Matthew 24:15–41

What is meant by "the abomination of desolation"? "Abomination" is the Scripture title for an idol. So we read of "Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites," and "Chemosh the abomination of Moab" (1 Kings 11:5-7). It is, therefore, an idol set up in the holy place at Jerusalem. This has never happened in the past. True, Antiochus Epiphanes defiled the temple (Dan. 11:31), but this was long before the Lord's prophecy. The only event of note involving the temple since the Lord Jesus spoke was its destruction by the Roman armies under Titus in A.D. 70. So the Lord's prediction has yet to be fulfilled.

Of all wrongdoings, idolatry is the one God detests most. It is the open, formal denial of His Godhead. It puts the creature in the place of Himself, the Creator… The "holy place," of course, means the temple. The Lord had announced about the temple then standing, "There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down" (v. 2). So it follows that in the meantime the temple will have been rebuilt.

The parenthesis warns that the prediction might be misunderstood — at any rate, it demanded attention. Two passages of the prophecy (Dan. 11:31 and Dan. 12:11) speak of this abomination. I have no hesitation in saying that the first was a foreshadowing of what Antiochus Epiphanes did centuries before Christ. The second is the one meant here, and it is still unfulfilled… "And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand." In this we have another link with our Lord's words — "let the reader understand."

The abomination that results in desolation is idolatry. The antichrist brings it into the holy place, the temple in Jerusalem. This will happen at the middle of Daniel's seventieth week, and it will lead at once to the three and a half years of "great tribulation." This image to the beast (the head of the revived Roman empire) will be a direct challenge to God, for it gives Rome God's place of Protector of Israel. God will therefore send "a desolator," the king of the north, to sweep over the land of Israel with a sudden thrust like a whirlwind (Dan. 11:40).

The proper prophecy of the past destruction of Jerusalem is a part of Luke 21, not Matthew 24. There our Lord speaks about Jerusalem surrounded by armies. But there is no sign like the setting up of the abomination of desolation, and nothing there calls for such a rapid flight… The Roman officer who came and surrounded the city made no such urgent demand for immediate action. Months passed between the withdrawal of Cestius Gallus and the arrival of the far greater force under the emperor. The destruction of Jerusalem came some years afterwards. That is to say, there was plenty of time to get away — family, friends, baggage and all.

The words clearly imply that many who read might not understand. At the least, our Lord warns readers to make sure they take in His thought… He never discourages reading. He wants understanding. He knew there would be all sorts of ideas floating about, especially about prophecy. As a result, many of God's children make mistakes about it, and many more dread the subject.

From verse 15 we have a much more precise scene, a local scene. We have the holy place, and Daniel, and Judea, and definite local circumstances, and set conduct, once people see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. "Let the reader understand." Then those in Judea were to flee to the mountains, because great tribulation comes here when this dishonouring idol stands in the holy place.

The word "abomination" simply means idol. It is called the abomination of desolation because it causes the desolation of Jerusalem and of the Jewish people.

Who can be so bold (to say the least) as to affirm that this is a picture of the church at large? Do you suppose that Christians would ever be thought of as being in the land of Judea alone? Clearly not. All is plain if He is speaking about Jews — godly ones no doubt, but Jews in that particular land. It is not at all a prophetic declaration about the saints of God in different parts of the world.

The Lord Jesus does not call the godly Jews to stay and suffer. God is visiting His guilty people at that moment, because of their final apostasy and their bowing down to the man of sin as the true God in His house. So He tells the godly remnant to flee at once, regardless even of clothes or anything else, to save their lives.

The testimony is over, and the disciples have only to flee… Jerusalem is then handed over to the judgment which awaits it.

The Roman officer who came and surrounded the city did not call for this kind of instant, urgent obedience. Months passed between the withdrawal of Cestius Gallus and the arrival of the far greater force under the emperor. The destruction of Jerusalem took place some years afterwards. That is to say, there was plenty of time to get away — family, friends, baggage and all. There was no need for such an urgent flight.

The strong man of God, Christ, does not yet exercise His power. The woman has nothing else to do but flee for three and a half years. During that time Satan uses his power on earth with great fury. The only resource of the woman is to flee. Jesus foretold this in Matthew 24:16.

God provides for the woman both a place and food for 1260 days… The careful counting of the days shows the Lord's tender interest in His sorrowing saints. He counts them up one by one, so to speak.

What use was the Lord's warning that they were to flee in such circumstances, if the disciples did not understand what He was speaking about, and did not believe His word beforehand? This knowledge and this faith were exactly what set them apart from all their unbelieving countrymen.

They are to make for the mountains as fast as they can. All this instruction is plainly for persons living in Judea. Readers who insist on seeing the Church of God in this chapter run into difficulty at every detail of the prophecy. Is the Church of God limited to one land, so that such signs would help it? Is not the Church found in every part of the earth? Once we see that the godly in Judea are in view, all is simple and clear.

For those in Judea, the moment would come when an idol would be set up in the holy place. An idol is what the word "abomination" means here. The Lord uses many pictures to show how urgent it is. The man on the roof was not to go down to take anything out of his house. The man in the fields was not to go back for his clothes. The moment would be so terrible that nothing would matter but flight.

"Let him which is on the house-top not come down to take anything out of his house" — it is too late to think about doing this.

They went up by an outside flight of stairs to the flat roof of the house (compare Matt. 24:17). There they removed the tiling or thin stone roofing, which was no hard task and easy to repair. Then they lowered the paralysed man on his bed through the opening into the Master's presence.

In this part of the prophecy, Matthew and Luke are alike in only one way: in both, the faithful are told to flee. But even here the differences are remarkable… In Luke the flight is not to the mountains, nor marked by extreme haste. In fact the Christians withdrew with no special speed to the city of Pella. But when the abomination of desolation is set up, there is not an instant to lose. The flight must be at full speed, and even the slightest delay will be fatal. The place of refuge, too, is not a sheltering city but "the mountains."

The wrath of the devil will have its greatest expression against the nation of Israel. During the great tribulation, against this terrible persecution, God's providence will open a way of escape for the godly. They will be safe by keeping themselves apart from the world. That matches the Lord's own words to His disciples. Looking on to this time, He says, "Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains."

The Lord adds a short but solemn word: "Remember Lot's wife." It seems that angelic power rescued Lot's wife. She was without question brought out of the doomed city. But that only made her a more striking monument of God's all-searching judgment. There she stands alone. The others perished; she remained a pillar of salt. Moses wrote it down as an imperishable moral memorial of God's hatred of a false heart — a heart that, despite outward deliverance, still gave its affections to a scene marked out for destruction.

The Lord uses many figures to show the urgency of the case. The man on the housetop was not to come down to take anything out of his house. The man in the fields was not to go back to fetch his garments. The moment would be so terrible that nothing would matter except flight.

"And let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak." Immediate flight is the only hope of safety. What sort of safety? It is the saving of flesh — of natural life. Is this what the Christian is expecting? Not so. The Christian is looking for the coming of Christ, not to save his life, but to change and take him up to heaven.

