The life of Jesus Christ provides a powerful lesson in how to incrementally increase in knowledge from God, and how to boldly act with confidence in spite of limited information. This lesson is lost when we assume that Jesus knew all things from the moment of his birth.
There are many mentions in the New Testament of Jesus knowing something about what he was meant to do before he did it or what would happen to him before it happened. For example, he knew when his end had come, that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he would return to him,1 that he would be betrayed, that his disciples would flee for their lives, and that he would be crucified. The question is: when did he learn these things, and how?
Jesus did not know everything the Father did, especially not from the beginning. There were certainly things that happened that he was not expecting. He continued to be surprised throughout his ministry, such as in Gethsemane when he marveled at the burden of each of the three successive waves of increased suffering required to take upon himself the sins of the world, or on the cross when his expectation that the Father would always be with him was violated.2 We know that there are things he learned along the way. John the apostle reported that Jesus progressed in his similitude to the Father over the course of his life.3 In Luke, we read that “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” (Luke 2:52) We also know that there were things he didn’t know, even at the very end of his life. For example, he proclaimed that no man knew when he will return except the Father.4
In conjunction, these facts can only mean that Jesus operated under the same process of revelation that we all do, subject to the same rules, possibilities, and limitations. He was led by the Father, line upon line, through a mix of information of various levels of detail and certainty, and against the backdrop of ignorance, just like all of us are.5 His understanding, like all of ours, was like a dark city at night, with great clarity in certain areas because of the light received on them, no information on many other spots, and interpolation of all things in between.
Jesus was required to exercise the same kind of faith amidst uncertainty that all of us do as we receive less content or confidence in revelation than we wish. If Jesus was able to accomplish his mission in spite of limited information, you can too. If Jesus was able to move forward in faith in spite of imperfect information, you can too. If Jesus was able to obtain greater revelation through living up to his present understanding, you can too.
Footnotes
- 1. Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; (John 13:1-3) ↩
- 2. Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. (John 16:32) 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46) ↩
- 3. And I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace; And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness; And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at the first. And I, John, bear record, and lo, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove, and sat upon him, and there came a voice out of heaven saying: This is my beloved Son. And I, John, bear record that he received a fulness of the glory of the Father; (D&C 93:12-16) ↩
- 4. 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only (Matthew 24:36) ↩
- 5. And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do (1 Nephi 4:6) ↩