32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
33 Take ye heed, watch and pray : for ye know not when the time is.
34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work,
and commanded the porter to watch.
35 Watch ye therefore : for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morn- ing:
36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
These verses conclude St. Mark's report of our Lord's prophecy on the Mount of Olives. They ought to form
* I am aware that some interpreters of the passage now expound- ed, explain its language very differently from myself. Many regard the " sun, moon, and stars" as emblems of kings and rulers — the "coming of the Son of Man," as a general expression signifying any great exhibition of divine power — and the " sending forth of His an- gels," as nothing more than the sending of ministers and messengers of the Gospel to gather together the people of God.
I will only say that I can see no ground or warrant for such inter- pretations. They appear to me to be a dangerous tampering with the plain literal meaning of Scripture, and to give a great handle to the Arian, the Socinian, and the Jew, in the arguments that they respectively bring forward in support of their own peculiar vie ws.
I take this opportunity of expressing my decided opinion that the word " generation" in the verse, "this generation shall not pass away," can only mean " this nation or people — the Jewish nation — shall not pass away."
The view that it means "the generation of men which i.s alive now while I am speaking," would make our Lord to say that whicb
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a personal application of the whole discourse to our consciences.
We learn from these verses, that the exact time of our Lord Jesus Clirist's second advent is purposely withheld from His church. The event is certain. The precise day and hour are not revealed. " Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven/'*
was not true. His words were in no sense completely fulfilled when the generation to which He spoke had passed away.
The view that it means " the same generation which is alive when these things begin, shall also see them accomplished," appears to me untenable for one simple reason : It is not the natural meaning of the Greek words from which our translation is made.
* There is undoubtedly some difficulty in the words of our Lord, " Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son." The question has often been raised, " How can the Lord Jesus be ignorant of any thing, since He is very God, and says himself, ' I and my Father are one ?' How can the expression be reconciled with the saying, ' In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge ?' " (Col. ii. 3.)
The answer to these questions is to be found in our deep ignorance of the great mystery of the union of two natures in one Person. That our Lord Jesus Christ was at the same time perfect God and perfect man we know. That these two distinct natures were both found together in His Person, we also know. But how, and in what way, and to what extent the divine nature did not always operate in Him so as to overshadow the human nature, I believe it to be im- possible for mortal man to explain. — Enough for us to know that we sometimes see in our Lord's words and actions, the " man Christ Jesus," and sometimes the " God over all blessed for ever." But though we see clearly, and admire, we cannot explain. "We can only say, in the present instance, that our Lord spake as a man, and not as God.
Bullinger, iu an able note on the subject, gives an interesting quo- tation from Cyril, of which the following passage is a portion :
" Just as the Saviour was willing to endure hunger, and thirst, and otcer Bufferings of this kind, so also, as man. He is ignorant of 'that great day.' For He sometimes speaks as God, and sometimes as man, in order that He may show Himself to be both very God and