Those will be terrible times for those who fear God. Fearful persecutions will break out, more severe than anything known before. The Lord tells them to note the signs and take warning. When they see this daring wickedness in the sanctuary in Jerusalem, they are to flee to the mountains with all possible haste. All this instruction is plainly for people living in Judea. Readers who insist on seeing the Church of God in this chapter must run into difficulty at every detail of the prophecy. Is the Church of God confined to one land, that such signs should be of use? Is the Church not spread through every quarter of the earth? Once you see that the godly in Judea are in view, all is simple and clear.

People often apply this to the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, and Luke uses roughly similar language of that event, though far from identical. But the prophecy in Luke contains no such urgent appeals for haste. In fact, the advance of the Roman army left the Christians plenty of time to leave the city and take their goods with them. But besides this, the quotation from Daniel fixes the time. There can only be one tribulation exceeding all that have been before, and all that will come after.

The godly are to flee, not staying even to get their clothes. The mountains of Judea are to be their hiding-place. The Lord is so compassionate toward them in their trial that He tells them to pray this will not happen in the winter, or on the Sabbath day. Either would be serious. A winter flight, with no time to fetch an overcoat, would bring much suffering. And a conscientious Jew would face a serious dilemma if the signal came on the Sabbath day.

It is as with Lot. When the signs of judgment become clear, let no one linger, even to collect his belongings before fleeing. "Remember Lot's wife." She had got outside of Sodom, but looked back and became a pillar of salt. She was not decisive but half-hearted in leaving Sodom. The Lord was pressing a moral lesson for everyone, as is usual in Luke. Yet this refers to the same time as Matthew 24:16-18.

The word "woe" is often a word of judgment, as in the last clause. But it is not always so. It can also be a word of pity, as in Matthew 24:19, Mark 13:17, Luke 21:23, Revelation 8:13; Revelation 12:12.

The Lord warns the one on the housetop not to try to save anything from his house, but to escape at once. If in the field, one ought not to return home even for the clothing he needs. That is how fast the attack will come. Pregnant women and mothers with nursing babies cannot travel quickly, so they will suffer greatly.

The sight of the desolating idol in the holy place is the signal for flight. "Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains" (ver. 16). There is no thought of a sign to Christians as such, but to Jewish disciples in the holy land, so that they may leave the place of danger at once. Some have tried to find here the warning on which people fled the city, in the gap after the Roman commander surrounded it and before its final destruction. But that comes from confusing Luke 21:20-24 with Matthew 24:15-21. The two are clearly distinct, in spite of some likeness between them. An idol in the holy place is very different from armies surrounding Jerusalem.

Here it is plain that this speaks of Jews living under the full rigor of Jewish law.

But alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! In times of peace such things would be causes for joy to Jewish women. But there would be a tribulation such as there had never been. And the heart of the Lord thinks of all the difficulties and all the dangers of His own.

The Lord's goodness here is very remarkable. In the middle of this terrible judgment we find Him thinking even of the weather. The judgment is so terrible that the world has never known anything like it. He tells them to pray that they will not have to flee in the winter... He thinks of those who are with child and of those who nurse infants in those days. Ah! how great is the Saviour's compassion; nothing escapes His gracious memory. While warning His disciples of the most terrible judgment, He thinks of all the difficulties they would meet upon the road He teaches them to take.

All these verses show how urgently they must flee. They also show the Lord's tenderness and gracious care for His people in this time of Jacob's trouble! And how much harder it would be for those with infants in that hour of urgency and distress! And the Lord, foreseeing all, tells them to pray that nothing will hinder their flight (ver. 20). Oh, how He cares!

We can understand this. While this evil is allowed to run its course, the only hope is the flight to the mountains, which He commands to those who listen to His voice. Israel has refused that sheltering "wing" under which He would so often have gathered them... Still, His pity, whom they have forsaken, has set a limit: "for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days."

Woe to those who were held back in their flight! But God can think of His people who trust Him even at such a time, and think of everything for them. They were to pray that their flight might not be in winter, which is hard for travel and for fugitives camping in the mountains. They were also to pray it might not fall on a Sabbath. A flight limited to a Sabbath day's journey would give poor hope of escape in times such as never were and never will be again. God would think of this for them.

A Sabbath day's journey was the greatest distance a Jew could travel on that day. The law gives no command about this. But when some of the people went out to gather manna on the Sabbath, Moses ordered, "Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day" (Exodus 16:29). In New Testament times it was understood that a person might travel two thousand cubits (about five furlongs)... When they were in the land the distance was counted from the gate of the city the traveller started from (Acts 1:12). The Lord perhaps referred to this custom. He told the disciples to pray that, in the judgment of Jerusalem, their flight should not be "on the Sabbath day."

How could a believer offer such a prayer, since the Sabbath, the seventh day (and no other than the seventh) is to him the same as any other day of the week? But if this instruction was for the Jews, who would still be under the law, everything becomes clear at once.

We see that it is not a question of the world at large. Winter would not affect all the earth at the same time. What is winter in one place is summer in another... Suppose a case of death, or sickness, or any urgent call. Christians rightly deny that walking a mile and a half is any sin then. They would walk it to do good to a neighbour, or to seek the blessing of an enemy... What do I conclude from this? That the Lord is not speaking here of Christians at all. He has in view godly Jews who are to be under the sabbath law, and who would find themselves in a terrible dilemma if they had to flee on that day.

How exceedingly gracious! He is always mindful of the circumstances of His beloved saints, however small or trivial they seem. He thought of the suffering involved in a winter flight without time to go into the house for a coat! And what a dilemma they would be in if the image happened to be set up on the Sabbath day! So He tells them to cry to God that it may not happen that way. In such a case they would not know what to do. Any journey of length on the Sabbath day would break the law. Yet if they waited a while, for conscience' sake, they might lose their lives.

And the Lord, foreseeing everything, tells them to pray that there be no hindrances to their flight. Oh, how He cares! They will pray it beforehand. From Daniel 12 we see there will be wise ones who will instruct others in righteousness, for "the wise shall understand." So when they see this coming they will pray that it be not in the winter. Then the ravines have rushing torrents that make escape dangerous. Here the Lord prepares them, and we too can certainly profit from it.

At the time of the end, the abomination of desolation that Daniel 12:11 speaks of will stand in the holy place. Jerusalem is in question, as verse 16 shows... The setting up of this abomination will be the signal to the godly that the great tribulation He foretold has begun. Their safety lies in fleeing from Jerusalem and Judaea, where the suffering will be fiercest... The Lord was speaking to His disciples, who at that moment were godly Israelites gathered around their Messiah on earth. So at that moment they represented the godly remnant of Israel, not the church.

When the Lord quotes Scripture, He gives further light... So here the Lord goes beyond Daniel by adding "and never will be." It will never be repeated. It will be the most trying experience any nation has ever had. There is that idolatry, and they will be forced to take the mark of the beast either openly or secretly. Publicly or privately, they must own it, or else be put to death and cut off from every privilege of society.

