Mateus 24

William Barclay · Citado em PreceptAustin

Mateus 24

Barclay says Mt 24:36 tells "us that the hour of that event is known to God and to God alone. It is, therefore, clear that speculation regarding the time of the Second Coming is nothing less than blasphemy, for the man who so speculates is seeking to wrest from God secrets which belong to God alone. It is not any man's duty to speculate; it is his duty to prepare himself, and to watch." (Barclay's Daily Study Bible) "Impatient heart, be still! What though He tarries long? What though the triumph song Is still delayed? Thou hast His promise sure, And that is all secure: Be not afraid! Be not afraid! Be still! be still! Impatient heart, be still!" My eager heart, be still! Thy Lord will surely come, And take thee to His Home, With Him to dwell: It may not be to-day; And yet, my soul, it may — I cannot tell! I cannot tell! Be still! be still! My eager heart, be still! My anxious heart, be still! Watch, work, and pray: and then It will not matter when Thy Lord shall come, At midnight or at noon: He cannot come too soon To take thee Home: to take thee Home. Be still! be still! My anxious heart, be still!" Knows (1492)(eido the aorist of horao = to see and perceive with emphasis on perception) means in general to know by perception. Jesus gives 3 more admonitions in the Olivet Discourse regarding the fact that the time of His coming cannot be known: (1) Mt 24:42 = "you do not know which day your Lord is coming." (2) Mt 24:44 = "the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." (3) Mt 25:13 " you do not know the day nor the hour." Date setting is absolutely forbidden! In Deut 29:29 Moses writes "The secret things belong to the LORD our God." Clearly the date of the Son's return is a "secret thing!" Paul and Peter both affirm that all that we truly need is revealed in the Word of God - 2Ti 3:16-17 and 2Peter 1:3-4. Stated another way if something is not revealed for us in the Bible then it is not needed to accomplish God's will in our lives. R. T. France "In view of such plain statements as this, it is astonishing that some Christians can still attempt to work out the date of the parousia!" Michael Green said that even the rabbis warned against setting a date for Messiah's arrival writing that "He who announces the messianic times based on calculations forfeits his share in the future." Ray Pritchard - Here is the application of this great truth. Jesus is coming. That much is certain. The precise time is hidden in the heart of God. It may be soon. It may not be for a 100 years. But one of these days, the sky will split open, there will a loud shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet call of God. Then the dead in Christ will rise first. Living believers will be raptured, and all God's children will rise to meet the Lord in the air. That starts the chain of events that leads eventually to the return of Christ to the earth. Since no one knows when the rapture will occur, our job as believers is very clear: Believe in His coming. Pray for His coming. Love His coming. Preach His coming. Watch for His coming. Wait for His coming. Expect His coming. Look for His coming. Live as if it might be today and one day you won't be disappointed. If you don't know Jesus, don't wait another day, another hour, another second. Run to the cross, lay your sins on Jesus, and trust him as your Savior. This is the most important decision you can ever make. Don't be caught unprepared when the Son of God returns to the earth. Amen. (Sound the Trumpet! Christ's Second Coming to the Earth) THE ANGELS DO NOT KNOW THE TIME OF THE SON'S COMING Angels (32)(aggelos/angelos) literally means a messenger (one who bears a message - Lk 1:11, 2:9, etc or does an errand). Most of the NT uses refer to heavenly angels (messengers) who are supernatural, transcendent beings with power to carry out various tasks. All uses of aggelos that refer to angels are masculine gender (the feminine form of aggelos does not occur.) It is interesting that Jesus mentions that the angels did not have knowledge of the timing of His return. In Mt 18:10 Jesus is describing "little ones" explaining that "their angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father Who is in heaven." So here we have these created beings who are always in close proximity to the Father and yet they do not know the Father's timing of the Son's return. How can men possibly think they can predict the timing of His return! It borders on the height of arrogance mixed with foolishness to try to do so! In addition although the angels will play a role in the work of the eschatological day (Mt 24:31), the timing of that day has not been revealed to them. The limited knowledge of the angels is also shown in Ephesians 3:10 and 1Peter 1:12. Michael Wilkins - The knowledge of his return was not given to angelic heavenly beings, who apparently have superhuman but not unlimited knowledge. Their comprehension accords with what is God's will for them to know. (The NIV Application Commentary) Heaven (3772)(ouranos) in this context refers to the abode of God and of the angels. So even though the angels are presumably in the presence of the Father, they still do not know the Father's mind on when this time will come. THE SON DOES NOT KNOW THE TIME OF HIS COMING It is interesting that Jesus uses the title "the Son of Man" 6 times in the Olivet Discourse (Mt 24:27, 30, 37, 39, 44, 25:31) and only in Mt 24:36 refers to Himself as "the Son." The Son (huios) - The first uses of huios in the NT are in the very first verse of Matthew - "The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David , the son of Abraham." (Mt 1:1) Jesus is the Son called Immanuel (Mt 1:23), the Son born to a virgin (Mt 1:25), God's Son Who He called to Egypt (Mt 2:15, the beloved Son of the Father (Mt 3:17), the acknowledged Son of God (Mt 4:3,6), the Son of Man (first used by Jesus Himself - Mt 8:20). While Jesus did not add the specification "of Man," here in Mt 24:36, most commentators infer from the context that Jesus was speaking of the Son of Man (cp this exact phrase in the next verse - Mt 24:37), the title Jesus used of Himself frequently in the Gospels (84x/80v) and the title which placed emphasis on His humanity. The significance of this inference is discussed below. Nor the Son - Note that some Greek manuscripts (Nestle-Aland 27) omit this phrase. And thus the NET reads "But as for that day and hour no one knows it- not even the angels in heaven- except the Father alone." On the other hand the parallel passage in Mark 13:32NET reads "But as for that day or hour no one knows it- neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son- except the Father." So even though some Greek manuscripts of Matthew's Gospel question the phrase "nor the Son," the fact that it is present in the Gospel of Mark supports the point that only the Father knows. How the omniscient Christ cannot know the day or hour is explained below. Jesus' acknowledged limitation of His knowledge does not deny His deity, but to the contrary is a mark of His true humanity. Related Resources on the Humanity and Deity of Christ: How Can Jesus Be God and Man- Matt Perman The Person of Christ - His Humanity and His Deity (written outline) by Wayne Grudem Audio Discussion of the Person of Christ by Wayne Grudem - Parts 1 of 3 Audio Discussion of the Person of Christ by Wayne Grudem - Parts 2 of 3 Audio Discussion of the Person of Christ by Wayne Grudem - Parts 3 of 3 It is notable that around 320 AD proponents of Arianism used Mark's text (Matthew's Greek text was less certain as noted above) to assert that Jesus Christ was not God in the Flesh but was created by God as His first act of creation. In short, Arianism taught that Jesus was a created being with divine attributes, but was not Himself divine. This was one of the greatest of heresies in the early church. The Arians reasoned that Christ's ignorance regarding the timing of His return substantiated their false belief. They argued that since the Son of God did not know the time of His own return, He could not be omniscient by definition. Hiebert remarks that Jesus' use of the title the Son (and not the Son of Man) places "Him alongside the Father, points to His consciousness of His unique nature as the divine Son. Since it is not the prerogative of any man "to know times or seasons, which the Father hath set within his own authority" (Acts 1:7), in His incarnation, Jesus also voluntarily accepted this limitation. Plummer points out that "after the Resurrection Christ does not say that He is ignorant." It was not expedient that His people should know the day and hour of the end, and it was not a part of His revelation to them. God's wisdom graciously withheld any indication of a definite date for the Second Coming, otherwise no believer living before the indicated date could have experienced the purifying hope of His coming (1 John 3:2-3). (The Gospel of Mark: An Expositional Commentary) D A Carson on not even the Son - John's Gospel, the one of the four Gospels most clearly insisting on Jesus' deity, also insists with equal vigor on Jesus' dependence on and obedience to his Father—a dependence reaching even to his knowledge of the divine. How NT insistence on Jesus' deity is to be combined with NT insistence on his ignorance and dependence is a matter of profound importance to the church; and attempts to jettison one truth for the sake of preserving the other must be avoided. (BORROW Expositor's Bible Commentary) Gundry explains not even the Son - Theologically, we may say that just as Jesus didn't exercise his divine omnipotence except to further the kingdom (compare, for example, his refusal to make stones into bread for himself), so he didn't exercise his divine omniscience except to further the kingdom. To have known and made known the exact time of his coming would have damaged the work of the kingdom by encouraging carelessness during the interim. What Jesus could have done because he was divine didn't predetermine what he did do as also a human being. The incarnation didn't lessen his divine potencies, but it did lead him to limit the use of them. (Commentary on the New Testament: Verse-by-Verse Explanations with a Literal Translation) John MacArthur on not even the Son - Christ voluntarily restricted His use of certain divine attributes when He became flesh. "Although He existed in the form of God, [He] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped," that is, to be held onto during His humanness (Phil. 2:6). It was not that He lost any divine attributes but that He voluntarily laid aside the use of some of them and would not manifest those attributes except as directed by His Father (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38). Jesus demonstrated His divine omniscience on many occasions. "He did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man for He Himself knew what was in man" (John 2:25). When, for example, Nicodemus came to Him at night, Jesus already knew what he was thinking and answered his question before it was asked (John 3:13). But there were certain self-imposed restrictions in His human knowledge. He told the disciples, "All things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you" (John 15:15). Jesus obediently restricted His knowledge to those things that the Father wanted Him to know during His earthly days of humanity. The Father revealed certain things to the Son as He reveals them to all men-through the Scripture, through the Father's working in and through His life, and through the physical manifestations of God's power and glory (see Rom. 1:19-20). Jesus