24:40 one shall be taken. The long section beginning at Matthew 24:36 continually emphasizes watchfulness, and therefore imminence. In view of the context, the first event of His coming—that is, the sudden rapture of believers—is the theme here. The one taken is caught up to be with the Lord, while his fellow worker, an unbeliever, is to endure the tribulation. Anyone who sets a date for His coming, however, is bound to be wrong, “for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:44; also note Matthew 24:50).