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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 24:29

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Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days ] i. e. the tribulation which shall precede the second advent of Christ.

shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light ] Such figurative language is frequent with the Hebrew prophets; it implies (1) the perplexity and confusion of a sudden revolution, a great change; the very sources of light become darkness. Cp. Isa 13:10, “For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine;” and (2) the darkness of distress as Eze 32:7-8, “All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God.”

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Immediately after the tribulation of those days – That is, immediately after these tribulations, events will occur that may be properly represented by the darkening of the sun and moon, and by the stars falling from heaven. The word rendered immediately – eutheos – means, properly, straightway, immediately, Mat 8:3; Mat 13:5; Mar 1:31; Act 12:10; then shortly, 3Jo 1:14. This is the meaning here. Such events would shortly or soon occur In the fulfillment of the predictions they would be the next in order, and would occur before long. The term here requires us to admit that, in order to the fulfillment of the prophecy, it can be shown, or it actually happened, that things did soon occur after the tribulation of those days which would be properly represented or described by the images which the Saviour employs. It is not necessary to show that there could not have been a more remote reference to events lying far in the future, in which there would be a more complete fulfillment or filling up of the meaning of the words (compare the notes at Mat 1:22-23); but it is necessary that there should have been events which would be properly expressed by the language which the Saviour uses, or which would have been in some proper sense fulfilled, even if there had not been reference to more remote events. It will be seen in the exposition that this was actually the case, and that therefore there was a propriety in saying that these events would occur immediately – that is, soon, or the next in order. Compare the notes at Rev 1:1.

Shall the sun be darkened … – The images used here are not to be taken literally. They are often employed by the sacred writers to denote any great calamities. As the darkening of the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars, would be an inexpressible calamity, so any great catastrophe – any overturning of kingdoms or cities, or dethroning of kings and princes is represented by the darkening of the sun and moon, and by some terrible convulsion in the elements. Thus the destruction of Babylon is foretold in similar terms Isa 13:10, and of Tyre Isa 24:23. The slaughter in Bozrah and Idumea is predicted in the same language, Isa 34:4. See also Isa 50:3; Isa 60:19-20; Eze 32:7; Joe 3:15. To the description in Matthew, Luke has added Luk 21:25-26, And upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; peoples hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. All these are figures of great and terrible calamities. The roaring of the waves of the sea denotes great tumult and affliction among the people. Perplexity means doubt, anxiety; not knowing what to do to escape. Mens hearts should fail them for fear, or by reason of fear. Their fears would be so great as to take away their courage and strength.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Mat 24:29-34

Immediately after the tribulation of these days shall the sun be darkened.

The manifestation of Christ in judgment

I. There will be a manifestation of Christ in truth and unmistakable reality. Till the moment of His coming, it will be possible to deceive. False prophets were the bane of the old dispensation; false Christs are the bane of the new. Then He will stand before men as the true Messiah. I am the truth will be condemnation for millions in that day.

II. Christ will be manifested in universality. At present He is here and there as men carry the message. His coming then shall be like the lightning flash, which penetrates everywhere, awfully beautiful, irresistibly destructive, and fearfully silent.

III. The awful, majesty in which He will appear. This is set forth in the appalling changes that will come over the material heavens.

IV. Christ will be manifested as in search of his own. The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost, not secretly as before; but His angels shall conspicuously gather together the dead. (E. T. Marshall.)

The sign of the Son of Man

The Jews, with carnal spirit, were continually saying to Jesus, Master, we would see a sign from Thee. They were refused. But to His people He does give signs-distinct, striking, and unmistakable-signs which constitute at once the seal and epitome of the truths for which they stand.

I. The sign of Christs humiliation. This shall be a sign unto you etc. (Luk 2:12). A most disappointing sign this must have been to the shepherds, if they shared the current expectation of a regal and triumphant Messiah. A sign of exquisite tenderness and attractiveness to us.

II. The sign of Christs glory. Our Lord, in answer to the question of the disciples, What shall be the sign of Thy coming, etc., sketches a solemn prophetic picture of the events that are to precede it-the apostasies, and wars, and famines, and tribulations-and then finishes with this as the final omen, And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens. Vast conjecture and speculation have been awakened as to the nature of this sign. The many descriptions of Christs coming given in Scripture agree in one particular, that He comes in clouds. Examine this sign, and seek to interpret it As in the sign of Christs first coming there were marks of glory accompanying the marks of humiliation, so in the sign of His second coming there will be marks of His humiliation accompanying the marks of His glory. Both signs are true, they shine on the pages of prophecy as we read, like the dazzling lenses of a revolving lighthouse, first one and then the other; now the glory and now the humiliation; now the suffering and now the conquest. The one has been fulfilled. Glory, then, in the accomplishment of the one. Watch for the appearing of the other. What I say-unto you I say unto all-Watch. (A. J. Gordon.)

The last congregation

I. The persons of whom that assembly will be composed.

II. The process by which that assembly will be collected.

III. The manner in which that assembly will be arranged. Only two classes will be recognized. The last division of the assembly will be public and visible. How momentous the events which that division has created and displayed!

IV. The decision which on it will be pronounced. The principles by which the decision will be guided. The consequences which the decision will involve. (J. Parsons.)

Tokens of perdition

I. Vicious habits.

II. A resort to infidelity or universalism to relieve the mind from presentiments of a judgment to come.

III. A false hope and a false profession.

IV. The approach of age without religion.

V. Carnal security.

VI. Satisfaction with worldly good.

VII. A loose and presumptuous confidence in Gods mercy.

VIII. Increasing hardness of heart.

IX. Neglect of prayer and the means of grace.

X. The rejection of many calls. How many of these marks of death do you find upon yourself? (E. Griffin, D. D.)

The kingdom comes in crises of judgment

The kingdom of God is within you, but the crises of judgment are periodical and outward. The kingdom is within the individual the kingdom of habit, which eludes observation; silently formed day by day, growing as seed grows in the earth, full of slow, secret developments; the kingdom of impressions received-no change on the face showing the inner working; the kingdom of life discipline-lessons quietly, privately learned-experiences which only you know of laid to heart-memories hoarded; the kingdom of prayer, aspiration, spiritual communion, into which you can enter alone, none knowing how or when you pray-the Divine Host coming in silently, without observation. It comes also, this spiritual kingdom, to nations, without observation; slowly beneath its invisible sway slavery disappears; the place of woman is secured; human law brought into nearer affinity with Divine law; the brotherhood of man gradually acknowledged, in theory, at least; even the horror of war alleviated. Thus slowly, without observation, do the kingdoms of the world tend to become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. But, oh, how much remains to be done! Philosophers talk of the military barbarous phase giving place to the industrial phase in civilization, and we enter the Inventions Exhibition, 1885-that late product of the nineteenth century-and the first things which meet our gaze are certain awful cannons and war implements for the destruction of human life, and the unfaternal torture of human beings. Cold steel, gunpowder, and the big battalions have it all their own way in a world which laughs at arbitration, sneers at right, and still swears by Christ. And now see how the judgment crises of this kingdom within work themselves out, and are as startling and as terrible as any appearance of the Son of Man in the clouds, surrounded by His angelic heralds of judgment. Every time the measure of a nations iniquity is full, there comes such a judgment crisis. It came to Jerusalem when the armies of Vespasian, in the year 70, trampled out the heartless and effete ecclesiastical system of the old Judaism. It came to Rome when the unparalleled corruption of the Caesars had spread to the provinces, and in due time the empire went to pieces, under the weakness of its head, and was broken up to be re-constituted in the Christian nations of modern Europe. It came to England when the Reformation stamped the authority of the Pope out of the kingdom. It came again when huge popular oppression and political wrong nerved the people to strike for justice in the execution of an English king. It came to France after centuries of organized selfishness and robbery of the poor by the rich, in the French Revolution and Reign of Terror, 1793. It came again with the overthrow of an adventurer, who in our time rose to power by treachery and massacre, and wielded the sceptre of France for more than twenty years until the judgment fell upon him at Sedan and hurled him from the throne. People were taken in by Napoleon III. and the glitter of his empire. They thought that he at all events had outdone Providence. But neither he nor any one else can do that. One Frenchman at least saw clear-stood firm for the permanence of spiritual principle, and waited for the kingdom of God which cometh not with observation. That was Victor Hugo. Nothing could induce him to enter France whilst Antichrist was on the throne. The day after Sedan he presented himself at the ticket-office in Brussels, and left that night for Paris. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation, c.] Commentators generally understand this, and what follows, of the end of the world and Christ’s coming to judgment: but the word immediately shows that our Lord is not speaking of any distant event, but of something immediately consequent on calamities already predicted: and that must be the destruction of Jerusalem. “The Jewish heaven shall perish, and the sun and moon of its glory and happiness shall be darkened-brought to nothing. The sun is the religion of the Church the moon is the government of the state; and the stars are the judges and doctors of both. Compare Isa 13:10; Eze 32:7-8, c.” Lightfoot.

In the prophetic language, great commotions upon earth are often represented under the notion of commotions and changes in the heavens:-

The fall of Babylon is represented by the stars and constellations of heaven withdrawing their light, and the sun and moon being darkened. See Isa 13:9-10.

The destruction of Egypt, by the heaven being covered, the sun enveloped with a cloud, and the moon withholding her light. Eze 32:7-8.

The destruction of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes is represented by casting down some of the host of heaven, and the stars to the ground. See Da 8:10.

And this very destruction of Jerusalem is represented by the Prophet Joel, Joe 2:30-31, by showing wonders in heaven and in earth – darkening the sun, and turning the moon into blood. This general mode of describing these judgments leaves no room to doubt the propriety of its application in the present case.

The falling of stars, i.e. those meteors which are called falling stars by the common people, was deemed an omen of evil times. The heathens have marked this: –

Saepe etiam stellas, vento impendente videbis

Praecipites coelo labi, noctisque per umbram

Flammarum longos a tergo albescere tractus.

VIRG. Geor. i. ver. 365.

And oft before tempestuous winds arise

The seeming stars fall headlong from the skies,

And, shooting through the darkness, gild the night

With sweeping glories, and long trails of light.

Dryden.

Again the same poet thus sings: –

SOL tibi signa dabit: solem quis dicere falsum

Audeat? Ille etiam coecos instare tumultus

Saepe monet: fraudemque et operta tumescere bella

Ille etiam extincto miseratus Caesare Romam,

Cum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit,

Impiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem.

Ibid. ver. 462.

The sun reveals the secrets of the sky,

And who dares give the source of light the lie?

The change of empires often he declares,

Fierce tumults, hidden treasons, open wars.

He first the fate of Caesar did foretell,

And pitied Rome, when Rome in Caesar fell:

In iron clouds concealed the public light,

And impious mortals found eternal night.

Dryden.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Mark saith, Mar 13:24,25. In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.

Luke saith, Luk 21:25,26 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; mens hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are combing on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Interpreters are much divided in the sense of these words, whether they should be interpreted,

1. Of Christs coming to the last judgment, and the signs of that; or,

2. Concerning the destruction of Jerusalem.

Those who interpret it of the destruction of Jerusalem have the context to guide them, as also the reports of historians, of strange prodigies seen in the air and earth, before the taking of it; likewise the word immediately after, & c. But I am more inclinable to interpret them of the last judgment, and to think that our Saviour is now passed to satisfy the disciples about their other question, concerning the end of the world; for although Christs coming may sometimes signify that remarkable act of his providence in the destruction of his enemies, yet the next verses speaking of his coming with great power and glory, and of his coming with his angels, and with the sound of a trumpet, and gathering his elect from the four winds, the phrases are so like the phrases by which the Scripture expresses Christs coming to the last judgment, 1Co 15:52; 1Th 4:16, and Christ speaking to his disciples asking of him as well about that as the destruction of Jerusalem, I should rather interpret this verse with reference to the last judgment, than the destruction of Jerusalem before spoken of, or at least that these signs should be understood common both to the one and the other, as divers of the other signs mentioned in this chapter are. Some think that the darkening of the sun and the moon here, the falling of the stars, and the shaking of the powers of heaven, are to be taken metaphorically, as signifying the great change there should be in the ecclesiastical and civil state of the Jews; and it is true that such kind of expressions do often in Scripture so signify, Isa 13:10; 24:23; Eze 32:7; Joe 2:31. But without doubt the literal sense is not to be excluded, whether we understand the text of the destruction of Jerusalem, or of his coming to his last judgment; for as historians tell of great prodigies seen before the former, so the apostle confirms us that there will be such things seen before the day of judgment, 2Pe 3:10,12.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Immediately after the tribulation of those days,…. That is, immediately after the distress the Jews would be in through the siege of Jerusalem, and the calamities attending it; just upon the destruction of that city, and the temple in it, with the whole nation of the Jews, shall the following things come to pass; and therefore cannot be referred to the last judgment, or what should befall the church, or world, a little before that time, or should be accomplished in the whole intermediate time, between the destruction of Jerusalem, and the last judgment: for all that is said to account for such a sense, as that it was usual with the prophets to speak of judgments afar off as near; and that the apostles often speak of the coming of Christ, the last judgment, and the end of the world, as just at hand; and that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, will not answer to the word “immediately”, or show that that should be understood of two thousand years after: besides, all the following things were to be fulfilled before that present generation, in which Christ lived, passed away, Mt 24:34 and therefore must be understood of things that should directly, and immediately take place upon, or at the destruction of the city and temple.

Shall the sun be darkened: not in a literal but in a figurative sense; and is to be understood not of the religion of the Jewish church; nor of the knowledge of the law among them, and the decrease of it; nor of the Gospel being obscured by heretics and false teachers; nor of the temple of Jerusalem, senses which are given into by one or another; but of the Shekinah, or the divine presence in the temple. The glory of God, who is a sun and a shield, filled the tabernacle, when it was reared up; and so it did the temple, when it was built and dedicated; in the most holy place, Jehovah took up his residence; here was the symbol of his presence, the mercy seat, and the two cherubim over it: and though God had for some time departed from this people, and a voice was heard in the temple before its destruction, saying, “let us go hence”; yet the token of the divine presence remained till the utter destruction of it; and then this sun was wholly darkened, and there was not so much as the outward symbol of it:

and the moon shall not give her light; which also is to be explained in a figurative and metaphorical sense; and refers not to the Roman empire, which quickly began to diminish; nor to the city of Jerusalem; nor to the civil polity of the nation; but to the ceremonial law, the moon, the church is said to have under her feet,

Re 12:1 so called because the observance of new moons was one part of it, and the Jewish festivals were regulated by the moon; and especially, because like the moon, it was variable and changeable. Now, though this, in right, was abolished at the death of Christ, and ceased to give any true light, when he, the substance, was come; yet was kept up by the Jews, as long as their temple was standing; but when that was destroyed, the daily sacrifice, in fact, ceased, and so it has ever since; the Jews esteeming it unlawful to offer sacrifice in a strange land, or upon any other altar than that of Jerusalem; and are to this day without a sacrifice, and without an ephod:

and the stars shall fall from heaven; which phrase, as it elsewhere intends the doctors of the church, and preachers falling off from purity of doctrine and conversation; so here it designs the Jewish Rabbins and doctors, who departed from the word of God, and set up their traditions above it, fell into vain and senseless interpretations of it, and into debates about things contained in their Talmud; the foundation of which began to be laid immediately upon their dispersion into other countries:

and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; meaning all the ordinances of the legal dispensation; which shaking, and even removing of them, were foretold by Hag 2:6 and explained by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Heb 12:26 whereby room and way were made for Gospel ordinances to take place, and be established; which shall not be shaken, so as to be removed, but remain till the second coming of Christ. The Jews themselves are sensible, and make heavy complaints of the great declensions and alterations among them, since the destruction of the temple; for after having taken notice of the death of several of their doctors, who died a little before, or after that; and that upon their death ceased the honour of the law, the splendour of wisdom, and the glory of the priesthood, they add g;

“from the time that the temple was destroyed, the wise men, and sons of nobles, were put to shame, and they covered their heads; liberal men were reduced to poverty; and men of violence and calumny prevailed; and there were none that expounded, or inquired, or asked. R. Elezer the great, said, from the time the sanctuary were destroyed, the wise men began to be like Scribes, and the Scribes like to the Chazans, (or sextons that looked after the synagogues,) and the Chazans like to the common people, and the common people grew worse and worse, and there were none that inquired and asked;”

that is, of the wise men there were no scholars, or very few that studied in the law.

g Misn. Sotah, c. 9. sect. 15.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Immediately (). This word, common in Mark’s Gospel as , gives trouble if one stresses the time element. The problem is how much time intervenes between “the tribulation of those days” and the vivid symbolism of verse 29. The use of in Re 1:1 should make one pause before he decides. Here we have a prophetic panorama like that with foreshortened perspective. The apocalyptic pictures in verse 29 also call for sobriety of judgment. One may compare Joel’s prophecy as interpreted by Peter in Ac 21:16-22. Literalism is not appropriate in this apocalyptic eschatology.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Mat 24:29

. And immediately after the tribulation of those days. Christ comes now to speak of the full manifestation of his kingdom, about which he was at first interrogated by the disciples, and promises that, after they have been tried by so many distressing events, the redemption will arrive in due time. The principal object of his reply was, to confirm his disciples in good hope, that they might not be dismayed on account of the troubles and confusion that would arise. For this reason, he does not speak of his coming in simple terms, but employs those modes of expression which were common among the prophets, by which, the more attentively they were considered, so much the more severe would be the contest of temptation experienced by the reader, in consequence of the opposite character of the event. For what could be more strange than to see the kingdom of Christ not only despised, but oppressed by the cross, loaded with many reproaches, and overwhelmed by every kind of tribulation, that kingdom which the prophets had frequently described in such magnificent language? Might it not be asked, where was that majesty which would darken the sun, and moon, and stars, shake the whole frame of the world, and change the ordinary course of nature? Our Lord now meets these temptations, declaring that, though these predictions are not immediately fulfilled, they will at length be fully justified by the event. The meaning therefore is, that the predictions which had been formerly made about the miraculous shaking of heaven and earth, ought not to be restricted to the commencement of redemption, because the prophets had embraced the whole course of it, till it should arrive at perfection.

