Why does the Bible say that no one but God not even Jesus knows when the end will come yet Jesus is God?

Answer 1

The order in which the gospels were written was: Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. The concept of the divinity of Jesus can also be seen to have evolved over the decades from 70 CE (Mark) to the time of John's Gospel. Mark portrays Jesus as human, but with supernatural powers. He was adopted by God at the time of his bpatism. Matthew and Luke portray Jesus as the Son of God, but not fully divine. John portrays Jesus as fully divine and pre-existent.

There are also differences in how each gospel handles the end of the world. In Mark's Gospel, Jesus did know when the world would end. In verse 9:1, he told the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power. If that was ambiguous, as some claim, then in chapter 13 we see a clear prophecy that the world would end within the lifetimes of some who listened to Jesus. Jesus told his listeners that they would see the great buildings destroyed, and the abomination of desolation, followed by the Son of man coming in clouds of glory, and that this would take place during their own generation. Mark 13:24-26: "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken and then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory." Then: "Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done." Of course, this prophecy did not come to pass, but at the time of writing (about 70 CE), it certainly seemed as if the end was nigh.

By the 80s of the first century, when Matthew's Gospel was written, the return predicted in Mark's Gospel was becoming unlikely - the generation had already passed - and the author of Matthew had to change the emphasis away from an impending end of the world. While copying as faithfully as possible from Mark, he changed the position of the sentence about "this generation", relative to the destruction of the great buildings, so that it referred to something else altogether. He added, and emphasised, material where Jesus told the disciples that the end is not yet, and that no man knows when the end of the world will occur.

Luke was somewhat later than Matthew and even more clearly could not say that the destruction of Jerusalem meant the end of the world. This gospel talks about the end of the world as vaguely in the future, keeping the reference to this generation, but in reference to the need to preach the gospel.

Thus, the synoptic gospel authors did not quite understand Jesus to be divine. The author of Mark's Gospel not only says that Jesus knew when the world would end, he said that this would happen within a few short years. It is only with Matthew and Luke that we begin to see Jesus say that no one can know when the end will come.