Matthew 24:32-41

V. THE CALCULABILITY OF THE DESTRUCTION AND DOWNFALL CONTRASTED WITH THE INCALCULABLE SUDDENNESS OF THE END, Matthew 24:32-41.

This paragraph is divisible into two halves, namely, 32-35 and 36-41, which lie in contrast against each other. The two subjects in antithesis are THESE THINGS, on one side, and THAT DAY AND HOUR, on the other. The matter of contrast is that the former is a slow and graduated process, in which one step presages the other to the close; the latter is a sudden, unwarned event, of which the subjects knew not until it came. The former is illustrated mainly by the fig-tree, slowly maturing into its summer ripeness; the latter by the flood instantly descending upon its unsuspecting victims.

The former half paragraph is historically true of the destruction of Jerusalem. It was forewarned and indicated at every step; and so gradual was the process that no particular day or hour can be assigned to it. The latter half paragraph is as distinctively in accordance with all prophecy of the judgment day. It hardly seems necessary for us to prove here that suddenness, like a thief in the night, is the uniform attribute ascribed to that event. We should suppose it equally unnecessary to show how opposite is the illustration drawn from the fig tree.