Having now ascertained Christ’s intention, we shall have no difficulty in perceiving the meaning of the words to be, that heaven will not be darkened immediately, but after that the Church shall have passed through the whole course of its tribulations. Not that the glory and majesty of the kingdom of Christ will not appear till his last coming, but because till that time is delayed the accomplishment of those things which began to take place after his resurrection, and of which God gave to his people nothing more than a taste, that he might lead them farther on in the path of hope and patience. According to this argument, Christ keeps the minds of believers in a state of suspense till the last day, that they may not imagine those declarations which the prophets made, about the future restoration, to have failed of their accomplishment, because they lie buried for a long period under the thick darkness of tribulations.

The tribulation of those days is improperly interpreted by some commentators to mean the destruction of Jerusalem; for, on the contrary, it is a general recapitulation ( ἀνακεφαλαίωσις) of all the evils of which Christ had previously spoken. To encourage his followers to patience, he employs this argument, that the tribulations will at length have a happy and joyful result. As if he had said, “So long as the Church shall continue its pilgrimage in the world, there will be dark and cloudy weather; but as soon as an end shall have been put to those distresses, a day will arrive when the majesty of the Church shall be illustriously displayed.” In what manner the sun will be darkened we cannot now conjecture, but the event will show. He does not indeed mean that the stars will actually fall, but according to the apprehension of men; and accordingly Luke only predicts that there will be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars. The meaning therefore is, that there will be such a violent commotion of the firmament of heaven, that the stars themselves will be supposed to fall. Luke also adds that there will be a dreadful commotion of the sea, the sea and the waves roaring, so that men will faint through fear and alarm. In a word, all the creatures above and below will be, as it were, heralds to summon men to that tribunal, which they will continue to treat with ungodly and wanton contempt till the last day.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat. 24:29. Immediately.But immediately (R.V.). A prophecy resembles a landscape painting, which marks distinctly the houses, paths, and bridges in the foreground, but brings together, into a narrow space, the distant valleys and mountains, though they are really far apart (Bengel). Sun moon stars powers.The solar light of Christs truth shall be dimmed, the lunar orb of the church shall be obscured by heresy and unbelief, and some who once shone brightly as stars in the firmament of the church shall fall from their place (Wordsworth). Our Lord speaks here in language as essentially apocalyptic as that of the Revelation of St. John (Rev. 8:12), and it lies in the very nature of such language that it precludes a literal interpretation. The words are better left in their dim and terrible vagueness (Plumptre).

Mat. 24:30. The sign of the Son of man.Some say a visible cross; others the presence of the Son of man Himself (Dan. 7:13). Lange says, It is the shining glory of the manifestation in general as distinct from the personal manifestation itself. Whatever it shall be when it appears, its import will be instantly recognised by the faithful (Carr).

Mat. 24:31. A great sound of a trumpet.Omit sound on high MS. authority, translate: with a great trumpet. The image would be suggestive to the Jews, who were called together in the camp by silver trumpets (Num. 10:2 fol.). Moreover, the great festivals, the commencement of the year, and other celebrations, were announced by trumpets (Carr).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mat. 24:29-31

A wider ending.After the tribulation of those days there ariseth another. This seems to signify that that other tribulation shall be of a different kind. The description which follows carries out that idea. The appearing or coming of which it speaks is to be unlike that spoken of before in two cardinal ways. Unlike, first, in regard to the signs which precede it. Unlike, secondly, in regard to the effects which follow it up.

I. The signs which precede.This is true, on the one hand, in regard to the place of their appearance. The sign spoken of in the former case, was a sign upon earthsomething standing where it ought not in the temple on earth (Mat. 24:15). All the signs spoken of in this case are connected with heaven. The one, therefore, had to do only with the place of Gods feet (Isa. 60:13). The others were concerned with what He speaks of as His throne (Act. 7:49). Also, these latter signs are to be connected with all that is specially great in the heavensthe sun that gives us our days; the moon by which we measure our seasons; the stars which guide us at night. Also, once more, in these signs, these glories are shown us with all their glory gone, as it were. The sun is shorn of its brightness, the moon is deprived of its beauty; the stars are losing their place. Everything in heaven, in a word, which had previously spoken to men of stability and rule (Psa. 119:89-91), shall then be speaking of disorder and ruin. There was even greater difference, on the other hand, in regard to the significance of these signs. The abomination of desolation in the Holy Place (Mat. 24:15), meant very mucheven the presence of that which was detestable instead of that which was acceptable, and of that which destroyed instead of that which protected and blessed. But the sign of the Son of man in heaven (Mat. 24:30), must mean very much more. More in the way of directionit points to that great One Himself, who is to be the Judge of mankind (Joh. 5:22; Act. 17:31, etc.). More in the way of distinctionit is so connected with that great One as nothing else had previously been, and so is to be seen by all, and also understood by all, as the sign of Himself. Its nature now, in a word, it is difficult to surmise. Its significance then, it will be impossible either to overrate or to miss. Evidently, therefore, in regard to this coming, we are, on all these accounts, in a far higher atmosphere than in that contemplated before.

II. The effects which follow.These are such as to correspond in every way to the comparative greatness of the signs. In the way, first, of extent. The sign in the temple was a sign to one people and creed; only therefore, to those, and not, even so, to them all. These other signs, being signs in heaven, are signs to mankind; and all, therefore, who belong to mankind, are affected thereby. All the tribes of the earth, and not one tribe only, know of them now (Mat. 24:30). In the way, next, of emotion. All are mourning (ibid.); and mourning openly, so the description implies, as though cutting themselves in their sorrow. In the way, after that, of manifestation. The Lord Himself (cf. 1Th. 4:16)the face and form of the evident Representative of the whole of mankindin those clouds which are the dust of His feet (Nah. 1:3), and with every accompaniment that tells of greatness and majestyshall be seen then by all eyes (Mat. 24:30). In the way, finally, of division. Up till then, the good fish and the bad, the tares and the wheat, the believers and the hypocrites, will be more or less mingled, if not in Gods sight, in the eyes of mankind (2Ti. 3:16-17). From that time, when this Judge of all is thus manifested, that condition of things is no more. Now the angels go forth with another trumpet than that of the gospel. Now where those other messengers had gone previously to bear witness (Mat. 24:14) these come to divide. And that, moreover, as also those others previously, in all parts of the world (Mat. 24:31). In a word, universal separationtotal separationfinal separationis the last effect that follows these signs. And the last argument, therefore, that goes to prove this ending to be the ending of all.

In all this we see much ground, on the one hand, for comfort and hope. When the end comes, we see, plainly, what an end it will be! How clear its tokens! How wide its influence! How penetrating its power! How total its changes! How abiding its issues! Behold, I make all things new! What hope can be better than this, if that which is old be as described in this chapter? See before Mat. 24:1-14.

Much ground, on the other hand, for patience and modesty. For patience. Those who have such a future before them can well afford to wait. In this sense, as well as others, he that believeth shall not make haste. For modestyin not attempting to forecast all that shall follow the end. The very glory of the prospect before us prevents us from foreseeing it clearly. Who can possibly imagine what is to be when all things are made new? Will it not most likely be different from anything ever dreamed of before? And none the less desirable, but all the more so, on that very account?

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat. 24:30. Christs glorious appearing at the end of the world.Consider:

I. What the glory is in which the Lord Jesus Christ will appear at the end of the world.

1. In His own glory, as Mediator, which He entered into when He ascended, as the reward of His sufferings and death (Eph. 1:20-23). In His own glory, as Judge of all, unto whom they must bow, and from whom they must receive their final doom (Php. 2:10-11).

2. In the glory of His Father.That is, in the glory of the Godhead. His Father and He are one, and so their glory is one. This glory was veiled in His humiliation, by His human nature.

3. In the glory of all the mighty angels.(Mat. 25:31). The whole court of heaven shall attend upon the Judge of the world, that they may be present with Him at this great act.

II. Some things which evidence the greatness of this glory in which Jesus Christ will come.You may form some idea of it, from some preceding appearances upon lesser occasions. How great was the glory He appeared in when He gave the law upon Mount Sinai (Exo. 19:16-18)! When He was transfigured! When He appeared to Paul on His way to Damascus!

III. Why the Lord Jesus will come the second time in so great glory.

1. As a recompense to Him for His abasement.

2. To beget a great reverence and awe in all who are to be judged by Him.

3. That all the world may see it, and His people thereby be made glad with exceeding joy (1Pe. 4:13), and that His enemies may see what they have lost by being shut out from the sight and enjoyment of this glory.

4. That He may carry home His saints as His bride with greater state and solemnity, unto His Fathers house, where He hath prepared mansions for them.Anon.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

C. The Theological Results of Jerusalems Fall (24:2931)

TEXT: 24:2931

(Parallels: Mar. 13:24-27; Luk. 21:25-28)

29 But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken: 30 and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

Many people who read this paragraph understand it to picture the Second Coming of Christ at the end of the world. But, if the tribulation of those days mentioned in the previous sections concerns the destruction of Jerusalem, with what right can Jesus state that His coming would occur immediately after the tribulation? Or, is He mistaken, since He did not return shortly after 70 A.D.? Or does this paragraph have anything to do with His Second Coming?

Why do you suppose Jesus used this weird imagery to teach us: to make His meaning difficult or to simplify it? For whom would this imagery be particularly clear and communicate thrilling news in majestic concepts? Do you think that we too could understand Him, if we too could become like those who truly understood Him? What would it take to become like them?

Do you seriously believe that stars shall fall from heaven? After all, if stars are heavenly bodies like our sun, even larger and grander, how or where could they fall?

Jesus already talked about earthquakes in various places (Mat. 24:7) as well as terrors and great signs from heaven (Luk. 21:11) in connection with the period prior to Jerusalems fall. Once again He names what appear to be upheavals in nature (sun, moon, stars and powers of the heavens) in connection with the sign of the Son of man. (1) Is there any connection? If not, why not? (2) If these latter upheavals in nature are not to be considered literal, then, of what are they symbolic?

Did Jesus say that the sign of the Son of man (would) appear in heaven, or that the sign which would appear would be the Son of man in heaven? Is it the sign which is in heaven, or the Son of man? If you decide it is the latter, then, where is the sign located? In what would it consist?

Why do you think all the tribes would mourn when this great sign appears? What will the sign mean to them? What would it mean to the Christians?

Where do you suppose Jesus got all these unusual expressions, such as the sun darkened, the moon not give light, stars fall, or tribes of the earth mourn, or Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven, or with a great trumpet, or gather together from the four winds? Did Hebrews in Jesus time talk that way every day? If not, under what special circumstances did they use such phrases? Where did they get this language?

If someone argued that this paragraph has nothing to do with a literal Second Coming of Jesus, what arguments would you collect right out of the text itself to show his conclusion mistaken? What data would you expect him to use to establish his case?

If someone denies that this paragraph refers to Christs Second Coming, has anything been lost for the doctrine of the literal Second Coming? Are there any other New Testament texts that teach this grand truth? If so, what are they?

If there are other New Testament texts that teach the Second Coming, are we free to consider this text in another sense, if this latter interpretation should turn out to be its true meaning rather than the Second Coming?

How could believers of Jesus generation be caused to rejoice when what He meant by His highly figurative language actually began to occur? (Cf. Mat. 24:34; Luk. 21:28.)

If Jesus is not talking about the Second Coming at all, but about some quite earthly events in which His believers would be involved, what is to be gained by His using this prophetic jargon?

If the Messiahs victory is to occur immediately after the tribulation of those days, what kind of Messianic triumph actually took place following the destruction of Jerusalem?

Why do you suppose Luke greatly simplified this section for his readers? Would not they have understood these expressions taken from Jewish literature? What does this tell you about Matthews production?

PARAPHRASE AND HARMONY

Nevertheless, IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TRIBULATION THAT WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE PERIOD JUST DESCRIBED, there shall be portents involving the sun, moon and stars: the sun shall be darkened. The moon will not give its light. Stars will be falling from the sky. The celestial forces will be shaken. On earth nations will be in anguish, bewildered by the roar of the raging sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive about the events threatening the inhabited earth. At that time you will be able to see what is meant by the Son of man in heaven. It is then that all the tribes of the land will mourn. They too will experience what is meant by the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He will then send forth His messengers with a great trumpet. These will gather His chosen people from the four points of the compass, from the farthest horizon where heaven and earth meet. Now when THESE THINGS begin to occur, straighten up and lift your heads, because your emancipation is about to take place!

SUMMARY

In close chronological connection with the fall of Jerusalem, disciples would observe the removal of the old, established luminaries in human (esp. Jewish?) affairs. Christs reign would be clearly evident. Worldwide gospel proclamation would successfully save those who accepted to be chosen by God. These events would all be clues of the final emancipation of Christianity from Judaism, establishing the disciples of Christ as an independent people of God.

INTRODUCTION: HOW SHOULD WE INTERPRET THIS LANGUAGE?

Some conclude that Jesus language in this section is too grand to depict an incident so limited as the fall of Jerusalem, or too broad to concern only one of earths peoples, the Jews alive in 70 A.D. But before proceeding, we must ask, not modern questions, but ancient ones: what would the original listeners have understood Jesus to mean by the language He used? In fact, as a thorough concordance study of this paragraph will demonstrate, almost every phrase is rich in literary history, having already been utilized by some Old Testament prophet to communicate awe-inspiring messages of both hope and doom to their contemporaries. What, then, would the first-century Hebrew readers of the Gospels have comprehended when Jesus made these statements?

THE PROPHETS USE OF SIMILAR LANGUAGE, to predict the tremendous consequences surrounding the fall of pagan empires, may be thought useful language to describe one of historys greatest watershed events, the collapse and termination of Israels exclusive privilege. If carnal Judaism is finally and publicly to be repudiated by God so that His precious elect remnant in Israel and among the nations can stand free and independent to carry out its world mission, then this event qualifies as one of the worlds most momentous theological events, and should not appropriate language be adopted to portray it?

In the entire paragraph (Mat. 24:29-31) the point to be solved is whether a personal appearance of the Lord is intended. The assumption of many is that the coming is literal, as also every other detail in this passage. However, were they literal when originally coined by the prophets from whom they are borrowed? If not, then by what exegetical rule do they become so in Jesus discourse? If the prophets smoothly blended the literal and the poetic in the same prophecy, why cannot Jesus?

The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. What appears to be a universe gone wild is familiar talk for Hebrews saturated with Old Testament prophets like Isaiah (Isa. 13:9-13) where similar apocalyptic language was coined to depict quite mundane events such as the destruction of Babylon by the Medes. Now, when an author clearly defines the meaning of his own jargon in the same context, we are not at liberty to require that he mean something else, even though his words seem to communicate much more to us because of the meanings WE associate with his expressions. (Cf. Isa. 24:18 b Isa. 24:23 on the rise and fall of human government without God.) Later, Isaiah (Isa. 34:4 f.) employed similar poetic language to illustrate the earth-shaking magnitude of divine judgment on the Edomites. Ezekiel (Eze. 32:7 f.) does not hesitate to borrow this eloquent speech to threaten Pharaoh and Egypt with heavenly chastisement, not by supernatural miracles, but by the quite earthly sword of the king of Babylon (Eze. 32:11 ff.). Joel presses this kind of speech into service to represent a locust invasion (Joe. 2:10 f.), the blessing to Gods people (Joe. 2:30 f.) and His judgment on their foes (Joe. 3:14 ff.). The Apostle Peter gave the inspired interpretation of Joels apocalyptic language, by pointing to the events that began on Pentecost as fulfilling Joels words: This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. (Act. 2:16-21; cf. Joe. 2:28-32; see my notes, Vol. II, 452f.) Haggai uses the shaking of heavens, earth, the sea and the dry land, to unfold images of international war that would turn out to the blessing of Gods people. (Cf. Hab. 3:11; Amo. 8:9.)

Do the sciences of astronomy, geology or ancient history confirm a literal interpretation on the terrifying cosmic disorder this Old Testament language seems to convey? On the other hand, does ancient history record the actual fulfillment of what these poetic pictures conveyed, by the overthrow of the particular nations indicated? So, what this phraseology sounds like to us does not matter. For if, by the vivid images the prophets wove, God referred to earth-shaking events whereby pyramids of power would be overturned and shattered, THIS IS THE MEANING. The only question now remaining is to what great overthrow or high-level transformation in human affairs resulting from Jerusalems fall and the Gospels spread does Jesus allude here?

Was this highly symbolic language thought literal by intertestamental apocalyptists? (Cf. Assumption of Moses Mat. 10:4-7; IV Ezr. 5:4-13.) And the Apostle John, like Isaiah, Ezekiel and Joel, employed these same apocalyptic concepts to describe Gods judgment on men of earth who seek to escape Gods final punishment (Rev. 6:12-17). His language, as defined by his books title is to be understood as highly figurative, not literal: The apocalypse of Jesus Christ (Rev. 1:1). Cannot Jesus Christ Himself use the commonly accepted apocalyptic jargon of His day to convey His meaning to people who were accustomed to it? Milton Terry (Hermeneutics, 466) justly lamented:

We might fill volumes with extracts showing how exegetes and writers on New Testament doctrine assume as a principle not to be questioned that such highly wrought language as Mat. 24:29-31 . . . taken almost verbatim from Old Testament prophecies of judgment on nations and kingdoms which long ago perished, must be literally understood. Too little study of Old Testament ideas of judgment, and apocalyptic language and style, would seem to be the main reason for this one-sided exegesis. It will require more than assertion to convince thoughtful men that the figurative language of Isaiah and Daniel, admitted on all hands to be such in those ancient prophets, is to be literally interpreted when used by Jesus or Paul.

