But take heed to yourselves lest possibly your hearts be laden with surfeiting and drinking and cares of life, and that day come upon you suddenly unawares;
After a long prophecy about wars, Jerusalem, and the Son of Man coming in a cloud, the Lord turns from events to the heart of the listener. Two questions follow: what weighs a heart down, and whose day arrives like a trap?
One writer notes that the things named here are not scandals. They are daily necessities pushed out of proportion:
Verse 34 is negative. It deals with the most common hindrances to a walk with God — the undue emphasis put on eating and drinking, and the cares of this life. How easily we slip into a state that seeks only to satisfy our own appetites, while matters of intense, eternal importance are left knocking at the door! Of course eating and drinking are necessary, but is it that for which we live? Should the cares of this life, the many details of living, so occupy us that we are loaded down with them?
The danger goes further than distraction. A heavy heart sinks into the world, and that day falls on people who have put down roots here:
He then tells them that, as people living on earth, they must be watchful. Their own hearts could be weighed down with things that would sink them into this world — the very world in which they were to be witnesses. For that day would come as a snare upon all those who had their dwelling here, who were rooted here.
Drunkenness here reaches wider than the glass. One writer finds the same numbing power in things the world calls respectable, even admirable:
We know the intoxicating power of this world's schemes and operations. We know how the human heart gets swept away, as if on the surface of a fast current, when such things come before it. Schemes of improvement, commercial operations, political movements — yes, and popular religious movements too — all of these produce on the human mind an effect like the one Nabal's wine produced.
A heart can be loaded from two directions. Dread of world events hides the coming day just as pleasure does:
No doubt those three verses — 34, 35, 36 — have special application to believers who will be on earth just before His appearing. But they have a great voice for the believer today. Many pleasures surround us, and we may easily become overloaded with too much of them. On the other hand, there were never more and greater dangers on the horizon. Our hearts may be loaded with dread, so that we lose sight of the day that is coming. We can be so taken up with the doings of dictators and the progress of world movements that the coming of the Lord fades from our minds.
Some read this whole chapter as fulfilled when Rome destroyed Jerusalem. The worldwide reach named in the next verse rules that out:
How could the destruction of Jerusalem come "as a snare on all who dwell on the face of the whole earth"? No; it is of His own actual, personal return, at the close of the times of the Gentiles, that our Lord speaks.
That day is described as a trap because it is a surprise to those it falls on. Commentators draw a sharp line between that arrival and the way the Lord comes for His own:
His day will surprise all who dwell on the face of the whole earth like a thief in the night. But He meets His heavenly ones with quite other thoughts, for in mind and spirit they are already in the place He comes from.
If the danger is a dulled heart, the cure is soberness. It means more than staying away from drink:
"Sober" means that quietness and seriousness of mind, that solemn feeling, which the Spirit of God produces in the hearts of those who take in the character of the approaching end of all things. On the other side, it is a mind freed from the intoxicating influences of this scene. It shows itself in the absence of all flippancy, and in the reverence that comes from walking before God with a sense of how short the present time is, and of the coming judgments. Notice, too, that the Lord, just as Peter does, presses constant prayer upon His disciples.
- The weight. Not scandalous sin, but food, drink and daily worries filling the space that belongs to what lasts forever.
- The root. A heart weighed down has settled here, and that day falls like a trap on those who make the earth their home.
- The two loads. Pleasure dulls, and dread crushes — both make the coming day disappear from view.
- The day. Its reach over the whole earth marks it as the Lord's personal return, not the fall of Jerusalem. It catches the world by surprise, but He meets His own with other thoughts.
- The lift. Soberness is a mind freed from this world's pull, and constant prayer keeps it there.
for as a snare shall it come upon all them that dwell upon the face of the whole earth.
Jesus widens His warning far beyond Jerusalem. The day He speaks of comes as a snare and falls on people everywhere — which raises two questions: what day is this, and who gets caught?
The day comes as a trap, and a trap only works while nobody sees it:
Snares to be effective must be hidden. It is useless to set a net where a bird can see it; in the same way the hook in fishing is always concealed. The baits that Satan uses are things that men like. They may not always be moral evils in themselves — riches, honour, and the like. But they may end in the loss of the soul.
The bait is not scandal. It is normal life.
The words sound like plain geography. One commentator reads them instead as a description of character:
The special rejoicing is on the part of the dwellers on the earth, that is, the earthly-minded... In other words, to "dwell on the earth" is not a vague description of men. It expresses a moral condition.
This is not the moment when the Lord gathers His own. It is the day of the Lord falling on the ungodly world:
Our Lord Himself warned His hearers to take heed in case that day should come upon them unawares. In all these passages, as in 1 Thessalonians 5, it points to sudden and overwhelming judgments carried out on the wicked. Those judgments open the way for Christ to set up His earthly kingdom by power. The contrast is sharp. The descent of the Lord Jesus into the air was presented to the Thessalonian believers as the crown of all their hopes. This day of the Lord comes "as a thief in the night" on the whole world of the ungodly. In one case the Lord comes to gather His saints; in the other, to strike His enemies. And the saints are taught about the first, so that they may know for certain that they are exempt from the terrors of the second.
