With what emphasis our Lord gave utterance to this sentiment! It is a rebuke upon our unbelief. As we read it, God help us to believe it: “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” And as though this were not enough to lead us to unwavering faith, he adds these forcible words: “Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away.”
The word and promises of men may fail; but Christ has given assurance that his word, and his word in reference to this solemn truth, will stand though heaven and earth fail.
VERSES 36, 37: “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
This has become a very familiar passage of scripture because of the frequent use that is made of it to prove that nothing can be known of the proximity of the second coming of Christ. But if we pause a moment and lay beside this verse those we have just studied, we shall be able to discover the exact truth at once. “When ye shall see these things, know that it is near even at the doors;” and, “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled;” “But of that day and hour knoweth no man.” The line of knowledge, then, lies between the former expressions and the latter—between “even at the doors” and the definite day and hour. The former we may know, and every Christian is commanded to know. The latter no man knoweth. One may consistently say that he knows an event is near, and yet say that he does not know the hour nor the day when it will take place. That this is the scriptural teaching upon this point may be readily proved by a reference to 1 Thess. 5:1‐4:—
“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 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.”
An evident distinction is here drawn between two classes. Upon one class the day of the Lord will come as a thief. Those of the other are not in darkness that that day should come as a thief upon them. The children of God are children of light. Their heavenly Father knows the end from the beginning, and he has promised to reveal his secret to his people through his servants the prophets. Amos 3:7.