The third reason why verses 36–44 refer to the immediate context of the coming in verses 30–31 is recognizing Jesus’ audience. Hart argues verses 4–35 are intended for a Jewish audience and verses 36–44 are for the church. However, both passages have the same audience of disciples. The second person plural “you” is found in both sections, showing the teaching for those in the first section extends to this same group in the second section. This is also the natural reading because the events they experience in the first section require they take heed to the exhortations in the second section. Thus there is no basis to bifurcate the “you” in the first section from the “you” in the following section making them two separate audiences. Again, it is arbitrary and violates basic principles of interpretation.
