In answer to that question we must observe the clearly marked distinction between His own believing people and the unbelieving world. To His own people He will not come as a thief, for we read in 1 Thess. v. 4, 5, ‘But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake _you_ as a thief.’ _You_ are in the light, _i.e._, for you can see Him coming; so _you_ will not be found asleep. So He Himself taught us distinctly in the very passage in which He uses the illustration; for He there shows that His own disciples are to expect His coming when they see the predicted signs, just as they expect the summer when they see the budding of the trees in spring (Matt. xxiv. 32, 33). Nor are they to wait in their expectation till they see these signs fully developed; not to wait, _i.e._, till the young branch is fully grown; but they are to watch beginnings, and learn from them. They are to draw their conclusion when the branch is yet tender, without waiting till it is fully ripened; as He Himself taught us in Luke, xxi. 28: ‘When these things _begin_ to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.’ If, therefore, you be amongst the people of God, you need never be taken by surprise. We do not know the exact time, but we may study the predicted signs, and, having them before us, may look out for the second advent just as Simeon and Anna looked out for the first. We may be like the servant of Elijah, going up again and again to the hill-top to watch for the coming rain; or like the loving servant watching for the footsteps of the master whom he loves, and perfectly ready, whenever he returns, to open the door, and welcome him to his home. The Lord came suddenly to His temple, but He did not come suddenly to Simeon; and the Lord will come as a thief to the world, but if you hold fast to His own word He will never be as a thief to you.