Matthew 24:37-42

B. Stories Illustrating Important Features of the Final End-Times
1. Illustration From Life Before the Flood: Business As Usual (24:37-42)

Matthew 24:37 And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. That day and hour (Matthew 24:36) are now identified as the long-awaited coming of the Son of man (parousìa). By using this technical term for His Second Coming, He does not mean a spiritual, invisible coming in temporal providential blessing or judgment, but that great final event alone (Matthew 24:27). This illustration was used more than once (cf. Luke 17:26 f.). The days of Noah are described in Genesis 6-9; Hebrews 11:7; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5. Jesus stated His conclusion first, filling in details next.

As. so. The situation before the flood serves as a basis for Jesus-' comparison, but does He thereby intend to validate the historicity of the Noachic epoch? How could a dubious fable wield the convincing power to drive men to act, if it is objectively untrue? Obvious fictions do not transform character. So, it is psychologically improbable that our Lord would resort to religious fiction to support the comparison He drew. Consider the illogic of those who would demythologize Genesis: Christ's return will be like the days of Noah. But the days of Noah never were. So, Christ's return is founded on a literary allusion of dubious worth, but still teaches the moral lesson. No pious fraud has the fearful power to move the conscience and will like the true execution of divine justice on guilty mankind. Jesus assumed His comparison is grounded in facts that actually occurred.

Matthew 24:38 For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark. Jesus does not point to any gross iniquity in Noah's contemporaries, since the activities to which they are here pictured as giving themselves, are neutral per sè. Similarly, in Lot's day, people were buying and selling, planting and building (Luke 17:28). Rather, their grave miscalculation arose from their careless indifference to God's solemn calls to repentance. They conducted their daily routine as if no judgment would strike, as if there would always be a tomorrow just like today in which to dash off a quick prayer of contrition and rush for the ark, should that unlikely event ever really become necessary. They married and settled down comfortably in the common activities of life and turned off Noah's preaching as alarmist extremism. It would be mistaken to suppose that the great tribulation of Revelation 7:14 could not be in full swing before Jesus comes, merely because He describes the world as engaged in its ordinary pursuits, because these relatively untroubled people may not be identified with those who undergo the Christian tribulation referred to. In fact, these happy-go-lucky folk conducting their normal life may actually be contributing to the tribulation of the godly.

Matthew 24:39 And they knew not. WHAT did they not know? Had not Noah preached righteousness and judgment to come (Hebrews 11:7; 2 Peter 2:5)? Did they not know that God meant business when He threatened them with annihilation? They knew not that they could not get away with their godless lives until God brought them irrefutable evidence that He meant what He said, that Noah was His servant, that the soul that sins shall die, and that there are no exceptions. Although they had indeed been informed, they did not fully perceive the danger they were in until disaster struck.

WHY did they not know? Because they did not want to. The demands of God and of conscience were, then as today, postponed or relegated to the realm of the irrelevant, explained away -naturally,-' -reasonably,-' even -scientifically,-' until the fatal day arrives (Lenski, Matthew, 956). Gross immorality is not the big problem because of the magnitude of God's forgiving grace. The real issue is this willful, therefore culpable, indifference to warnings, this gross ignorance caused by turning their mind off to God.

Many hold that the great astronomical cataclysms and signs in the sky (Matthew 24:29-31; Luke 21:11; Luke 21:25 f.) are literal warnings that sound the alarm of the world's end. Were that true, on what basis could Jesus affirm here that the world shall continue to operate on a business-as-usual basis right up to moment of His return, blithely unaware that its eternal destiny is about to break in upon them? How could the world of tomorrow be taken by surprise as was Noah's world if there were spatial fireworks warning men to get right with God? The fact is that they knew not because there were no suns refusing to shine, no moons not giving their light, no stars falling from heaven to alarm them. Consequently, because no such astronomical credentials of God's impending judgment scared those of Noah's day into making a last-minute frantic dash for the ark, we are not at liberty to interpret Matthew 24:29-31 as if it meant that the Day of Jesus-' Return shall be preceded by literal, heavenly clues that permit men to foresee its dawning. The absolute security of Noah's generation, which serves as the basis of Jesus-' comparison totally excludes the appearance of millennial harbingers when He returns. Contrary to Alford (I, 246), the security here spoken of is totally inconsistent with the anguish and fear prophesied in Luke 21:25 f., because two different events are described: there, the end of the Jewish era in God's economy; here, the end of the world.

