“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

“Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. But if that wicked slave says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know.” (Matthew 24:36–50)

Not long before his crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples that neither he nor the angels knew when the final judgment and his second coming might be. Although Jesus is God, he had become a human being. Paul wrote that in becoming human, Jesus had “emptied himself” (Philippians 2:7). In his humanity, God the Son was not all powerful, or all knowing, or able to be in all places at once. As he himself said, all that he knew and all that he did, he did by means of his Father (John 8:28).

Jesus, by becoming one of us, chose to give up his unlimited power and unlimited knowledge. He had access to the limitless only through his Father. As Christians, thanks to the indwelling Holy Spirit, we too have that same access to Jesus’ Father. Thanks to what Jesus did on the cross, we too have become God’s children.

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