Nothing has ever matched the great tribulation, and nothing will ever equal it, let alone go beyond it. The Lord says this in verse 21. The reason, as the book of Revelation shows, is that heaven will send down wrath at that time — the pouring out of the bowls of judgment. It will not just be men afflicting men, or one nation punishing others, as we see so plainly today. It will be God punishing the nations as He settles His accounts with them.

The destruction of Jerusalem, with all its horrors, may have foreshadowed the future, but in no way fulfils the prophecy of this time of trouble. This passage tells us that right after the great tribulation the Lord will come to earth. Yet after the destruction of Jerusalem He plainly did not come. Moreover, there cannot be two times of tribulation "such as never were."

Note too that the tribulation comes after the setting up of the abomination of desolation. If you apply it to Titus and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, then setting it up closed the tribulation.

Two passages in the prophets (Jer. 30:7 and Dan. 12:1), as well as two passages in the gospels (Matt. 24:21 and Mark 13:19), tell us of this great tribulation. There we notice that it will fall chiefly on the Jews, though the Gentiles may also suffer from it... The tribulation will take place during the second half of the last week mentioned in the book of Daniel (chap. 9), and will last until the Lord's appearing.

"Because you have kept the word of My patience, I also will keep you (not during, but) out of the hour of trial that is about to come upon the whole habitable earth, to try those who dwell upon the earth."... The refuge is not just a matter of place, because that hour of trial will fall on the whole habitable world. The heavenly saints will be caught up before that crisis comes. That crisis repays the lawlessness of the Jews and the Gentiles. It is a wholly different trouble from the one that falls to us as Christians.

All this is plain enough. It is not a question of the soul but of the salvation of the body. They will then live and be the subjects of the blessed reign and glory when the Lord comes. It is earthly glory here, not in heaven. For the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.

The last week of the seventy predicted in Daniel (9:24–27) is divided into two parts. Only the second half is the time of the great tribulation. Then the suffering is so great that unless the days had been shortened no flesh could be saved (Matt. 24:22). In connection with this passage, one writer finds that the appearing of the Son of Man follows "immediately after the tribulation of those days."

Here the Lord's mind rests on the great fulfilment. There may be a partial early fulfilment in the capture of Jerusalem by the Romans, which Scripture does not record as history. But the mind of the Spirit rests clearly on the great final catastrophe of God's house and people and city.

All the might of the Roman Empire, energised by the Dragon, will be used to wipe out everyone who dares to make a stand for God. The godless mass of people in Judea will be in full sympathy with the persecutors.

This is a remarkable statement even about the evil of their own hearts. The spirit of death and evil is among them. They would destroy themselves, and this has been seen in Jerusalem and elsewhere. It comes from within and from without; but for the sake of the elect, who were to be spared in the flesh, those days were shortened.

I confess this is the strongest indication to me that the Lord was not thinking of His heavenly people but of His earthly people. Later He speaks through His Spirit in the apostles about His heavenly ones. There He tells us plainly that the saving of the flesh was, and could be, of no importance. The reason is that flesh and blood can never inherit heaven. Saved flesh must be for the inheritance of the earth. The elect of this verse are, I am sure, the Lord's earthly remnant.

These words come in the course of His prophetic teaching recorded in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. They do not refer to the way sinful men may receive the salvation of their souls. The Lord was not addressing sinners but men already brought into relationship with Himself — His disciples.

That tribulation will beat harder on the Jews than on any other people. Yet in the middle of it the Lord will have His elect, and for their sake the days will be shortened (v. 22)… They are elect, which means the sovereign mercy of God has chosen them. But how will they be distinguished from the rest of the rebellious people? God's way has always been to bring such people to light by a testimony from Himself.

I understand the shortening of the days to mean that they are held strictly to the 1260 days. Man's will and passions would otherwise carry them on without end. But the Lord would come as a thief in the night and close it all.

Today God is dispensing mercy through the gospel. He has made a very long work of it, stretching over nineteen centuries. When He dispenses wrath He will make swift work, cutting it short in righteousness. A brief three and a half years will cover it, as other scriptures show. So the goodness of God will be shown both in mercy and in wrath.

The shortening of these days of tribulation (verses 19-22) means this: the Great Tribulation does not begin at the start of Daniel's week, but in the middle. It lasts only three and a half years. His people are especially warned against the false Christs (23-26). Then, when evil is at its height, the Son of Man will appear like the lightning in the heaven; there will be no mistaking His appearing (27, 28).

Suppose that someone should go to a Christian and say, Christ is in such and such a place. Could he be deceived in this way? Does not every believer, even the least instructed, know where Christ is, that He is at the right hand of the Father in heaven?… Now imagine that such a temptation were put to the Jews. They do not believe that their Messiah has ever come, and they are still expecting His arrival. You will see at once how wide open they are to such deception. We cannot therefore help seeing this description as applying to God's ancient people, and not to the church.

These disciples were the godly remnant of the nation, looking for the Messiah to bring in glory… The time had come when the true Messiah ought to appear. And He had appeared, but Israel had rejected Him, hardening themselves in the lie that our Lord could not be the promised One. But Israel had not given up the hope of the Messiah yet. This exposes them to the delusion spoken of here… At any rate, the rejection of the true Christ lays them open to the reception of a false Christ.

There will be no need to go into the desert to seek Him, or to the secret chambers to find Him out. When He comes, "every eye will see him." The coming of the Son of Man will be sudden as a flash of lightning, and just as overwhelmingly clear to everyone.

There would be reports that Christ was in the desert (as though another John the Baptist): they were to refuse such reports. Others would claim that He was "in the secret chambers," that is, that He had come secretly, invisibly. So-called Jehovah's Witnesses have made this wicked claim. They had prophesied that Christ would come in 1918. When this did not happen, they invented the contemptible deception that He had come invisibly.

They are warned now against any attempt to mislead them by drawing away disciples after a Christ who has come secretly — in the desert, or in the inner chambers. That is not how He would come. The power of evil at work would have its snares laid on the right hand and on the left; but there would be no need for any careful discrimination to discern the truth.

The Lord warns the disciples against false hopes of deliverance. He warns them against false reports of false Christs, and against false prophets, false signs, and apparent wonders. Their safety will be in remembering the words of the Lord, "I have foretold you all things."

The great thing that marks out the Church is the presence of the Holy Spirit. So the deceit we have to watch against is false spirits, not false Christs, though there are many antichrists. The danger of Christians is grieving the Holy Spirit — or even listening to false spirits.

All this is left out in Luke. Nothing of the kind happened before the siege of Jerusalem, and so it formed no part of the prophecy as Luke reports it. On the other hand, other Scriptures teach us that this is exactly the state of things before Christ appears in power and glory to set up His world-kingdom.

No doubt men claiming to be Christ will force themselves on the public through the entire seven years. Some will show great signs and wonders, as will be true of the antichrist, the man of sin (2 Thess. 2:3-12). In fact, even today there are many antichrists (1 John 2:18). Even the elect must be on their guard, for the deceptions of such men are highly plausible.

