A Place In the Wilderness

Only the Father

No one knows of that day and hour except the Father—no man, no angel, and not even the Son of God Himself! The Father in His wisdom withholds that knowledge. He withholds it from us and from the angels. But how could the Father, who is God, withhold this from the Son, who is also God? This is a mystery. It may be that the Father, for His particular and wonderful pur-poses, asks the Son not to look into that time to discern the day and hour. And it may be that the Son, even though He is God, honors the Father by not looking. How sweet this is!

None of us knows the hour of the Lord's coming. But, as described below in the parable of the householder, the Lord says that if we knew the time of His coming, we would watch. A logical question then is, if we would watch if we knew the hour, why not tell us? God wants all believers to watch, even those who will have died by the time of the Lord's return. If we knew that the Lord was not returning for, say, another thousand years, that might be a disincentive to some. If His coming is decades, centuries, or even millennia away, we might feel no urgency to prepare for His return.

But why does He not tell the angels? If the angels knew, Satan would also know. He could use that information to try to interfere with the interaction between the Lord and the believers at the moment of His secret coming. When the Lord comes secretly for us, there will be only He and we in our true con-dition. If Satan knew of that time, he might try to distract us in some way at that very moment. That moment is precious, and not something for Satan. When that moment comes, even Satan will be surprised. How marvelous that is!

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