The Son of Man will come at an hour
when you do not expect him.
—Matthew 24:44
The Roman city of Pompeii was posh. Elegant houses lined its paved streets. Factories, shops, taverns, and brothels were booming.
It was just an ordinary day in Pompeii in 79 A.D. People were going about their usual routines when nearby Mount Vesuvius went on a two-day temper tantrum of volcanic-eruption. A 100-miles-per-hour pyroclastic flow of lava poured down the mountain, swallowing everything and everyone in its path. Pompeii was buried under nineteen feet of ash.
Jesus said that when he comes again, people will be going about their usual routine—like they were when the deluge came and started floating Noah’s boat—just an ordinary day. “So you [need to] be ready,” Jesus said, “because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
When Jesus comes, it will
be too late to get ready.