But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Jesus speaks these words to his disciples near the end of his ministry, during what scholars call the Olivet Discourse — a conversation on the Mount of Olives about the end of the age and his eventual return to earth. The disciples had asked him directly: when will these things happen? His answer is startling: nobody knows. Not the angels, who throughout Scripture are described as heavenly beings in close proximity to God. And — in one of the most remarkable statements in all four Gospels — not even Jesus himself in his earthly state. Only the Father knows. This is a rare and disarming window into the mystery Christians describe as Jesus being both fully human and fully divine at the same time, a tension the New Testament holds without fully resolving.
Father, you hold the future I cannot see, and somehow that is supposed to be enough. Help me release my grip on timelines and predictions. Teach me to live faithfully today — awake, present, and not afraid of what I don't know. Amen.
Here is one of the strangest sentences in the entire Bible: the Son of God says there is something he doesn't know. For anyone who believes Jesus is God in human form, this sentence stops you cold. Theologians have wrestled with it for centuries — most land on the idea that Jesus, in taking on human flesh, voluntarily limited certain divine capacities. He got tired. He wept at a friend's grave. He grew in wisdom as a child. And apparently, he didn't know the date of his own return. Whatever you make of the theology, the effect is quietly disarming: Jesus, right here in this moment, models genuine comfort with not knowing. We live in an age obsessed with prediction — with knowing what's coming, mapping outcomes, managing the future into submission. And there is an entire industry of Bible prophecy charts and end-times calculations that seems to have quietly stepped around this verse. Jesus doesn't say "figure it out." He says "even I don't know" — and then, just a few verses later, tells his followers to stay awake and live faithfully. That's the whole instruction. Not "decode the signs." Not "calculate the timeline." Stay awake. Be ready. Live like today has weight. What would actually change about how you live if you genuinely held your future loosely?
Why do you think Jesus would say he doesn't know the day or hour — and what does this tell us about the mystery of who Jesus is and how the divine and human coexisted in him?
Does not knowing when Jesus will return make you feel anxious, relieved, or something else entirely? Where do you think that reaction comes from in you?
There's a long history of people confidently predicting the end of the world and being wrong — what does this verse say about that impulse, and why do you think it keeps happening?
How does genuine uncertainty about the future affect the way you invest in relationships, make long-term plans, or show up for people who need you now?
If the core instruction is simply "stay ready and live faithfully," what does that look like specifically in your life this week — not in theory, but in the actual hours you have?
Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
Matthew 24:44
But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
Mark 13:32
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
Matthew 24:42
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2 Peter 3:10
Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Revelation 16:15
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
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
"But of that [exact] day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son [in His humanity], but the Father alone.
AMP
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
ESV
'But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of 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 of heaven, but My Father only.
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 knows.
MSG