After that (v. 23) come the great signs. In those last times there will also be false Christs and false prophets. They will promise the deliverance that hearts will so badly need at that terrible moment, when all the false hopes of an unbelieving nation have passed away... Once again the wickedness of men and the deceits of Satan will turn souls aside. They will keep them from humbling themselves, and from seeking deliverance in the only place where it can be found.

Verse 24 plainly shows that not all miraculous signs are from God. There are two kinds — the divine and the devilish. The divine kind displays the divine character in grace and power. The devilish kind may often be flashier, more startling, and more attractive to unconverted people. People today who crave the miraculous should take great care that they are not deceived.

But it is clear that the Lord Jesus assumes real danger for the disciples here. They were Jewish, not Christian. So the cry that He was here or there on earth might deceive them. No Christian could be in such danger, but the Jewish disciples were. They were looking for the Lord's coming to the earth. They knew that the Lord's feet would stand in that day on the Mount of Olives.

I do not say that such words about them must prove them to be an earthly people. No. I believe, from Revelation 13, that many heavenly men will face deceits in that day, and will be kept from deception in the same way.

The clause "if it were possible" implies that they would be deceived without the protection of God's grace and power. God has decreed that the elect will not be carried away, despite coming so close to it... Believers, however, have no excuse for accepting such deception. The Lord has warned them beforehand how subtle it is, and their protection is in His Word.

The true saints will know that the real Christ is not going to hide Himself in some corner. Men will not have to say, "Look, here is the Christ!" or "There He is!" He will shine out in His glory at His coming, and every eye will see Him.

The Lord Himself sought to fortify His disciples in the same way. He said to them, "They will put you out of the synagogues… But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you." (John 16:2–4.) In tender concern, then, for our weakness, the Lord, through His servants, has forewarned us of what we have to expect among His professing people. And two important things follow. First, only in the light of the Scriptures can we read the state of professing Christianity rightly. Second, if we do not know the teaching of the Word of God, we are open to disappointments and deceptions of every kind.

The Lord never leaves His people unwarned about the dangers and enemies they will have to meet. (See Matt. 24; John 15:16; 1 Tim. 4; 2 Tim. 3; Rev. 2:3; etc.) And if they store up His warnings in their minds, they are neither surprised nor discouraged when there are fears within as well as fightings without. They are ready for conflict with every form of Satan's hostility… How necessary it is, then, for the believer to know these warnings of coming dangers!

The words "if it were possible" imply that they would be deceived without the protection of God's grace and power. For God has decreed that the elect will not be carried away, despite their being so close to it. At this time the chief of all false christs, the Antichrist, will entice great numbers "with all power and false signs and wonders" (2 Thess. 2:9). Believers, however, have no excuse for accepting such deception. The Lord has forewarned them of how subtle it is, and their protection is in His Word.

Here there will be false christs on the earth, and people will say, "He is here in the wilderness," "He is there in the secret chambers." But the saints who will be caught up and return with the Lord have nothing at all to do with false christs on earth. They will go up to heaven to be with Him there before He returns to the earth. The Jews are expecting deliverance on earth, so it is easy to understand that they would be open to such temptations. They would be deceived by them unless God Himself kept them.

A Christian is unlikely to be deceived by such rumours for an instant… He knows that he is to be with the Lord in the heavens. For this he will be taken up out of this world into the air to meet the Lord on high. So the deceits in question are addressed only to those who expect to meet the Lord on the earth.

I do not say that such words about them would necessarily settle that they are an earthly people. No. I believe, from Rev. 13, that there will be many heavenly men exposed to deceits in that day, and preserved in the same way from being deceived.

History has proven how much this warning was needed. Prophetic deceptions today are almost countless, and they have multiplied above all since the 1800s. Many have already come claiming to be Christ. Some of them do not use that title, yet they exalt themselves into the place that belongs only to the Lord Jesus. Many have been deceived by them.

It is clear that the elect here are Jewish. Such rumours would hardly deceive a Christian for an instant. But the Lord Jesus supposes considerable danger for such disciples as are here. In fact, being Jewish and not Christian, they could fall for the cry that the Messiah was here on earth. They were looking for the Lord's coming to the earth. They knew that in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. So these deceits might take them in.

Some would report that Christ was in the desert, as though another John the Baptist had appeared. They were to refuse such reports. Others would claim that He was "in the secret chambers," that is, that He had come secretly, invisibly. So-called Jehovah's Witnesses have made this wicked claim. They had prophesied that Christ would come in 1918. When that did not happen, they invented the contemptible lie that He had come invisibly. Other such foolish claims will yet be made.

So the antichristian snare, in the form it takes, shows the same thing. People look for Christ in the desert, or in the secret chambers, as though He would appear not from heaven but among the people. And the false Christ, when he comes, sits with divine honours in the temple of God.

There will be no need to go into the desert to seek Him, or to the secret chambers to find Him out. When He comes, "every eye will see him." The coming of the Son of Man will be as sudden as a flash of lightning, and as clear to everyone as that flash is.

He would come openly, not secretly. The need would be such as to call not for secret help but open intervention. His coming would be like lightning lighting up the whole sky. It would announce swift and unsparing judgment.

What possible use could such words have for people who are told to wait for God's Son from heaven? They know that before He returns to this earth they will have met Him in the clouds and returned with Him to the Father's house. Would any Christian who knows his proper hope believe people saying that Christ is here or there, in the desert or in the secret chambers? Impossible. Such a person is watching for the Bridegroom to come from heaven. He knows one thing for certain: Christ cannot appear on this earth without bringing all His people with Him.

The coming of the true Christ of God will be marked by the greatest possible publicity, like the lightning. No one will need to travel to a remote desert or a secret chamber to see Him.

Others would claim that He was "in the inner rooms," that is, that He had come in secret, unseen... Other such foolish claims will yet be made. But the Lord is emphatic: the coming of the Son of Man in power and glory will be like the lightning shining from east to west — sudden, bright, and evident to all the world. He does not speak here of His earlier coming for His saints, but that will be just as evident to all who share its great blessing.

This is not the Roman conquest. The army of Titus did not come out of the east, as the lightning does here, and it did not shine to the west. If the Romans had been meant, the very reverse would be a more fitting figure. So clearly has the Lord Jesus guarded against the misinterpretations of men! The Son of Man's coming will be quite different and will take everyone by surprise, like the lightning. There will be no question of going here or there to seek Him.

They were not to follow any of those false lights that Satan lit to deceive souls. The Lord, the Son of Man, would come as lightning — suddenly, and with a brightness that would leave no doubt about His person when He appeared in this way.

He would come openly, not secretly. The need would be so great that it would call for open intervention, not secret help. His coming would be like the lightning lighting up the whole sky — the announcement of swift and unsparing judgment... Long-suffering patience held out no more hope. Judgment itself was now the only mercy.

Its precise use in the Epistles is to set forth the actual presence (and so by implication the coming, if previously absent) of a person or thing. It may or may not be a manifested presence; the context, or the nature of the case, must decide it. So the parousia of Christ as Son of Man is clearly so open that all the tribes of the earth mourn as they see Him.

