Journey to Jerusalem. Ten Lepers. Concerning the Kingdom.

  24 for as the lightning, when it lighteneth out of the one part under the heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall the Son of man be in his day.

  25 But first must he suffer many things and be rejected of this generation. [Thus when he speaks of his glory Jesus is careful to mention the humiliation and suffering which precedes it, that the faith of his disciples may not be weakened by false expectations and misunderstandings. The day of glory was not for that generation, since it would reject him.]

  26 And as it came to pass in the days of Noah [ Genesis 7:11-23 ],

  27 They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

  28 Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of Lot

[ Genesis 19:15-28 ; 16:46-56 ; Jude 1:7 ]; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;

  29 but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all:

  30 after the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed.

[Our Lord here gives us two historical incidents of the false security of the ungodly, and in doing so he endorses them as real history. The antediluvians and the citizens of Sodom discharged the business of the day and laid their plans for to-morrow and had no thought of evil or anticipation of trouble down to the very moment that the bowls of wrath were poured upon them. Despite all warnings, they were taken by surprise when completely off their guard. The coming of Christ shall be a like surprise to the people of the last day ( Matthew 24:44 ; Luke 12:39 ; 1 Thessalonians 5:2 ; 2 Peter 3:10 ; Revelation 3:3 ; 16:15 ), and it shall be a day of like punishment-- 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 .]

  28 Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of Lot

  29 but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all:

  30 after the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed.

  31 In that day, he that shall be on the housetop. [the flat roofs of Oriental houses are used much the same as we use porches], and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away: and let him that is in the field likewise not return back.

  32 Remember Lot's wife. [ Genesis 19:26 ; Luke 9:62 .]

  33 Whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it: but whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. tfg.cgi?section=T#">Section [It seems strange that the terrors of the last day should be accompanied by any thought or concern for property, but such is the plain intimation of the text. If our hope has been centered upon earthly things, we will be found seeking them even in that hour, just as the face of Lot's wife was turned toward Sodom despite the glare of the penal fires. Our earthly characters become fixed, and great catastrophes do not change them ( Revelation 22:10-12 ). If in that hour we be found seeking to save our carnal treasures, it will be a sign that we have lost the spiritual from our lives and have no heavenly treasures.]

  34 I say unto you, In that night there shall be two men on one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.

  35 There shall be two women grinding together

[making meal or flour with the little stone hand-mills, as they still do in the East]; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. [Day and night exist simultaneously upon the earth, and the Lord's coming will be at noon to some and at midnight to others. His saints will be found mingled with the rest of the people and engaged in duties befitting the hour. But the Lord will receive them to himself as his own ( John 14:3 ; 1 Thessalonians 4:17 ), and they will be ready to be detached from their worldly ties that they may go to meet and welcome the bridegroom at his coming-- Matthew 25:6 Matthew 25:7 .]

  35 There shall be two women grinding together

  37 And they answering say unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Where the body is, thither will the eagles also be gathered together. [The disciples desired to know where this manifestation and division would take place, looking upon it as a local prediction. Jesus gave a proverbial answer, the meaning of which is that sin courts and draws to scavengers. Applying his words, we may say that as the corruption of the antediluvians drew upon them, the devastation of the flood, and as the crimes of the Sodomites called down upon them, the fires from heaven, and as the unbelief of the Jews of Christ's day caused the destruction of Jerusalem and the death of the nation, so the wickedness of the men of the last times will result in the ending of the world. The word translated eagles is generic, and included the vultures also (Pliny Nat. His. ix. 3). It is likely that the Revision Committee retained the word "eagles" instead of vultures because of the mistaken notion of Lightfoot and others that our Lord here makes a covert allusion to the eagles which were borne upon the Roman standards. A passage similar to the latter part of this section is found at Matthew 24:17-41 .]