JEFF TURNER
When Jesus said that even he did not know the timing of his own return, leaving that knowledge solely with the Father, it raises a fair question about how this fits with his claimed equality with God.
Jesus repeatedly and explicitly claimed full equality with the Father throughout his ministry, a claim so clear that religious leaders of his day accused him of blasphemy. He backed up this claim through actions only God could perform.
In becoming human, Jesus voluntarily restricted the full exercise of his divine power, presence, and knowledge, confining himself to operate within human limitations for the duration of his earthly life. This was a temporary humbling, not an eternal diminishment, and after his resurrection he returned fully to the unrestricted glory and fellowship with the Father that he had always possessed.
It may be hard to grasp how God can be fully God and fully human at the same time. Yet many things about the physical world remain beyond our understanding, even ones we’re well aware of. Why assume nothing about God could be the same?
who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men.
Philippians 2:6-7