When the Son of Man comes in bodily presence, this is no doubt the fitting comparison. The appearing of the Lord Jesus from heaven will be sudden and bright, like the lightning. Is that our hope? Does Scripture ever present our Lord as the lightning coming to receive the Church? Is that how a bridegroom comes for his bride? On the other hand, if He comes then and in this way to judge... I can understand that the shining of the lightning would be a most fitting figure for such a coming and such dealings. It does not fit the indescribable peace and heavenly joy of the meeting between the Bridegroom and the Bride. It fits exactly His presence in judgment.

The words mean that where the object of judgment is, there the executioners will do their work. The Scripture which our Lord probably had in view is Job 39:30. I believe the prophecy applies to the apostate part of the Jewish nation. That part of the nation will be like a lifeless carcase when divine vengeance falls on it at the end of the age.

This is supposed to be the bird known as the Griffon Vulture or Great Vulture... No sooner does an animal fall than these birds congregate in numbers on its carcase, according to Job 9:26; Matt. 24:28. The true eagle is a solitary bird, but vultures are seldom found alone.

Where then, in what the Lord says here, is positive judgment found? It is contained, almost concealed, in these words: "For wherever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered." I think that passage alludes to an expression in the book of Job 39:30. It treats the Jews, who have united themselves with the enemies of God, as lost and dead, without wishing to name them again.

The carcase is the apostate part of the Jewish nation, that which is most offensive to God — only a carcase! lifeless, fit only for judgment, and the judgment will fall on them, and there will be no escaping it.

The moment you refer "His carcase" to the Jewish people, it becomes strikingly true. The mass of the Jews then will be apostate. The eagles or vultures that flock there are figures of God's judgments on the guilty people, carried out by the hostile nations of the earth. Whatever may be the instruments, they are judgments of God executed at this time.

This coming of verse 27 is plainly in judgment, as verse 26 confirms. "The carcass," the corrupt condition of both Israel and the nations, will draw "the eagles," the executors of a well deserved judgment.

Apply this to the Church or to the Christian, and what can you make of it? Is the Church "the carcase"? The Church united to Christ by the Holy Spirit is His body: it is a wonderful privilege and a blessed truth, but is the Church a carcase? Surely not: it is His living body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Nor is the Lord ever regarded as a body dead or merely alive, but as the risen and glorified Head.

If the Christians were the carcase, they must be the object of the judgment... But this is not the relation of the Lord's coming to the Christian. Nor can any Christians be the eagles or instruments of divine vengeance, any more than the carcase, without abandoning all the truth and character of their calling.

But when the Lord had given this solemn warning, the disciples exclaimed, "Where, Lord?"... As if the Lord had said, "Where?" — what a strange question! When the eagles seek their prey, where do they go? Wherever there is a carcase to be found. When these eagle-judgments are abroad in search of the wicked, where will they rest? Of course, wherever any wicked one is to be found. If he is in bed, or at the mill, or in the field, whatever righteous ones may be his companions, even there shall those judgments go.

Notice how Matthew and Mark dwell on the troubles tied to the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. They tell us that no trouble like it had ever been known, and none like it would ever come after… They also speak of the Lord's coming as following close on those days of fierce trial (Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24). Luke mentions neither those days nor the abomination of desolation. His gospel teaches plainly that a period of unmeasured length would come between Jerusalem's capture and the Lord's return (Luke 21:24).

A popular view makes this verse the point where the Lord starts speaking about His own return. That destroys the force of "immediately after the tribulation of those days" and breaks the connection with the true transition to the last days in verse 15.

This is the symbolic language of prophecy. But how should we read it?… In Genesis the greater light, the lesser light and the stars rule the day and the night. Throughout Revelation and prophecy generally, the heavenly bodies stand for rule: the sun for supreme authority, the moon for reflected authority, while the stars represent the minor and lower vessels of rule. So verse 29 is a symbolic picture of all government being completely overturned as soon as Daniel's seventieth week ends.

Supreme power, pictured by the sun, goes dark. Derived authority, pictured by the moon, stops having any influence. Subordinate authorities, likened to the stars, lose their place and power. This age, despite all that men boast about progress, will end in tribulation, confusion and anarchy like nothing before it.

Still, the Lord does not use many symbols in this talk, as the book of Revelation does. So we think we must not rule out real upheavals in the heavenly bodies. We know the sun really did go dark when Jesus died. The darkness of that day will make the brightness of His shining forth stand out all the more, when He comes in the clouds with great power and glory.

It is clear that the whole stability of government will be shaken. The general sense is plain. God's hand and will touch not only the earth, but the sources of power: "I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."… The rulers and authorities in heavenly places stop acting as God's agents, and they shake under this great act, which hands that rule to the Son of man.

In Revelation 12 Satan is cast down clearly before the last great tribulation. He is furious, because he knows he has only a short time… In the gospels, where the mark of time seems precise (Matt. 24, Mark 13), the shaking of the powers of the heavens comes after the tribulation… So, as events, the two have nothing to do with one another.

Here in Matthew 24 there is no gathering of saints to Christ in heavenly glory. This is the coming of the Son of man, to whom all judgment is committed… While He is hidden, they are hidden too. When He appears, they appear too, having been caught up beforehand.

The Sadducees and the Pharisees together demanded a sign from heaven from Him. Their hatred of Him was strong enough to join two groups that could not stand each other. That sign the Lord did not and could not give. He could not make Himself acceptable to the world, or prove Himself on the world's terms... But in due time, though in a way they did not look for, a sign from heaven will be given to them. They asked for it (Matt. 16:1), and they shall have it (Matt. 24:29-30); but it will be a sign of coming judgment, a sign that the Son of Man is on His way from heaven in the clouds to carry out the vengeance that is written.

The Lord had already taught them about the end of the age. Now He tells them that the sign of His coming will be the coming itself. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. In the phrase "sign of your coming," the coming is itself the sign. Mark and Luke give that same real coming of the Son of Man without calling it a sign.

What is the sign of the Son of Man? We believe it will be the Shekinah cloud. A cloud covered Him when He stayed with Israel long ago. A cloud took Him out of His disciples' sight, and a cloud must bring Him back. At the bitter end of the great tribulation, when His faithful remnant is hard pressed on all sides... there will be seen, we believe, a bright and shining cloud in the heavens, a cloud from which fire shines out.

"And then all the tribes of the land will lament." The context seems to favour "land" here rather than "earth"; the word can mean either. Such mourning is never linked with His coming to take us up to Himself.

They would see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with power and great glory. Then all the tribes of the land — the land of Israel, I think — will wail because of Him. These are the people who had rejected Him, and who now see Him returning in glory. The faithful share the nation's fate in a general way, but God has freed them from their unbelief. We know they will mourn in another way (Zech. 12:10-14), looking on the One whom they had pierced.

This is not His coming as Bridegroom for the Church, but His public appearing with His saints, as Col. 3:4 speaks. All who were caught up earlier will come with Him on that solemn day.

