Bird's-eye view
In this section of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus pivots from the specific, datable signs concerning the destruction of Jerusalem to address the nature of His ongoing, kingly presence and the final, ultimate consummation. Having just declared that "this generation" would see the fulfillment of the temple's destruction (v. 34), He now makes a crucial distinction. The precise timing of the final day and hour is a matter reserved for the Father alone. The central point of this passage is a call to readiness, not to date-setting. Jesus uses the historical cataclysm of Noah's flood as a paradigm for the suddenness and finality of judgment. The world will be going about its ordinary business, oblivious to the impending reality, just as they were in Noah's day. The "coming of the Son of Man" here refers to this unexpected arrival in judgment. The passage concludes with two stark illustrations of this sudden separation: two men in a field, two women at a mill. One is taken in judgment, the other is left to inherit the blessings of the kingdom. This is not a "rapture" text in the modern sense, but rather a solemn warning that the ordinary fabric of life will one day be rent by a divine visitation that separates the righteous from the wicked.
The key takeaway is the stark contrast between the world's business-as-usual attitude and the believer's required state of constant vigilance. The world is blind to spiritual realities, absorbed in the mundane cycle of eating, drinking, and marrying. The judgment, when it comes, is therefore a complete surprise that sweeps them away. For the disciple, however, this reality of sudden judgment should produce a sober-minded watchfulness. The separation is decisive and individual. It cuts right through the most common associations of life and work. Therefore, our readiness cannot be a corporate assumption but must be a personal reality.
Outline
- 1. The Unexpected Judgment (Matt 24:36-41)
- a. The Unknowable Hour (Matt 24:36)
- b. The Paradigm of Noah's Day (Matt 24:37-39)
- i. The World's Obliviousness (Matt 24:37-38)
- ii. The Suddenness of Destruction (Matt 24:39)
- c. The Decisive Separation (Matt 24:40-41)
- i. Two Men in the Field
- ii. Two Women at the Mill
Context In Matthew
This passage is a crucial hinge in the Olivet Discourse. Up to verse 35, Jesus has been answering the disciples' questions about the destruction of the temple and the sign of His "coming" and the "end of the age" (Matt 24:3). He has given them specific signs to look for concerning the judgment on Jerusalem, culminating in the declaration that "this generation will not pass away until all these things take place" (Matt 24:34). That coming in judgment happened in A.D. 70. Now, in verse 36, He shifts His focus. While the judgment on Jerusalem was predictable for those who had eyes to see the signs, the final day of judgment is not. This section, running to the end of chapter 25, is a series of parables and warnings about the nature of watchfulness and readiness for a return that cannot be calculated. He moves from a specific, historical judgment that serves as a type, to the final, antitypical judgment at the end of history. The principles are the same: judgment is certain, it will be sudden for the unprepared, and it results in a final separation. This section provides the ethical application that flows from the prophecy.
Key Issues
- The Distinction Between the A.D. 70 Judgment and the Final Judgment
- The Son's Lack of Knowledge
- The Nature of the "Days of Noah"
- The Meaning of "Taken" and "Left"
- The Rejection of Dispensational Rapture Theology
- The Call to Constant Vigilance
The Great Separation
One of the most profound errors in modern evangelicalism has been the misreading of this passage to support a theology of escape, commonly known as the pre-tribulational rapture. But a careful reading of the text, especially in light of its Old Testament paradigm, reveals the exact opposite. In the story of Noah, who was "taken" and who was "left"? The wicked were taken away by the floodwaters of judgment. Noah and his family were left behind to inherit the cleansed earth. In the parable of the wheat and the tares, the tares (the wicked) are gathered for burning first, and the wheat (the righteous) are left for the granary. Here, Jesus applies the same pattern. The one "taken" (paralambanetai) is taken in judgment, like the debris swept away by a flood. The one "left" (aphietai) is left to continue in the blessing of the Master's domain. This is not about the church being airlifted out of trouble so the world can go to pot. It is about the wicked being removed so that the kingdom of God can be fully manifested on earth, as it is in heaven. The coming of the Son of Man is bad news for His enemies, but it is the vindication for which His people pray.
