He Taught Them Many Parables… (The Thief And The Servants) # 19

For example, a thief does not call the home that he plans to enter and say, “About one O’clock this evening I plan to arrive.” When he enters a home, he wants the element of surprise to be on his side.And the Bible tells us in Matthew 24:36, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”

When you hear a religious group claim they know the day and the hour that Christ is going to return, you can mark it down, they do not know what they are talking about.

The Word of God makes it clear, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man…”. I do not possibly see how the Lord could make that any clearer than that. After enlightening us about the time in which He will come, He gives us two things to consider that teach us about His coming.

(1) HE COMPARES HIS COMING TO NOAH’S GENERATION

Look at Matthew 24:37-39, we read, “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

Noah’s generation became so wicked, God had to send a flood and destroy them. Notice, how God described them:

• They were eating

• They were drinking

• They were marrying and giving in marriage

This is how they lived until God sent Noah and his family into the ark, and drowned everyone else.

But the question for us to ask ourselves is this, “Can Noah’s generation be any more wicked than our generation?” I do not think so, and if the Lord does not bring judgment soon on this generation, He is going to have to raise Noah’s generation back up and apologize for destroying them.

All the wickedness we see today tells us it CAN NOT BE LONG before Christ is going to come back for his church. We do not know the DAY OR THE HOUR, but the Lord tells us that when society reaches the level of the wickedness of Noah’s generation, it will not be long.

WILL EVERYONE BE RAPTURED? No, He lets us know that everyone will not be raptured.

(2) HE COMPARES HIS COMING TO TWO WORKERS

Look at Matthew 24:40-41, we read, “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”

The Lord is not using this passage of scripture to teach that 50% of the people will be raptured and 50% will be left, as some have taught. He is using two, to show us that everyone will not be raptured. He does this by showing us:

• Two in a field, the one shall be taken, and the other left

• Two women shall be grinding at the mill, one shall be taken and the other left

The picture we get is that when the rapture takes place, it is going to be an ordinary day when people are going about the routine of life, and in the “Twinkling of an eye,” every Saint of God is going to be changed into their glorified body, and they are going to be gone so fast that the person next to them will not be able to comprehend it.

After the Lord states this, He closes this little passage of Scripture by saying in verse 42, “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”

The apostle Paul picks up on the Lord’s return by comparing it to Him coming, “As a thief in the night”.

Look at 1 Thess. 5:2-6, we read, “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.”

Notice that Paul said He would come, “AS a thief in the night”, not “A thief in the night”. You see, a thief takes that which is not his, but when the Lord comes back AS a thief in the night, HE WILL ONLY TAKE THAT WHICH IS HIS.