Why Did Jesus Say He Did Not Know the Hour? The Answer Lies in a Wedding

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Only the Father Knows the Hour: What the Jewish Wedding Teaches Us About Lord Yeshua

Summary

Maybe you have asked it yourself: “If Jesus is God, why didn’t He know when the Hour would come?” In the Gospel, Lord Yeshua (Jesus) says that only the Father knows the day and the hour (Mark 13:32). The Quran also says that the knowledge of the Hour is with God alone (Surah 7:187). So on that point we agree. But what exactly did Lord Yeshua mean?

It is an honest question, and it deserves an honest answer. In this article we do not read the verse on its own. We read it within the larger story that Lord Yeshua Himself tells: the story of a Bridegroom who comes to take His bride home. Step by step, we follow the wedding the way it was prepared in Israel: the price, the cup, the washing, the Father’s house, the pledge, the trumpet and the feast.

Then you see something beautiful. The verse that is used to make Lord Yeshua smaller actually shows how great His love is and how perfectly He follows the will of the Father.

A verse without its context becomes a weapon. A verse in its context becomes a window.

In-depth explanation

1. The objection

Let us first listen carefully to what is being said. On the Mount of Olives, Lord Yeshua speaks about the end of this age and about His return. Then He says:

Mark 13:32
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

Matthew 24:36 contains the same statement. The reasoning of many Muslims is simple: God knows everything. The Son did not know this. So the Son is not divine, but only a prophet.

It is striking that the Quran itself also says that only God knows the Hour (Surah 7:187). On thát point, Christians and Muslims agree: the time of the end rests with God. The only question is what it means when Lord Yeshua says that the Father knows it. To understand that, we need to look at the picture He uses again and again.

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2. Lord Yeshua calls Himself the Bridegroom

It is no accident that Lord Yeshua speaks about a wedding. It is one of His favorite pictures. When people ask why His disciples do not fast, He answers:

Matthew 9:15
“Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

John the Baptist calls Him the same: “He who has the bride is the bridegroom” (John 3:29). Paul writes to the church in Corinth: “For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2). And the last book of the Bible ends with the wedding of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-9).

The picture is not new. Already in the Old Testament, God speaks of His covenant with Israel as a marriage:

Hosea 2:19
“I will betroth you to Me forever.”

(In some translations this is Hosea 2:18.) So anyone who knows the Jewish background hears a whole story echoing in the words of Lord Yeshua. Let us follow that story step by step.

The order of the Jewish wedding

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3. The bride price: paid with His life

In ancient Israel, a marriage began with an agreement between two families. The bridegroom paid a bride price (in Hebrew mohar) to the bride’s family. You can read about it in Genesis 34:12, Exodus 22:16-17 and 1 Samuel 18:25. That price showed how much the bride was worth. After all, the family was losing a daughter who helped in the household.

What did Lord Yeshua pay for His bride? Not silver and not gold, but Himself:

1 Peter 1:18-19
“…knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

Paul says it even more briefly: “For you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20). And in Ephesians 5:25 we read that Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her.

There was also something the bride brought with her: her dowry. What do we bring? Nothing but our lives, which we give to Him (Romans 12:1). He gives everything, and we give ourselves.

The price says how much the bride is worth. The cross says how much you are worth to Him.

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4. The cup of the covenant

Once the price was paid, the couple was officially betrothed. In Hebrew this betrothal is called erusin or kiddushin, which means “set apart” or “sanctified”. It was more than a promise. From that moment on the couple belonged together, even though they did not yet live together. The covenant was sealed with a cup of wine.

Now look at Lord Yeshua’s last evening with His disciples:

Luke 22:20
“This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”

The Greek word used here, diathēkē, means “covenant” (some older translations render it “testament”). That is why Matthew 26:28 says: “For this is My blood of the new covenant.” So Lord Yeshua does not say: “This is a reminder.” He says: this is the covenant. Whoever drinks from that cup says “yes” to Him. The cup stands for His life, poured out for the bride. A few hours later, that literally happened on the cross.

That is why the Lord’s Supper is not a loose ritual. It is a betrothal cup. Every time the church drinks from it, she proclaims His death “till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). So the cup itself already holds the promise that the Bridegroom will return.

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5. The washing: cleansing and a new beginning

Before the wedding, the bride was cleansed in a mikveh, a ritual bath. She went completely under the water. It stood for cleansing and for a new beginning: the old situation lay behind her, and a new life began.

