your relationships? Do you tend to hold people closer or pull back when things feel unstable?
If you genuinely lived as though Jesus could return at any moment — not in fear, but in readiness — what is one thing you would do differently starting tomorrow?
But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Matthew 24:36
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
1 Thessalonians 5:1
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
Matthew 24:42
And he said unto 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
Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
Revelation 3:3
Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
Matthew 25:13
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
1 Thessalonians 5:2
And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
Matthew 25:6
But of that [exact] day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son [in His humanity], but the Father alone.
AMP
“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
ESV
'But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father [alone].
NASB
The Day and Hour Unknown “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
NIV
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
NKJV
“However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.
NLT
"But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven's angels, not even the Son. Only the Father.
MSG