learned much of His earthly knowledge just as every human being learns, and it is for that reason that He was able to keep "increasing in wisdom" (Luke 2:52). In addition to those ways, some truths were revealed to the Son directly by the Father. But in every case Jesus' human knowledge was limited to what His heavenly Father provided. Therefore, even on this last day before His arrest, the Son did not know the precise day and hour He would return to earth at His second coming. During Christ's incarnation, the Father alone exercised unrestricted divine omniscience. It seems probable that Christ regained full divine knowledge after the resurrection, as implied in His introduction to the Great Commission: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth" (Matt. 28:18). Just prior to His ascension, He told the disciples, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority" (Acts 1:7). He repeats the truth that the disciples would not be told the time of His appearing, but He did not exclude His own knowledge, as He did in the Olivet discourse. (See The MacArthur Commentary scroll up and down for more text) Douglas Sean O'Donnell - The highest heavenly created beings and the highest uncreated being don't know. (And yet some Christians think they know. I don't get it.) God the Father alone has such knowledge. (Matthew Commentary-Preaching the Word) Phil Newton on not even the Son - Not only does Mt 24:36 stand as warning against speculation on Christ's return, but it also gives us a remarkable picture of the Incarnation. Jesus tells us that at that point, He did not know the day of His return. He, who is 'very God of very God,' co-equal with the Father, co-eternal with the Godhead, co-existent with the Father from all eternity, even He did not know. Now that is puzzling. Yet here we learn something more of the wonder of what took place in the Incarnation. Jesus Christ exists in two distinct natures. He is fully divine. In His deity there is nothing that He does not know-He is omniscient. Every detail of every molecule in the universe is known by Him. Not a speck of dust floats in the atmosphere apart from His knowledge. All of the infinite knowledge of God resides in Him as God. But we struggle, because here Jesus refers to something that He does not know. How can that be so, since He is God? Jesus Christ has always been God. He did not become God at some stage in the process of eternity. Before time existed, He is God. Yet, He did not exist as man with a human nature of the same stuff that constitutes us as humans until the Incarnation. So, while He has never, not been God, He was not always man. That came about in the wondrous story of the angel announcing the supernatural conception in Mary's womb by the Holy Spirit of the Son of God. The one person of Jesus Christ took on the distinct nature of humanity. All of the limitations of the human race, He knew and understood from experience. He was sleepy, hungry, tired, thirsty, angry, grieved; He laughed, cried, talked, prayed, and entered into the depth of human relationships. But, He did not stop being God. At one and the same time, He sustained the universe by His power while in His humanity grew tired from a day of ministering to needy people. He kept the infinite solar systems in their revolutions while crying to the Father as a human being with needs.And now, the One that saw Nathaniel under the fig tree and who discerned the thoughts of scheming religious leaders, declares, that in His humanity, He did not know the time of His return. He does not complain about not knowing. Our Lord held complete confidence in the Father. The Omniscient One as God, in His human nature admitted things that He did not know. That gives further evidence of the genuineness of His humanity as well as His trust in the Father. Jesus knew everything necessary to be our Redeemer and to do the work of the Father on our behalf, but His human mind did not contain the infinite knowledge He possessed in His deity. "As man he knew only what God was pleased to make known to him," wrote Geoff Thomas. He adds several helpful statements about what Jesus did not know. "Jesus Christ our Mediator was never ignorant of anything he ought to have known." The date of the second coming fell within this range since; "the date of the second coming was not revealed to him for this reason - you and I have no need to know it. It would not help our earthly pilgrimage, and so Jesus our Lord was not told the time." This further demonstrates that "Jesus Christ our Mediator had to save us within the limitations of his human body." He trusted the Father for all that He needed to know to complete the redemptive work. And so we hear His agony in the Garden and His cries of dereliction on the cross as a human suffering for humans. "Jesus Christ was limited in knowledge but not fallible in his knowledge." He held "no mistaken notions" or fallible understanding. What He knew, understood, and spoke was absolute truth. So, if Jesus Christ, in His humanity, did not need to know when He would return, then neither do we need that kind of precise knowledge. He will come again but the time is known only to God and not to man. (Sermons from the Gospel of Matthew) Thomas Ice on not even the Son - In this passage Jesus is referred to as "the Son." When the New Testament uses terms like "the Son," or "the Son of Man," as occurs in the next verse (Mt 24:37), it stresses His humanity and the incarnation. This passage does not say, "that no man will ever know. This He did not say." 1 I agree with most commentators that this passage is saying that in His incarnation as the Son of Man it was not given to Him (or revealed to Him) the time of His return. I am sure that He knows (Ed: Referring to Jesus in heaven today) the day and the hour upon His return to heaven. John