The vocabulary was common to the Hebrew culture and gleaned from the Old Testament literature itself. The people brought up in that culture understood the terms. This explains why this apparently unconventional vocabulary would, in a sense, come to be thought of as the conventional expression for certain types of predictions. This vocabulary consists of vivid images that endeavor to describe the indescribable in human language. The power of such visions lies, not in the details, but in their ability to communicate the inconceivable in word-pictures that men can conceive.

To this some would object that to welcome the spiritual significance of the prophets words is to reject the true meaning. But more often than not, in apocalyptic literature, the true meaning is not the literal one at all, but the spiritual one, the actual one, the real one, because for God, WHATEVER IS SPIRITUAL IS REAL TOO, perhaps far more so than what is material, and should not we have the same attitude?

THE THEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE EVENTS REQUIRES SUCH LANGUAGE. Because God was planning to bring about deep-running changes in the religion and political life of that people which for millennia had been His chosen people, the language used to paint this revolution must be adequate to portray the transformation. The Jewish loss of their exclusive glory, unique privileges and national prerogatives cannot but represent the cruelest blow imaginable to this people. What kind of speech could be thought sufficiently appropriate to articulate such a catastrophe? Kik (Matthew XXIV, 79) asked, If the use of such figurative judgment language against pagan nations was justified, how much more fitting would it be to the passing away of Judaism? Bruce (Exp. Gr. Test., 287) saw this:

An old world is going down and a new world is coming into being. Here surely is an occasion to provoke the prophetic mood! At such supreme crises prophetic utterances, apocalyptic forecasts, are inevitable.

Should such awe-inspiring language be thought too terrible or too broad for the final vanquishing of Israel by the Romans, let its larger context be recalled. God had threatened that the doom of unrepentant Israel was sealed (Deu. 28:15-68; Deu. 29:19-28; Deu. 30:18; Deu. 31:16-21; Deu. 31:27 ff.; Deu. 32:1-43; Mal. 3:2-5; Mal. 4:1 f.; Mat. 3:7-10; Mat. 8:11 f; Mat. 21:31; Mat. 21:41; Mat. 21:43; Mat. 22:7; Mat. 23:29-39). Even as early as His conversation with the Samaritan woman, Jesus affirmed that Jerusalem would not be the center of worship in the Messianic age (Joh. 4:21). So, Jerusalems elimination was to be Gods signal to the Judeo-Christian world that the old Mosaic era, with its exclusively Jewish Kingdom of God and its capital at Jerusalem, was terminated. (Cf. Gal. 4:25-31.) The bondage is over, not merely ideally, as when Christs death ended the Law theologically, but also practically, in concretely evident fact (Heb. 12:11; Heb. 13:14).

NOTES

1. The time connection: Immediately after Jerusalems great tribulation (24:29a)

Mat. 24:29 But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened . . . Unquestionably the tribulation of those days is the same sufferings (Mat. 24:8) described earlier as great tribulation . . . in those days (Mat. 24:19-22), a period that Luke (Luk. 21:23 f.) characterizes as great distress upon the earth and wrath upon this people. They shall fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles. Therefore, what is meant by the phraseology of our paragraph (Mat. 24:29-31) must take place immediately after that period of tribulation surrounding the appalling desolation of the Jewish State. (Cf. Mar. 13:24.) What is about to be pictured would have a certain immediacy of connection, even if the event itself is not an integral part of that tribulation or its culmination per se. It would express the same sort of relationship that exists between cause and effect, antecedents and consequences.

It is mistaken to affirm, with some, that the glorious signs and predictions here listed hardly appear suited to Jerusalems fall. Granted, but these signs and predictions here listed a different, more glorious event portrayed in Mat. 24:30-31. However, the intended event would be not at all distant in time. This is excluded by Jesus insistence that it be immediately after the foregoing catastrophe.

Further, Mat. 24:32-34 speak unquestionably of Jerusalems destruction after the great tribulation and other successive events, because all these are scheduled to occur during the lifetime of Jesus contemporaries. (See on Mat. 24:32-34.) Therefore, to think of Mat. 24:29-31 as depicting the Second Coming is not only to insert this subject out of place, creating a confused chronological order, but also it makes Christ assert that His own coming was scheduled for a moment immediately after the fall of Jerusalem, although He later denied any definite knowledge of the Fathers scheduling for the Second Coming (Mat. 24:36) and clearly hinted that a long, indefinite period must elapse first (Mat. 24:48; Mat. 25:5; Mat. 25:19). The expression, immediately after, is wrongly taken figuratively while all else is taken literally.

How should we deal with the contention that Lukes version (Luk. 21:23-27) extends the tribulation in question from the fall of Jerusalem and the worldwide Jewish dispersion, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, i.e. the entire period of Gentile dominance from the end of Israel as a nation until Jesus returns again? According to this view, Jesus return, pictured by Mat. 24:29-31, occurs immediately after the Gentile persecution of the Jews. On the contrary,

Jesus did not imply that the crisis of the great distress itself would last this long, but only that the RESULT of that disaster, the ruin of Jerusalem, would be long-lasting (Luk. 21:24).

Further, He is not describing the great (Christian) tribulation, which indeed must last until His Return, but only the Jewish one, from which the early Christians could escape by obeying Jesus. From their own sufferings Christians could not flee without faithlessness to Him. (Cf. Rev. 1:9; Rev. 7:14.)

Some, because they view the Second Coming as scheduled immediately after the tribulation of those days of Jerusalems deathblow, assert that the tribulation He means merely COMMENCED with the collapse of the Jewish nation. Further harassment, persecution and dispersion began hard on the heels of that debacle, i.e. immediately after, and have continued down to the present day in which Israel, as a nation, is still subjected to an uncertain future at best and to continual war-time emergencies at worst. However, the Lord divulged that the days are to be shortened, NOT LENGTHENED NEARLY 2000 YEARS (Mat. 24:22).

Further, how should we deal with the contention that Lukes version (Luk. 21:24-28) merely declares what would occur after the Gentiles had had their day, i.e. the signs that would prefigure Christs coming? At least two rebuttals are possible:

His Return is not an event subject to prior warning signals, hence whatever is intended cannot be the Second Coming.

Luke is merely returning to the point in Jesus discourse where He left off discussing the fall of Israel to indicate how long its suffering would endure. There is no time connection indicated in Lukes text, only an and, so who can prove he must be understood to indicate facts to occur at least two millennia later, if not longer? (Cf. Luk. 21:24 f.)

So, immediately after cannot be interpreted in some figurative sense that attempts to avoid its normal, obvious sense, while interpreting literally such contextual phenomena as the suns darkening and the fall of the stars, etc., language which, in the prophets, had acquired a conventional, hence well-understood, symbolic sense. To affirm the non-literal character of the symbols used in this paragraph detracts nothing from the admittedly literal character of the final world conflagration described elsewhere (2Pe. 3:7-13; 2Th. 1:7-9).

What about PROPHETIC PERSPECTIVE? Some affirm that immediately after expresses the prophets perspective in the sense that the Seer conceives of the events as mountain peaks in the distance without being able to discern or reveal the precise distance or relationship of one peak to the other. He can describe them as one in the foreground and the other immediately after, or behind it. The consecutive order of the two key events prophesied is indicated, but not the time intervening between them. However, while prophetic perspective is at times undoubtedly a characteristic of true prophecy, this explanation must be resorted to when the events predicted cannot be considered to be connected directly in time. However, as will be shown, this impossibility does not exist in the relationship between the fall of Jerusalem and the events Jesus proceeds to portray.

If it be asked why immediately after should be understood literally, when everything following it should be considered apocalyptic jargon, hence figuratively, it is because the realities expressed in figurative language actually take place in time sequences and so require time indicators to express these chronological relationships. Hence, Jesus rightly indicated the temporal connection between the foregoing prophecies and what follows.

From the point of view of Jewish nationalism, Jesus expression, immediately after, is both incredible and shocking. For, how could a true, competent Christ appear immediately after His own Temple and capital City were demolished and His own people were dragged into captivity? Nothing Jesus promised in the following section (Mat. 24:29-31) established Israels priority or justified strictly nationalistic chimeras. Rather, He says much to dash such hopes. For, immediately after means He would come too late to be of any use to the Zealots and all who ultimately subscribed to their understanding of the Messianic Kingdom. It is this very feature, His immediately after, that marks Him as a truly God-sent Christ whose program would shake the earth, rearrange previously well-established powers on earth and accomplish what Judaism never could. From Gods point of view, therefore, Jesus timing, immediately after, would be perfect!

2. The collapse and removal of the old, established luminaries (24:29b)

The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. If these phenomena are figurative, as argued earlier, to what, then, do they refer? That heavenly bodies are used in Scripture to signify quite earthly people and events is well-established. Josephs dream of the sun, moon and eleven stars referred only to his own family (Gen. 37:9 f.). Nebuchadnezzar is addressed as fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn . . . cast down to earth, because of his self-exaltation to heaven to raise his throne above the stars of God and make himself like the Most High (Isa. 14:12 ff.). Compare Daniels description of another earthly king (Dan. 8:10; Dan. 8:23 ff.; Dan. 11:36 f.). The logic of this literary phenomenon is understandable because sun, moon, stars and the power of the heavens for the ancient peoples signified everything that speaks to mankind of permanence and stability. Man measured his days by the sun; his seasons by the moon; his trackless path by the stars. Many assumed that life is influenced by the powers of the heavens. Consequently, as Luke puts it (Mat. 21:25 f.), a universe running amok terrifies earths people who know nothing of Gods loving dominion. Worlds in chaos is highly suitable metaphorical language to depict the downfall of potentates, the eclipse of nations and the tumult of peoples.

In harmony with the symbolism created by the Old Testament writers, Jesus means that what occurs at the highest levels of government and the international level deeply affects the well-being and tranquility of the people involved. (Cf. 1Ti. 2:2.) In apocalyptic language the sea (cf. Luk. 21:25) symbolizes the worlds peoples. (Cf. Dan. 7:2 f., Dan. 7:17; Rev. 13:1; Rev. 13:11; Rev. 17:1; Rev. 17:15.) Thus, the little people of the world are profoundly shaken as top-level revolutions shake everything loose thought securely nailed down and on which societys emotional stability depends. So, Jesus is declaring that, immediately after the tribulation of those days surrounding Jerusalems fall, believers would witness the breakup of all that had seemed most permanent and durable before. This great Day of the Lord would signal the end of the existing dispensation. But to which specific heaven did Jesus allude?

THE CHRISTIAN FIRMAMENT? What if this language, once used to depict deep-running convulsions in world politics, is now utilized by Jesus to depict the apostasy in the Churchs life history, as some suggest? These see the sun as Gods Son of righteousness, His Son, Jesus. (Cf. Mal. 4:2.) The moon, because it shines by light reflected from the sun, becomes dark when the sun is darkened. If it is the Church that reflects the light of Christ in this dark world, than her influence is eclipsed when men lose respect for the Lordship of Christ, even in the Church. Accordingly, the stars, looked at from the point of view of popular astronomy, are lesser lights in Gods firmament of luminaries. These would symbolize those messengers in the Church whose ability to give men guidance is dimmed by a growing apathy toward Gods Word. (Cf. Rev. 1:16; Rev. 1:20; Rev. 2:5.) In this sense, then, roots of apostasy, already manifest in the apostolic period, would produce a general defection from Gods revelations, faithfulness to the Lord would wane and the Church would truly undergo the Dark Ages. This dimming of the Greater Light and the Lesser Lights actually occurred reasonably immediately after the tribulation of those days in 70 A.D. The farther the Church moved from the revealed truth after the death of the Apostles and early witnesses, the dimmer grew its witness, leaving a distressed world without confident leadership that would preach only Gods Word. But from the standpoint of His Jewish audience, it would seem more probable that Jesus referred to something more in line with the Old Testament revelations to Israel.

THE JEWISH HEAVENS. He meant the Jewish heavens of His own era, the religious and civil powers of that condemned nation. Because the religious authority was of such crucial importance for the supreme uniqueness of Judaism, the tottering and collapse of the Temple, its priesthood and sacrificial system could be considered by the orthodox and reflective among the people as nothing less than the end of an era (sunteleas to ainos; Mat. 24:3). During the first fifty years of the first century, for example, who could have foreseen with certainty that Herod Antipas, Annas, Caiaphas and all they stood for in the world would all be rudely snatched from their Jewish heaven and hurled into political oblivion? And yet those stars fell, that sun and moon shone no more! If these cataclysmic events are correctly interpreted as applying to Israels defeat, then it is clear that immediately after their national disaster of 70 A.D., the once-exalted, unique theocracy of Israel went into permanent eclipse as Gods light-bearers before the nations. (Study Heb. 12:25-29 as commentary on this transition.) Now the Church of Christ occupies this glorious position (Php. 2:15 f.; Joh. 8:12; Mat. 5:14 ff.; 1Pe. 2:9 f.). Although Christianity would be established at a time when kingdoms, thrones and religious systems would be thoroughly shaken, it would be a Kingdom that shall never be shaken or replaced by anything better this side of glory (Dan. 2:44; Dan. 7:14; Heb. 12:28). From the viewpoint of Jesus contemporaries, the loss of Judaisms glory would be a world-shaking tragedy indeed, an eclipse. From Gods point of view; however, the removal of things that can be shaken in order to establish a Kingdom that cannot be shaken is but to treat the former as obsolete. What, for Him, was already growing old was ready to vanish away even in the first century (Heb. 8:13; Heb. 12:27 f.).

3. The Messiahs victorious, heavenly reign vindicated (24:30)

Mat. 24:30 Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven. Then, as in Mat. 24:9, may mean (1) during that time just alluded to; or (2) thereafter, after the events just mentioned, next in order. As will be seen, either meaning is applicable here, because in the light of the conflagration that destroyed Jerusalems Temple the Jews could see Jesus every warning and prophecy fully justified, and His authority vindicated more and more with the passing of the old order.

Then shall appear the sign, but Jesus does not indicate where it would be seen. He certainly did not affirm that a sign would appear in heaven, because in heaven does not modify sign, but the Son of man. It is not, as many believe, the sign in heaven, but the Son of man in heaven. What does appear will indicate (= signify) the presence of the Son of man in heaven.

But is this a genitive of apposition or a genitive of source?

Genitive of Apposition: the sign which is the Son of man in heaven. Some argue that Christ is His own self-evidencing sign. But, if the appearance of the Son of God in the sky were the sign, then Jesus would be using the word sign in a way foreign to every other normal meaning of this term. Normally, a sign substitutes for the object to which it points, so how could He Himself be the sign, when His own personal appearance is supposedly the reality to be pointed out?

Genitive of Source: the sign comes from, or is given by, the Son of man in heaven, sent by Him to indicate something to men. This is the conventional use of this term and the preferable interpretation.

Jesus furnished His people a sign that would be plainly evident on earth, that would convince thoughtful, informed men that He had indeed been exalted to heavenly power, i.e. that He is truly the Son of man and is in heaven, and that His divine authority, supernatural power and providential influence is at work in all these earthly events. At this point He passes over in silence all the great miracles that He would have been doing for more than forty years previous to this last, great demonstration. Thus, just as He passed over the multiplicity of miracles He was doing during His earthly ministry and pointed to His resurrection as the grand proof of His identity and authority (cf. Joh. 2:19-22; Mat. 12:38-40), Jesus does not mention all the powerful evidences of the Holy Spirits activity from Pentecost until 70 A.D., opting to give men as final proof an evidential sign which consisted in the wrecking of the old institutions of Judaism.

So, the sign of the Son of man in heaven has nothing to do with the Second Coming, because, though the disciples had requested the sign of your coming (parousa) (Mat. 24:3), Jesus declared that His Second Coming would occur with no prior indication of its near approach. No forewarning sign could or would be given (Mat. 24:36, Mat. 24:42 ff., Mat. 24:50; Mat. 25:13). Therefore, what is meant by Mat. 24:30, where a sign is clearly promised, cannot refer to an event which, by divine decree, can have no early warning signal. The sign in question will be further amplified shortly.

And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. The translation, earth,(g) is misleading since the Greek g also means a land, region or country. In the Hebrew mind the land par excellence is the Promised Land, Palestine. Conclusive confirmation of this interpretation comes from Zec. 12:10 ff., the source of Jesus language. That prophet predicted that, following an unusual out-pouring of grace and supplication on the royal Davidic house and on Jerusalems inhabitants, Gods people would look on Him, the One whom they pierced and mourn bitterly as for a firstborn son. The weeping in Jerusalem would be so great as to be reminiscent of the nations grief when the good king Josiah fell in battle in the area of Megiddo (2Ch. 35:20-25). Rightly did they mourn, for with Josiahs untimely death religious reform ended and Israels final decline accelerated as the nation plunged toward disaster and captivity. The national mourning involved the entire land of Israel (Heb. ha eretz; Gr. he g). Each tribe of Israel would mourn, tribe by tribe (LXX: kat fuls fuls). Then he names the royal and religious authorities of Israel, the house of David and the family of Levi, whose loss is selected for special notice in that their lineal descendants stand for the Messianic line and the Priesthood respectively. Finally, Zechariah affirms that all the tribes remaining would also join in the national grief. Jerusalem particularly but also all of Israel would weep over her King who came to save His people (Zec. 9:9) but was valued at thirty pieces of silver (Zec. 11:12). Although He was Himself deity, He would be pierced (Zec. 12:11) and His flock scattered (Zec. 13:7).

Jesus allusion, then, cannot be to pagan clans scattered throughout the inhabited earth, but specifically to the stricken tribes of the ancient people of God, the Jews who inhabited the land of Israel. Now, while this prophecy would find immediate fulfillment during Jesus own suffering (Joh. 19:37; Luk. 23:27 ff., Luk. 23:48), He affirms that the time would come when the Jews would once again grieve bitterly.

NOTE: their mourning is not even primarily connected with Jesus Second Coming, as some interpret Rev. 1:7, but must find direct connection with His suffering during His first coming (Joh. 19:37). If John rightly applies Zec. 12:10 to Christs crucifixion, he proves that reference to the Second Coming is not the only appropriate fulfillment and ones interpretation of Rev. 1:7 must take this fact into account.

