Bible Study series: Matthew 24:36-44. He now shifts topics to his glorious, age-ending Second Coming, which has not yet happened but is still a future event, after two thousand years (and counting).
A warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together. I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click on this link:
In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 24:36-44
36 But concerning that Day and hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, except the Father alone. 37 For just as the days of Noah were, in this way the visitation [parousia] of the Son of Man will be. 38 For as just as they were in the days before the flood, munching and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39 they also did not know until the flood came and took everyone away, and in this way shall the visitation [parousia] of the Son of Man be.
40 Then two men will be in the field, and one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding grain at the mill, and one will be taken and one left. 42 Watch therefore because you do not know which day your Lord comes. 43 But this you do know: that if the head of household knew at which watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and not permitted his house to be broken into. 44 For this reason, you also be prepared because at the hour you do not expect, the Son of Man is coming. (Matt. 24:36-44)
Comments:
Matthew reintroduces the noun parousia (vv. 37 and 39). So what is it? It means, basically, “to be there” or “to arrive.” The best imagery of it says that an emperor arrives in a capital or province and the dignitaries go out to meet him and escort him back into their city. They don’t board his ship and sail away. Instead, he has arrived. He is present with them and reached his goal—their capital city.
The Parousia = the Second Coming.
For an exegesis of this passage, please see this post:
Matthew 24:36 to 25:46–From Second Coming to New Messianic Age
36:
Why did Jesus say that not even the Son knows the day or the hour?
To answer the question, please see this post:
Why Didn’t Jesus Know the Day or the Hour of His Return?
37-39:
“Son of Man”: it both means the powerful, divine Son of Man (Dan. 7:13-14) and the human son of man—Ezekiel himself—in the book of Ezekiel (numerous references). Jesus was and still is in heaven both divine and human. It can be rightly translated as “Son of Humanity.”
4. Titles of Jesus: The Son of Man
So, what will the hearts and behavior of the people be like, just before his Second Coming? They will live like they were in the days of Noah (Gen. 6-9). They conducted regular business. These transactions were not sinful, but the implication, based on Jesus’s audience’s knowledge of the story, is that they were living riotously. But the text is silent probably because Jesus assumed their knowledge of the original story. He was talking to his disciples, after all. In any case, the people’s obliviousness did them in. They were not ready. The flood came, which in Greek is the noun kataklusmos (pronounced kah-tah-kloos-moss), and yes, we get our word cataclysm from it. But in the NT the noun simply means “flood” or “deluge.”
The main point is clear: the Second Coming will take the oblivious by surprise. The next parables will expand on their lack of expectation and being caught off guard and their misconduct while they are waiting. The Son of Man can come at any time.
“took”: They were removed or taken away by the flood.
“visitation”: it is my translation of the Greek noun parousia, which means Second Coming. See the comments just above v. 36.
40-41:
Two men and one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain at the millstone, and one will be taken and the other left. When does this happen? It happens at the parousia, that is, the Second Coming. We must not confuse the Second Coming / parousia with a separate rapture. They happen at the same time and are the same event.
Luke 17:22-37: Taken Away = Rapture? (it also looks at Matthew’s Gospel)
“taken”: The parables and the scene of final judgment from here to 25:46 may help clarify what this taking means.
In the Parable of the Faithful and Unfaithful Servant (vv. 45-51), the bad servant was behaving foolishly and abusively, and the master put him with the hypocrites in punishment. In the Parable of the Ten Virgins (25:1-13), when the bridegroom arrived, five of them were unprepared and were shut outside, while the five wise girls were prepared and enjoyed the wedding feast, and a feast often symbolizes the final Messianic victory and era. In the Parable of the Talents (25:14-30), the master returns and sends away into outer darkness the servant who did nothing with his master’s talent. In 25:31-46, the majestic passage about final judgment, some people will be the goats and sent away in a negative judgment, while others will be the sheep and remain with the Son of Man and enter with him into the kingdom prepared for them before the foundation of the world.
In these four passages, the ones sent way or taken away or shut out were the unwatchful and unproductive and abusive, not the watchful and productive and obedient. Therefore, the natural inference here in vv. 41-42 is that the ones taken away were sent away to judgment.
Whatever the case, there is no separate rapture here because it supposedly will happen before the Second Coming, and Jesus is now talking about expecting his parousia (Second Coming) and its aftermath.
See Luke’s version, where it is fuller and clearly indicates being taken away in judgment:
Once again: Luke 17:22-37: Taken Away = Rapture?
In modern terms, “taken away” carries the imagery of being handcuffed and taken away in a police car and put in jail, waiting to stand trial before the judge.
Remember that the taking happens after the Second Coming, not before. So these verses are really about the build-up to the final judgment, after the Second Coming, all the way to Matt. 25:46. It is not about a “pretribulation,” “separate” rapture, distinct from the Second Coming.
Rapture = Second Coming and Happens at Same Time, on Last Day
43-44:
If the master of the house or head of household knew when the thief planned to burgle, then the head or master of the household would not have allowed his house to be broken into. He would have been on guard. Lesson: People must be prepared.
“be prepared”: some interpreters take this idea too far. They become preparationists and stockpile all sorts of supplies and hide away in the mountains. That is their choice, of course, but the idea here is spiritual and moral preparedness.
“Son of Man”: see v. 37-39 for more comments.
Verse 44 about being prepared will be repeated in the next three parables (24:50; 25:13, 19). So Jesus does not offer the disciples the sign of his parousia and the close of the age, for no one knows when it will happen.
So in this pericope we find this sequence:
Parousia → Judgment → Kingdom Age (implied)
Recall that the parousia means the Second Coming or the Return.
The illustration about Noah, above, and the next three parables clearly teach the parousia / Second Coming could happen at any time. Be ready!
GrowApp for Matt. 24:36-44
1. The Son of Man (Jesus) will come when you least expect him. Are you ready? How do you get ready? Study 1 John 3:3.
RELATED
9. Authoritative Testimony in Matthew’s Gospel
1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 