Mateus 24

Barclay says Mt 24:37-39 tells "us that that time will come with shattering suddenness on those who are immersed in material things. In the old story Noah prepared himself in the calm weather for the flood which was to come, and when it came he was ready. But the rest of mankind were lost in their eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, and were caught completely unawares, and were therefore swept away. These verses are a warning never to become so immersed in time that we forgot eternity, never to let our concern with worldly affairs, however necessary, completely distract us from remembering that there is a God, that the issues of life and death are in his hands, and that whenever his call comes, at morning, at midday, or at evening, it must find us ready." (Barclay's Daily Study Bible) (Bolding added) Just like - This is a term of comparison, where Jesus compares the timing of His parousia with the days of Noah. The primary message just as the ancient world was unprepared for the coming flood, so too unbelievers will be prepared for Jesus' return. It is notable that just as the ancient world was judged, so too the future world will be judged when Christ returns. In the days of Noah pursuit of a worldliness dominated the world. Jesus is saying it will be just the same when he returns. On the other hand the message for believers is to adopt the motto of the Boy Scouts of America - BE PREPARED! Weber - Those who heeded Jesus' warnings and watched for the signs would be saved (Ed: Presuming they were genuine believers of course). Those who ignored them would find sudden judgment coming upon them before they could realize what was happening or why. Notice that this verse has nothing to do with the rapture of the church. The ones taken are not the believers but the unbelievers, as was true in Noah's day. (Holman New Testament Commentary) Note that Mark's version of the Olivet Discourse (Mk 13:1-37) does not have the comparison of the Second Coming and the days of Noah (Mt 24:37-41). Thomas Ice notes that "The word order in the original language reads as follows: "For just as the days of Noah, in this way is the coming of the Son of Man." The intensive particle "just as" (hosper) is a "marker of similarity between events and states." When combined with the demonstrative adverb "in this way" (houtos), Christ is saying that the days of Noah were exactly the same as will be the time of Christ's return. As Stanley Toussaint says "The likeness is seen in the suddenness of the coming of the judgment and the unpreparedness of the world for it." (BORROW Behold The King: A Study of Matthew) Daniel Harrington adds that "The point of the comparison between the days of Noah and the coming of the Son of Man is the unexpectedness of the crisis.…So unexpected was the flood that people did not recognize it until it had already come upon them." (Sacra Pagina: The Gospel of Matthew -Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1991, p. 342) A T

Mateus 24

Barclay - To live without watchfulness invites disaster. A thief does not send a letter saying when he is going to burgle a house; his principal weapon in his nefarious undertakings is surprise; therefore a householder who has valuables in his house must maintain a constant guard. But to get this picture right, we must remember that the watching of the Christian for the coming of Christ is not that of terror-stricken fear and shivering apprehension; it is the watching of eager expectation for the coming of glory and joy. The spirit which leads to disaster is the spirit which says there is plenty of time. It is the comfortable delusion of the servant that he will have plenty of time to put things to rights before his master returns. (Barclay's Daily Study Bible) Davies and Allison - The likening of the eschatological end to an unexpected thief is unattested in ancient Jewish sources. (A critical and exegetical commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew) THE LORD IS AT HAND. Philippians 4:5. Therefore— 1. Be diligent, 2Peter 3:14 2. Be prayerful, Mark 13:33; Luke 21:36 3. Be patient, James 5:8 4. Be pure, 1John 3:3 5. Be watchful, Mark 13:36, 37 6. Be hopeful, Luke 21:28; Ro 8:19-23 7. Be ready, Matt. 24:44 8. Be comforted 1Th 4:18 --James Smith - Handfuls on Purpose Head of the house (3617)(oikodespotes from oikos = a house + despotes = master) is the master of the house or the head of the family (householder). Jesus uses oikodespotes to refer to Beelzebul (related to Hebrew - Ba'al Zebub = "Lord of the Flies") (Mt 10:25). Refers to a landowner (Mt 13:27, 20:1, 11, 21:33). In Mk 14:14 Jesus refers to "the owner of the house" when He had sent His disciples out to secure the upper room for His last Passover (Mk 14:14, Lk 22:11). Liddell-Scott-Jones - master or steward of a house, native ruler, opposed to a foreign emperor; Astrology - of a planet, owner of a domicile or otherwise predominant, Oikodespotes (not in Septuagint) - 12x/12v - Matt. 10:25; 13:27, 52; 20:1, 11; 21:33; 24:43; Mk. 14:14; Lk. 12:39; 13:25; 14:21; 22:11. NAS Usage = head of a household(1), head of the house(4), head of the household(1), landowner(4), owner(1), owner of the house(1). At what time (KJV = "in what watch") - A "night watch" was a period of several hours when somebody stood guard or in other words (in this context) "stayed awake." A thief comes at a time (or in the night watch) when he is least expected and the occupant is the least alert. Time (watch) (5438)(phulake) "is used (a) with the meaning "a watch," actively, "a guarding," Luke 2:8, lit., "(keeping, phulasso) watches;" (b) of "the time during which guard was kept by night, a watch of the night," Mt 14:25; 24:43; Mk 6:48; Lk 12:38 Note: Among the Jews the night was divided into three "watches" (see, e.g., Ex 14:24; Jdg 7:19), and this continued on through Roman times. The Romans divided the night into four "watches;" this was recognized among the Jews (see Mk 13:35)." (Vine) Watch (phulake) = An ancient division of time (Ps 90:4; Ps 119:148; Lam 2:19; Mt 14:25). According to the later Jewish system, the night was divided into three watches (evening, midnight, and morning). The Greco-Roman system added a fourth (cockcrowing) between midnight and morning (Mk 13:35). The fourth watch (Mt 14:25; Mk 6:48) designates the time just before dawn. (Holman Bible Dictionary) Hendricksen on watch - The fourth watch is from 3 to 6 A.M. (the first being from 6 to 9 P.M., the second from 9 P.M. to 12 midnight, and the third from midnight until 3 A.M.). (Ibid) Thief (2812)(kleptes from klepto = steal; English = kleptomaniac) is a stealer or thief who acts with stealth or subterfuge. In this illustration Jesus is like a thief only in the sense that His coming will be unexpected. J R Miller on thief - Thieves do not send a notification of the hour when they will break into the house; they make their coming as stealthy as possible. They come when they will be the least expected and when the master of the house is least likely to be watching. If one would be prepared against them when they come—he must always be prepared. Christ will come as a thief in the night. That means that His coming will be without warning, without any token to indicate His approach. All efforts of wise men to compute the time and settle upon a year or a day when He will come—are useless, for Jesus Himself said, "Of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven!" (Devotional Hours with the Bible) Was coming (2064) (erchomai) in the present tense depicts the thief as in the process of coming. Recall that erchomai is used repeatedly by Jesus in Matthew 24-25 to describe His Second Coming - Mt 24:30, Mt 24:42, Mt 24:44, cp Mt 24:46 = when the "master" (a picture of the Master, Jesus) "when he comes", Mt 25:31. Parousia is used 4x in Mt 24:3, 27, 37, 39. The New Testament frequently compares the Second Coming to a thief's coming (Lk 12:35-40; 1Th 5:2; 2Pe 3:10; Rev 3:3; Rev 16:15), for the obvious reason that, as Jesus here points out, a thief never tries to rob a place where he knows he is expected, and certainly not at the exact time he is expected. He would have been on the alert - He would have known the watch and would have been especially vigilant. But Jesus has made it clear that we cannot know the day or the hour, so continual vigilance is necessary. Are you waiting and watching for His return today? The newly born again pagan believers at Thessalonica were alert, waiting "for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come." (1Thes 1:10).