Until the flood came and took them all away. Jesus-' second point of comparison concerns the abruptness, finality and inescapability with which judgment comes to an unexpecting, unprepared world.

Matthew 24:40 Then shall two men be in the field; one is taken, and one is left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left. These two vignettes carry forward Jesus-' earlier point: life will proceed as usual right down to the last second before the Second Coming. Simply because the schedule of Jesus-' return cannot be known, His saints will not be climbing some mountain peak or crowding into church buildings to await His arrival. Rather, like anyone else, they will be involved in typical daily occupations, such as field-work done by men or food preparation by women. (Cf. Exodus 11:5.) To grind grain into flour for bread, these two women are seated on the floor. Between them are the two grind-stones that constitute the mill, one stone mounted atop the other. Depending on the weight of the upper mill-stone, the strength of both women would be needed to turn it. Seated opposite each other, one turns the upper mill-stone a half turn; the other, the remaining half turn, while grain is dropped through a hole in the center of the upper stone.

But Jesus-' point is not simply to repeat the lesson of ordinary human activity, as in Noah's day, but also to focus on the rigorous individuality of the final separation: one is taken and one is left. Christ's return to judge the world will produce a complete, permanent separation between people who, in other exterior respects, are alike and are even toiling side by side at the same occupations. (See on Matthew 13:24-30; Matthew 13:37-43.) The critical factor is each individual's preparation to meet God. However physically near two people may be while working at a common task, they may be worlds apart on the question of Jesus Christ and their love for God's Kingdom.

Who is to be taken and who left? Some hold that this language teaches that believers are to be taken away from the earth prior to the consummation of all things specifically before a great period of tribulation which, say they, shall be brought on the wicked. Our verses are cited to establish this massive secret rapture. Others hold that this mysterious exodus of the believers is scheduled during, or even after, the great tribulation, but not necessarily in conjunction with Jesus-' return. Still others see those taken as received up in glory by the returning Christ, by supposed cross-reference to Matthew 24:31 thought to harmonize with 1 Thessalonians 4:16 f.

Contextually, however, Jesus-' total illustration focuses on a different perspective. He now enters into the particulars to explain how people will be taken away, not merely en masse, as by a flood, but individually and personally, while each is engaged in life's common occupations, and yet as thoroughly separated as Noah was from his contemporaries. But who was actually taken: Noah or his wicked contemporaries? In his day it was THE UNGODLY, because the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. The wicked are the intruders who have invaded and polluted a world that belongs to God and His people. So, for the happiness and tranquility of the righteous, the ungodly must be removed. This is in the style of God to remove the unrighteous by His punitive justice and leave His people in possession of the earth as their inheritance (Psalms 1; Psalms 37:9-15, Psalms 37:21 f., Psalms 27-29, 34; Matthew 5:5; cf. Romans 4:13).

The ancient world was taken away, but Noah was left. At the Red Sea the Egyptians were taken away, but Israel was left alive and free. Sodom and Gomorrah were taken by fire and brimstone, but Lot was left to go away. Daniel's accusers were taken away by lions, but Daniel was left completely vindicated. The tares will be taken away and burned, but the wheat shall be left to be gathered into God's granary. The bad fish shall be taken away, but the good alone will be left. The wicked shall not stand in the judgment, but those who do the will of God will abide forever. (1 John 2:17; cf. Zechariah 13:8 f. in the context of Matthew 12:1 to Matthew 14:21.)

So, it is not at all certain that the taken are God's raptured saints, gathered more or less secretly out of this present evil age. Rather, both in Matthew and Luke (Luke 17:22-37), Jesus pictures sudden destruction that thundered down on complacently wicked people. Far clearer is the supposition that Jesus proposes to take the unprepared by surprise to their destruction and leave the godly in possession of their inheritance. This only apparently conflicts with our being caught up to meet Him in the air (John 14:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:13 ff.), since the saved expect to inherit a new universe in which righteousness feels at home (2 Peter 3:13; Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22). So, Jesus-' prophecy teaches simply that, after the dust settles, the only ones left standing victorious in possession of the land will be the Christians! (See on Matthew 5:5.) In fact, sudden angelic harvesting will first gather the wicked from among the righteous (Matthew 13:41 ff., Matthew 13:49 f. interprets Matthew 13:30: Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.) Once the weeds are harvested, all that remains is the Owner's good grain, i.e. the righteous, God's people. Are the following texts ap-propos? Psalms 37:9-11; Psalms 55:22 f; Psalms 58:9-11; Psalms 64:1-10; Isaiah 26:20 f.; Revelation 3:9 f; Revelation 18:4; Revelation 19:1-9.