Someone may ask, Why may we not take the phrase figuratively in Matt. 24:30 and literally in other parts of the discourse? Here is our reply. Our Lord uses that phrase ten or eleven times in this one discourse, and every time He means it literally. To suppose that He then used it once figuratively, in the same discourse, with no hint of a different sense, is to suppose Him speaking in a way calculated to deceive.

The trumpet speaks of clear, declared testimony, and the Jews, who have been scattered for so many centuries, will be awakened to return to their land. There are already some stirrings among the Jews toward this, and many have returned to the land. But by no means all of Judah has returned, and we do not even know where the ten tribes are. But God knows, and this great trumpet call of angels will bring them out and back to the land of promise.

The elect of this verse will be found among the Jews. In verse 31 there are others who are to be gathered together from the four winds. These are probably not only Jews, that is, men of the tribe of Judah, but also of the whole of Israel. They are elect, which means the sovereign mercy of God has chosen them.

There will be a great awakening especially among the ten "lost tribes" of Israel. They will be brought out from the places where they were scattered, coming from every direction and from the greatest distances back to the land of promise. This will be a miraculous work of divine power.

Some have wrongly applied verse 31 to the rapture. At the rapture the Lord will not send His angels: He will come Himself for believers (1 Thessalonians 4:16). The trumpet will sound, but that clear call at the rapture is meant only for the saints of God, dead and living. In contrast, angels with the great sound of a trumpet are sent to gather the elect of Israel from every direction back to their promised land. This will happen at the end of the tribulation. Compare Isaiah 27:13. The feast of trumpets (Leviticus 23:23-25) is a picture of this.

This gathering of the elect looks to the blessing of the coming thousand-year reign. There is no mention of any rapture to heaven, or even of resurrection, for it is the gathering together of living people on earth. In chapter 16 the Lord had revealed that He was going to build His church. But its heavenly calling and destiny had not yet been revealed, so we must not read the church into verse 31.

But there is more. Not only will those who are written in the book of God (Daniel 12:1) be delivered in Palestine. The Son of Man will also send His angels to gather together all the elect of Israel from the four corners of the earth, from one end of heaven to the other. For now the angels have become the servants of the One who inherits all the rights of man, according to the counsels of God.

The mention of the four winds in connection with Israel is no difficulty; it is quite the reverse (see Zechariah 2:6). As the Lord had scattered and spread them abroad "as the four winds of the heavens," so now His chosen ones are to be gathered in.

It is not only the remnant in Jerusalem who will be affected... Wherever they are found, not one will escape His eye, but all will be brought to share in the blessings of the kingdom which He comes to establish. As we read in Isaiah, "He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isaiah 11:12).

On the face of it, could this be said to be "immediately after the tribulation"? Or was it not the crowning of Jewish sorrow, rather than the glorious reversal of their sufferings by a divine deliverance? ... One greater than Titus is here; and an event is announced concerning that poor people which will change the face and condition of all nations.

Scripture points to the fig tree in two outstanding places. One is historical, Matthew 21:17-22; the other is prophetic, Matthew 24:32-33. The fig tree stands for Israel, the land of God's choice. It is the earthly centre from which God's plans of blessing flow out to a sinful world.

It is clear that the Lord treats this tree as symbolic of the Jews. He had done so a short time before. Both times the picture was so vivid that no believer need miss the meaning… The fruitless Jews were responsible under the first covenant. They have lost their religious position, and they are no longer a power. They lie scattered, swallowed up in the sea of peoples.

In Matthew 21 we see in the withered fig tree a picture of Israel's spiritual and national death. But that withered tree will live again. The fig tree will bud once more. However, the fig tree has this feature: fruit and leaves are there together. As soon as the branch becomes tender, the fruit is there. It is a rapid development. This is the lesson here.

The Jews will be objects of grace once more, and will come under the new covenant in that day. So here the fig tree falls under no curse. This time it does not wither from the roots. Israel trusted its own righteousness and knew nothing from it but misery and ruin. Now Israel casts itself on the Messiah in repentance and faith, and mercy flows on like a river.

The reference to the fig tree here is a parable. So we must expect to find in it a meaning deeper than that of a simile or an illustration… The "summer" represents the age of millennial blessedness for the earth. When real national revival sets in for Israel, then the appearing of Christ and the millennial age is very near.

This tree is an emblem of Israel, and the leaves coming out may well point to a national revival of that people. When the second beast, Israel's false king, arises, this will be plain to all. But before that, while the branch is still tender, the leaves come out, and this is a sign to the remnant. The movement called "Zionism" has already started among the Jews. Feeble, undefined and hesitant as it is, it may be the beginning of what will become the fig tree putting out its leaves, after the church is gone.

The fig tree putting out its tender leaves assures us that summer is near. So the appearing of the godly remnant in the middle of the apostate nation of Israel will signal that the time of blessing for the nation is close.

The Jewish remnant are given signs. They are told of certain things that must come before "the days of the Son of man." But they do not know the day or the hour of that appearing. See Matthew 24:32-36. By contrast, the saints now gathering to the hope of the "Son from heaven" get no such signs. They hear of no events that must happen first.

These are early days. We hear of nothing more than the branch becoming tender and putting out leaves. The time of fruit will come, but as yet they only know that summer is near… Grace will not fail to work its proper effects.

The fig tree is the well-known symbol of the Jewish nation. In Matthew 21 we saw it bearing nothing but leaves. That generation was given up to the curse of never bearing fruit, whatever grace may do for the generation that follows. In Luke 21 the word is, "Behold the fig tree and all the trees," because the Holy Spirit brings in the Gentiles all through that Gospel, and especially in that chapter… Here it is the tree, with renewed signs of life — the Jewish nation revived. "When you see all these things, know that it is near, at the doors." That is, the end of this age is near, and the start of the next age under Messiah and the new covenant.

Since those early days of glory the unfaithful nation has passed through a long dark night of sorrow. But summer is approaching, for "HE is near, even at the doors" (Matt. 24:33).

The signs named in this chapter clearly point chosen Jewish disciples to His appearing. So they do not disturb the position of the church, which waits always for the Lord from heaven. They are signs for a remnant closely tied to Judea, who will be waiting for the coming of the Son of Man. No signs of this or any other kind were ever set before the church for judging how near Christ is to come and take her to Himself… For the Bride the one heavenly sign is the presence of the Bridegroom Himself.

So here the fig tree falls under no curse. It does not wither from the roots. Israel knew nothing but misery and ruin while it trusted its own righteousness. Now Israel is cast on the Messiah in repentance and faith, and mercy flows on like a river.

The mark of the fig tree is that fruit and leaves come together. As soon as the branch becomes tender, the fruit is already there. The development is rapid. This is the lesson here. Israel's blessing, new life, fruit and glory will come quickly in those end days. When all these things happen in the last seven years, and above all in the last 1,260 days, they will know that everything promised to Israel is at hand.