Paul uses almost exactly this picture:

Ephesians 5:25-27
“…just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

Here you see baptism. Whoever is baptized goes under the water and leaves the old life behind. Whoever comes up belongs to the Bridegroom (Romans 6:3-4). The water itself makes no one clean. It is a public sign that you belong to Him and that He cleanses you.

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6. The Bridegroom goes to prepare a place

After the betrothal, the bridegroom left. He returned to his father’s house. There he prepared a place for his bride, because she would come to live with him in his father’s house. That period could last a long time. The bride waited and made herself ready.

On the evening before His death, Lord Yeshua says to His disciples:

John 14:2-3
“In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

Notice every part: He goes away. He goes to His Father’s house. He prepares a place. He comes back. He takes the bride with Him. It is exactly the order of a Jewish wedding. His disciples must have recognized it.

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7. The pledge: the Holy Spirit

At a betrothal in the Bible, the bride received gifts. When Abraham’s servant came to ask for Rebekah as a bride for Isaac, he gave her jewelry of silver and gold, and clothing (Genesis 24:53). Those gifts were a visible pledge: proof that the agreement stood firm. Everyone could see that she was promised. She was not left empty-handed.

Lord Yeshua also promises His disciples something before He leaves:

John 14:16 and 18
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever. (…) I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”

And Paul uses exactly this word for the Spirit:

Ephesians 1:13-14
“…in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

The Greek word used here, arrabōn, means a down payment or pledge. In later Greek it was even used for an engagement ring. So the Holy Spirit is the guarantee that the Bridegroom will return. He comforts the bride, gives her strength and reminds her to Whom she belongs (see also 2 Corinthians 1:22).

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8. Witnesses of the covenant

A betrothal in Israel did not happen in secret. There were witnesses. The Law of Moses says: “By the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established” (Deuteronomy 19:15).

With Lord Yeshua there are witnesses too. At His baptism, the Father speaks from heaven: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Lord Yeshua says that the Spirit of truth will testify of Him (John 15:26). And the Spirit testifies in our hearts that we are children of God (Romans 8:16).

So the covenant between the Bridegroom and His bride is public, confirmed and certain. No one can say it was an unclear arrangement.

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9. Only the Father knows the hour

Now we come to the verse that it is all about. First a question: who prepares the wedding in the Bible? Lord Yeshua gives the answer Himself, in a parable:

Matthew 22:2-4
“The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding. (…) See, I have prepared my dinner; (…) and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”

It is not the son who prepares the wedding, but the father. He prepares the feast. He says when everything is ready. He sends out the invitation. That fits the way marriages were arranged in Israel: it was the father’s business. Abraham takes care of a bride for his son Isaac and sends his servant on his way (Genesis 24:1-4), and God says to the exiles: “Take wives for your sons” (Jeremiah 29:6).

Now imagine someone asking the son in that parable: “When is the wedding?” The honest answer would be: “My father decides that.”

Then hear the words of Lord Yeshua again: no one knows that day and hour, not even the Son, but only the Father. To His Jewish disciples, that did not sound like weakness. It sounded like wedding language. The Son waits for His Father’s signal.

After His resurrection, Lord Yeshua says the same thing, but this time with the word “authority”:

Acts 1:7
“It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.”

So this is not first of all about knowledge, but about who sets the time. That is the Father. This is how Lord Yeshua always speaks about His Father: “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do” (John 5:19), and “My Father is greater than I” (John 14:28).

The Son who waits for His Father is not a Son who falls short. He is a Son who is perfectly obedient.

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10. What then does “nor the Son” mean?

We must be honest with the text. It does not only say that the Father sets the time, it also says that the Son did not know it. We may not polish that away. So what can we say about it?

He spoke as the Son who had humbled Himself

Lord Yeshua spoke these words while He was on earth, in His time of humiliation. He Himself knew very well where He came from. On the last evening He prays:

John 17:5
“And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”

No prophet can pray like that. Lord Yeshua had glory with the Father before there even was a world. But He had laid that glory aside for a time. Paul describes it like this:

Philippians 2:6-8
“…who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

During that time He lived in complete dependence on the Father. He increased “in wisdom” (Luke 2:52). He spoke only what the Father gave Him (John 12:49). That He did not know the hour fits this picture of a Son who receives everything and takes nothing for Himself.

