Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 24:44

"Therefore be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh." — Matthew 24:44 (ASV)

In such an hour as ye think not — The words are important, showing that even the signs that were to be like the budding of the fig-tree at the approach of summer were intended only to rouse the faithful to watchfulness, not to enable people to fix the times and the seasons which the Father has set in His own power.

The apparent destiny of failure that has attended all attempts to go beyond this in interpreting the apocalyptic eschatology of Scripture might have been avoided if people had been more careful to also restrain their efforts after knowledge, keeping them “within the limits of the knowable.”