Are there any signs that the fig tree is putting out leaves? In other words, are there signs of fresh life in the Jewish nation? We answer, there are certainly many and obvious signs. Within living memory the fig tree has been putting on leaves. After nearly two thousand years of wandering among the nations, a hunger for Palestine has arisen in the hearts of God's ancient people. Hundreds of thousands of Jews have entered that land again. This fulfils prophecies scattered across the Old Testament (see Ezekiel 11:17; 28:25; Amos 9:14-15). Fifty years ago, anyone predicting a sovereign state in Palestine would have been written off as predicting the impossible. The impossible of fifty years ago is a fact today.

When does the phrase "this generation" come in? After the Son of Man has already come in power and glory — not when they saw Jerusalem surrounded by armies. That is an important point in deciding its true meaning. If "this generation" really meant a man's lifetime, such a place in the prophecy would be out of keeping. The common notion might have been reasonable if the phrase came in right at the surrounding of Jerusalem with armies. But it makes no sense once the times of the Gentiles are finished. What then is its true force? It means what it often means in Scripture — this Christ-rejecting race of Israel, and not a mere period of time.

Many have taken this to mean that the prophecy was to be fulfilled in the lifetime of persons then present in the world. This mistaken idea has produced two further errors. Rationalists have used it to claim that the prophecy has broken down. Others have forced a strained meaning on the words to reconcile the apparent contradiction. It has been said, by way of explanation, that the coming of the Son of Man in the chapter was nothing more than death — an idea that will not stand examination... But even if that were true, the difficulty would remain. Before that generation passes, the Son of Man must come, and "all" the things foretold in the prophecy must happen too.

The meaning here is moral, not a matter of dates. Take Psalm 12:7: "You, O LORD, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever." The word "forever" proves that the term has a long reach. The passage means that Jehovah will preserve the godly from their lawless oppressors, "from this generation forever." That clearly and conclusively refutes those who would limit the phrase to the short span of a man's lifetime. Deuteronomy 32:5, 20 uses "generation" the same way — not to mark a period of time, but to express the moral character of Israel.

Notice the phrase "all these things." It runs from the first troubles down to the last, and takes in the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Clearly "this generation" here cannot mean a mere period of thirty years, or a man's life... So the same generation that crucified the Lord of glory is going on still, and will, until He comes again in the clouds of heaven.

Verse 34 has a much wider sense, and one that fits it better. Unbelieving Jews would exist, as such, until all was accomplished. Compare Deuteronomy 32:5, 20, where this judgment on Israel is especially in view. God hides His face from them until He sees what their end will be, for they are a very stubborn generation, children with no faith. This has happened. They are a distinct people to this day. That generation exists in the same condition — a monument to the lasting certainty of God's dealings and of the Lord's words.

That race shall not pass away till all shall be fulfilled... Israel remains still distinct, not reckoned among the nations.

It is not correct to make this phrase mean "this race." The race of Israel is not to pass away when all these things are fulfilled. On the contrary, Israel will then reach its full blessing and glory as a people here below. The true force is "this Christ-rejecting, unbelieving generation of Israel." It does not mean only the people alive then. It means all who bear the same moral fruit as those who refused the Messiah. So they have continued, and will, until after the last deceptions and the judgment of the antichrist... and grace has converted a new generation — "the generation to come."

Christ has attached an unusually solemn warning to this prophecy: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." No doubt this is true of all His words. But He spoke it of this prophecy in particular (v. 35). So let us read it with full regard for the warning the Lord has placed around this special scripture. The globe we walk on will pass away. The heavens will pass away like a rolled-up scroll. But not a syllable of these sayings of the Lord Jesus will fall to the ground unfulfilled.

Verse 33 goes far beyond the kingdom to the passing away of heaven and earth. That comes at the time of the Great White Throne, some 1000 years later (Rev. 20:11). The words of the Lord Jesus will never pass away.

Before creation, God had planned a work in and by the Son, a work that could never fail. This is the mystery the Lord has in mind here. Creation could be removed. Redemption — the work of the Word — cannot be moved, because the living God has joined Himself with it. And so all things that are made may be shaken (Heb. 12:27), for God Himself is not joined to them; He is not their foundation. But the Word was with God, and was God, and became flesh.

He who made all things will lay aside, like a garment, what is perishable and has grown old... Who but the Almighty could fold up and lay aside this vast universe and yet remain Himself, infinite and unchanging? He said it truly while He lived here as a man: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." What man, what angel, what creature could truthfully speak such an authoritative sentence?

Every word of His lips has something in it, something to be fulfilled. Every word is more stable than the heavens and the earth. So verse 33 gives us the striking thought that the words of His lips are more enduring than the works of His fingers.

We are told that the "words" He spoke, He received from the Father. He was so perfect as Man in His dependence on the Father that He said, "The Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak." Again, we read, "For he whom God has sent utters the words of God." So nothing could be more truly of God, and from God, than the words He spoke. It is no wonder, then, that He should say that His words will not pass away.

This much the Lord Jesus surely meant by these words. The saying is meant to bring great comfort to our hearts, since it is the word of the Son of God Himself. And the written word is surely equal in authority to His spoken word.

How very sweet this is for us to think about! The child of God knows he has a foundation for his faith more stable than heaven or earth... However much men may try to take away from the word of God, may we by His grace hold fast to all God has given us.

"Coming" or "presence," used of our Lord's future, does not by itself mean a public display. Display comes in when other words are joined to it, such as "Son of Man" (as in Matt. 24:27, 37, 39), or a term that plainly adds it (as in 2 Thess. 2:8), or facts like 1 Thess. 3:13. These additions show not only His presence, but the display of it.

The title "Son of Man" at once prepares you for a judgment connected with the earth and with persons living there. No doubt the Son of Man comes in the clouds of heaven, but He comes to judge the world and the people on it.

These were times of ease and worldliness, when all mankind was rising up against God. Yet they picture the scenes that will meet the Lord as He appears from heaven to judge the world… The same self-security and love of ease will mark the day when the Lord is revealed, just as it did before the flood. Then, as long ago, men will be absorbed in the ordinary matters of daily life.

People of the world will keep going their own independent way. They will still concentrate on the material things of life: eating, drinking and marrying. These things are not wrong in themselves, but too often they are the only object of men's existence.

Some would have us believe that before the Son of Man appears in the clouds of heaven, this earth will be covered from pole to pole with a beautiful robe of righteousness… But the short passage just quoted tears up all such empty and deceiving hopes by the roots in a moment. How was it in the days of Noah? Did righteousness cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea?… Scripture answers, "the earth was filled with violence."

He describes the effect of all Noah's preaching… "They were unaware." Did they not have plenty of testimony? Plenty. For a hundred and twenty years Noah, who preached righteousness, pointed to the coming storm, which Enoch had predicted too. They had plenty of testimony, but paid no attention to it… The flood caught people by surprise in Noah's day, and His return will catch them by surprise in the same way, when He comes Himself to judge the earth as Son of Man.

Here is another proof that our Lord, in this setting, speaks of the Jewish disciples of the last days, represented by those standing around Him then, and not of the Church. His illustration comes from God keeping Noah and his household safe through the waters of the flood. But the Holy Spirit, through Paul, pictures our hope by the pattern of Enoch, caught up to heaven, completely away from the scenes and circumstances of judgment here below.