Afterwards the Father gave Him the revelation

The story does not stop at Mark 13. After His resurrection and exaltation we see something different:

Revelation 1:1
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place…”

The Father is the Source. He gives. The Son receives and makes it known. That is exactly how the Bible everywhere speaks about the Father and the Son: the Father as the invisible Source, Lord Yeshua as His perfect visible revelation. In Him “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).

What this does nót mean

It does not mean that Lord Yeshua is “just” a prophet. No prophet ever said: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). No prophet ever said that he himself would return to judge the world (Matthew 25:31-32). And notice: in the very same verse, Lord Yeshua places Himself above the angels. “No one, not even the angels, nor the Son.” He does not call Himself one of the people or one of the angels. He calls Himself the Son, next to the Father.

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11. Suddenly: the shout and the trumpet

When the father gave the signal, the bridegroom often set out at night. His friends went ahead and called it out. A shofar, a ram’s horn, sounded. The bride did not know exactly when it would happen, so she had to be ready at all times, with oil in her lamp.

This is exactly the parable of the ten virgins:

Matthew 25:6
“And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’”

And the lesson Lord Yeshua attaches to it: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming” (Matthew 25:13). Paul describes how it will happen:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. (…) And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

The shout, the trumpet, the bride being taken home: it is all wedding language.

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12. The wedding feast in the Father’s house

Then the bride was brought to the father’s house. There the wedding feast began, with food, wine, music and joy. Such a feast could last a whole week (see Genesis 29:27 and Judges 14:12).

At the Last Supper, Lord Yeshua says something that is easy to miss without this background:

Matthew 26:29
“But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

The Bridegroom no longer drinks until the feast. He saves the next cup for the wedding. And the Bible ends with that invitation:

Revelation 19:9
“Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!”

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13. Built on the words of Lord Yeshua

This whole picture is not a story that people invented later. Every step is in the Bible, and the most important steps come from the mouth of Lord Yeshua Himself:

• He calls Himself the Bridegroom (Matthew 9:15).
• He calls His blood the blood of the new covenant (Matthew 26:28).
• He goes to prepare a place in His Father’s house (John 14:2).
• He promises to send the Helper (John 14:16).
• He tells how the father prepares the wedding for his son (Matthew 22:2).
• He says that the Father sets the time (Acts 1:7).
• He promises to come back and take us with Him (John 14:3).

The Jewish background brings the picture to life. But the foundation is the Bible, and that is why this story stands firm.

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Questions and answers

Did Lord Yeshua really not know when He would return?

That is what Mark 13:32 says, and we do not need to explain it away. He said this when He had humbled Himself and lived in complete dependence on the Father (Philippians 2:7). After His exaltation, the Father gave Him the revelation of what is to come (Revelation 1:1).

Does this verse prove that Lord Yeshua is only a prophet?

No. In the same verse He places Himself above the angels and calls Himself “the Son” next to the Father. In the same chapter He says that He Himself will return with great power and glory (Mark 13:26). No prophet says that about himself.

Why does He say that only the Father knows?

Because the Father is the Source and sets the time (Acts 1:7). In the language of the wedding: the Son goes to fetch His bride at the moment the Father says, “It is time.”

What is the bride price Lord Yeshua paid?

His own life and His blood on the cross (1 Peter 1:18-19; Ephesians 5:25).

What is the pledge the bride has now?

The Holy Spirit. He is the proof that we belong to the Bridegroom and that He will return (Ephesians 1:13-14).

What does this mean for me today?

Live as a bride who waits: faithful, pure and ready. Not in fear, but in expectation. You do not know the hour, but you do know Who is coming.

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Closing thought

The verse “only the Father knows the hour” is often used to make Lord Yeshua smaller. But whoever reads it in its context sees a Bridegroom who paid the highest price, gave the cup of the covenant, left His Spirit as a pledge and is now preparing a place in His Father’s house. He is only waiting for His Father’s word.

Context is everything. And the deeper you dig into the Bible, the more you discover how much He loves you.

The Bridegroom is coming. Only the Father knows the hour.
But you can already know today that He is coming for you.

 

Revelation 22:17
“And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’”

 

Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version (NKJV).

 

Read Mark 13:32 in multiple translations and in the original Greek on BibleHub.