While some assume that the mourning arises out of all sinners recognition that Jesus has personally returned to be their implacable Judge, this conclusion is less likely than two more probable alternatives, both of which express Zechariahs full concept:

Godly sorrow leads to genuine repentance (2Co. 7:8-11; Consider Luk. 23:48 and Joh. 19:37 in the light of Act. 2:37-41). In the fulfillment, those who were deeply convicted of their guilt of rejecting their long-awaited Messiah, turned to the great Sin-bearer, Jesus, mourning their sinfulness and were graciously saved by His Gospel in time. (Cf. Zec. 12:10; Zec. 13:1.)

Hopeless mourning is that worldly grief that merely regrets wasted opportunities and bad results but leads to no moral decision to submit to Jesus and ends only in death (2Co. 7:10). In the fulfillment, those Jews who continue obstinately in their unbelief and rejection of Jesus, would shriek with despair, because unwilling to change their past and unable to alter the consequences of their unbelief. It is striking that, in 70 A.D., Israel permanently lost all hope for her royal house (DAVID) and her entire sacrificial system of purification before God (LEVI) in one blow.

Jesus time connection is highly revealing: when the sign of the Son of man in heaven appears, then will Israel mourn, as if the cause of their desperation and sorrow were the appearing of the sign. The connection is clear: those who assassinated Gods Son would live to see the day when He would be gloriously vindicated and the resultant heinousness of their crime against Him appropriately exposed and punished. Further, in Jesus context, their grief may also be occasioned by the shaking of the powers of the heavens (Mat. 24:29). If by that phrase He meant the collapse of their once glorious system whereby Israel bore the light of God in pagan darkness, then the definitive loss of this exalted, unique institution must provoke deep mourning in all those who profoundly felt this grave loss. But Jesus does not leave them in ignorance about the true motive of their grief. This is revealed in further fulfillment of prophecy.

And they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Because Jesus indicated no time sequence between this declaration and the preceding, as if the event involved followed it, we are free to consider this sentence as an expansion of His earlier phrase, the sign of the Son of man in heaven, which, when seen, caused the tribes of the land to mourn. The words, Son of man and heaven, naturally suggest this connection.

When Mark and Luke report only this phrase without mentioning the sign, they are only being less explicit than Matthew. They correctly quoted Jesus words which summarize Dan. 7:13 f., and must not be understood as promising a personal appearance in the skies. Matthew is more precise in that he first indicates that men would behold the appearance of a sign that Jesus Christ now reigns in heaven. Then, in harmony with Mark and Luke, our author quotes the prophetic words that define the content of that sign. So, we interpret the less explicit statements of Mark and Luke in light of the fuller citations of Jesus words by Matthew, not vice versa.

Because the tribes of the earth indicated in the citation from Zechariah are the Jewish people, it is principally, although not exclusively, they who shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven. So, if the primary focus is on carnal Israels seeing this reality and mourning because of it, what more significant realization could be imagined in all history than when all of unbelieving Israel gathered together in the land as a nation for one last fatal assembly before its final, millennial dispersion, i.e. at the Passover of 70 A.D.? This restriction of time and place would exclude the Second Coming as its primary fulfillment.

Once again Jesus adopted well-known Old Testament phraseology to express His own concepts (Dan. 7:9-14). Daniel dreamed he saw God as a great, venerable Old Man seated on a throne of judgment. This tribunal was to be held in the era of the fourth great world empire (Dan. 7:15-27). Even though the full implications of what occurred then would not be fully realized until Final Judgment, something began that would transform world history. In fact, onto the stage before the throne there came one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. Observe: the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven WAS NOT APPROACHING EARTH, BUT THE THRONE OF THE ALMIGHTY. In Daniels vision, coming on the clouds means that the Son of man was coming onstage, into the scene. It is not a coming toward Daniel or toward earth, but a coming seen from the standpoint of God, since Daniel uses three verbs that all indicate this: coming . . . approached . . . was led to the Ancient One. This is no picture of the Second Coming, because the Son of man is going the wrong way for that. His face is turned, not toward earth, but toward God. His goal is not to receive His saints, but to receive His Kingdom. (Cf. 1Pe. 3:22; Luk. 19:12; Act. 2:32-36; Act. 3:22; Act. 5:31; Col. 3:1; Rev. 3:21.) Daniel continued (Mat. 7:14),

He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Jesus summarized this verse by describing the coming of the Son of man with power and great glory.

The TIME indicated by Daniel for this transfer of imperial power from the domain of world monarchs to that of the Kingdom of the Son of man and of the saints of God, was after the rise of the fourth great world empire, Rome. (Cf. Dan. 2:44; Dan. 7:17 f.) This coincides with Jesus other time notices, as His disciples must expect to see the Son of man coming in His kingdom during their lifetime, an appearance which would unquestionably prove the kingdom of God come with power (Mat. 16:28; Mar. 9:1). This time-frame is repeated in this discourse too (Mat. 24:34; cf. Mat. 23:36).

So, Jesus use of Daniels imagery implies that Israel would see the day when Daniels words must apply most clearly and meaningfully to Himself, i.e. when His own divine authority would be vindicated beyond all doubt. But there arises a natural question: how would skeptical Jews be convinced of this conclusion? How could anyone trace a cause/effect relationship between Christs invisible, heavenly sentences (cause) and earthly events (effect)? Further, the expression, they shall see, would seem fatal to any INVISIBLE coming of the Son of man on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory! However, three facts must be reckoned with:

Christs Kingdom and rule is not some future aspiration, but a present reality.

Christ need not be visible to manifest His authority on earth.

Christians, too, will see and comprehend Christs triumph.

CHRIST REIGNS NOW

Indisputably, our participation in the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is yet future (Act. 14:22; 2Ti. 4:18; 2Pe. 1:11). Nevertheless, His rule is not merely future aspiration, but a present reality. (See my Special Study on the Kingdom, Vol. III, 160ff.) That His rule has already begun and does not await some distant date is fact.

He possessed universal authority even before His ascension (Mat. 11:27; Mat. 12:28; Mat. 28:19; Joh. 5:21-29; Joh. 17:2). Was this merely nominal, unsubstantial, fictitious or true authority?

His coming in His Kingdom occurred in the lifetime of the Apostles (Mat. 16:28; Mar. 9:1). On Pentecost men submitted to His Lordship (Act. 2:33-36) and were transferred out of Satans realm into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Col. 1:13). Believers preached (Act. 20:25) and suffered for His Kingdom in the first century (Rev. 1:9).

Christs rule is carried on from Gods heavenly throne (Eph. 1:20 ff.; Heb. 1:3).

Christs Kingdom was given to humble, teachable disciples (Mat. 18:3 f.; Mat. 19:14; Mat. 21:31 f.; Luk. 12:32; Luk. 22:29 f.). Being not of this world, His Kingdom is no threat to the proper exercise of civil authority (Joh. 18:36).

His Kingdom must continue until every enemy is destroyed (Heb. 2:14 f; Heb. 10:12 f.; 1Jn. 3:8; 1Co. 15:24-28).

His sovereignty is partially expressed in the earthly warfare of His saints against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places, but with spiritual, not material, weapons (Eph. 6:10 ff.; 2Co. 10:3-6) and with spiritual results (1Jn. 5:4-5; Joh. 16:33).

That Christs Kingdom will become undeniably evident at the Final Judgment is unquestioned and is probably the splendid climax and final fulfillment of Daniels prophecy. What is here affirmed, rather, is that even now the Son of God rules, judges, raises up and casts down whomever He will, and that this Kingdom, however invisible or intangible, is not unreal, impractical, insignificant or powerless.

CHRISTS REIGN NEED NOT BE VISIBLE TO BE REAL

Some assume that they shall see . . . , means that for Jesus to come on the clouds or to reign on earth, He must be visible. If such an invisible Kingdom seem impractical, unreasonable or unworthy of divine government, let Gods mighty, historical judgments on the worlds nations, empire and kings testify. They are not uninstructive (Rom. 15:4; 1Co. 10:11; 2Ti. 3:14-17).

How has God manifested His presence to men to make His reality recognizable to them? He presented Himself visibly in physical form to Abraham (Genesis 18) or to Moses as the angel of the Lord (Exo. 3:2-5) or to others in vision (Isa. 6:1; Eze. 1:25 ff; Eze. 3:23; Eze. 10:18 f; Eze. 11:23). These unquestionably real self-revelations, however, do not exclude another mode whereby God manifested Himself to men. Is a visible presence essential to fulfill the requirements of the following texts: Gen. 11:5 f.; 1Sa. 3:10; 1Sa. 5:1-12; 1Sa. 6:5? Did the burning bush experience of Moses or the pillar of fire exhaust the meaning of Gods affirmation: I am come down to deliver (Exo. 3:8)? Was He not raining down plagues on Egypt, defeating the cream of Pharaohs army and working mighty miracles for Israel, even without a visible, physical presence? The complaining Israelites could still snarl, Is the Lord among us or not (Exo. 17:7)? His was not a material apparition but a nevertheless real leadership by His Holy Spirit (Isa. 63:10-14). Was His fellowship less real to believers merely because it was spiritual and invisible? (Contrast Isa. 42:19 f.)

How did God manifest His presence at the national and international level to convict men of His sovereignty? What did man see?

One major prophetic emphasis of Ezekiels message is to communicate Gods self-revelation by means of a series of events undeniably evident in world history, whereby all who ever heard of these facts could recognize that these incidents were no mere chance occurrences, but nothing less than the carefully planned activity of a sovereign, living God.

(1)

34 times God concludes a threatened punishment upon Israel, affirming, I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste . . . Then they will know that I am the Lord . . . then you will know that it is I the Lord who strikes the blow (Eze. 2:5; Eze. 5:13 ff.; Eze. 6:7; Eze. 6:10; Eze. 6:13 f.; Eze. 7:4; Eze. 7:9; Eze. 7:27; Eze. 11:10; Eze. 11:12; Eze. 12:15 f., Eze. 12:20; Eze. 13:9; Eze. 13:14; Eze. 13:21; Eze. 13:23; Eze. 14:8; Eze. 15:7; Eze. 17:21; Eze. 17:24; Eze. 20:38; Eze. 20:44; Eze. 20:48; Eze. 21:5; Eze. 22:16; Eze. 22:22; Eze. 23:49; Eze. 24:24; Eze. 24:27; Eze. 33:29; Eze. 33:33).

(2)

26 times God threatens foreign powers with punishment so that they too will know that I am the Lord (Eze. 25:5; Eze. 25:7; Eze. 25:11; Eze. 25:14; Eze. 25:17; Eze. 26:6; Eze. 28:22 ff.; Eze. 29:6; Eze. 29:9; Eze. 29:16; Eze. 30:8; Eze. 30:19; Eze. 30:25 f.; Eze. 32:15; Eze. 35:4; Eze. 35:9; Eze. 35:12; Eze. 35:15; Eze. 38:16; Eze. 38:23; Eze. 39:6 f., Eze. 39:21).

(3)

12 times God concluded a promised blessing of Israel whereby they could easily discern Gods hand in earthly events and know that I am the Lord (Eze. 16:62; Eze. 17:24; Eze. 28:26; Eze. 29:21; Eze. 34:27; Eze. 34:30; Eze. 36:11; Eze. 36:38; Eze. 37:6; Eze. 37:13 f.; Eze. 39:28).

(4)

God described the Gentile nations punishment so that its realization would convince Israel to know that I the Lord have spoken (Eze. 35:11; Eze. 39:21 f.).

(5)

Gods restoration of Israel must convince Gentiles that Jahweh is the true God of heaven and Israels God (Eze. 36:23; Eze. 36:36; Eze. 36:38).

GODS CLEARLY-DEFINED PATTERN OF SELF-REVELATION IN HISTORYS EVENTS:

(1)

GOD ANNOUNCED HIS PLANS BEFOREHAND as adequate forewarning, so men could look forward to the realization of what was beyond human power to foresee or forestall (Isa. 14:26 f; Isa. 19:12; Isa. 37:20-37; Isa. 41:20-29; Isa. 42:9; Isa. 45:19 ff; Isa. 48:14 f.).

(2)

THEN GOD DID WHAT HE SAID HE WOULD (Isa. 30:30 ff; Isa. 42:23 ff; Isa. 44:7 f; Isa. 48:3; Isa. 64:1-4).

(3)

Because the news was also to be announced to all nations (Isa. 48:20), men could draw the correct conclusion: what God says, He will do. His rule is real and His will must be obeyed in other areas too (Isa. 17:7 f; Isa. 19:19-25; Isa. 24:14; Isa. 43:12 f; Isa. 45:1-6; Isa. 45:14; Isa. 48:3-7; Isa. 48:16; Isa. 49:23; Isa. 49:26; Isa. 52:6; Isa. 54:15 ff.).

Thus, Gods mighty acts in history were not merely to punish or bless either Israel or the nations, but to lead all men, Jews and Gentiles alike, to confess that Israels God is the only truly self-existent, eternal, living God, who alone is worthy of adoration and service. Israel was to learn that it was Jahweh who struck them, not merely some pagan foreign power, so they would return to Him (Isa. 9:13; Jer. 5:3). There was no supernatural exhibition of Gods person in the skies over Israel or Jerusalem when He poured out His wrath on them. Nevertheless, from the outcome of the events, His people were to draw the necessary conclusion that the LORD HIMSELF directed those remedial chastisements (cf. Joe. 2:11). They were to conclude that punishments like the sacking of Jerusalem and the burning of the Temple furnish irrefutable evidence that a great day of the Lord has come. (Cf. Isa. 2:12-22; Amo. 5:18 ff.; Zep. 1:7 ff., Zep. 1:14 f.; Zec. 2:2 f.) THIS WAS A CONCLUSION THEY WERE TO DRAW, fore announced indeed by prophets, but not an affirmation written in flaming letters across the sky nor thundered from heaven. This they could DEDUCE as the Babylonian war machine, for example, rolled into the beleaguered Holy City to pillage, slaughter and burn. But this was a CONCLUSION well-grounded in many prophecies that guided Israel to read their destiny aright, even if in the light of the flames that consumed their last hope of reprieve from divine justice. (Cf. Jer. 5:19.)

Merely because one cannot discern Gods Kingdom materially visible does not constitute proof that it does not exist or has somehow failed. The above-cited references often allude to Gods hand stretched out over a given people to punish it. But who seriously believes that a gigantic fist appeared in the sky over them to smash them for their sins? To the contrary, the prophets sometimes indicate which specific, quite earthly enemy power would be Gods appointed instrument, be they some great empire or the marauding desert tribes, or even Israel herself (Eze. 25:4; Eze. 25:14; Eze. 26:7; Eze. 30:24 f; Eze. 32:11 f; Eze. 29:19 f.; cf. Jer. 51:11; 1Ch. 5:26; 1Ch. 21:16). In the colossal shifts in imperial power in the ancient Near East God established His sovereignty as Lord of history (Dan. 2:21; Dan. 2:44). This lesson was so clear that even a Nebuchadnezzar could understand it (Dan. 4:3; Dan. 4:34 ff.). On some occasions, because of a direct revelation, earths monarchs were brought to their knees before Gods universal dominion (Dan. 2:47; Dan. 3:28 f; Dan. 4:28-37; Dan. 5:18-21; Dan. 6:25 ff.). At other times God overthrew thrones and established justice despite the evil intentions of the human agents He used. (Cf. Isa. 10:5-19; Isa. 10:24 ff.; Isa. 13:5; Isa. 14:24-29; Isa. 30:30 ff.; Isa. 31:8 f; Isa. 38:6; Jer. 51:20 ff., Jer. 51:27 ff.; Mic. 4:11 f.). These acts of God were to convince Israel that Gods servant, Nebuchadnezzar, for example, was nothing more nor less than Gods tool operating at the level of empire (Isa. 44:28; Jer. 25:9-14; Jer. 46:10). In Israel or elsewhere only the crass unbeliever could pout, But I expected something different, something more psychologically convincing, some more spectacular evidence of Gods reality and sovereignty!

Just as God ruled men from heaven without personally and visibly directing historys traffic from some mountain top, overthrowing thrones and shattering the power of kingdoms (cf. 1Ch. 29:11 f.; Hag. 2:2 f.), so everything Jesus was doing was intended to produce the conviction in the dispassionate observer that Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus followed the same model established by God: He forewarned of Jerusalems fall. Then He brought it to pass. Thus, men could conclude that the Crucified One sits on the Throne at the center of the universe, that He has indeed come on the clouds of heaven, and shall come again, as He said.

Must His reign seem less real, just because it too is invisible? Can we believe it to function effectively, even if He is not seated on a golden, Davidic throne in Jerusalem (Joh. 18:36)? Merely because we cannot observe His reigning, must we repeat the ancient slander: Is the Lord among us or not (Exo. 17:7)? Proponents of millennial theories that require a messianic throne of David in Jerusalem appear to be dissatisfied with a spiritual kingdom, as if its spiritual character somehow compromises its reality and power. All must learn to live with Jesus promise: I will be with you always, to the very close of the age (Mat. 28:20). Rather than confirm His word by appearing bodily after His departure, He sent His Spirit to be with us and in us. Significantly, it was in a context such as Ezekiels five apologetic defenses mentioned above, that Gods promise to send His Spirit arises. So, if God approaches earth to re-organize its inhabitants any way He chooses but needs no visible, material body to accomplish this, why must it be thought strange that Jesus Christ need not appear in the sky before earthly judgments can be wrought on the earth by Him?

NOTE: it is not argued here that Jesus vindication at the fall of Jerusalem is the final or exclusive fulfillment of Daniels great prophecy. Rather, that any time Christ intervenes, either on behalf of His Church or to punish His enemies, He gives proof of His heavenly reign, vindicates His claims and justifies the faith of His people. Every such intervention may be considered evidence of the coming of the Son of man on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory to the Ancient of Days to rule from His throne until that final Day when, what Christians have believed all along, shall finally break in upon the consciousness of all men, and Daniels prophecy shall have its final, most glorious fulfillment. (Cf. notes on Mat. 10:23 and Mat. 16:28.)

