This is a question that has puzzled Christian believers for many years. It was one of the texts used by the Arians in the past and Jehovah’s Witnesses in the present to try to prove that Jesus Christ is not truly God. In response, we should consider the Son’s humiliation. God’s perfect plan was for the Son to take on flesh and become like us in every way except for sin. Jesus came to live the perfect life on our behalf so that he could also die for our sins. Being God and man, in his divine nature, Jesus is truly omniscient. He is all knowing. But for the sake of identifying with us, he humbled and limited himself at times. During his earthly ministry he did not fully reveal his glory or use his power on every occasion. In this instance (Matthew 24:36), his humiliation or limitation was done in order to emphasize the fact that the time of his return is a mystery. A mystery that we will never be party to. It is completely unknowable to us, so do not even bother trying to come up with all kinds of calculations and plans predicting the end of time. Christians have done that in the past; it is the bread and butter of every sect. Secret knowledge, new revelation: the result is always division and error. Yes, we long for Jesus’ coming. We look forward to the day when there will be no sin, when the proud are humbled and we live in a perfect new world with Christ as King. But we must curb this desire to know the precise date and time. We are not God; he has not and will not reveal it to us.

In this regard Jesus’ return is completely different from our normal experience in life. We are used to waiting for things, but always there is an idea of how long the waiting will be. So if you are in a queue at a government office, you know it is going to be three to five hours of sitting and standing. You will have lots of time to get your paperwork sorted and do some administration task while you wait in line. When there is a baby on the way, we know it can be anything from seven to nine months; you have time to arrange baby showers, to think of a name and prepare a room. But when judgment comes, there will be no queue in which to prepare, no special time for repentance and church attendance. It will be sudden; it will be unexpected.