Matthew 24:39

Verse 39. And they thought not of the deluge, though preached and predicted by Noe, (which rendered their ignorance and incredulity inexcusable) till it came and swept them all away. So shall it be at the coming of the Son of man. Saint Luke adds, (chapter 17, verse 28,) likewise as it was in the days of Lot; they shall be eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, that is totally immersed in worldly pursuits. Hence the apostle; when they shall say peace, that is from past evils, and security, that is from future, then shall destruction come upon them on a sudden. But some one may ask, how can there possibly be all this peace, all this security, when the evils mentioned above, famines, wars, plagues, earthquakes, and particularly the darkness of the sun, and so forth and so forth are presages calculated to strike with panic and consternation minds the most thoughtless and giddy? I answer, that the wicked are chiefly designed here, who in the midst of the afflictions and alarms of the good, will still indulge in their pleasures and luxuries, like cruel soldiers, whilst the peaceable inhabitants are plundered. S. Jerom adds, that the world for some time before its final dissolution, will be freed from all those calamities. As to what is said (verse 29,) of the darkness of the sun and moon, these are circumstances that refer to the very coming of the judge. Jans.