Verse by Verse Commentary
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
Jesus draws a sharp line here. He had just given His disciples a clear timeline for the destruction of Jerusalem, it would happen within their generation. But now He speaks of a different kind of event, a final "day and hour" whose timing is a guarded secret. This secrecy extends to the highest echelons of heaven; the angels are not privy to it. Most strikingly, Jesus, in His incarnation, states that this knowledge is not His to reveal. This is a profound statement about the kenosis, the self-emptying of Christ. In taking on human flesh, the Son voluntarily submitted to certain limitations, and this was one of them. He operated entirely in submission to the Father's will and timetable. This verse is the definitive rebuke to all the charlatans and speculators throughout church history who have tried to set dates for the end of the world. If the Son of God did not know, then the fellow with the complicated charts and newspaper clippings certainly doesn't. The point is not to calculate, but to be ready at all times.
37-38 For just as the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
To illustrate the nature of this sudden coming, Jesus reaches back to one of the most significant judgments in biblical history: the Flood. The key feature He highlights is not the gross wickedness of that generation, though that was the reason for the judgment. Rather, He emphasizes their utter normalcy. They were completely absorbed in the routine affairs of life. Eating, drinking, marrying, these are not sinful activities in themselves. They are the basic, God-given patterns of human society. The sin was not in the activities, but in the fact that these activities constituted the whole of their reality. They were living as though God did not exist and as though a day of reckoning was not coming. They were spiritually oblivious, deaf to the preaching of Noah, that preacher of righteousness. Their world was entirely horizontal, with no vertical dimension whatever. This, Jesus says, is precisely how it will be when the Son of Man comes. The world will be going about its business, utterly unprepared.
39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Their lack of understanding was a culpable ignorance. They had the witness of Noah's preaching and the staggering testimony of the ark itself, a massive construction project taking decades. But they refused to understand; they would not know. The result was that the judgment was a complete and total surprise. The flood "came and took them all away." The verb here is one of sweeping destruction. This is the paradigm. The coming of the Son of Man will not be a slow, gradual dawning on the world's consciousness. For the unbelieving world, it will be a sudden, catastrophic event that interrupts their normalcy and sweeps them away in judgment. The normalcy of life is no protection from the certainty of judgment.
40 Then there will be two in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left.
Jesus now gives two concrete, earthy examples of the separation that this judgment will bring. The first is of two men working together in a field. They are engaged in the same task, in the same location. From an external point of view, they are indistinguishable. But the judgment of Christ sees the heart. The coming of the Son of Man is like a lightning strike that divides them instantly. One is "taken" in judgment, swept away like the unbelievers in Noah's day. The other is "left" behind, spared from the judgment to inherit the new state of affairs. The separation is personal and cuts across the most ordinary of human partnerships.
41 Two women will be grinding grain at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.
The second example reinforces the first, moving from the male sphere of labor to the female. Grinding grain at a hand mill was a common, daily, domestic chore, often done by two women together. As with the men in the field, they are partners in a shared task. They are side-by-side, and yet they are worlds apart spiritually. The judgment falls, and the same separation occurs. One is taken, the other is left. The message is clear: judgment is no respecter of persons or partnerships. It is individual. You cannot get into the kingdom by proximity to a believer. Your spouse's faith, your parent's faith, your co-worker's faith, none of it will avail you on that day. The judgment is utterly discerning and final.
Application
The immediate application of this passage is a radical call to be awake. The great temptation for Christians living in a secular age is to be lulled to sleep by the very normalcy that Jesus describes. We eat, we drink, we marry, we work, we build, we plan for retirement. And all of this is good. But we are tempted to do it just like our unbelieving neighbors do, as if this world is all there is. We are tempted to live as practical atheists, forgetting that the Son of Man is coming at an hour we do not expect.
This passage should dismantle any pride we have in our ability to read the "signs of the times." When it comes to the final day, there are no signs to read. The only sign is the one Noah gave his generation: the sign of a righteous man living in obedient faith in the midst of a crooked generation. Our task is not to make eschatological charts, but to build our lives on the rock of Christ's word. Our readiness is not a matter of intellectual calculation but of spiritual character.
Furthermore, this passage reminds us that judgment means separation. We must not be deceived by external associations. We can be in the same field, at the same mill, in the same church pew with someone, and be headed for a different eternal destiny. This should provoke us to two things. First, a sober self-examination: am I truly in Christ, or am I just along for the ride? Second, a fervent evangelistic zeal for those working alongside us. The day is coming when the partnership will be dissolved, permanently. Now is the day of salvation. We must warn them, as Noah did, that the flood is coming, and that there is an ark of safety, which is Christ Himself.