why didn't jesus know the hour of the tribulation and the olivet prophecies in mark 13 32 jesus says but concerning that day or that hour no one knows not even the angels in heaven nor the son but only the father in this verse jesus says that only the father in heaven knows the arrow when these events will happen but this verse appears to contradict the doctrine of the trinity if jesus is fully god then shouldn't he know the hour as well it appears as though he has less an ontological status to the father and cannot
have access to certain pieces of knowledge however there are possible answers to this most christians respond to this by pointing out that jesus was both fully god and fully man and during his earthly ministries prior to his resurrection he willingly cooperated with the limitations of being human he suffered hunger he had to sleep and rest and he felt grief and pain jesus was fully man yet he was worshipped to forgave sins and claimed divine eternal status with the father this is the hypostetic union christ had two natures and during his earthly ministry he cooperated with
the limitations of being fully human of course this is because he is divine who became fully man hebrews 2 9 says for a little while he was made lower than the angels so that he could suffer death for everyone philippians 2 6 to 7 says jesus was equal with god but willingly emptied himself and became human so the scriptures teach us jesus emptied himself and thus suffered with the limitations of being human which many surrendered properties like omnipresence and omniscience this is seen in the fact that jesus spent years learning and educating himself and it
also explains why jesus didn't know the hour when that tribulation would occur jesus cooperated with the limitations of being human and wasn't fully omniscient however after his resurrection he was once again in full glory with the father and was omniscient and omnipresent so this is the answer most christians give however there are problems with this explanation that is not to say that it's incorrect just that it doesn't explain everything the most notable is the fact that in mark 13 32 jesus says only the father knows but why not the holy spirit if the holy spirit
is fully god then shouldn't he know as well why wouldn't jesus say the father and the holy spirit know the hour we'll somehow try to answer this by suggesting that perhaps the holy spirit willingly limited his knowledge as well but this almost seems ad hoc is there any answer a christian can give on this in fact yes there is if we look at the entire passage this verse comes from in mark 13 and matthew 24 and if you look at the cultural context a different picture emerges of what jesus was actually alluding to in ancient
jewish cultures marriages were almost always pre-arranged after arrangements were made the young groom would begin building additions onto his father's house where he and his future wife would live the custom was that the father of the groom would decide when the additions were finished and was ready for the young couple to move in which meant only the father knew when it was time for him to get his bride but this doesn't mean the groom actually didn't know when the time was a wedding was a bigger event in those days than it is even today it
was a community-wide event this meant people would have to plan for them far in advance and set aside time from their usual daily work dates would need to be known weeks before so people could adjust their work schedules for the wedding food would also have to be prepared in advance there was of course no refrigeration or supermarkets so arrangements for food needing livestock and crops were planned well in advance everyone would know when the time was getting close as a traditional wedding food would need to be readied and prepared however despite it being obvious to
everyone when the wedding would take place in order to give respect to the father of the groom it would naturally be said that only the father knows when the groom was going to get his bride but obviously the groom would not have been unaware of the day or the hour as it would have been obvious to everyone in the community so with this in mind a new understanding of matthew 24 36 in mark 13 32 can be seen jesus was not claiming that he or the holy spirit did not know the hour of his return
but was explaining to what the events leading up to the tribulation would be like it would be like that of an ancient jewish wedding where everyone would know it's drawing near and the father will give the word for it to take place but the events leading up to it will be seen and understood by all if we look at mark 13 32 in context we see it actually makes more sense with this understanding prior to saying this jesus gives another example of how we will know when the tribulation will take place he says to learn
from the fig tree as soon as its branches put out its sleeves you know summer is near so also when you see these taking place you know that he is near likewise jesus then gives another example by alluding that it will be like a jewish wedding when the father will give the word for his son to get his bride so he borrows phraseology from a jewish custom so it is likely jesus wasn't saying he truly doesn't know but that he gives respect and authority to the father to give the word when these things will happen
but he and the holy spirit would know just like the community knows when the wedding will take place as we said in our video which explains the trinity the doctrine of the trinity says the son and the spirit submit to the father's authority jesus was simply reiterating that here and explaining the events leading up to the tribulation will be like that of the events leading up to a jewish wedding