Mateus 24:1-3

Barclay says semeion "is John's favourite word. To him a miracle was not simply an astonishing happening; it was not simply a deed of power; it was a sign. That is to say, it told men something about the person who did it; it revealed something of his character; it laid bare something of his nature; it was an action through which it was possible to understand better and more fully the character of the person who did it. To John the supreme thing about the miracles of Jesus was that they told men something about the nature and the character of God. The power of Jesus was used to heal the sick, to feed the hungry, to comfort the sorrowing; and the fact that Jesus used his power in that way was proof that God cared for the sorrows and the needs and the pains of men. To John the miracles were signs of the love of God. In any miracle, then, there are three things. There is the wonder which leaves men dazzled, astonished, aghast. There is the power which is effective, which can deal with and mend a broken body, an unhinged mind, a bruised heart, which can do things. There is the sign which tells us of the love in the heart of the God who does such things for men." (William Barclay's Daily Study Bible) "In a real sense, one cannot divorce miracle from Deity. God alone is capable of overriding natural law. He can countermand the command of nature." (Detzler) Semeion is found primarily in the Gospels and Acts with 17 uses in John, 13 in Acts, 9 in Matthew, 9 in Luke and 6 in Mark. Revelation uses semeion 7 times. The NASB translates semeion as follows = distinguishing mark (1), miracle (2), sign (35), signs (39). The KJV translates semeion much more frequently as miracle with the uses as follows = sign (50), miracle (23), wonder (3), token (1). Twice in Matthew Jesus answered the Jews request for signs declaring "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet." (Mt 12:39, 16:4) He was referring of course to His resurrection as the sign of Jonah. In the uses of semeion by His disciples in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 there of course was no rebuke for they were not asking out of a heart of unbelief but of belief. In 2Th 3:17, of writing of the closing salutations, the apostle using the pen himself instead of his amanuensis, his autograph attesting the authenticity of his Epistles.

