Matthew 24:36-51: “Jesus Teaches His Disciples About His Imminent
Return And How We Always Need To Be Ready For Him To Return”
by
Jim Bomkamp
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study,
we finished looking at the signs that Jesus gave for His Second Coming and the
End of the Age, and we saw that the finale of those signs was the ‘Day of the
Lord’ prophesied in scripture
1.1.1. We saw that this period of the Tribulation ends with
that final ‘Day of The Lord’ which is prophesied all throughout scripture
1.1.2. At the end of the 7 year Tribulation of the book of
Revelation, we saw from scripture that Jesus will descend to the earth upon the
white horse (Rev. 19:11) with all of the armies of heaven behind Him, and that
He will descend straight down to the Battle of Armegeddon where armies from all
over the earth will be gathered together to do battle with the Lord
1.1.2.1.We saw that Jesus will slay all of the people who are
there arrayed against Him in battle
1.1.2.2.We saw that at that time that Jesus would also send
out all of His angels all over the earth to gather together all of His elect,
and that what would follow would be the judgment of the separating of the sheep
(His people who have gotten saved during the Tribulation) from the goats.
1.1.2.2.1.This will be a judgment of separating all of the
people who have survived the 7 Year Tribulation period, some of whom are God’s
people and others who are not
1.1.2.2.2.Those who are not God’s people will be cast into hell
at that time, and those who are God’s people will then continue on living on
the earth, however they will not receive the resurrected bodies that those of
us who are raptured off of the earth before the 7 Year Tribulation will have
1.1.2.2.3.The people who are God’s people and have survived the
7 Year Tribulation will then begin to repopulate the earth and they will live
during the Millennial Reign of Christ with Satan bound until the very last of
that period
1.1.2.2.4.At the end of that period Satan will be loosed and he
will again muster together a rebellion against the Lord, and the Lord will
again come down and judge the wicked upon the earth
1.1.2.2.5.After the rebellion at the end of the Millennial Reign
of Christ, the Great White Throne of Judgment of non-believers will occur and
it will be a judgment of condemnation in which all before the throne will be
thrown into the Lake of Fire that burns for eternity
1.1.2.2.6.After the Great White Throne of Judgment, the Lord
will create a new heavens and a new earth
1.2.
In our study
today, we are going to now begin looking at Jesus’ warnings to always be ready
in heart for His appearing
1.2.1. Jesus tells His disciples speaking prophetically that
the time when He finally Comes Again at the end of the 7 Year Tribulation will
be very much like the time of Noah’s day when the people were going on and
living life normally until the day that the flood came
1.2.2. Jesus tells His disciples that His Second Coming will
be as a ‘thief in the night’ who comes when a person is least expecting it
1.2.3. Jesus tells His disciples that the good and faithful
servant will be the one who is ready in heart for His appearing as he is
remaining faithful in his stewardship, however the wicked servant will reckon
that the Lord will not be returning for quite awhile, and therefore he will
begin to live in rebellion and riotous living, but the Lord will return on a
day when he least expects it
1.2.4. Spurgeon once preached about how we all would be wise
to be ready in heart for the Lord to return at any moment in each of our days,
“But the Bible warns us all of certain great events,
especially of the Second Advent of the Lord and the coming judgment. It does
not clearly tell us when our Lord will appear, but it warns us that to the
unprepared he will come as a thief in the night. It warns us of the general judgment,
and of the day when all men shall live again, and stand before the great white
throne. It warns us of the day when every secret shall be revealed, and when
every man shall receive for the things that he has done in his body, according
to that he hath done, whether it be good or evil. “By them is thy servant
warned.” If I live like one of yonder cattle, in the immediate present, if I
have no eye for the future that is hurrying on, if my soul never places herself
in vision before the judgment-seat of Christ, if I never foresee the day when
heaven and earth, before the presence of the great Judge, shall flee away; why,
then I cannot be a diligent reader of the Word of God. If I search the
Scriptures I shall be called to walk in the light of the last day, and shall be
made to gird up my loins to face the dread account. Oh, that we might all be
warned to be ready, that we may give in our account with joy! Oh, that we may
so take the warnings of holy writ as to be ready for death, ready for judgment,
and ready for that final sentence which can never be reversed! If we were truly
wise, these warnings would put salt into our lives, and preserve them from the
corruption which is in the world through lust.”
1.2.5. Here are some facts from Parson’s Illustratator concerning
the Second Coming referenced in the scriptures, “Both the Old and New
Testaments are filled with promises of the Second Coming of Christ. There are
1,845 references to it in the Old Testament, and a total of seventeen Old
Testament books give it prominence. Of
the 260 chapters in the entire New Testament, there are 318 references to the
Second Coming, or one out of 30 verses. Twenty-three of the 27 New Testament
books refer to this great event. The four missing books include three which are
single-chapter letters written to individual persons on a particular subject,
and the fourth is Galatians which does imply Christ’s coming again. For every prophecy on the First Coming of
Christ, there are 8 on Christ’s Second Coming.”
2.
VS 24:36 - “36 “But of that day and hour no one
knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.””