The snare closes on people who are fixed in place:
He then tells them that, as living on earth, they must be watchful. Their own hearts could grow heavy with things that would sink them into this world — the world in the middle of which they were to be witnesses. For that day would come as a snare upon all those who had their dwelling here, who were rooted here. They were to watch and pray, in order to escape all those things, and to stand in the presence of the Son of man.
Commentators differ on who the warning is for. One applies it to believers who will pass through the coming tribulation:
The warnings against carousing, drunkenness and the cares of this life apply directly to those going through the future tribulation. They are to watch and pray always. The aim is that they may be counted worthy to escape the things that threaten all around them, and at the end to stand before the Son of Man. At that time those believers will be kept through the tribulation, while the Church will be kept out of the hour of it (Rev. 3:10).
Another accepts that setting, and still presses the words on readers today:
No doubt those three verses, 34, 35, 36, have a special application to believers who will be on earth just before His appearing, but they have a great voice for the believer today. Pleasures of every kind surround us, and we may easily take on far too many of them. On the other hand, there were never more and greater dangers on the horizon. Our hearts may grow heavy with dread, so that we lose sight of the day that is coming.
- Hidden. A snare only works while nobody sees it. The bait is something people want, and often nothing wrong in itself.
- Settled. It catches the earthly-minded: people rooted here, who have made this world their home.
- Whole. It reaches the whole earth — sudden judgment on an ungodly world. It is not the Lord's coming to gather His own.
- Weighed. The way into the snare is a heart sunk by pleasure or by dread, until the day arrives with no warning.
- Watching. The way out is to watch and pray, to escape these things and stand before the Son of Man. That word fits believers in the coming crisis, and believers now.
Watch therefore, praying at every season, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things which are about to come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
The Lord's warning about the last days closes with a duty, not a date: watch, pray, and stand. Two questions run through it. What escape does He promise here, and who must pray for it?
Commentators read the escape as rescue on earth, not removal to heaven:
The Lord gave His disciples what they needed then. He also gave it in the written word for similar times still to come. Still, though the principle is always true, verse 34 clearly applies to a day still to come on the earth. The privilege is to escape the judgments and stand before the Son of man. This again is earthly, not being caught up to heaven.
Another writer says plainly what that escape does and does not mean:
Those who pass through those days, and especially the suffering remnant of Israel, are called to watch and pray always. They are not called to pray that they may be taken out of the hour of trial. They are called to pray that they may escape the things that come to pass. To escape here means to come through the whole tribulation alive, "and stand before the Son of Man."
The title at the end of the verse belongs to His appearing in glory, not to the catching up of believers to heaven:
The Lord speaks of "the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (v. 27). The title "Son of Man" never refers to the rapture. It refers to His appearing in glory. The Lord is speaking of people who will pass through the tribulation on earth. If they are faithful, they will escape the snare of this antichrist and at last stand before the Son of Man.
Older translations read "accounted worthy" here, while the ESV follows another reading, "may have strength." One writer notes both, and takes the standing as a review, not a sentence:
"Praying … may be counted worthy" (or, on another reading, "may be strong") "… to stand (be set) before the Son of Man." … This is not a judgment in the sense of John 5:24. It is the occasion when our Lord gives out reward or loss to those of the House of God. He holds His first examination then, reviewing the life of each disciple.
Commentators differ here. Some read the standing as the survivor's place on earth before the returning Son of Man. This writer reads it as a review of each disciple's life.
Neither command works on its own:
Knowledge by itself is not power. We need to be kept in the dependent attitude of prayer, if we are to carry out the exhortations in practice. … Persevering in prayer means more than turning to God in some special need. It means a habit of depending on Him. … The Lord warned His disciples to watch and pray. It is useless to pray about a particular temptation, or snare, if at the same time we do not watch against it.
The verses just before name what makes the command urgent:
He then tells them that, since they live on earth, they must watch. Their own hearts could be weighed down by things that would sink them into this world — the very world in which they were to be His witnesses. For that day would come as a snare on all who had their home here, who were rooted here.
One writer puts the verse's first application in a future day, yet hears it speaking now. Two dangers pull at us: pleasure on one side, dread on the other:
No doubt those three verses, 34, 35, 36, apply in a special way to saints who will be on earth just before His appearing. But they have a great voice for the believer today. Pleasures of every kind surround us, and they may easily overload us. On the other hand, there were never more and greater dangers on the horizon. Dread may weigh our hearts down, so that we lose sight of the day that is coming. … Then we shall be wide awake, and ready to greet the Lord when He comes.
The Lord names the Person, but not the place. One writer sees room in that silence for something better than the hearers could have guessed:
They were to watch and pray, so as to escape all those things and to stand in the presence of the Son of man. … To be with Him, as those who have escaped from the earth, and to be among the 144,000 on Mount Zion, will be one fulfilment of this blessing. But the place is not named. So, if the people He was speaking to proved faithful, the hope His words awakened would reach something better still — His heavenly presence in the day of glory.
- Snare — that day springs as a trap on everyone rooted in this world.
- Watch — stay awake to the danger; praying about a snare you refuse to watch is no use.
- Pray — knowledge is not power; only dependence on God carries the command into practice.
- Escape — here it means coming through the trouble on earth alive, not being lifted off it.
- Stand — the goal is a Person, not a place: the Son of Man Himself, with the hope left open to something better.