Mateus 24:1-14

Mateus 24:36

Barclay says Mt 24:36 tells "us that the hour of that event is known to God and to God alone. It is, therefore, clear that speculation regarding the time of the Second Coming is nothing less than blasphemy, for the man who so speculates is seeking to wrest from God secrets which belong to God alone. It is not any man's duty to speculate; it is his duty to prepare himself, and to watch." (Barclay's Daily Study Bible) "Impatient heart, be still! What though He tarries long? What though the triumph song Is still delayed? Thou hast His promise sure, And that is all secure: Be not afraid! Be not afraid! Be still! be still! Impatient heart, be still!" My eager heart, be still! Thy Lord will surely come, And take thee to His Home, With Him to dwell: It may not be to-day; And yet, my soul, it may — I cannot tell! I cannot tell! Be still! be still! My eager heart, be still! My anxious heart, be still! Watch, work, and pray: and then It will not matter when Thy Lord shall come, At midnight or at noon: He cannot come too soon To take thee Home: to take thee Home. Be still! be still! My anxious heart, be still!" Knows (1492)(eido the aorist of horao = to see and perceive with emphasis on perception) means in general to know by perception. Jesus gives 3 more admonitions in the Olivet Discourse regarding the fact that the time of His coming cannot be known: (1) Mt 24:42 = "you do not know which day your Lord is coming." (2) Mt 24:44 = "the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." (3) Mt 25:13 " you do not know the day nor the hour." Date setting is absolutely forbidden! In Deut 29:29 Moses writes "The secret things belong to the LORD our God." Clearly the date of the Son's return is a "secret thing!" Paul and Peter both affirm that all that we truly need is revealed in the Word of God - 2Ti 3:16-17 and 2Peter 1:3-4. Stated another way if something is not revealed for us in the Bible then it is not needed to accomplish God's will in our lives. R. T. France "In view of such plain statements as this, it is astonishing that some Christians can still attempt to work out the date of the parousia!" Michael Green said that even the rabbis warned against setting a date for Messiah's arrival writing that "He who announces the messianic times based on calculations forfeits his share in the future." Ray Pritchard - Here is the application of this great truth. Jesus is coming. That much is certain. The precise time is hidden in the heart of God. It may be soon. It may not be for a 100 years. But one of these days, the sky will split open, there will a loud shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet call of God. Then the dead in Christ will rise first. Living believers will be raptured, and all God's children will rise to meet the Lord in the air. That starts the chain of events that leads eventually to the return of Christ to the earth. Since no one knows when the rapture will occur, our job as believers is very clear: Believe in His coming. Pray for His coming. Love His coming. Preach His coming. Watch for His coming. Wait for His coming. Expect His coming. Look for His coming. Live as if it might be today and one day you won't be disappointed. If you don't know Jesus, don't wait another day, another hour, another second. Run to the cross, lay your sins on Jesus, and trust him as your Savior. This is the most important decision you can ever make. Don't be caught unprepared when the Son of God returns to the earth. Amen. (Sound the Trumpet! Christ's Second Coming to the Earth) THE ANGELS DO NOT KNOW THE TIME OF THE SON'S COMING Angels (32)(aggelos/angelos) literally means a messenger (one who bears a message - Lk 1:11, 2:9, etc or does an errand). Most of the NT uses refer to heavenly angels (messengers) who are supernatural, transcendent beings with power to carry out various tasks. All uses of aggelos that refer to angels are masculine gender (the feminine form of aggelos does not occur.) It is interesting that Jesus mentions that the angels did not have knowledge of the timing of His return. In Mt 18:10 Jesus is describing "little ones" explaining that "their angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father Who is in heaven." So here we have these created beings who are always in close proximity to the Father and yet they do not know the Father's timing of the Son's return. How can men possibly think they can predict the timing of His return! It borders on the height of arrogance mixed with foolishness to try to do so! In addition although the angels will play a role in the work of the eschatological day (Mt 24:31), the timing of that day has not been revealed to them. The limited knowledge of the angels is also shown in Ephesians 3:10 and 1Peter 1:12. Michael Wilkins - The knowledge of his return was not given to angelic heavenly beings, who apparently have superhuman but not unlimited knowledge. Their comprehension accords with what is God's will for them to know. (The NIV Application Commentary) Heaven (3772)(ouranos) in this context refers to the abode of God and of the angels. So even though the angels are presumably in the presence of the Father, they still do not know the Father's mind on when this time will come. THE SON DOES NOT KNOW THE TIME OF HIS COMING It is interesting that Jesus uses the title "the Son of Man" 6 times in the Olivet Discourse (Mt 24:27, 30, 37, 39, 44, 25:31) and only in Mt 24:36 refers to Himself as "the Son." The Son (huios) - The first uses of huios in the NT are in the very first verse of Matthew - "The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David , the son of Abraham." (Mt 1:1) Jesus is the Son called Immanuel (Mt 1:23), the Son born to a virgin (Mt 1:25), God's Son Who He called to Egypt (Mt 2:15, the beloved Son of the Father (Mt 3:17), the acknowledged Son of God (Mt 4:3,6), the Son of Man (first used by Jesus Himself - Mt 8:20). While Jesus did not add the specification "of Man," here in Mt 24:36, most commentators infer from the context that Jesus was speaking of the Son of Man (cp this exact phrase in the next verse - Mt 24:37), the title Jesus used of Himself frequently in the Gospels (84x/80v) and the title which placed emphasis on His humanity. The significance of this inference is discussed below. Nor the Son - Note that some Greek manuscripts (Nestle-Aland 27) omit this phrase. And thus the NET reads "But as for that day and hour no one knows it- not even the angels in heaven- except the Father alone." On the other hand the parallel passage in Mark 13:32NET reads "But as for that day or hour no one knows it- neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son- except the Father." So even though some Greek manuscripts of Matthew's Gospel question the phrase "nor the Son," the fact that it is present in the Gospel of Mark supports the point that only the Father knows. How the omniscient Christ cannot know the day or hour is explained below. Jesus' acknowledged limitation of His knowledge does not deny His deity, but to the contrary is a mark of His true humanity. Related Resources on the Humanity and Deity of Christ: How Can Jesus Be God and Man- Matt Perman The Person of Christ - His Humanity and His Deity (written outline) by Wayne Grudem Audio Discussion of the Person of Christ by Wayne Grudem - Parts 1 of 3 Audio Discussion of the Person of Christ by Wayne Grudem - Parts 2 of 3 Audio Discussion of the Person of Christ by Wayne Grudem - Parts 3 of 3 It is notable that around 320AD proponents of Arianism used Mark's text (Matthew's Greek text was less certain as noted above) to assert that Jesus Christ was not God in the Flesh but was created by God as His first act of creation. In short, Arianism taught that Jesus was a created being with divine attributes, but was not Himself divine. This was one of the greatest of heresies in the early church. The Arians reasoned that Christ's ignorance regarding the timing of His return substantiated their false belief. They argued that since the Son of God did not know the time of His own return, He could not be omniscient by definition. Hiebert remarks that Jesus' use of the title the Son (and not the Son of Man) places "Him alongside the Father, points to His consciousness of His unique nature as the divine Son. Since it is not the prerogative of any man "to know times or seasons, which the Father hath set within his own authority" (Acts 1:7), in His incarnation, Jesus also voluntarily accepted this limitation. Plummer points out that "after the Resurrection Christ does not say that He is ignorant." It was not expedient that His people should know the day and hour of the end, and it was not a part of His revelation to them. God's wisdom graciously withheld