John Calvin Commentary Matthew 24:37

"And as [were] the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man." — Matthew 24:37 (ASV)

But as the days of Noah were. Although Christ recently expressed His desire to keep the minds of His followers in suspense, so that they might not inquire too anxiously about the last day, yet, to prevent the indifference arising from worldly pleasures from lulling them to sleep, He now exhorts them to vigilance. He wished them to be uncertain about His coming, yet prepared to expect Him every day, or rather every moment.¹⁶³ To shake off their laziness and to urge them more powerfully to be on their guard, He foretells that the end will come while the world is sunk in brutal indifference. It will be just as in the days of Noah, when all the nations were swallowed up by the deluge—they had no expectation of it but were indulging in gluttony and sensual pleasure. Similarly, shortly afterwards, the inhabitants of Sodom were consumed by fire from heaven while abandoning themselves fearlessly to sensuality. Since this kind of indifference will exist around the time of the last day, believers ought not to indulge themselves by following the example of the multitude.

We have now understood Christ's purpose, which was to inform believers that, to prevent themselves from being suddenly caught unaware, they ought always to keep watch because the day of the last judgment will come when it is not expected.

Luke alone mentions Sodom, and that in the seventeenth chapter (Luke 17), where he takes the opportunity, without following chronological order, to relate this discourse of Christ.

However, it would not have been wrong for the two Evangelists to content themselves with a single example, even though Christ mentioned two, especially when those examples perfectly agreed with each other in this respect: that at one time the whole human race, in the midst of unbroken idleness and pleasure, was suddenly swallowed up,¹⁶⁴ with the exception of a few individuals.

When Christ says that people were giving their whole attention to eating, drinking, marriage, and other worldly pursuits at the time God destroyed the whole world by a deluge and Sodom by thunder, this means that they were as fully occupied with the comforts and pleasures of the present life as if there had been no reason to fear any change.

And though we will soon find Him commanding the disciples to guard against surfeiting and earthly cares, yet in this passage He does not directly condemn their lack of moderation but rather the stubbornness of those times. Because of this stubbornness, they despised God's threats and indifferently awaited their terrible destruction. Promising themselves that their current condition would remain unchanged, they did not hesitate to follow their ordinary pursuits without concern.

In itself, it would not have been wrong or worthy of condemnation to provide for their needs, if they had not with gross stupidity opposed God's judgment and rushed, with eyes closed, into unrestrained wickedness, as if there were no Judge in heaven.

So Christ now declares that the last age of the world will be in a state of stupid indifference, so that people will think of nothing but the present life, and will extend their concerns far into the future, pursuing their ordinary course of life as if the world were always to remain in the same condition.

The comparisons are highly appropriate. For if we consider what happened then, we will no longer be deceived by the belief that the consistent order of events we see in the world will always continue. For within three days of the time, when everyone was conducting their affairs in complete calm, the world was swallowed up by a deluge, and five cities were consumed by fire.

¹⁶³ “De jour en jour, ou plustost d’heure en heure;” — “from day to day, or rather from hour to hour.”;” — “from day to day, or rather from hour to hour.”

¹⁶⁴ “Avoit esté soudainement destruit par les eaux;” — “was suddenly destroyed by the waters.”;” — “was suddenly destroyed by the waters.”