- Jesus tells His disciples that no one,
not even He, knows the day nor hour that He will return
2.1.
Jesus has given to
us the ‘Dramatic’ signs which will lead up to His Second Coming, however He
tells us that even though when we see these signs occurring that we will know
that His coming is soon to occur, we still will not know the day nor the hour
that He will return.
2.1.1. Some have applied this verse to the rapture, and it is
perhaps the case that Jesus did not know the hour that the church would be
rapture before the 7 year Tribulation, however the real context of this saying
is during the 7 year Tribulation itself.
2.2.
Now an
interesting question that we ought to ask at this point is, ‘How could Jesus be
God and yet not know the day and the hour of His return?” This question enters us into discussion about
the ‘hypostatic union’ of God and Man of which Jesus was made…
2.2.1. In Philippians chapter 2, we see that Jesus humbled
Himself and took on the form of a man and in doing so He did not grasp onto the
things of His godhead, but emptied Himself, so some have said that Jesus’ not
knowing this information occurred because He had given up some of the powers of
His godhead when He was born.
2.2.2. However, in one
of the church councils that occurred during the period of the first few
centuries of the church, there was much discussion about the implications of
the ‘hypostatic union’ of God and Man in Jesus, and it was decided that since
He was God, if there was anything that Jesus did not know, that He did not know
it because He chose not to know it. They
decided that Jesus was totally God and totally Man, and that He was not less
than either, and thus this must be the case.
3.
VS
24:37-39 - “37 “For the coming of the
Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. 38 “For as in those days which
were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and
giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and they did
not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming
of the Son of Man be.”” - Jesus
tells His disciples that His Second Coming will occur in a very similar fashion
as that which was occurring when the flood came during the days of Noah
3.1.
Notice first of
all, that Jesus believed the book of Genesis to be the inspired and inerrant
word of God, for here He references the story of Noah and the Flood, and He
treats it as if it is historical fact, not fiction.
3.2.
Through these
verses Jesus tells us that even though there will be catastrophic things
occurring upon the earth, that people will still scoff at the notion that God
might be planning to come in judgment, and they will be trying to carry on with
life as normal.
3.2.1. As we look at these verses, it seems to me to be
incredible that giving all that the earth had experienced in the early part of
the 7 Year Tribulation that the people on the earth weren’t asking themselves
the hard questions concerning whether or not they may have really deceived
themselves and there could be a God who had created all, and that the Bible and
Jesus might actually exist in reality.
3.3.
This particular
utterance of Jesus’ refers specifically to His Second Coming, however many have
wrongly applied it to the rapture of the church. It cannot refer to the rapture of the church
however because it is speaks of the judgment that will take away all of the
unrighteous from the earth, and in the rapture it is the church that is
delivered from the earth.
3.4.
In Luke
17:26-30, Luke records Jesus saying that His Second Coming and the judgment
that will ensue with it will occur very similarly to the judgments that
occurred with both the flood as well as the destruction of Sodom and Gamorrah, “26
“And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the
days of the Son of Man: 27 they were eating, they were drinking, they were
marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered
the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 “It was the same as
happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were
buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; 29 but on
the day that Lot went out from
3.5.
In Hebrews
11:7, we read that Noah is listed there in the ‘Faith Hall of Fame’, for he
went against all of the rest of the world as he alone trusted by faith in God’s
Word and therefore built the ark that the Lord told him to build, “7 By
faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence
prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the
world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
3.5.1. Those who are in the world that is in rebellion
against God do not place their faith in God’s revealed Word, and thus the world
is never prepared for judgment when it comes from the Lord, for they scoff at
the notion that their could be a God or that He might want to judge the earth.
3.6.
In 2 Peter
2:4-9, Peter used the judgments of the world at the fall of the angels, the
flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in order to make the point that
the Lord does not judge the righteous along with the wicked, for He is able to
rescue the godly from temptations and to keep the world for the day of
judgment, “4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast
them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5
and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of
righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the
ungodly; 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction
by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live
ungodly thereafter; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual
conduct of unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man,
while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with
their lawless deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from
temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.”
3.6.1. We who are God’s people and walking in fellowship with
the Lord trying to following and His path for our lives need not worry about
judgments that are coming upon the world, for the Lord says that He is able and
willing to deliver us from those things.
3.6.2. This verse also indicates that God does not judge the
righteous along with the wicked.
4.
VS
24:40-41 - “40 “Then there shall be
two men in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. 41 “Two women
will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left.””
- Jesus tells His disciples that on that
day of judgment that will occur that all over the earth some will be taken and
others will be left
4.1.
These verses
refer to the judgment that will occur after Christ returns to the earth and He
has sent out His angels to gather the elect from the four winds. Some will be taken by the angels and others
will be left. The ones left will then be
the goats whom Christ will separate from the sheep whom the angels had gathered
together.
5.
VS 24:42-44 - “42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you
do not know which day your Lord is coming. 43 “But be sure of this, that if the
head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he
would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken
into. 44 “For this reason you be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an
hour when you do not think He will.”” -
Jesus tells His disciples that they need to always be alert and ready in
heart for Him to return for the Lord’s return will occur when people least
expect it to occur
5.1.