Warned of what is coming on the world, he accepts and acknowledges the judgment, and he takes God's revealed way of salvation; and so he condemns the world. Note this: faith "condemns the world." It is not only belief in a sacrifice that saves, and power to walk with God. It also says of the world that it has completely turned away from God, and that it is going to be judged.

What He has predicted about His coming intervention in power is something completely new. It will mean a far greater overthrow for evil men than the flood brought. We believe it and expect it because He has said it. We too have been warned by God.

In Luke 17 He does not tell us that the world will change step by step from a wilderness into a Paradise. He does not tell us that the nations will lay aside their false gods, or the Jews their hostility to the true Messiah. On the contrary, He gives the disciples the needed warning that it was to be as in the days of Noah, and in the days of Lot. These were times of ease and worldliness, when all mankind was rising up against God. Yet they picture the scene that will meet the Lord when He appears from heaven to judge the world... The self-security and love of ease will be much the same when the Lord is revealed as it was just before the flood. Then, as of old, men will be absorbed in the ordinary matters of daily life.

There was nothing wrong in any of these things, considered in themselves. The wrong was not in the things done, but in the doers of them. Every one of them might have been done in the fear of the Lord and to the glory of His holy name, if only they had been done in faith. But they were not done that way. The word of God was rejected. He told of judgment; but they did not believe. He spoke of sin and ruin; but they were not convinced. He spoke of a remedy; but they would not listen. They went on with their own plans and ventures, and had no room for God. They acted as if the earth were theirs on a lease that never ran out. They forgot that there was a clause of surrender. They never thought about that solemn "until." God was shut out.

He describes the effect of all Noah's preaching... "They knew not." Had they not had plenty of testimony? Plenty. For a hundred and twenty years Noah, the "preacher of righteousness," pointed to the coming storm. Enoch had predicted it too. They had abundant testimony, but paid no attention to it. How dull their ears were!

Noah's generation was eating, drinking and marrying, just as the water began to rise. There was no warning sign, except Noah's entrance into the ark — like Lot's escape to the town of Zoar. But that looked like foolishness. To shut himself and all he had inside a ship stranded on dry ground — that was foolishness. Yet the flood came at the very moment they felt secure, and took them all away. They were "willingly ignorant" of the word of God, of the testimony of the "preacher of righteousness."

It was He who took counsel with Himself about the judgment of the world who had also planned with His chosen ones the way of escape. It was the hand that was about to let the waters loose which was now shutting Noah in. Could they then prevail against him? Just as impossible!

He describes what the effect was of all Noah's preaching. I think the extra light that Scripture throws on the scene is wonderful. "They were unaware." Had they not had plenty of testimony? Abundance. For a hundred and twenty years Noah, the "preacher of righteousness," pointed to the coming storm. Enoch too had predicted it. They had plenty of testimony, but paid no attention to it. How dull were their ears!

Those in Noah's day were willingly ignorant. That is what the apostle Peter deals with in his Second Epistle... They are willingly ignorant, but God stepped in by the flood. God has recorded it, so they can know it. They are willingly ignorant of the Lord's coming too, because the same word reveals both.

People were aware of the testimony of Noah about judgment, and there will be no lack of testimony then either. But people of the world will carry on in an independent way. They will still concentrate on the material things of life — eating and drinking and marrying. These things are not wrong in themselves, but too often they are the only object of men's existence.

Noah lived at the close of an age. He was saved with his house through a great judgment, and then became the beginning of a new age... As Noah's age closed with the flood, so will the Jewish age close with judgment. The judgment came suddenly on the ungodly generation of Noah's day; so will it be when the Son of Man comes.

I would point out here that our blessed Lord speaks of Noah and not of Enoch in His prophecy in Matthew 24. He does this because He was the minister to the Jewish people, the prophet of Israel. And since Noah is His theme, we have at once the right interpretation of the prophecy. The taking the Lord speaks of is a taking to judgment, like that of the people before the flood. The leaving means a leaving for blessing, like that of Noah and his household. Indeed the Lord tells us so Himself (see v. 39). But if He had been speaking of the church in this prophecy, He would have taken Enoch as His theme, and not Noah. Then the leaving would have been a leaving for judgment, like that of the corrupters of the earth who lived on after Enoch, and the taking would have been a taking to glory, like that of Enoch himself.

"Coming" or "presence," as applied to the future of our Lord, does not involve display. It does so only when other words modify it, such as "Son of Man" (as in Matt. 24:27, 37, 39)... These additions unquestionably show not "presence" only, but its display.

Noah was safe in the ark; the rough waves struck it, but could not reach Noah. In the same way the Lord Jesus is our refuge — our "ark". All the waves passed over Him. He has taken God's judgment against our sins. We trust in Him, as Noah trusted in the ark; and so we also will not come into judgment.

In the East these are usually small, with every family having its own mill. A woman, or sometimes two, sit at the mill turning the upper stone, casting in the grain now and then through a hole in it.

And so our Lord adds here a word that touched not only the Jewish system, but the condition and doom of the whole world. He lets us know that in that night two would be in one bed; one taken, and the other left. So two women at the mill; for here we are not dealing with human judgments. God will then judge the living. So it makes no difference what the relationship, the job, or the sex is, or whether people are indoors or outdoors. There can be no shelter and no exception.

First, take Noah and the flood. We can freely admit the application to the coming of the Lord that He Himself makes (Matt. 24:37-41). "One will be taken and one left." But we must handle such things carefully: "taken" how, and for what? Those whom resurrection takes out from among the dead are saints and taken for glory. At the rapture of the living saints, it is the same. In Noah's time, "the flood came and took them all away;" those taken are the judged and not the saved.

We have the illustration of Noah and the flood. The world before the flood was TAKEN for judgment. Noah was LEFT for blessing. Those before the flood were not "taken home or received," but drowned. Noah was not left "alone, left unprotected," but found in a renewed earth.

At a first glance some have thought that this was like the rapture of the church, but it is exactly the reverse. At the rapture the saints are caught away, and the world is left to go on its course. But when the Lord comes to judge the living on the earth, the taking away is in judgment. The righteous are left to pass into blessing on the earth at the millennium.

It will be true, of course, that two people may be together when the Lord comes for His own, one saved and one unsaved. He will then take the saved and leave the other. But everywhere in Scripture where the phrase is used, it is one taken by judgment, and the other left for millennial blessing.

But this judgment, sudden and unexpected as it may be, will be sure and discriminating. The eye of God will discern those that are His. They may be in exactly the same circumstances as those who are not. Two men may be in the same field, two women at the same mill; judgment will leave the one unharmed, and take the other. To the heart that was really watching and waiting for Him He would come as a deliverer from all the power of evil. The disciples were to watch; they did not know at what hour their Lord would come.

If heavenly saints had been in question, Enoch would be the fitting Old Testament picture. But the Lord meant saints who are not caught up, saints carried through the waters of judgment. So He rightly chose Noah as the pattern for the remnant who will be on the earth.