Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – 1 Kings 5-9
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 24:36
No one knows the hour or the day, not even the messengers in heaven, not even the Son. Only the Father knows.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
I’ve got to tell you, today’s verse confused me for a long time. Jesus is fully God and fully man. So how could Jesus, the Son of God, part of the triune Godhead, not know when He was coming back to retrieve His bride the church if there is only one God represented in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? I just couldn’t wrap my mind around it. I still can’t to a great extent. But I’m human, not God.
Maybe some of my thought process could help someone else if you’ve ever spent more than a minute or two thinking about that question, though. So here we go. First, let’s think about the culture of the day and understand why the Father knows the information about the wedding between the groom, Jesus, and His bride, the church.
In Jesus day, families didn’t build separate houses. When a son became engaged, those were arranged marriages, by the way, his father had him start building a room or two on the family home for his new bride as a place to begin their new family. The family property was often bounded by a fence or wall to keep wild animals out and the families animals in, so the son would build within the confines of that structure. The extended family would share kitchens, common areas, storage space, usually only bedrooms were separate. And the son, his wife, and as many children as would fit in the bedroom slept together in that room.
The father determined when the son’s room was sufficiently prepared to house his new bride and accommodate the making of his new family. The wedding date wasn’t up to the bride, the son, the in-laws, the father made the decision. People in the village knew it was getting close as the new room got closer to its finished construction, but the wedding didn’t happen until the father said, “Son, go get your bride.”
And on that day, a wedding happened. No six-week notice in the mail. No engraved invitations. No twitter or Facebook save the date. The father said, “Go get your bride.” And that was the day.
So now you know a little more about why the Father knows the day and not the Son as to when the wedding takes place, when the Son will come to retrieve His bride, the church, to bring her home with Him. But how could Jesus not know if He is God? That’s the dilemma that always confused me.
So here’s how I figured it out one day as I was sitting around thinking about who Jesus is and what He did for us. God’s word says He is fully God, yet He is also fully Man. As I continue to read scripture and study Jesus’ life I get more and more amazed at what I see when I watch His life when He lived along side us. There is no question in my mind He is God incarnate, God in the flesh, God presented in the form of Man. But as I look at what He did on earth, I see more and more of His human side while He lived among us and communed with His Father side in heaven.
As Jesus spoke to His disciples that day and shared with them only the Father knows the time and day of the Son’s return, I think it tells us Jesus will return again in His fully human, fully God form once more. His human side had the limitations we have because He was human. He could do miracles because He had the presence and power of the Father and Spirit with Him. So did Peter, James, and John with the help of God’s Spirit.
The human side of Jesus didn’t know when He will return, but He will return, fully human, fully God once again. But next time, I have a feeling His human side will take the backseat instead of His God-side taking the backseat. When He came to live among us before, He limited His power and lived with us and like us experiencing every emotion, every pain, every temptation we experience. He didn’t sin, but He experienced all the things we experience.
When He comes back, God the Father will tell the Man/God Son, “Go get your bride.” And the God/Man will come back in His glory to take us home. We will see Him in His glory, fully God, and fully man. Jesus, the Man, doesn’t know when that will be. Does Jesus, the Godhead, present at creation? That’s a question well beyond my feeble attempts to understand. I’m just waiting for the Father to nod His head with a smile and tell Jesus to go. That will be a great day for His church.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.