OUR FATHER WHO ALONE KNOWS THE TIME AND DAY OF THE END OF THE AGE Part 5

Matthew chapter 24 verses 36 - 44 records the Lord warning His followers that His return would be a complete surprise to everyone including the angels of heaven and some manuscripts record that even the Lord Jesus Himself did not know the day or hour of His return.

The Lord compared His return with the onset of the great flood of Noah where people were going about their daily lives eating and drinking and starting families when suddenly, the opportunity to enter the ark was no longer available and the door of the ark was closed and the destruction of the flood carried them away. 

In the same way, people, not believing that the end of the age of grace was soon to arrive, would continue living as they alway had until suddenly, the gift of the free salvation that Jesus acquired for mankind was no longer being offered.

36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

The return of the Lord Jesus will be sudden and will have no overt precursors. Life will carry on as normal right until the last second. People working together on farms or in factories will discovery that some people in their midst have disappeared into thin air and realize that they have been left behind.

The Lord Jesus explains that the reason for the secrecy is so that the kingdom of darkness would not be able to anticipate the day of the Lord and make plans to patrol the perimeter with his angels in order to interfere with (or  thwart ) the Son of Manˋs invasion of the earth.

The secret is tightly kept in order to catch the kingdom of darkness off-guard but the Lord advises His followers to be perpetually vigilant so that when the trap is sprung, they would be found to be in good standing in the kingdom of God and be caught up with Him in the clouds.

Amen.

24