WHO SHALL SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING, AND HOW?

It would seem that, according to Matthew, they will see, must refer exclusively and contextually, to all the tribes (who) mourn, i.e. those of Israel who rejected Gods offer of grace through Jesus. But would those who repudiated Jesus interpretation of Judaisms fall be psychologically able to admit the Nazarenes complete vindication in the holocaust of 70 A.D.? Although they probably would not grasp this connection, Jesus expression admits two possible explanations.

JEWS WOULD SEE WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING. A child watches two expert chess players move their pieces on the board, without its seeing what the moves mean, while the players themselves not only witness but also experience, recognize and understand what each play means in terms of the past, present and possible future of the game. Similarly, Jews would see Jerusalem, the Temple and its millennial glory going up in flames and the demolition of the entire Mosaic institution for access to God through priesthood, sacrifices and cleansing from sin. But what they could see with their mind, or comprehend, must depend on what they were willing to recognize as the meaning of what they saw. (Cf. Isa. 29:9-12; Isa. 29:14; Act. 3:17; Act. 13:27.) The extent to which they repented and trusted God to judge righteously measured their openness to His revelations (Isa. 32:3). Otherwise, they would see without understanding (cf. Mat. 13:11-16; Isa. 6:9 f; Isa. 42:18 ff; Isa. 53:1; contrast Isa. 52:15; Rom. 10:16-19; Heb. 3:7 to Heb. 4:2). Their centuries-old Wailing Wall mentality documents their continued incomprehension.

CHRISTIANS WOULD SEE AND UNDERSTAND. They will see, in Matthew, seems to refer contextually to Israel alone. This phrase, however, is used also by both Mark and Luke who make no specific allusion to anyone in particular, since they omitted all mention of the Jews. Further, the third person plural verb in Greek can be used, as in English, for the indefinite subject: one will see, anyone in general will see, you will see, etc. (Cf. Blass-Deburnner, Grammar, 130.) So, Jesus leaves the door open for not only Jews to see, but also Christians. These latter not only witness the awe-inspiring end of Israels Temple, but also the dramatic conclusion of the Mosaic dispensation and the historical vindication of Jesus of Nazareth. So, what the Jews witnessed uncomprehendingly, the Christians, looking at the same objects, could see in it what Daniels images portrayed, the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven. Comprehension and true insight were possible only for those who accepted the true meaning of the event as this is perceived on the basis of Jesus prediction and the empirically observable occurrence of what He had foretold, interpreting everything in the light of Dan. 7:13 f. Christians could grasp the true significance of the decline and fall of Judaism, because they possess the interpretative key to history, handed them by the Lord of History Himself.

CONCLUSION

The end of the pre-Messianic age and the commencement of the Kingdom of the Messiah coincided theoretically at the Passion, Victory, Ascension and Coronation of the Christ which culminated in Pentecost, 30 A.D. But only a few believersno more than 300 at firstembraced this change of administration for nearly a generation. Business continued as usual in Judaism. This would lead to the falsely secure notion that all was well. But the sudden, definitive removal of Judaisms commonwealth and its Levitical system and Temple became the signal proof that only Jesus of Nazareth had correctly revealed the mind of God (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). Thus, the very crumbling of the Jewish commonwealth, their religious center and its aftermath, just as He prophesied, would attest to Jesus heavenly reign by His superintending the punitive justice meted out on those who rejected His messiahship and crucified Him, and by His justifying the faith of those who proclaimed Him Lord of all. Both acts of this divine King prove He sits enthroned and rules with power and great glory. They prove that He has truly begun to do, concretely and historically, what Daniels expressions meant: He has already ascended to heaven and come to God on the clouds of heaven to take His place rightfully on Gods throne. Jewish silence that finds inexplicable their Temples 2000-year desolation is tantamount to a confession that God has incomprehensibly abandoned His people and that Israel today has no solid refutation against the claim that the Crucified One has triumphed and is their true Master, despite the fact that they repudiate His Lordship. No longer may fleshly Israel claim unique or exclusive access to God, because Israels Bible, in the absence of its Messiah, points uncompromisingly to its Levitical sacrifices by which alone this access may be enjoyed. But now that access is denied by the Temples millennial absence.

No wonder, then, that in 70 A.D. Christians could lift up their heads in hope (Luk. 21:28). Christs people were freed from the ungodly, oppressive sovereignty of Judaism by the execution of the Lords sentence on it, because in that event it became evident on earth that Jesus kingship is real. The Son of man was really in heaven and He had actually come on the clouds of heaven to the Ancient of Days and was gloriously crowned with honor and sovereign power, just as Daniel had foretold and Jesus Himself had confirmed! Christ in heaven administers His Kingdom, while His people conquer and reign on earth (Rev. 5:10; cf. Rev. 1:6; Rom. 8:37; 2Co. 2:14; 1Pe. 2:9).

NOTE: None of the above conclusions are intended to detract from the perfect, final realization of Daniels prophecy, whereby what is now discerned only by believers shall become indisputably evident to everyone at Christs coming. Nor does this interpretation deny the clearly literal expectations of many other texts that speak of His return on the Final Day (1Th. 4:16; 2Th. 1:7-10; 1 Corinthians 15; 2 Peter 3, etc.). Jesus Kingdom became de jure effective at Pentecost (Acts 2), but it was and is only gradually realized de facto as His influence spreads throughout the world and more of His enemies are put under His feet. Even so, there remains a sense in which it is still largely a Kingdom de jure and shall not be manifest to all of earths inhabitants in all its glory until the Last Day. Christs present reign is not inconsistent with the continued presence of evil in the world. (See notes on Matthew 13.) Revelation dramatizes the final outcome of this conflict and warns that all present appearances are deceiving that seem to put Christ and Christians victory in doubt. He really reigns and His people are victors, even though all earthly observation would deny it. What is even now true shall simply be manifest at the Last Day.

4. Worldwide proclamation of the Gospel and its results: the beginning of the Lords Year of Jubilee (24:31)

Mat. 24:31 And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. This sending forth of angels closely resembles Jesus interpretation of His own parables of the Tares and of the Dragnet (Mat. 13:41; Mat. 13:49). Further, the great sound of a trumpet seems associated with the last trumpet call of God at the resurrection (1Co. 15:52; 1Th. 4:16). Notwithstanding these similarities, two considerations suggest that these expressions be otherwise interpreted:

Jesus explicit indications of schedule require a fulfillment within the time-frame of His own contemporary generation (Mat. 23:35 f.; Mat. 24:21; Mat. 24:29; Mat. 24:34).

Jesus language utilized symbols already well developed in the Old Testament prophets and in the Law, and, as indicated above, although some of the same symbols may also be used in connection with the Second Coming, nevertheless, it is entirely appropriate that He be thought free to adopt this same language in a sense governed by the time limitations He indicated.

His angels (Greek: ngeloi = messengers generally). Whether such messengers are supernatural or completely human must be decided form the context. Besides the many texts which speak of supernatural agents of God, the following texts illustrate the appropriateness of using ngeloi for men: In Mat. 11:10 ngelos refers to John the Baptist (= Mar. 1:2; Luk. 7:27) whereas in Luk. 7:24 ngeloi refers to some of Johns disciples. In Luk. 9:52 ngeloi refers to emissaries of Jesus. In Jas. 2:25 ngeloi describes two spies sent to Jericho. This evidence indicates that the translators choice to render ngeloi with angels in our text unnecessarily attributes supernatural nature to these messengers, and this conclusion may safely be re-examined, since our Lord may well have meant His human messengers of which He had spoken earlier in unliteral language (Mat. 23:34).

With a great sound of a trumpet, as texts like Revelation 8, 9 illustrate may have other functions in Gods economy besides giving the blast that signals the worlds end. The question must ever be asked: what image would Jesus Jewish audience have received from this expression? In Israels millennial history, the trumpet was used to give signals to Israel and call the community together (Exo. 19:13; Exo. 19:16; Exo. 19:19; Num. 10:1-7). At the New Moon and on other occasions trumpets were used to signal great national celebrations and feasts (Psa. 81:3). Alarms were sounded to warn of approaching danger (Joe. 2:1). However, the trumpets use at Sinai may not have been merely a signal, but part of the very expression of Gods presence and glory, and susceptible of being associated with the new covenant announcement of the Law of Christ, not from Sinai, but from Jerusalem. From its many literal uses it symbolic use is drawn, but which one is intended here?

Among its other uses, the trumpet, as a symbol, would bring to the Jewish Jubilee a trumpet song of the emancipation of Hebrew slaves and of the restoration of alienated property to its true owners, and of a years vacation from lifes toil. In this same vein, Jesus established the keynote of His own ministry, citing Isa. 61:1 f. (Luk. 4:18 f.).

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lords favor.

Then He claimed, Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. So doing, He initiated the great spiritual era of freedom, rest and restoration. With His own trumpet blast He announced that the time of deliverance had come. Then, as He sent forth His heralds to proclaim this same dispensation of Gods grace now available to all in the Gospel, these messengers (ngeloi) but echoed the Jubilee trumpets function to proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.

However, it would appear that Jesus selected a great sound of a trumpet from a figure used by Isa. 27:13, where God promised to gather His exiled people who were perishing in captivity. Note the comparisons:

JESUS

ISAIAH

The Son of man shall send forth his angels

The Lord will thresh

with a great sound of a trumpet they shall gather his elect

In that day a great trumpet will sound You, O Israelites, will be gathered one by one

from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other

Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

The only element not mentioned in both texts is his angels, although the passive (you will be gathered in Isaiah) suggests an agent of some kind.

Several points should be noted:

This was no literal trumpet. Rather, because it was already a well-known symbol of Israels jubilee release, Isaiah seems to have spiritualized the Jubilee trumpet to signal a new epoch of glorious release from bondage to pagan powers.

Even in Isaiah, this trumpet is no merely human signal, but the summons symbolically sounded by God or by His agents (Cf. Isa. 18:3; Isa. 11:12), to call penitent exiles back to Jerusalem to resume their worship and service to Him. (Cf. Joe. 2:15 f.; Psa. 81:3.)

The trumpet-call would produce a restoration to their original sanctification as the people would thresh out grain and collect the kernels individually in the most careful manner possible into a container, so God would separate the grain, the penitent, from the husks, their ungodly brethren yet living among pagan nations.

Jesus apparently reworked Isaiahs literary image to project the vision of an even more glorious trumpet to publish the year of release, not limited to the Jews or to the land of Palestine, but good tidings of great joy for all peoples. He would inaugurate a Jubilee of return and redemption for all nations, which is His next point.

They shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Again His language strikingly resembles His own mode of describing the Final Judgment (Mat. 13:41-43; Mat. 13:48-50; 2Th. 1:7 ff.). Nevertheless, this prophetic language appears to have been borrowed from Moses and Zechariah. Surprisingly, nothing actually celestial is alluded to in one end of heaven to the other. In fact, Zechariah (Mat. 2:6) quotes the Lord as calling, Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north, for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven. This idiom is only natural, since God had promised compassion on the exiles thus:

If any of thine outcasts be in the uttermost parts of heaven, from thence will Jehovah thy God gather thee and from thence will he fetch thee (Deu. 30:4, ASV).

What is meant less figuratively is their restoration from banishment to the most distant land under the heavens (Deu. 30:4, NIV). It is everywhere assumed that these would be flesh-and-blood exiles walking on earth, not disembodied spirits floating in from some distant point in space. (Cf. Neh. 1:9.)

Borrowing this prophetic terminology, Jesus could depict the sounding of the Gospel proclamation which would gather the true Israel of God from the far reaches of the world and unite them in the worship of Jehovah in . . .the real and abiding Zion (the church), not the earthly and passing Jerusalem (Butler, Isaiah, II, 54). The messengers (ngeloi) of Christ are commissioned to go into all the world, making disciples of all the nations (Mat. 28:19 f.), a process which proposes to gather Gods Elect, His Church, from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Cf. Mat. 8:11; Luk. 13:29.) Our Gospel proclaims deliverance and redemption from the oppressive slavery to sin, available to every creature (Mar. 16:15). This liberation encapsules the profoundest meaning of Jubilee. Gods elect are no longer drawn from one small nation, but are composed of people from every tribe, nation, people and tongue. This text, then, points to the grand, non-national, worldwide character of the New Israel and how it came to be.

So, when did the trumpet actually sound: during the ministry of Christ (Luk. 4:17 ff.)? with the Gospel proclamation of the acceptable year of the Lord, as Jesus messengers went through the land sounding the Gospel trumpet of release from bondage to Satan? or with the destruction of Jerusalem which formally and finally announced the final end of the Old Dispensation? Ideally, all three, because what occurred in the Gospel preaching by the early Christians and what took place at Jerusalem in 70 A.D. was nothing but the extension of the royal authority and ministry of Jesus Himself. To the world these mighty acts announced Gospel redemption. Also our slavery to Judaistic legalism was now surpassed by a Gospel for every man and people which proclaims liberation to everyone. This fact became concretely obvious when the last vestiges of the Old Dispensation indisputably crumbled to the ground in flames. But it is not impossible that the final Trumpet (1Th. 4:16), while presumably literal, may be but the last, most glorious expression of Gods merciful trumpet to publish eternal release, restoration and redemption. (Study Leviticus 25; Zechariah 14, esp. Zec. 14:16 ff.)

WHEN TRAGIC EVENTS ARE ACTUALLY REASSURING

Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near (Luk. 21:28). Jesus introduces these words to conclude this section and yet their meaning is echoed in the parable of the trees which follows, and to which this verse serves as introduction. This verse, then, looks both ways:

It prepares the mind to hear Jesus say, When you see all these things taking place, you can tell that the kingdom of God is near. You will live to see it.

It summarizes what the believing observer is to decide about the tremendous, earth-shaking events Jesus has just described in the previous verses, which must mean exclusively the destruction of Jerusalem. That Jesus is not here alluding to the Second Coming is clear

Because when these things begin to take place implies a certain gradualness that permits time for reflection on the world events just described (Luk. 21:25 f.). But the Second Coming will be marked by an unexpected, unpredictable suddenness (Mat. 24:39; Mat. 24:42; Mat. 24:44; Mat. 25:13).

Because Look up and raise your heads, when referred to the Second Coming, is also meaningless, for Christs return will be announced by heavenly shouting, trumpet music and Jesus own glorious, personal appearance (1Th. 4:16). It will all be so obvious as to require no special announcements (Mat. 24:23 ff.) or hopeful searching the skies. His appearance will be instantly visible to all; His voice audible to all (2Th. 1:7-10; Joh. 5:28).

Because the expression, your redemption is drawing near, cannot allude to eternal redemption, since this would give time for lastminute preparation. But such convenient, last-minute repentance is absolutely excluded by Jesus warnings (Mat. 25:1-13). Universal repentance and consequent salvation is inconceivable (Luk. 18:8; Mat. 7:13-14; 1Pe. 4:12-19). That eternal redemption from sin and all its consequences (1Pe. 1:5-9; Rom. 8:23) is not here envisioned is evident from the contextual consideration that Jesus is merely discussing the post-Jewish dispensation when the Gospel would be proclaimed among the Gentiles and the universal Church vindicated as the earthly expression of Gods Kingdom. So, redemption, here, refers to the near approach to the Churchs liberation by those earthly events which would signal the arrival of Christs Kingdom (Luk. 21:31 = Mat. 24:33).

Jesus meaning, then, is, When these things, the earth-shaking events leading up to my heavenly vindication, begin to take place, you, my dear disciples, may then look up and raise your heads bowed down by the severe troubles you suffer at that time, because your redemption from the limitations imposed by the Jewish period of the Church and your liberation from persecution by Jewish authorities is drawing near.

HOW JUSTIFY THIS POSITION TAKEN?

While we may be satisfied that this passage makes primary reference to the vindication of Jesus as Gods Messiah when the Father furnished convincing proof of Jesus Lordship and of the justice of His cause during the period immediately successive to the fall of Jerusalem and as a necessary result of this judgment, nevertheless it would be irresponsible to ignore the many striking similarities which other commentators notice between Jesus language here and what, in my view, are genuinely end-of-the-world events.

The astronomical panorama of changes in our universe (2Pe. 3:7; 2Pe. 3:10; 2Pe. 3:12). The creation of new heavens and earth (2Pe. 3:13; Rev. 21:1-5; cf. Rev. 6:12 f.).

The appearance of Jesus Christ in the sky (1Th. 1:10; 1Th. 2:19; 1Th. 3:13; 2Th. 2:8; 2Ti. 4:1; Tit. 2:13).

The mourning of those who rejected the truth, the terror of those shaken by the glory of our returning Lord, terrified by the prospect of their damnation (Rev. 6:12-17; cf. Rev. 1:7?).

The loud trumpet signaling the end, Christs return and the resurrection (1Co. 15:52; 1Th. 4:16; cf. Rev. 11:15).

The angels sent forth to gather Christs elect from all over the earth (Mat. 13:41-43; Mat. 13:48-50; 2Th. 1:7 ff.).

How explain these remarkable similarities? Does similarity argue identification or that this entire paragraph (Mat. 24:29-31) should be understood exclusively with reference to the Second Coming? While the parallels are many and remarkable, their origin in Old Testament prophetic language warns against strict literalism. On the other hand, we may be perfectly content if our marvelous Lord chooses to bring every one of these prophecies to a surprising, literal fulfillment. However, on what basis can prophecies that refer primarily to events immediately following Jerusalems fall, be thought to point also to the worlds Last Day?

