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The revelation of the Son of Man is an event which takes more shapes than one in this passage.

1. First our Lord indicates that it implies a period of danger in one place and of the possibility of escape in another place — of safety in the field and not in the house, of safety without, but not within. The revelation of the Son of Man thus takes the shape of a critical period, such as might happen during a siege, or the destruction of a dwelling or of a whole city — where life would be in peril within the walls, but might be saved beyond the walls, and where safety lay only in immediate flight: lingering would be ruin, a quick departure from the doomed city the only way of escape. That is one aspect of the revelation of the Son of Man. And Christ exhorts His disciples, and all who hear Him, to escape with their lives — to escape with the higher life, the better life. Let not the love of property interfere with the love of life; lose all rather than lose life; and let not the love of the lower life interfere with the preservation of the higher life — the life of the spirit, the true life of man. Lose life itself rather than lose that; for in preserving that, all is preserved.

2. Then our Lord speaks of ,the day of the Son of Man — or, altering the phraseology, of the night of the Son of Man — when He is revealed. In that night there shall be two in one bed — the one taken and the other left; two women grinding at the mill — the one taken and the other left; two men in the field — the one taken and the other left. It is a time of separation which is indicated; the figure of the siege disappears, and new figures take its place. It is a time, though not of apparent outward danger, yet of judgment; but on what principle the judgment takes place, these words do not of themselves determine. For aught that appears, it may be a separation of accident or of caprice; it is a separation, and that is all we know. But when the disciples say further, "Where, Lord?" He utters a proverb which casts light on the judgment and also on the siege and separation: "Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together," a parable that may have been old or new, it matters not; the meaning is plain, and it is twofold.

(1) It evidently means that the judgment is one which is true to nature. Our Lord gives the principles on which the judgment or separation proceeds. It is the dead carcass on which the eagles prey. It is the corrupt city, the corrupt State, the corrupt heart, on which judgment is pronounced: the judgment is not one of accident or caprice, but of truth, of righteousness. That is the principle of separation and judgment. And(2) in answer to the question "Where, Lord?" Jesus gives, I think, another lesson on this matter, — viz., that this revelation of the Son of Man is not a single and solitary act of judgment at some future and far-distant day, but that it is a revelation often made — made, now on a country, now on a people, now on a Church, now on a system. The revelation of the Son of Man is not a thing of time and place, it is an eternal law in the dispensation of God. The judgment of God is proceeding every day; it is proceeding quietly and unseen. It is only now and then that men's eyes are open to behold it, and then the judgment is revealed. But it is not the less true that God's judgment proceeds day by day, whether it is seen and revealed or not. Corruption shall bring about its own recompense — not at a particular time or place; not in some one notable instance years or centuries hence, but wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

(A. Watson, D. D.)

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KJV: And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

WEB: As it happened in the days of Noah, even so will it be also in the days of the Son of Man.