any indication of a definite date for the Second Coming, otherwise no believer living before the indicated date could have experienced the purifying hope of His coming (1 John 3:2-3). (The Gospel of Mark: An Expositional Commentary) D A Carson on not even the Son - John's Gospel, the one of the four Gospels most clearly insisting on Jesus' deity, also insists with equal vigor on Jesus' dependence on and obedience to his Father—a dependence reaching even to his knowledge of the divine. How NT insistence on Jesus' deity is to be combined with NT insistence on his ignorance and dependence is a matter of profound importance to the church; and attempts to jettison one truth for the sake of preserving the other must be avoided. (The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke) Gundry explains not even the Son - Theologically, we may say that just as Jesus didn't exercise his divine omnipotence except to further the kingdom (compare, for example, his refusal to make stones into bread for himself), so he didn't exercise his divine omniscience except to further the kingdom. To have known and made known the exact time of his coming would have damaged the work of the kingdom by encouraging carelessness during the interim. What Jesus could have done because he was divine didn't predetermine what he did do as also a human being. The incarnation didn't lessen his divine potencies, but it did lead him to limit the use of them. (Commentary on the New Testament: Verse-by-Verse Explanations with a Literal Translation) John MacArthur on not even the Son - Christ voluntarily restricted His use of certain divine attributes when He became flesh. "Although He existed in the form of God, [He] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped," that is, to be held onto during His humanness (Phil. 2:6). It was not that He lost any divine attributes but that He voluntarily laid aside the use of some of them and would not manifest those attributes except as directed by His Father (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38). Jesus demonstrated His divine omniscience on many occasions. "He did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man for He Himself knew what was in man" (John 2:25). When, for example, Nicodemus came to Him at night, Jesus already knew what he was thinking and answered his question before it was asked (John 3:13). But there were certain self-imposed restrictions in His human knowledge. He told the disciples, "All things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you" (John 15:15). Jesus obediently restricted His knowledge to those things that the Father wanted Him to know during His earthly days of humanity. The Father revealed certain things to the Son as He reveals them to all men-through the Scripture, through the Father's working in and through His life, and through the physical manifestations of God's power and glory (see Rom. 1:19-20). Jesus learned much of His earthly knowledge just as every human being learns, and it is for that reason that He was able to keep "increasing in wisdom" (Luke 2:52). In addition to those ways, some truths were revealed to the Son directly by the Father. But in every case Jesus' human knowledge was limited to what His heavenly Father provided. Therefore, even on this last day before His arrest, the Son did not know the precise day and hour He would return to earth at His second coming. During Christ's incarnation, the Father alone exercised unrestricted divine omniscience. It seems probable that Christ regained full divine knowledge after the resurrection, as implied in His introduction to the Great Commission: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth" (Matt. 28:18). Just prior to His ascension, He told the disciples, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority" (Acts 1:7). He repeats the truth that the disciples would not be told the time of His appearing, but He did not exclude His own knowledge, as He did in the Olivet discourse. (MacArthur New Testament Commentary) Sean O'Connell - The highest heavenly created beings and the highest uncreated being don't know. (And yet some Christians think they know. I don't get it.) God the Father alone has such knowledge. (Matthew Commentary-Preaching the Word) Phil Newton on not even the Son - Not only does Mt 24:36 stand as warning against speculation on Christ's return, but it also gives us a remarkable picture of the Incarnation. Jesus tells us that at that point, He did not know the day of His return. He, who is 'very God of very God,' co-equal with the Father, co-eternal with the Godhead, co-existent with the Father from all eternity, even He did not know. Now that is puzzling. Yet here we learn something more of the wonder of what took place in the Incarnation. Jesus Christ exists in two distinct natures. He is fully divine. In His deity there is nothing that He does not know-He is omniscient. Every detail of every molecule in the universe is known by Him. Not a speck of dust floats in the atmosphere apart from His knowledge. All of the infinite knowledge of God resides in Him as God. But we struggle, because here Jesus refers to something that He does not know. How can that be so, since He is God? Jesus Christ has always been God. He did not become God at some stage in the process of eternity. Before time existed, He is God. Yet, He did not exist as man with a human nature of the same stuff that constitutes us as humans until the Incarnation. So, while He has never, not been God, He was not always man. That came about in the wondrous story of the angel announcing the supernatural conception in Mary's womb by the Holy Spirit of the Son of God. The one person of Jesus Christ took on the distinct nature of humanity. All of the limitations of the human race, He knew and understood from experience. He was sleepy, hungry, tired, thirsty, angry, grieved; He laughed, cried, talked, prayed, and entered into the depth of human relationships. But, He did not stop being God. At one and the same time, He sustained the universe by His power while in His humanity grew tired from a day of ministering to needy people. He kept the infinite solar systems in their revolutions while crying to the Father as a human being with needs.And now, the One that saw Nathaniel under the fig tree and who discerned the thoughts of scheming religious leaders, declares, that in His humanity, He did not know the time of His return. He does not complain about not knowing. Our Lord held complete confidence in the Father. The Omniscient One as God, in His human nature admitted things that He did not know. That gives further evidence of the genuineness of His humanity as well as His trust in the Father. Jesus knew everything necessary to be our Redeemer and to do the work of the Father on our behalf, but His human mind did not contain the infinite knowledge He possessed in His deity. "As man he knew only what God was pleased to make known to him," wrote Geoff Thomas. He adds several helpful statements about what Jesus did not know. "Jesus Christ our Mediator was never ignorant of anything he ought to have known." The date of the second coming fell within this range since; "the date of the second coming was not revealed to him for this reason - you and I have no need to know it. It would not help our earthly pilgrimage, and so Jesus our Lord was not told the time." This further demonstrates that "Jesus Christ our Mediator had to save us within the limitations of his human body." He trusted the Father for all that He needed to know to complete the redemptive work. And so we hear His agony in the Garden and His cries of dereliction on the cross as a human suffering for humans. "Jesus Christ was limited in knowledge but not fallible in his knowledge." He held "no mistaken notions" or fallible understanding. What He knew, understood, and spoke was absolute truth. So, if Jesus Christ, in His humanity, did not need to know when He would return, then neither do we need that kind of precise knowledge. He will come again but the time is known only to God and not to man. (Sermons from the Gospel of Matthew) Thomas Ice on not even the Son - In this passage Jesus is referred to as "the Son." When the New Testament uses terms like "the Son," or "the Son of Man," as occurs in the next verse (Mt 24:37), it stresses His humanity and the incarnation. This passage does not say, "that no man will ever know. This He did not say." 1 I agree with most commentators that this passage is saying that in His incarnation as the Son of Man it was not given to Him (or revealed to Him) the time of His return. I am sure that He knows (Ed: Referring to Jesus in heaven today) the day and the hour upon His return to heaven. John