Matthew 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh. This, Jesus thinks, is the appropriate conclusion to His first illustration. So saying, He settled three points:

1.

THE CERTAINTY OF THE DAY: Your Lord is coming.

a.

He who comes is your Lord, so glorious, powerful and clothed with authority and majesty is he; also, and who are loyal to him. Cf. Isaiah 57:15 (Hendriksen, Matthew, 871).

b.

Your Lord is coming: His return is certain. The sufferings of human existence are not eternal, because human history itself is not endless. Rather, the date for the final vanquishing of evil is now in the hands of Christ Jesus, the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth. Our certainty of His reign does not rest in knowing the date of His coming, but in our confidence in His Lordship, in the complete sovereignty of His reign and in the absolute certainty of His coming to draw history to a decisive close.

2.

THE CONCEALMENT OF THE DELAY: You know not on what day. No time has been revealed, so signs given to enable anyone to forecast the dawning of the final Day of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:1 ff.). No sectarian time-setting or sign-watching could be more perverse or futile, since it arises out of curiosity to know what Jesus says cannot be known and ignores this unequivocal declaration of the Lord Himself that the time or season cannot be computed (cf. Mark 13:33). Jesus next reinforced this point with three illustrations that undergird this basic truth.

3.

THE CONSEQUENT DUTY: Watch therefore. In the tension resulting from the certainty of Jesus-' return and from the lack of any clue to the date, the correct Christian attitude is that mental and moral alertness that is ever the price of freedom and one of the sources of our true happiness (Revelation 16:15). In Greek, watch (grçgoreîte) does not involve simply looking at something so much as being awake and alert intellectually and spiritually, as illustrated in Jesus-' stories that follow. Although everyone in these parables had his own specific duties, this constant sense of expectancy is to be their common responsibility and the spirit in which each is to work. For the Church to abstain from daily work and normal human activities in order to search the skies (watching) for the first inkling of His return, would be to misinterpret His meaning entirely. What, then, is the mainspring that activates the watching spirit?

1.

Contextually, it is primarily the absolute impossibility to ascertain the time of Jesus-' return.

2.

Is it not more especially a loving eagerness to please Him who has entrusted such gifts to us, a warm affection for our returning Lord that invigorates our sense of responsibility and stimulates us to diligent, almost inspired, activity?

3.

Is it not also an alert, hopeful anticipation of His pleasure upon returning to find our work in progress, and a longing for His warm, hearty praise?

So, watchfulness has its alert eye on the Lord's purposes, program and methods. Jesus-' antithesis to watchfulness is reported by Luke 21:34-36): Take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare. It is not merely the gluttons and drunkards who are suddenly trapped, but also those everyday worriers whose concern for food, raiment and creature comforts takes their attention from the unseen spiritual concerns of man's true destiny and from the one object of man's existence, judgment before the returned Christ. This distraction permits the great judgment morning to dawn as unwelcome and unprepared for as a surprise attack. When terrified sinners are horrified by their unpreparedness in the presence of the overpowering majesty of the returned Christ, His prepared people confidently stand on their feet cheering in the presence of their Savior, Lord and King. (Consider Psalms 1:5; Malachi 3:2; Isaiah 33:13-16; Philippians 2:10; 1 Corinthians 16:22; Jude 1:24!)

FACT QUESTIONS

1.

On what basis may it be affirmed that the expression that day and hour refers to the Second Coming and the end of the world? Had Jesus been discussing this in the immediate context?

2.

On what other occasion(s) did Jesus affirm that only the Father decides the sequence of events in human history and established His own priorities?

3.

Where had Jesus used the illustration of Noah and the flood earlier? (book and chapter) What was He illustrating in that context?

4.

State the main point of the illustration taken from the days of Noah.

5.

What Greek technical word did Jesus use to indicate that He refers only to His Second Coming, not to a spiritual, invisible coming either in temporal judgment on His enemies nor in temporal blessing on His people?

6.

List the various activities of everyday life going on in Noah's day and at Jesus-' return.

7.

What is meant by the phrase: one is taken and one is left? Taken where? Left where?

8.

What touch of realism is pictured in the fact that two women shall be grinding at the mill? What kind of a mill is involved?