One answer is to see in the definitive judgment upon Judaism a symbol foreshadowing the sentencing of the entire world. Thus, while others are mistaken to see only end-of-the-world events in the foreground of Jesus picture before Mat. 24:34, nevertheless it is thought that there may be principles involved here that have a wider application that would extend to Christians living on earth after that event until Jesus comes again. The major objection to this view is the repeated warning of our Lord that, whereas the fall of Jerusalem would be preceded by unmistakable signs of its impending disaster, the coming of Christ and the worlds end will not. The nearness of that Day will be undiscernible in every respect (Mat. 24:36, Mat. 24:42 ff., Mat. 24:50; Mat. 25:13; Mar. 13:33; Mar. 13:35; Luk. 21:34). Therefore, what is the purpose of searching for parallels and similarities? At this critical point the two events are not at all similar.

Another approach is to recognize in Mat. 24:29-31 a symbolic panorama of earthly events depicted in typical apocalyptic language coined by and borrowed from the prophets, but which, while having undoubted fulfillment in Jerusalems demise, may yet occur in all their cosmic literalness at the Lords return. These cosmic disturbances are characteristic of the theophanies of both history and prophecy of the Old Testament, so why should they not also serve in New Testament history and prophecy as well? Although these suggestions cannot be ruled out categorically, enough evidence has been offered in the verse comments to indicate that Jesus spoke in a meaningful language to people familiar with His terminology. Correct exegesis, therefore, must proceed from the standpoint of what the prophets meant by language which Jesus utilized to communicate His own revelations to minds saturated with His Bible.

Because nothing is lost for the Second Coming, it is simply better to consider Mat. 24:29-31 as expressing the theological results of the end of the Jewish era, leaving the above-mentioned texts free to teach us about Christs real coming, without our seeking some clue in Matthew 24 to the date of the Parousia when the Lord flatly denied any possible hope of success.

FACT QUESTIONS

Define the tribulation of those days. To what days does Jesus refer by those days? How had He defined those days earlier? (Mat. 24:19-22). Identify the tribulation itself: what is a tribulation?

In what sense is the Coming of the Son of man to be immediately after the tribulation of those days? How could all the majestic events Jesus included in this paragraph (Mat. 24:29 ff.) really occur immediately after the crises of the tribulation?

Locate the Old Testament passages where the following expressions are used and give the interpretation intended by the Old Testament author in each case:

The sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, the stars shall fall from heaven, the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.

All the tribes of the earth shall mourn. To what tribes does the prophet refer? To what earth? What occasioned their mourning?

The Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory: to what or whom was this Son of man coming when He approached on the clouds of heaven in the original reference?

gather . . . a great trumpet: what was this trumpet used for in the original reference(s)?

the four winds of heaven.

Now, rewrite Jesus paragraph using the literal meaning of each phrase as you have gleaned it from the Old Testament prophets. That is, take His figurative language borrowed from the Prophets, and, as if you were writing for people unfamiliar with the Old Testament, express His literal meaning which would have been communicated to His original Jewish hearers familiar with the Old Testament.

Establish with good reasons to what coming of the Son of man Jesus alludes.

True or false? The better translation is All the tribes of the land (not earth) shall mourn. Defend your answer.

What additional information does Luke add that helps to interpret this section?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(29) Immediately after the tribulation of those days.From this point onwards the prophecy takes a wider range, and passes beyond the narrow limits of the destruction of Jerusalem to the final coming of the Son of Man, and the one is represented as following immediately on the other. No other meaning could have been found in the words when they were first heard or read. The days of this verse are those which were shortened for the elects sake (Mat. 24:22). The tribulation can be none other than that of Mat. 24:21, which was emphatically connected with the flight of men from the beleaguered city. The language of St. Mark, in those days, after that tribulation, followed by a description of the second Advent identical in substance with St. Matthews, brings the two events, if possible, into yet closer juxtaposition. How are we to explain the fact that already more than eighteen centuries have rolled away, and the promise of His coming still tarries? It is a partial answer to the question to say that Gods measurements of time are not as mans, and that with Him a thousand years are as one day (2Pe. 3:8); that there is that in God which answers to the modification of a purpose in man, and now postpones, now hastens, the unfolding of His plan. But that which may seem the boldest answer is also (in the judgment of the present writer) that which seems the truest and most reverential. Of that day and hour knew no man, not even the Son (Mar. 13:32), but the Father only (Mat. 24:36); and therefore He, as truly man, and as having, therefore, vouchsafed to accept the limitations of knowledge incident to mans nature, speaks of the two events as poets and prophets speak of the far-off future. As men gazing from a distance see the glittering heights of two snow crowned mountains apparently in close proximity, and take no account of the vast tract, it may be of very many miles, which lies between them; so it was that those whose thoughts must have been mainly moulded on this prediction, the Apostles and their immediate disciples, though they were too conscious of their ignorance Of the times and the seasons to fix the day or year, lived and died in the expectation that it was not far off, and that they might, by prayer and acts, hasten its coming (2Pe. 3:12). (See Note on Mat. 24:36.)

Shall the sun be darkened.The words reproduce the imagery in which Isaiah had described the day of the Lords judgment upon Babylon (Isa. 13:10), and may naturally receive the same symbolic interpretation. Our Lord speaks here in language as essentially apocalyptic as that of the Revelation of St. John (Rev. 8:12), and it lies in the very nature of such language that it precludes a literal interpretation. Even the common speech of men describes a time of tribulation as one in which the skies are dark and the sun of a nations glory sets in gloom; and the language of Isaiah, of St. John, and of our Lord, is but the expansion of that familiar parable. Sun, moon, and stars may represent, as many have thought, kingly power, and the spiritual influence of which the Church of Christ is the embodiment, and the illuminating power of those who shine as lights in the world (Php. 2:15), but even this interpretation is, it may be, over-precise and technical, and the words are better left in their dim and terrible vagueness.

The powers of the heavens.These are, it will be noted, distinguished from the stars, and may be taken as the apocalyptic expression for the laws or forces by which moon and stars are kept in their appointed courses. The phrase is found elsewhere only in the parallel passages in St. Mark and St. Luke.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

29-31. We have obviously here a picture of the visible phenomena of the heavens, etc., at the visible appearance of Christ to judgment. As this whole passage has been allegorically interpreted, not only by Universalist commentators, but, what is much to be regretted, by many orthodox, we remark:

First. This entire passage (29-31) is evidently the fore part, of which Mat 25:31-46 is the after part. Printed together, they are one continued narrative. They are both of a piece. They are one picture of one transaction, to be encased in the same frame. If either is figurative both are figurative. If either is literal both are literal. See more fully, comment on Mat 25:31-46.

Secondly. This passage (29-31) embraces some six particular events: 1.

The visible firmamental convulsions; 2. The sign of Christ’s coming; 3. The visible Judges 4. The consequent wailing of the tribes of the earth; 5. The angels with the trumpet sound; 6. The gathering of the elect. None of these things took place at the destruction of Jerusalem, nor any literal events worthy to be described in these terms.

Thirdly. The contenders for a figurative interpretation quote instances of similar language, as they think, used in the Old Testament figuratively, as Isa 13:9; Eze 32:7. But these passages are very poor parallels indeed; they simply describe an obscuration of the heavens, such as takes place when smoke or vapour fills the concave, as at an earthquake, or conflagration of a great city. Such passages present at best but the first of the above six particulars. In fact, they are far from filling out that. These false parallels describe an obscuration of the heavens; the present passage, a sensible convulsion of earth and heaven, with an outline of specific and peculiar events. Let any one study the clear specific import of the last five of the six particulars, (of which the first is a comparatively unimportant prelude,) and say whether anything in the supposed parallels quoted from the prophets at all meets this case. These five particulars are plainly an organic part with Mat 25:31-46.

Fourthly. The suddenness of the event described in this passage is the entire point illustrated by 36-51. The suddenness of the judgment advent is one of the points frequently asserted in the New Testament. But the destruction of Jerusalem was not a sudden, but a very slow, long foreseen, well forewarned event. There was no suddenness or surprise about it. The war slowly approached; the city was gradually surrounded with an overpowering force; post after post was painfully taken, and there was no particular day on which the downfall could be dated. We might lay it down as a canon of interpretation, that whatever expresses slow and protracted process is to be applied to the destruction; but whatever expresses the sudden and the unforewarned is to be applied to the advent.

Fifthly. Some commentators defend the allegorical interpretation by finding here what they call a double sense. Both great events they think are described in the same language. Now we admit that prophecy does sometimes describe one event in terms that allusively picture another event. But the language ought in such case, when reduced to literality, not to express falsehood. Now if this passage describes the destruction of Jerusalem, it does contradict the truth of history. It describes it as a sudden incalculable event. History contradicts such prophecy.

Sixthly. If this passage be figurative, where do we find a literal description of the judgment day? If this be poetry, where is the prose of the matter? What passage describes or announces that event which may not be with equal propriety reduced to figure? This may not be an argument to the truth of the case; but it is an argument to the consistency of interpreters who believe in a judgment day, and yet reduce its strongest proof-text to a mysticism.

Seventhly. We have shown in our note on Mat 24:21 that the term tribulation covers the entire period of Jewish downfall. But the firmamental phenomena were after that tribulation, and were no part of it, and had no connection with it, except to be some time subsequent to it. For Mark says that those phenomena take place “in those days which are after that tribulation.” They do not commence until a while after the tribulation has passed away. See note on Mar 13:24-27. This I take to be demonstration.

The sun be darkened These firmamental appearances are optically pictured as seen by the eye of the human spectator. These phenomena are visible previous to the sign of the Judge, which is described in the next verse. As that great event is to be attended by the conflagration and renovation of the earth, (2 Peter 3, and Revelation 20,) so the organic convulsions and exhalations of the globe will darken the skies. To the eye of the spectator on the rocking earth the stars shall, optically, fall from heaven; and the ocular firmamental fixtures or powers of the heavens shall be shaken. The real motion is upon the earth; the apparent motion in the apparent firmament.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken,”

‘Immediately after the tribulation of those days.’ That is, ‘once the long, tortuous tribulation of the unbelieving Jews is coming to an end’. This follows the pattern of the Exodus when the great deliverance was postponed until every last one of the people of Israel who had not believed had died (Num 14:28-30; Num 26:64-65; Num 32:13; Deu 2:14-16). They had suffered tribulation in the wilderness until they had died, and were replaced by a believing nation who would obey Moses. But this present unbelieving nation, who will have committed an even greater sin, and will go on doing so generation by generation because they still refuse to believe, will suffer on and on in their generations until the One Whom they had caused to be crucified returns again (although we should note that there is always a way of escape for any who believe. Mercy is always available on repentance). Their tribulation will thus not end until they come face to face with the Messiah, either in belief or judgment.

‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’ All will fade and quiver at the approach of the Coming One. In the Old Testament such vivid descriptions regularly indicate the powerful judgment of God which results in tumultuous political events and the defeat of the gods of the nations (see for example Isa 13:9-22 of the ravages of Babylon; Isa 34:4-5 of the destruction of Edom; Joe 2:30-31; Joe 3:14-16 of the time of the end). Thus these are the indication of God’s final judgment and of the fading before His glory of all other heavenly or earthly opposition. All the lights of Heaven grow dim in His presence. And Luke makes clear that earth is very much involved (Luk 21:25-26).

‘The powers of the heavens will be shaken.’ This idea is taken from Hag 2:21 where it connects with God’s establishment of Zerubbabel’s earthly kingly rule by the defeat of all his enemies. Here it results in the establishment of the everlasting heavenly Kingly Rule of the Son of Man.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Coming of the Son of Man (24:29-31).

In a remarkable contrast Jesus now brings out the glory of His coming which will make all creation pale into insignificance. It will occur when God calls time on the great tribulation suffered through the ages by the Jews. And then all that man gloried in will fade. The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give her light, for both will withdraw in the face of the greater glory of the Coming One. Furthermore the stars will fall from Heaven. This is regularly a picture of the defeat of the forces of evil, both earthly and heavenly (Dan 8:10; Rev 12:4; Rev 12:9). So all that the heavens represented will be defeated and humbled. But in contrast will be the coming Son of Man, for His glory will shine out in ever increasing splendour, and His angels will descend triumphantly to gather up all Who are His, His ‘elect’, rescued from all who, represented by the heavens, would do them harm.

Analysis.

a “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from heaven” (Mat 24:29 a).

b “And the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Mat 24:29 b).

c “And then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven” (Mat 24:30 a).

b “And then will all the tribes of the earth mourn “ (Mat 24:30 b).

a “And they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and He will send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Mat 24:30-31).

Not that in ‘a’ the ‘lights of the heavens will be dimmed’, and ‘the stars will fall from heaven’, and in the parallel ‘the glory of the Son of Man will shine out’, and ‘the angels will come down’ to gather the elect from one end of heaven to the other. In ‘b’ the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and in the parallel the tribes of the earth will mourn. Centrally in ‘c’ all will see the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ ( Mar 13:24-27 , Luk 21:25-28 ) Mat 24:29-31 tells us that the seven-year period known as the Great Tribulation will be immediately followed by the Second Coming of Christ Jesus and a gathering together of the saints. The signs in heaven will indicate to mankind the imminence of a great event (Mat 24:29), Jesus will appear from heaven (Mat 24:30), and He will gather His saints together (Mat 24:31).

The Rapture – The Rapture will be a glorious day for the Church, but a time of surprise and mourning for the world (Mat 24:29-44, Luk 21:25-36). Jesus first refers to a Rapture of the saints in His Eschatological Discourse. Matthew’s Gospel suggests that the Rapture will take place immediately after the Tribulation Period, for it says, “Immediately after the tribulation” (Mat 24:29). However, Luke’s account suggests that the Lord will deliver His saints from the Tribulation Period through the Rapture, which will take place immediately before the Tribulation Period.

Luk 21:36, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”

A Comparison of Parallel Passages in Matthew and Luke – If we understand the two different recipients of Matthew and Luke, the explanation is simple. The Gospel of Matthew is written to Jewish converts who were looking for the Second Coming of Christ to set up His kingdom on this earth. Luke wrote to Gentile Christians who were looking for deliverance from the wickedness of this world. Thus, Matthew explains what will take place at His Second Coming, how Jesus will return and gather His saints together and set up His kingdom on earth and rule and reign from Jerusalem, while Luke exhorts the saints to prepare themselves for the Rapture that will catch the Church up immediately before the Tribulation Period.

Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Mat 24:29 Comments – Isa 44:21-23 supports the truth that when Israel prospers, the entire earth and all of creation are blessed. Since Israel was recreated in 1947, we have been able to predict the events coming on the earth by watching what the Lord was doing in the nation of Israel. As we watch the events unfolding in Israel each day, we can be sure that these same events will overflow into the nations on the earth.

Isa 44:21-23, “Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.”

Illustration – For example, when the Palestinians began to wage war against the nation of Israel from 2000 to 2003, these events overflowed into the U.S., where the Islamic Revolution caused the tragedy of September 11, 2001, where almost three thousand people were killed in the destruction of the World Trade Centers. As the events of the tribulation gear up into full force, this travail upon earth for seven years will overflow into the heavens. Thus, this verse in Mat 24:29 says that the sun, moon, and stars will be shaken. This is why the Jews consider Jerusalem to be the center of the Universe, because everything that affects the earth and heavens proceeds from the events around Jerusalem.

Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Mat 24:30 “and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” – Comments – The book of Daniel portrays the Messiah riding on a cloud (Dan 7:13). The eschatological passages of the New Testament tell us that Jesus Christ will come to earth a second time riding upon a cloud (Mat 24:30; Mat 26:64, Mar 13:26; Mar 14:62, Luk 21:27, 1Th 4:17, Rev 1:7). This cloud of heaven may be likened to a royal chariot, horse or palanquin upon which ancient kings often rode. These royal vehicles were often preceded by forerunners, men who ran before the king to announce his coming. We see such a scene when Elijah ran before Ahab’s chariot (1Ki 18:46). The Son 3:6-11 describes a wedding processional with the bride in a royal palanquin perfumed with spices (Mat 3:6; Mat 3:9-10), accompanied by sixty valiant men armed with swords (Mat 3:7-8) approaching Jerusalem.

Dan 7:13, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.”

Mat 24:30, “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

Mat 26:64, “Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”

Mar 13:26, “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.”

Mar 14:62, “And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”

Luk 21:27, “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

1Th 4:17, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Rev 1:7, “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”

1Ki 18:46, “And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.”

Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Mat 24:31 Comments If there is only one appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven, then Mat 24:31 shows that the rapture of the Church takes place at the end of the Tribulation Period, a view called the post-tribulation rapture. This view equates Mat 24:31 with 1Th 4:13-18 to 1Th 5:11. However, many believe that the rapture of the Church described in 1 Thessalonians takes place prior to the Tribulation, a view called the pre-tribulation rapture. Such a view requires Jesus to return on two occasions, one appearing to receive the Church in the rapture before the Tribulation, and one appearing afterwards to establish His Kingdom upon earth and usher in the Millennial Reign of Christ.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The signs of the Last Day:

v. 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.

v. 30. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

v. 31. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

The entire passage is intensely vivid. Note: A striking feature of prophetic utterances in general is the absence of the element of time according to human standards. Events that may be years and centuries apart are connected as though they would take place in one continuous action. The eternal God, who inspires prophecy, is not subject to time. Whatever happens, takes place before Him in one great Now. Another significant fact: Jesus connects the prophecies concerning Jerusalem and concerning the final judgment in such a way that they almost overlap. The judgment upon Jerusalem is not only a type of the last, great Judgment Day, but the judgment of the world has, in a way, begun with the fall of Jerusalem. There are solemn lessons contained in this chapter. When the day which is destined to be the last day of this world dawns, most unusual and terrible signs will appear. The sun will be darkened, the moon will lose her splendor, the stars wall fall from the sky, the powers which control the heavens will be agitated, all the laws of nature will be overthrown. No ordinary eclipses, shooting stars, meteors here, that are merely acting in accordance with nature’s laws; here is chaos, here is the subverting of all the powers that have held the universe in its accustomed path. The same Creator that formed the heavens and. framed the laws which regulate the great machinery of creation will at that time recall the laws, and deal with the universe according to His further plan and will. And then, amid the uproar of the elements and the quaking of the heavens, the great sign, the Son of Man Himself, will appear in the sky, clothed with His eternal power and majesty. The former despised Nazarene, the Son of Man in His humiliation, will show that His claims of supernatural endowments were only too well founded. Then all the tribes, all the nations of the earth, shall wail and lament, as the Judge comes in the clouds of the sky, with power and much glory. And there will be the sound of a mighty trumpet, and the angels will be sent out as His messengers to collect those that are His own in faith. From the four winds and corners of the earth, from every people and tongue and nation, they will come together at the great call.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mat 24:29. Immediately after the tribulation, &c. Commentators generally understand this and what follows, of the end of the world, and of Christ’s coming to judgment; but the words evidently shew that he is not speaking of any distant event, but of something consequent upon the tribulation before-mentioned,and that must be the destruction of Jerusalem. It is true, his figures are very strong; but no stronger than are used by the ancient prophets on similar occasions. See Isaiah 13. Bishop Warburton observes upon the subject, that this prophesy of Jesus concerning the approachingdestruction of Jerusalem by Titus, is conceived in such high and swelling terms, that not only the modern interpreters, but the ancient likewise, have supposed, that our Lord interweaves into it a direct prediction of his coming to judgment: but if we consider the nature of the two dispensations, and the necessity of abolishing the former before the introduction of the latter,it will then appear, that this prophesy does not respect Christ’s second coming to judgment, but his first, in the abolition of the Jewish polity, and the establishment of the Christian; that kingdom of Christ which commenced on the total ceasing of the theocracy. This was the true establishment of Christianity, not that effected by the donations or conversions of Constantine. This therefore being one of the most important aeras in the economy of grace, and the most awful revolution in all God’s religious dispensations, we see the elegance and propriety of the terms in question, to denote so great an event, together with the destruction of Jerusalem, by which it was effected: for in the old prophetic language, thechangeandfallof principalities and powers, whether spiritual or civil, are signified by the shaking of heaven and earth,the darkening the sun,and moon,and the falling of the stars; as the rise and establishment of new ones are by processions in the clouds of heaven, by the sound of trumpets, and the assembling together of hosts and congregations. See Bishop Newton, Bishop Warburton’s Julian, b. 1 Chronicles 1 p. 21 and the next note.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mat 24:29 . Here follows the second portion of the reply of Jesus, in which He intimates what events, following at once on the destruction of Jerusalem, are immediately to precede His second coming (Mat 24:29-33 ); mentioning at the same time, that however near and certain this latter may be, yet the day and hour of its occurrence cannot be determined, and that it will break unexpectedly upon the world (Mat 24:34-41 ); this should certainly awaken men to watchfulness and preparedness (Mat 24:42-51 ), to which end the two parables, Mat 25:1-30 , are intended to contribute. The discourse then concludes with a description of the final judgment over which the coming one is to preside (Mat 25:31-46 ).

. . .] but immediately after the distress of those days , immediately after the last ( ) of the series of Messianic woes described from Mat 24:15 onwards, and the first of which is to be coincident with the destruction of the temple. For . , comp. Mat 24:19 ; Mat 24:22 ; and for , Mat 24:21 . Ebrard’s explanation of this passage falls to the ground with his erroneous interpretation of Mat 24:23-24 , that explanation being as follows: immediately after the unhappy condition of the church (Mat 24:23-28 ), a condition which is to continue after the destruction of Jerusalem , it being assumed that the involves the meaning: “ nullis aliis intercedentibus indiciis .” It may be observed generally, that a whole host of strange and fanciful interpretations have been given here, in consequence of its having been assumed that Jesus could not possibly have intended to say that His second advent was to follow immediately upon the destruction of Jerusalem. This assumption, however, is contrary to all exegetical rule, considering that Jesus repeatedly makes reference elsewhere (see also Mat 24:34 ) to His second coming as an event that is near at hand. Among those interpretations may also be classed that of Schott (following such earlier expositors as Hammond and others, who had already taken in the sense of suddenly ), who says that Matthew had written , subito, but that the translator (like the Sept. in the case of Job 5:3 ) had rendered the expression “minus accurate” by . This is certainly a wonderful supposition, for the simple reason that the itself would be a wonderful expression to use if an interval of a thousand years was to intervene. Bengel has contributed to promote this view by his observation that: “Nondum erat tempus revelandi totam seriem rerum futurarum a vastatione Hieros. usque ad consummationem seculi,” and by his paraphrase of the passage: “De iis, quae post pressuram dierum illorum, delendae urbis Jerusalem, evenient proximum, quod in praesenti pro mea conditione commemorandum et pro vestra capacitate expectandum venit, hoc est, quod sol obscurabitur,” etc. Many others, as Wetstein, for example, have been enabled to dispense with gratuitous assumptions of this sort by understanding Mat 24:29 ff. to refer to the destruction of Jerusalem, which is supposed to be described therein in the language of prophetic imagery (Kuinoel), and they so understand the verse in spite of the destruction already introduced at Mat 24:15 . In this, however, they escape Scylla only to be drawn into Charybdis, and are compelled to have recourse to expedients of a still more hazardous kind in order to explain away the literal advent, [18] which is depicted in language as clear as it is sublime. And yet E. J. Meyer again interprets Mat 24:29-34 of the destruction of Jerusalem, and in such a way as to make it appear that the prediction regarding the final advent is not introduced till Mat 24:35 . But this view is at once precluded by the fact that in Mat 24:35 . cannot be regarded as the leading idea, the theme of what follows, but only as a subsidiary thought (v. 18) by way of background for the words . immediately after (observe, Christ does not say , . . ., but , . . .). Hoelemann, Cremer, Auberlen are right in their interpretation of , but wrong in regarding the time of the culmination of the heathen power an idea imported from Luk 21:24 as antecedent to the period indicated by . Just as there are those who seek to dispose of the historical difficulty connected with by twisting the sense of what precedes , and by an importation from Luk 21:24 , so Dorner seeks to dispose of it by twisting the sense of what comes after .

., . . .] Description of the great catastrophe in the heavens which is to precede the second advent of the Messiah. According to Dorner, our passage is intended as a prophetical delineation of the fall of heathenism , which would follow immediately upon the overthrow of Judaism; and, accordingly, he sees in the mention of the sun, moon, and stars an allusion to the nature-worship of the heathen world, an idea, however, which is refuted at once by Mat 24:34 ; see E. J. Meyer, p. 125 ff.; Bleek, p. 356; Hofmann, p. 636; Gess, p. 136. Ewald correctly interprets: “While the whole world is being convulsed (Mat 24:29 , after Joe 3:3 f.; Isa 34:4 ; Isa 24:21 ), the heaven-sent Messiah appears in His glory (according to Dan 7:13 ) to judge,” etc.

, . . .] Comp. Isa 34:4 . To be understood literally , but not as illustrative of sad times (Hengstenberg on the Revelation; Gerlach, letzte Dinge , p. 102); and yet not in the sense of falling-stars (Fritzsche, Kuinoel), but as meaning: the whole of the stars together. Similarly in the passage in Isaiah just referred to, in accordance with the ancient idea that heaven was a firmament in which the stars were set for the purpose of giving light to the earth (Gen 1:14 ). The falling of the stars (which is not to be diluted, with Bengel, Paulus, Schott, Olshausen, Baumgarten-Crusius, Cremer, following the Greek Fathers, so as to mean a mere obscuration ) to the earth which, in accordance with the cosmical views of the time, is the plain and natural sense of (see Rev 6:13 ) is, no doubt, impossible as an actual fact, but it need not surprise us to see such an idea introduced into a prophetic picture so grandly poetical as this is, a picture which it is scarcely fair to measure by the astronomical conceptions of our own day.

.] is usually explained of the starry hosts (Isa 34:4 ; Isa 40:26 ; Psa 33:6 ; Deu 4:19 ; 2Ki 17:16 , etc.), which, coming as it does after , would introduce a tautological feature into the picture. The words should therefore be taken in a general sense: the powers of the heavens (the powers which uphold the heavens, which stretch them out, and produce the phenomena which take place in them, etc.) will be so shaken as to lose their usual stability. Comp. Job 26:11 . The interpretation of Olshausen, who follows Jerome, Chrysostom, Euthymius Zigabenus, in supposing that the trembling in the world of angels is referred to (Luk 2:13 ), is inconsistent not merely with ., but also with the whole connection which refers to the domain of physical things. For the plural , comp. Sir 16:16 .

This convulsion in the heavens , previous to the Messiah’s descent therefrom , is not as yet to be regarded as the end of the world , but only as a prelude to it; the earth is not destroyed as yet by the celestial commotion referred to (Mat 24:30 ). The poetical character of the picture does not justify us in regarding the thing so vividly depicted as also belonging merely to the domain of poetry, all the less that, in the present case, it is not political revolutions (Isa 13:10 ; Isa 34:4 ; Eze 32:7 f.; Joe 3:3 f.) that are in view, but the new birth of the world, and the establishment of the Messiah’s kingdom.

[18] Comp. the Old Testament prophecies respecting the day of the coming of Jehovah, Isa 13:9 ff; Isa 34:4 ; Isa 24:21 ; Jer 4:23 f.; Eze 32:7 f.; Hag 2:6 f.; Joe 2:10 ; Joe 3:3 f., Mat 3:15 ; Zep 1:15 ; Hag 2:21 ; Zec 14:6 , etc., and the passages from Rabbinical writers in Bertholdt, Christol. 12; Gfrrer, Gesch. d. Urchrist . I. 2, pp. 195 ff., 219 ff.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: (30) And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (31) And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (32) Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: (33) So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. (34) Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. (35) Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

The darkening of the sun and moon, and falling of the stars, are certainly meant in a figurative way; and were intended to imply, that on the dispersion of the Jews, those awful events should follow which the Prophet foretold, when the Lord would cause the sun to go down at noon. See the whole prophecy, Amo 8:8 to the end. Neither when the Lord speaks of the Son of Man coming to judgment, could be meant, that immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem, would be the day of final judgment; but rather the judgment on the Jews, for rejecting the Lord of life and glory, and the sending of his Angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and gathering his elect, implies, his ministers going forth to preach the Gospel, which with the effect, is spoken of both by the Prophet and the Apostle. Isa 27:13 ; Rev 14:6 . And the limitation of those events, to the then generation, in which Christ predicted them, is a plain proof to what they referred. For it was not full forty years after, when Jerusalem wan destroyed; so that consequently many lived to see the accomplishment.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Ver. 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days ] After that the mystery of iniquity hath wrought effectually, and is come to an upshot: after that Antichrist hath had his full forth, as they say, and hath completed his sin, Christ shall suddenly come, as it were out of an engine.

Shall the sun be darkened, &c. ] Stupendous eclipses shall precede the Lord’s coming, and other strange events both in heaven, earth, and sea, as Luke hath it. The frame of this whole universe shall shake, as houses give great cracks when ready to fall. See2Pe 3:102Pe 3:10 , and seek no further.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

29. ] All the difficulty which this word has been supposed to involve has arisen from confounding the partial fulfilment of the prophecy with its ultimate one. The important insertion in Luke ( Luk 21:23-24 ) shews us that the includes , which is yet being inflicted: and the treading down of Jerusalem by the Gentiles, still going on (see note there): and immediately after that tribulation which shall happen when the cup of Gentile iniquity is full , and when the Gospel shall have been preached in all the world for a witness, and rejected by the Gentiles , ( ,) shall the coming of the Lord Himself happen. On the indefiniteness of this assigned period in the prophecy, see note on Mat 24:3 . (The expression in Mark is equally indicative of a considerable interval; .) The fact of His coming and its attendant circumstances being known to Him, but the exact time unknown, He speaks without regard to the interval , which would be employed in His waiting till all things are put under His feet: see Rev 1:1 ; Rev 22:6-20 .

In what follows, from this verse , the Lord speaks mainly and directly of His great second coming . Traces there are (as e.g. in the literal meaning of Mat 24:34 ) of slight and indirect allusions to the destruction of Jerusalem; as there were in the former part to the great events of which that is a foreshadowing: but no direct mention. The contents of the rest of the chapter may be set forth as follows: ( Mat 24:29 ) signs which shall immediately precede ( Mat 24:30 ) the coming of the Lord to judgment, and ( Mat 24:31 ) to bring salvation to His elect. The certainty of the event, and its intimate connexion with its premonitory signs ( Mat 24:32-33 ); the endurance ( Mat 24:34 ) of the Jewish people till the end even till Heaven and Earth ( Mat 24:35 ) pass away. But ( Mat 24:36 ) of the day and hour none knoweth. Its suddenness ( Mat 24:37-39 ) and decisiveness ( Mat 24:40-41 ), and exhortation ( Mat 24:42-44 ) to be ready for it. A parable setting forth the blessedness of the watching, and misery of the neglectful servant ( Mat 24:45 end), and forming a point of transition to the parables in the next chapter.

. ] The darkening of the material lights of this world is used in prophecy as a type of the occurrence of trouble and danger in the fabric of human societies, Isa 5:30 ; Isa 13:10 ; Isa 34:4 ; Jer 4:28 ; Eze 32:7-8 ; Amo 8:9-10 ; Mic 3:6 . But the type is not only in the words of the prophecy, but also in the events themselves. Such prophecies are to be understood literally , and indeed without such understanding would lose their truth and significance. The physical signs shall happen (see Joe 2:31 ; Hag 2:6 ; Hag 2:21 , compared with Heb 12:26-27 ) as accompaniments and intensifications of the awful state of things which the description typifies. The Sun of this world and the church (Mal 4:2 ; Luk 1:78 ; Joh 1:9 ; Eph 5:14 ; 2Pe 1:19 ) is the Lord Jesus the Light is the Knowledge of Him. The moon human knowledge and science, of which it is said ( Psa 36:9 ), ‘In thy light shall we see light:’ reflected from, and drinking the beams of, the Light of Christ. The stars see Dan 8:10 are the leaders and teachers of the Church. The Knowledge of God shall be obscured the Truth nigh put out worldly wisdom darkened the Church system demolished, and her teachers cast down. And all this in the midst of the fearful signs here (and in Luk 21:25-26 , more at large) recounted: not setting aside , but accompanying , their literal fulfilment .

. . . ] not the stars , just mentioned; nor the angels , spoken of by and by, Mat 24:31 : but most probably the greater heavenly bodies, which rule the day and night, Gen 1:16 , and are there also distinguished from the , the of sch. Agam. init. See notes on 2Pe 3:10-12 , where the stars seem to be included in . Typically, the influences which rule human society, which make the political weather fair or foul, bright or dark; and encourage the fruits of peace, or inflict the blight and desolation of war.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mat 24:29-31 . The coming of the Son of Man (Mar 13:24-27 , Luk 21:25-28 ). Thus far the eschatological discourse has been found to bear on the predicted tragic end of Jerusalem. At this point the , which, according to the evangelist, was one of the subjects on which the disciples desired information, becomes the theme of discourse. What is said thereon is so perplexing as to tempt a modern expositor to wish it had not been there, or to have recourse to critical expedients to eliminate it from the text. But nothing would be gained by that unless we got rid, at the same time, of other sayings of kindred character ascribed to Jesus in the Gospels. And there seems to be no reason to doubt that some such utterance would form a part of the eschatological discourse, even if the disciples did not ask instruction on the subject. The revelation as to the last days of Israel naturally led up to it, and the best clue to the meaning of the Parusia-logion may be to regard it as a pendant to that revelation.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mat 24:29 . . Each evangelist expresses himself here in his own way, Lk. most obviously adapting his words to suit the fact of a delayed parusia . Mt.’s word naturally means: immediately, following close on the events going before, the thlipsis of Jerusalem. One of the ways by which those to whom is a stumbling block strive to evade the difficulty is to look on it as an inaccurate translation by the Greek Matthew of , supposed to be in Hebrew original. So Schott, Comm. Ex. Dog. : a description in stock prophetic phrases (Isa 13:9 ; Isa 34:4 , Joe 3:15 , etc.) of what seems to be a general collapse of the physical universe. Is that really what is meant? I doubt it. It seems to me that in true prophetic Oriental style the colossal imagery of the physical universe is used to describe the political and social consequences of the great Jewish catastrophe: national ruin, breaking up of religious institutions and social order. The physical stands for the social, the shaking of heaven for the shaking of earth (Hag 2:6 ); or in the prophetic imagination the two are indissolubly blended: stars, thrones, city walls, temples, effete religions tumbling down into one vast mass of ruin. If this be the meaning is to be strictly taken. , applicable to both sun and moon, but oftener applied to the moon or stars; oftenest to the sun, but also to the moon. Vide Trench, Syn. , p. 163.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Immediately after. No room therefore for a Millennium before His coming. It must follow it.

after. Greek. meta. App-104.

shall the sun, &c. App-117. Quoted from Isa 13:10; Isa 34:4.

heaven = the heaven (Singular.) See note on Mat 6:9, Mat 6:10.

the powers, &c. See Isa 13:10, Isa 13:11; Isa 34:4. Probably referring to the evil “principalities and powers” of Eph 1:21; Eph 6:12. Col 1:16; Col 2:10, Col 2:15.

the heavens. Plural See note on Mat 6:9, Mat 6:10.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

29. ] All the difficulty which this word has been supposed to involve has arisen from confounding the partial fulfilment of the prophecy with its ultimate one. The important insertion in Luke (Luk 21:23-24) shews us that the includes , which is yet being inflicted: and the treading down of Jerusalem by the Gentiles, still going on (see note there): and immediately after that tribulation which shall happen when the cup of Gentile iniquity is full, and when the Gospel shall have been preached in all the world for a witness, and rejected by the Gentiles, ( ,) shall the coming of the Lord Himself happen. On the indefiniteness of this assigned period in the prophecy, see note on Mat 24:3. (The expression in Mark is equally indicative of a considerable interval; .) The fact of His coming and its attendant circumstances being known to Him, but the exact time unknown, He speaks without regard to the interval, which would be employed in His waiting till all things are put under His feet: see Rev 1:1; Rev 22:6-20.

