<p>24:43<i> But know this-&nbsp;</i>Our focus should be on &lsquo;knowing&rsquo; that we don&rsquo;t &lsquo;know&rsquo; the time of His coming; and therefore watching at all times, living&nbsp;<i>as if</i>&nbsp;His return is imminent. This would be one explanation of why Paul and Peter write in their letters as if the Lord&rsquo;s return is imminent when in fact He did not return in the first century.</p><p><i>That if the master of the house had known in what watch</i>- The Lord is drawing a parallel between the householder watching, and the disciples / believers watching, being aware of the possibility of the Lord's return at any moment. He will only come unexpectedly, as a thief, to those who are not watching and are caught unprepared. But almost every usage of&nbsp;<i>oikodespotes</i>&nbsp;in the parables is concerning the Lord Jesus (10:25; 13:27; 20:1,11; 21:33; Lk. 13:25). As so often, the Lord was speaking to the disciples but not forgetting to speak also to Himself. He was soon to ask them in Gethsemane to watch and pray&nbsp;<i>with Him</i>&nbsp;(26:38); as if His watchfulness was to be theirs. In 13:52 He does also use this term about every scribe instructed in the things of the Kingdom. We are all the master of the house in the sense that we are to all be watching out for the household as a whole; the work of the Lord Jesus is to be our work. 'Watching' is thereby defined as not only watching ourselves, but watching out for the rest of the household. This is being presented here as the supreme way of not becoming unwatchful. By watching out for others we are watching for the Lord's return, living with the imminence of His coming over before us.</p><p><i>The thief was coming</i>- Gk &lsquo;is coming&rsquo;. See on 24:40&nbsp;<i>Taken&hellip; left</i>.</p><p><i>He would have stayed awake</i>- The point is surely that if we were to know when the Lord is coming, then we would watch for Him&nbsp;<i>at the time of His coming</i>; just as a householder would watch out for a thief if he knew ahead of time when the thief was coming. Because we do not know when the Lord is coming, we must watch for His coming all the time, living&nbsp;<i>as if</i>&nbsp;He is coming imminently even though we do not&nbsp;<i>know</i>&nbsp;for sure whether He is or not. Therefore our living as if He is about to come is to be done independently of any hunches we may have that He is about to return, based as they usually are upon prophetic interpretations. Lk. 12:35-38 repeats the same teaching, but with the metaphor of men keeping watch all night so that they might open to the Lord immediately.</p><p><i>And would not have let his house be broken into</i>- This is the key; recognizing that the household of God is in fact our household, and we are to watch out for it as we would for our very own family. Indeed, it&nbsp;is<i>&nbsp;</i>our family. The connection is to 23:38 &ldquo;<i>Your house</i>&nbsp;is left unto you desolate&rdquo;. Here, &ldquo;<i>his house</i>&rdquo; is &ldquo;broken up&rdquo;. The Lord is saying that they were in the status of condemnation already. The physical breaking up of the temple would be the result of the elders of Israel not &lsquo;watching&rsquo; as intended.</p>