Matthew 24:37 - Printer Friendly

ESV: For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

NIV: As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

NASB: For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.

CSB: As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be.

NLT: When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.

KJV: But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

NKJV: But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Christ made it extremely clear that anyone claiming a secret second coming of the messiah is a false teacher (Matthew 24:23–27). Likewise, anyone who attempts to set a date for Christ's return, no matter how vaguely, is ignoring His words. No man can, or will, know exactly when Jesus will return (Revelation 19:11–15) until those very signs begin to happen (Matthew 24:29–31), at which point everyone on earth will know.

The sudden onset of the events which herald Christ's coming will be dramatic. Clear though the signs may be, they will still be surprising to most people in the world. Jesus compares the situation to the days of Noah. His point is not that life on earth will be equally wicked to the days of Noah, necessarily. Perhaps it will, but the main idea is that everything will be in the full swing of "normal life" without anyone suspecting that the time of God's judgment is about to fall (Matthew 24:38).

Even Jesus, Himself, willingly submitting His omniscience to the will of God the Father, does not know when that date will be (Matthew 24:36). Only the Father knows when that specific moment in history will take place. It strains belief to see how people throughout history have attempted to predict the date of Christ's return. Many aspects of Jesus' discourse on the end times are subject to interpretation. That command, however, is as straightforward as can be: "concerning that day and hour no one knows."

Matthew 24:36–51 contains an explicit warning which has frequently been ignored by false teachers. Nobody will know the precise time of His return to earth. Only God the Father knows when it will happen. Everyone will be caught by surprise at the sudden appearance of those signs, just as the people swept away in Noah's flood. Jesus' followers must live in constant readiness for His return. He uses a parable to illustrate this, describing the choices of two servants while their master was away. One was faithful and wise, the other wicked. When the master returned, the faithful one was rewarded, and the wicked one was cut into pieces.

Jesus makes a dire prediction about the destruction of the temple. Immediately after this, while seated on the Mount of Olives, Jesus responds to a question from the disciples. They ask when judgment will come and what signs will signal His return. Christ describes a season of unimaginable world turmoil and persecution. He points to a specific moment of defilement of the temple, at which point people should run for their lives. Jesus speaks of world-threatening tribulation which will be cut short right before He returns as King and Judge. Since nobody can possibly know when He will return, His followers must live in readiness.

Jesus has just left the temple area, after delivering a blistering criticism of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23). After predicting that the temple would be destroyed, He answers their questions about the end times. He speaks of a period when He will be gone from earth and they will be persecuted and killed. The world will be in turmoil, but the gospel will be preached everywhere. Nobody knows exactly when Jesus' return will be completed, so his followers should constantly be prepared. Jesus continues to teach on these themes in the next chapter.

The Gospel of Matthew clearly shows the influence of its writer's background, and his effort to reach a specific audience. Matthew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, a Jewish man, and a former tax collector. This profession would have required literacy, and Matthew may have transcribed some of Jesus' words as they were spoken. This book is filled with references to the Old Testament, demonstrating to Israel that Jesus is the Promised One. Matthew also includes many references to coins, likely due to his former profession. Matthew records extensive accounts of Jesus' teaching, more than the other three Gospels.