How we know the Mayans don't know

Mark 13:32 "But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."

After today, we will discover that no one really knows the timing of the end of the world
As many of you perhaps may know, today is the supposed day that an ancient Mayan Calendar will have ran its last cycle, indicating in the eyes of some the end of the world.  My wife and I were talking earlier this morning how instructive it is to us concerning the scoffing and flippancy that has been expressed towards this supposed "end of the world".  My aim in this special blog is not to offer commentary on the Mayan calendar, other than to say I do not think it is predicting the end of the world.  Rather I want us to turn our attention briefly to a text where Jesus explicitly states that no one knows the day nor the hour of His coming.  We will first of all unfold its meaning and then offer some practical considerations as to why the Lord saw fit not to reveal the exact day and hour of His coming.

Unraveling the mystery of Mark 13:32 and Matthew 24:36
The fact that Bible Prophecy states several times that God has not revealed the exact day of Christ's return should be noted by the student of scripture. (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32; Acts 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3)  In the Mark and corresponding Matthew passages, Jesus reveals that there are those who don't know the exact hour of His return and that there is only One who does know the exact hour.  We can see a summary list below:

Those who don't know                           Those who do know
1. All Human beings                                 God the Father
2. The Angels
3. God The Son, operating through
His human nature (The Son of Man)

The Person of God the Son has two natures or two ways of expressing His existence - A Fully Divine and Fully Human Nature
When we read the phrase "nor the Son" in Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32, it may cause some to wonder how that could be.  Scripture affirms time and time again that the Person of the Son, Jesus Christ,  shares in the same Divine nature as the Father. (Matthew 28:18; John 1:1, 8:58; Romans 9:5)  In other words, the Son did not have a beginning, He has always been. (Hebrews 1:5-14; Revelation 1:8) When we say "nature", we mean the way in which a Living being expresses its existence. 

Thus by being Fully Divine, the Son would know all things, be everywhere present and have all power.  Whenever He came to this world, He being the Son assumed a second way of expressing Himself, a second nature - namely a fully human one. (John 1:14,18; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Timothy 3:16)  Thus He chose to willingly operate through His human nature - which meant among other things that He would not know everything as a man.  Why did He do this?  to submit fully and completely to the will of His Father. 


What took place after Jesus' resurrection concerning His knowledge of His return
As the Person of the Son, He still retained His fully Divine nature, however for the purposes of securing His Father's purposes of redemption, Jesus Christ chose not to excercise the privileges that come with sharing in the Divine nature as His Father.  So then, if Jesus Christ operated primarily through His human nature while here on earth, then would it still be the case that He does not know the exact timing of His return? 

Pastor John MacArthur gives an interesting observation which upon some reflection I tend to agree.  Note what he says in a sermon He preached back in 1984 entitled: "Ready or not, here I come":

"Now it is my own personal feeling that after the resurrection this     was revealed to Him. That when He came out of the grave in the glory of His resurrection life, it says in Matthew 28:18 He said to His disciples, "All authority is given unto Me in heaven and earth." And I think what that's saying is nothing is missing, I have authority over all things. And then in Acts 1:7 He said this, "But unto you it is not given to know the times and the seasons which My Father has put in His own power," and He doesn't include Himself anymore. He says unto you it isn't given. So it may well be that after the resurrection, His knowledge was complete."

Armed with this observation, we can then say that the post-resurrection Jesus, retaining a full human nature in a glorified resurrection body, chooses now in this area of knowledge to know the exact timing of His return.  The above chart that I gave a moment ago would reflect the current conditions pertaining to the timing of Christ's second coming:

Those who don't know                             Those who do know
1. All Human beings                                    1. God the Father
2. The Angels                                              2. God the Son, operating
                                                                    through His Divine nature
                                                                    (i.e the Son of God)

Jesus Christ in heaven is now operating primarily through His Divine nature, which He never ceased having. He is situated at the right hand of God the Father and still retains his glorified resurrected human body, since He is pleased to call all who believe on him His brothers and sisters. (Hebrews 2:9-18)

Why the Lord has seen fit not to reveal to us the exact timing of His return
So with all this cultural discussion on the Mayans and the end of the world, why would the Lord Jesus Christ choose not to devulge such an important detail as the exact timing of His return?  Consider these thoughts as we close out this blog:

1. If we really knew, Christians would not be as motivated to live by faith nor be as inclined to live the Godly life.  The mystery of the timing of Christ's return gives hope to faith and motivation for godly living. (1 John 3:1-3)

2. If Christians knew the exact day and hour, the motivation to do missions and evangelism would wane.  Christ's second coming is among the chief motivators used in scripture to call men and women to repentance and faith, so as to escape the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:10)

3. The fact that we don't know the exact hour of His return is God's way of reminding us that we and the angels are creatures, and that He alone knows all things. The revealed things belong to us and our children while the unrevealed things belong to God. (Deuteronomy 29:29)

4. I would submit that those groups who come claiming to know the exact day and hour of the world's end are heretical and to be avoided by all Bible-believing Christians.  God has purposefully not revealed this detail to aid us in determining genuine Christian faith from heresy. 

May you and I, in the midst of this season celebrating His First coming, be ever focused and eager for His Second coming - whenever He so chooses to return.