e, do not believe) For from that time forth the Son of Man will not be seen until His Advent. His coming to judg ment, therefore, is mentioned incidentally in ver. 27, and pro fessedly in ver. 29,1 30. — ude, here) sc. where any one is who calls himself the Messiah.
24. 2?j,tts/a xa/ rspara, signs and prodigies) Signs affect the intellect ; prodigies, one class of which is fearful sights (see Luke xxi. 11, and cf. Acts ii. 19), trouble the mind. — el fovarbv, if [it were] possible) This clause denotes the utmost endeavour, yet made in vain ; cf. Acts xxvii. 39.2
26. 'Ev TV] ipfipu, in the desert) This might be said speciously (cf. ch. iii 3), and is applicable to those who drew crowds and bands tumultuously after them ; see Acts xxi. 38. Therefore our Lord adds, " Go not forth." — lv roTg rattle/is, in the secret chambers) This applies to those \vho pretended to possess hidden treasures, therefore our Lord adds, " Believe it not."
27. 'AoTfaTfy lightning) It is not all lightning that is meant, but that which sometimes suddenly fills the whole horizon without previous warning. — ano avaro^uv, from the east) The lightning comes also from the other quai'ters ; but in this passage it is said to come from the east. It may be supposed that Christ's Advent will take place from the east. The interval which is to elapse be tween the appearance of the Lord's Advent (see Gnomon on 2 Thess. ii. 8) and the Advent itself, enables the actual Advent to be sudden. — rou T/oD 'A&puirov, of the Son of Man) From this place to ver. 44, especially, He is frequently called The Son of Man ; cf. ch. xxv. 31.
28. "OTTOU yap x.r.X., for where, etc.) This adage is combined here with the mention of the false teachers which occurs in ver. 23 ; but in Luke xvi. 37, 31, 32, with that of sufferings caused
1 Bengel means, that until His final Advent, which all must recognise when it takes place, Christ shall not be visible ; and that, therefore, any who says he is Christ before then, is ipso facto an impostor. The coming, ac cordingly, in ver. 27, is not a personal one, but a virtual coming in the judg ments inflicted on Jerusalem and Judea: therefore it is only incidentally dwelt on as His coming. But the coming, in ver. 29, is the personal, visible. and final coming; and therefore it is described professedly as such: "Then sli all appear the sign of the Son of man — they shall sec the Son of man." — ED.
2 vpotipYix.*) Exercising peculiar faithfulness and divine affection towards you.— V. g.