Mateus 24:37-42

Barclay says Mt 24:37-39 tells "us that that time will come with shattering suddenness on those who are immersed in material things. In the old story Noah prepared himself in the calm weather for the flood which was to come, and when it came he was ready. But the rest of mankind were lost in their eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, and were caught completely unawares, and were therefore swept away. These verses are a warning never to become so immersed in time that we forgot eternity, never to let our concern with worldly affairs, however necessary, completely distract us from remembering that there is a God, that the issues of life and death are in his hands, and that whenever his call comes, at morning, at midday, or at evening, it must find us ready." (Barclay's Daily Study Bible) (Bolding added) Just like - This is a term of comparison, where Jesus compares the timing of His parousia with the days of Noah. The primary message just as the ancient world was unprepared for the coming flood, so too unbelievers will be prepared for Jesus' return. It is notable that just as the ancient world was judged, so too the future world will be judged when Christ returns. In the days of Noah pursuit of a worldliness dominated the world. Jesus is saying it will be just the same when he returns. On the other hand the message for believers is to adopt the motto of the Boy Scouts of America - BE PREPARED! Weber - Those who heeded Jesus' warnings and watched for the signs would be saved (Ed: Presuming they were genuine believers of course). Those who ignored them would find sudden judgment coming upon them before they could realize what was happening or why. Notice that this verse has nothing to do with the rapture of the church. The ones taken are not the believers but the unbelievers, as was true in Noah's day. (Holman New Testament Commentary) Note that Mark's version of the Olivet Discourse (Mk 13:1-37) does not have the comparison of the Second Coming and the days of Noah (Mt 24:37-41). Thomas Ice notes that "The word order in the original language reads as follows: "For just as the days of Noah, in this way is the coming of the Son of Man." The intensive particle "just as" (hosper) is a "marker of similarity between events and states." When combined with the demonstrative adverb "in this way" (houtos), Christ is saying that the days of Noah were exactly the same as will be the time of Christ's return. As Stanley Toussaint says "The likeness is seen in the suddenness of the coming of the judgment and the unpreparedness of the world for it." Daniel Harrington adds that "The point of the comparison between the days of Noah and the coming of the Son of Man is the unexpectedness of the crisis.…So unexpected was the flood that people did not recognize it until it had already come upon them." (Sacra Pagina: The Gospel of Matthew -Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1991, p. 342) A T

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