Jesus tells His
disciples that in the same way that a thief comes into a home to steal when the
people are away and least expect him to come, that in the same way His coming
will be at a time when the people in the world least expect Him to come.
5.2.
The point that
Jesus is trying to make here is that people need to always be ready for the
Lord to return, for if they are always ready in heart for Him, then they will never
be taken off guard, but because they are ready for Him, they will therefore
spend eternity with God in heaven.
5.2.1. In Luke 12:40, Jesus told His disciples to
always be ready for His return, “40 “You too, be ready; for the Son of
Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.””
5.2.2. We will never know what the day nor the hour is that
the Lord is going to return, but we also never know when this life that we live
can also be taken from us for death often comes to people when they are not
expecting it.
5.2.3. Not only the Second Coming, but the rapture of the
church can come at any time as well, for Christ’s return for His church is
always taught in scripture to be ‘imminent’.
There is nothing that prophetically needs to be completed before Christ
returns to remove His church from the earth (as taught in scripture).
5.2.3.1.If you miss the rapture of the church, then that means
that if you eventually do believe in Christ for salvation during the 7 Year
Tribulation, you will probably also experience a horrible martyrdom at the
hands of the Beast and the kingdom that he establishes over all of the earth.
6.
VS
24:45-47 - “45 “Who then is the
faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to
give them their food at the proper time? 46 “Blessed is that slave whom his
master finds so doing when he comes. 47 “Truly I say to you, that he will put
him in charge of all his possessions.”” -
Jesus tells His disciples that the faithful slave of His that is ready
in heart for His return will be the one whom He puts in charge of His household
6.1.
Jesus calls this
slave a ‘faithful and sensible’ slave who is found to be ready in heart for the
Lord to return.
6.1.1. He is ‘faithful’ because he is one who is simply
obedient to the Lord in his life as he seeks to do the Lord’s will and calling
for his life, and avoid the temptations and snares of the world that is in
rebellion against God and worldliness.
6.1.2. He is ‘sensible’ because he realizes how wise it is to
simply be obedient in heart and thus always ready and awaiting the Lord’s
return for him.
6.2.
As we will see in
chapter 25 of Matthew and with the parable of the Talents, the Lord plans to
place us in charges of responsibility in His kingdom, and thus God’s people
shall always be working and being productive for His kingdom and cause, and
being charged with this tremendous privilege and responsibility will be the
result of simply being prepared in heart for Him when He returns for us.
6.2.1. In the parable of the Talents, faithfulness with the
talents that God gives us, His slaves, will cause us to be placed in authority
and responsibility over varying numbers of cities in His kingdom.
6.3.
We see here that
in these verses the faithful slave is the one who is living his life each day
as if the Lord might return that day, and therefore he is seeking to be
diligent and faithful in carrying out the tasks that the Lord has for him to
do.
6.4.
Jesus says that
the ‘faithful’ slave of His, He will place in charge of ‘all His possessions’.
7.
VS
24:48-51 - “48 “But if that evil
slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ 49 and
shall begin to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; 50 the
master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an
hour which he does not know, 51 and shall cut him in pieces and assign him a
place with the hypocrites; weeping shall be there and the gnashing of teeth.””
- Jesus tells His disciples of the fate
of the evil slave who does not live his life each day as if his lord might
return
7.1.
Here we see that
the ‘evil slave’ is the one who begins to reason to himself that the master is
probably not going to return for a good long while, therefore why should he
have to worry about being faithful and diligent each day, all that matters is
whether or not he is trying to be faithful and diligent when the Lord
returns. Therefore, he procrastinates
committing himself to diligence and good stewardship thinking that later on
someday before he dies he shall repent of his sloth and begin to do good.
7.1.1. Many people in our world today put off committing
their way to Christ thinking that they will live for Christ when they get old
or after they have grown up and have a family, etc., and thus they put off
committing themselves to Christ. They
usually thing that if they commit themselves to God He’ll take all fun away,
but nothing is further from the truth.
7.2.
Jesus tells His
disciples that the Lord will return on a day that you would not expect, and
therefore those who are not trying to live each day as good and faithful
stewards are very foolish, for only those who live each day to be pleasing to
God will be ready when He returns.
7.3.
In 1 Thess.
5:1-9, Paul wrote about the fact that when the Lord returns that it will be
at a time during the 7 year Tribulation when the people of the world are rallying
together and saying that now all of the woes are going to be over and that they
have a handle on what was going on, and they have found a solution for the
problems for they were will be ‘peace and safety’ now, “5:1 Now as to the
times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to
you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come
just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!”
then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman
with child; and they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in
darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons
of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6 so then let us
not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. 7 For those who sleep do
their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 8 But
since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of
faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not
destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus
Christ.”
7.4. Jesus speaks some very sobering words, for he says that the person who is not ready for the Lord’s return will be cut in pieces and assigned a place with the hypocrites where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In other words, if we are not living our life abiding in Christ and eagerly awaiting His return, we will end up spending eternity not in heaven but in hell.