In what follows, from this verse, the Lord speaks mainly and directly of His great second coming. Traces there are (as e.g. in the literal meaning of Mat 24:34) of slight and indirect allusions to the destruction of Jerusalem;-as there were in the former part to the great events of which that is a foreshadowing:-but no direct mention. The contents of the rest of the chapter may be set forth as follows: (Mat 24:29) signs which shall immediately precede (Mat 24:30) the coming of the Lord to judgment, and (Mat 24:31) to bring salvation to His elect. The certainty of the event, and its intimate connexion with its premonitory signs (Mat 24:32-33); the endurance (Mat 24:34) of the Jewish people till the end-even till Heaven and Earth (Mat 24:35) pass away. But (Mat 24:36) of the day and hour none knoweth. Its suddenness (Mat 24:37-39) and decisiveness (Mat 24:40-41),-and exhortation (Mat 24:42-44) to be ready for it. A parable setting forth the blessedness of the watching, and misery of the neglectful servant (Mat 24:45-end), and forming a point of transition to the parables in the next chapter.

.] The darkening of the material lights of this world is used in prophecy as a type of the occurrence of trouble and danger in the fabric of human societies, Isa 5:30; Isa 13:10; Isa 34:4; Jer 4:28; Eze 32:7-8; Amo 8:9-10; Mic 3:6. But the type is not only in the words of the prophecy, but also in the events themselves. Such prophecies are to be understood literally, and indeed without such understanding would lose their truth and significance. The physical signs shall happen (see Joe 2:31; Hag 2:6; Hag 2:21, compared with Heb 12:26-27) as accompaniments and intensifications of the awful state of things which the description typifies. The Sun of this world and the church (Mal 4:2; Luk 1:78; Joh 1:9; Eph 5:14; 2Pe 1:19) is the Lord Jesus-the Light is the Knowledge of Him. The moon-human knowledge and science, of which it is said (Psa 36:9), In thy light shall we see light: reflected from, and drinking the beams of, the Light of Christ. The stars-see Dan 8:10-are the leaders and teachers of the Church. The Knowledge of God shall be obscured-the Truth nigh put out-worldly wisdom darkened-the Church system demolished, and her teachers cast down. And all this in the midst of the fearful signs here (and in Luk 21:25-26, more at large) recounted: not setting aside, but accompanying, their literal fulfilment.

. . .] not the stars, just mentioned;-nor the angels, spoken of by and by, Mat 24:31 : but most probably the greater heavenly bodies, which rule the day and night, Gen 1:16, and are there also distinguished from the ,-the of sch. Agam. init. See notes on 2Pe 3:10-12, where the stars seem to be included in . Typically, the influences which rule human society, which make the political weather fair or foul, bright or dark; and encourage the fruits of peace, or inflict the blight and desolation of war.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mat 24:29. , …, but immediately after the affliction of those days, etc.) There are four things to be observed in this passage. (1) Our Lord speaks of the sun being literally darkened, etc. And this phrase frequently occurs in the prophets, concerning the destruction of a nation, and in such cases has a much more literal force than is generally supposed, for where there is a great destruction of men, the beholders of the sun are reduced to a small number; but much more in the present passage has it a literal force, for the whole of our Lords language on this occasion is strictly literal; therefore this verse must be also understood literally. (2) The tribulation indicated will be that of the Jewish people, and that for one generation, (3) It is not said, after that tribulation, nor after those days, but after the tribulation of those days, as in Mar 13:24.- , in those days, after that tribulation. The term, those days, refers to Mat 24:22; Mat 24:19; and it is indicated that the tribulation will not be long, but brief in duration; Mat 24:21-22; Mat 24:34. (4) The expression, , quickly (cito), implies a very short delay, since , not yet (Mat 24:6) i.e., , not quickly (Luk 21:9), is said of the short delay which must precede that tribulation; nay, the passage already cited from St Mark excludes delay altogether. The Engl. Vers. has immediately. You will say, it is a great leap from the destruction of Jerusalem to the end of the world, which is represented as coming quickly after it. I reply-A prophecy resembles a landscape painting, which marks distinctly the houses, paths, and bridges in the foreground, but brings together, into a narrow space, the distant valleys and mountains, though they are really far apart. Thus should they who study a prophecy look on the future to which the prophecy refers. And the eyes of the disciples, who had combined in their question the end of the temple and of the world, are left somewhat veiled (for it was not yet the time for knowing; see Mat 24:36), from which cause, imitating our Lords language, they with universal consent declared that the end was near at hand. In their progress, however, both prophecy and contemplation (prospectus)[1051] more and more explain things further distant. In which manner also we ought to interpret what is obscure by what is clear, not what is clear by what is obscure, and to venerate in its dark sayings that Divine wisdom which always sees all things, but does not reveal all things at once. Afterwards it was revealed that Antichrist should come before the end of the world; and again Paul joined these two rather nearly together, until the Apocalypse also placed an interval of a thousand years between them. The advent of our Lord, however, actually took place (as far as its commencement was concerned; see Gnomon on Joh 21:22) after the destruction of Jerusalem, and presently, too, inasmuch as no intermediate event was to be mentioned in the present passage; cf. Gnomon on ch. Mat 3:1. The particle (quickly or immediately) refers to this advent, not absolutely to the darkening of the sun and moon, for that accords with the extent of our Lords meaning; so that the meaning is soon after the tribulation of those days, it will come to pass that the sun shall be darkened, etc. A similar connection of an adverb[1052] with a verb occurs in Gen 2:17; in the day on which thou shalt eat thereof, it will come to pass that thou shalt die the death; see also Gnomon on ch. Mat 26:64, and Luk 1:48. The expression may also be referred to the mode of speech, so as to mean after that affliction (which the plan of this discourse, and the point of view from which this time is regarded, permit to be subjoined immediately, provided it be indicated that the other things will intervene) the sun shall be darkened, etc. It frequently occurs that adverbs, as in this passage, , immediately, do not qualify the thing itself, but the language in which it is expressed. Thus, in Mar 7:9, the adverb , well, and the verb , ye abolish [Engl. Vers., ye reject], are joined with [a part of] the verb to say [viz. it may be said that], understood: thus, too, in Heb 1:6, the adverb , again, is joined with the verb , He saith. In fine, St Luke (Luk 21:24-25) separates the signs in the sun, etc. [from that tribulation] by a greater interval. Some explain as denoting, not the shortness of the interval, but the suddenness of the event after long intervening periods. We must, however, keep to our first interpretation, so indeed that the particle be understood to comprehend the whole space between the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and the end of the world. On such passages there rests, as St Antony used to term it, a prophetical cloudlet. It was not yet the fit time for revealing the whole series of events from the destruction of Jerusalem down to the end of the world. The following is a paraphrase of our Lords words, Concerning those things which will happen after the tribulation of those days of the destruction of Jerusalem, THE NEAREST EVENT which at present it suits My condition to mention, and your capacity to expect, is this, that the sun will be darkened, etc. Furthermore, it does not follow from this that the expression, , after these things, should be understood loosely in Rev 4:1. Where quickness is presupposed from Rev 1:1. Such formul are to be understood according to the analogy of the passages where they occur.- , the sun shall be darkened) This must be taken literally, of a calamity different from those which have been described before. In the Old Testament, such expressions are used metaphorically, the figure being derived from that which will literally happen at the end of the world.- , the moon shall not give her light) sc. as she is wont to do both when filling and waning. According to the course of nature, the sun and moon are eclipsed at different times: then, however, they will both be eclipsed at once.- , from heaven) It is not said upon the earth; cf. in Mar 13:25.-, falling out. They shall be as though they were not, sc. without light.-, powers) sc. those firm interchained and subtle powers of heaven[1053] (distinct from the stars) which are accustomed to influence the earth. They are thus denominated by Matthew, Mark, and Luke.-, shall be shaken) an appropriate metaphor from the waves of the sea.[1054]

[1051] Looking further forward, as in the landscape already alluded to, wherein at first sight all the parts might seem projected into the one plane. But the eye, which has gradually come to discern perspective, and to substitute, by the judgment, causes for the visible effects, learns to look further, and to separate by wide distances the foreground and background of the picture.-ED.

[1052] Sc. on the day that.-(I. B.)

[1053] Pro 8:27.-E. B.

[1054] Rev 6:14.-E. B.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Mat 24:29-51

Section VI.

Second Coming of the Son of Man, Mat 24:19 to Mat 25:46

J.W. McGarvey

Description of His Coming, Mat 24:29-31.

(Mar 13:24-27; Luk 21:25-27)

29. Immediately after.-The events of this paragraph were to take place “after the tribulation of those days;” that is, after the tribulation connected with the siege and sacking of Jerusalem already mentioned in Mat 24:21. This makes it entirely certain that this coming of the Son of man did not take place during the siege of the city, nor at the time of its destruction. It is equally certain that they have not transpired since that time. It follows, therefore, that the term “immediately” must be understood in a modified sense. The difficulty in the case was anticipated by the apostle Peter when he wrote of the scoffers who would arise in the last days, and say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” The apostle answers, “Be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness.” (2Pe 3:4-9.) This is equivalent to an inspired comment on the term in question, and proves that it is used in an unusual sense. It proves, in other words, that the one group of events was to be immediately after the other, not as it would appear to men, but as it appears to God.

sun be darkened.-Frequently in the Old Testament the darkening of the sun and moon is used as a symbol for the gloom which spreads over the country in a time of war, or pestilence, or other great public calamity. (See, for examples, Isa 13:10; Joe 2:10.) But the words of the text correspond so strictly with other descriptions of the second coming as to leave but little probability that they have a figurative meaning. Peter declares that “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise” (2Pe 3:10); Paul says, “As a vesture thou shalt fold them up, and they shall be changed” (Heb 1:12); and John, in his vision of the second coming, saw “a great white throne and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them” (Rev 20:11). The disappearance of the visible heavens and earth, so that something entirely different will appear in their places, is to occur simultaneously with the final coming of the Son of man.

30. the sign of the Son of man.-The sign is not something preceding his appearing, but the appearing is itself the sign. The term is used in its usual N. T. sense-that of a miraculous sign. Mark and Luke both use the words “they shall see the Son of man.” (Mar 13:26; Luk 21:27.).

all the tribes mourn.-To those who are unprepared for it, this will be the most mournful of all days; and that all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, implies that portions, and perhaps large portions, of all tribes of men will be found thus unprepared. The term “all” is not to be construed as including all individuals. (1Th 4:15-17.)

31. send his angels.-The fact that the angels will be employed in gathering together the elect from all parts of the earth, is declared both here and in the parable of the tares (Mat 13:41); but in what way their ministry will be exercised to this end, we know not.

Parable of the Fig-tree, Mat 24:32-35.

(Mar 13:28-31; Luk 21:29-33)

32, 33. So likewise.-The point of comparison in the parable is here clearly stated. As you know that summer is nigh when the fig-tree puts forth leaves, “so likewise” when you see “all these things” you will know that it is nigh. The comparison, however, is still obscure until we determine what things are included in “all these things,” and what is meant by the it which was to be near when “all these things” had been seen. The object designated by it is one of the previously mentioned events, and yet it is distinguished from “all these things.” The term all, then, is not to be construed as including every single event previously mentioned, seeing that one of them is expressly excluded. Furthermore, the fact that the occurrence of the other events was to be a sign that the excepted one was drawing near, shows that the latter was to be the last of the series. But the last event of the series is the coming of the Son of man, accompanied by the darkening of the heavenly bodies, and the gathering together of the saints. This is the event, then, which was to be near when all the others had been seen.

This conclusion is confirmed when we inquire for the grammatical antecedent of the pronoun it. The pronoun is not expressed in the original, but is understood, and its gender is to be determined by that of its antecedent. The antecedent must be either the word “coming” in the expression, “coming of the Son of man” (Mat 24:27), or the word “Son” in the expression, “Son of man,” in the more immediate context, Mat 24:30. On either supposition the sense of the passage is the same; for when the Son of man is near, his coming is near; but the former reference requires the neuter pronoun it, as in our English text, while the latter requires the masculine pronoun he. The latter is the more natural and obvious, and is, I think, the correct reference, and the text should be rendered, “So likewise, when ye shall see all these things, know that he is near, even at the door.” This rendering is not only required by the syntax of the passage, but it also makes the passage more harmonious within itself. It is persons that come to the door, and are “even at the door,” and not events. Such language can be used in reference to events only when the events are personified. The passage, then, taught the disciples that when they should have seen all of the preceding events except the chief one, which was the Son of man coming in the clouds, they might know that he was near. His coming would still be in the future, but it would be near at hand, in that same divine sense in which it was to be “immediately after the tribulation of those days.”

34. This generation.-Some very superior scholars understand the word rendered generation () to mean race and the passage to mean, this Jewish race shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled. (See Alford.) But, as we have just seen, the expression “all these things” designates things to be witnessed and experienced by the Jews, and it would be a mere truism to say that their race would not pass away till all of their own experiences had terminated. The true key to the interpretation of this much disputed passage is found in the expression “all these things,” repeated from the preceding verse. It must here have the same meaning as there; for an identical expression repeated in consecutive sentences always has the same meaning, except when something is introduced in the new connection to force upon it a different meaning. There is certainly nothing of the kind here. We therefore conclude, that in the two statements, “This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled,” and, “When ye see all these things, know that he is near,” the expression all these things has the same meaning. But in the latter instance, as we have shown under Mat 24:33, it means all the events previously mentioned in the speech except the coming of the Son of man. This last event, then, is not included in “all these things; “and it is not one of the things which were to take place before that generation passed away.

35. not pass away.-The declaration contained in this verse is intended to emphasize the absolute certainty of all that Jesus had just predicted. The passing away of prophetic words would be their passing into oblivion through failure to be fulfilled.

Uncertainty of the Day, Mat 24:36-41.

(Mar 13:32-37; Luk 21:34-36)

36. of that day and hour.-The day and hour of the coming of the Son of man. This is clear, both from the fact that this coming is the subject of remark in the two preceding paragraphs (Mat 24:29-35), and from the fact that after asserting that no man knows the hour, he adds, “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Mat 24:37.) The object of this remark, and of the entire paragraph, was to prevent a misconception of the previous remarks that his coming would be “immediately after the tribulation of those days,” and that when they should have seen all of the signs given, they might “know that he is near, even at the door.” It was to prevent the strict construction of those words which has been the mistake of many expositors, both ancient and modern.

37-39. as the days of Noe.-The point of comparison with the days of Noah is not the wickedness of the world at the time of the second coming, for all the practices mentioned, eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, are in themselves innocent. But it is the suddenness with which the event will come to an unexpecting world. As “they knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall the coming of the Son of man be.”

40, 41. one taken, the other left.-One changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1Co 15:52), and then caught up into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1Th 4:17); the other left to be consumed in the conflagration of the earth (2Pe 3:10), and then called up to the resurrection of condemnation (Joh 5:29).

41. two women grinding.-The millstones of the ancients were turned by hand. In the upper millstone and near its edge was inserted a wooden pin which served as a handle. Two persons, seated on opposite sides of the mill, gave this stone the necessary rotation by alternately seizing the handle and each turning it halfway around.

Watchfulness Enjoined, Mat 24:42-51

42. Watch therefore.-The exhortation to watchfulness is based on the uncertainty of the day as declared in the previous paragraph and here repeated for the sake of emphasis: “for you know not what day your Lord doth come.” Unlike the day of the destruction of Jerusalem, there is no sign by which its near approach will be certainly known.

43, 44. he would have watched.-The comparison between the coming of Jesus and that of a thief is the more striking from the dissimilarity between the two characters. There is but one point of comparison-the uncertainty of the time of their coming. As the goodman of the house, had he known what hour the thief would come, would have watched and have prevented his house from being broken into, so we, by watching for the coming of the Son of man, may prevent it from finding us unprepared.

45-47. faithful and wise servant.-The figure is now changed from that of a householder watching against a thief, to that of a servant appointed in his master’s absence to take the oversight of his fellow-servants. This servant represents persons who, like the apostles whom Jesus was addressing, occupy positions of authority in the Church. The words, “he shall make him ruler over all his goods,” are descriptive of the literal promotion of the faithful servant, and indicate that a promotion analogous to this will be enjoyed by the faithful officer in the Church. The number of faithful ones who will be found will prevent a literal promotion of each one over all the Master’s goods; hence this point in the parable is not a point of significance in the interpretation.

48-51. that evil servant.-From the reward of the faithful servant the speaker here passes to the fate of the evil servant, still retaining the idea of one in authority. The evil servant, encouraged by the apparent delay of his master’s coming to think that all danger is in the distance, begins to exercise tyranny and to give himself to dissipation. His master comes upon him unexpectedly, and punishes him with the utmost severity. In stating the punishment, Jesus passes from the figure to the reality, and merges the parable in the description: cutting him asunder (Mat 24:51) terminates the parable which had been itself almost a description, and the description begins with appointing him his portion with the hypocrites, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. At this point it may be well to remind the reader that all the warnings in reference to his second coming, given by Jesus in the preceding as well as in the following divisions of this discourse, are equally applicable to our departure to meet him. Whether he first comes to us, or we first go to him, the result will be the same, for as we are at death we will be at his coming, seeing that it is concerning the deeds done in the body that we will be judged. (2Co 5:10.)

The Day and Hour Unknown – Mat 24:36-51

Open It

1. What is the most surprised youve ever been in your life?

2. What are some ways people show their unbelief in God?

3. With what mysteries are people intrigued today?

Explore It

4. Who knows when the end times will come? (Mat 24:36)

5. When did Jesus say these end time events would occur? (Mat 24:36)

6. Who did Jesus say knows the day and hour of the end? (Mat 24:36)

7. To what did Jesus compare the end of the world? (Mat 24:37)

8. How will most people react when the end comes? (Mat 24:38-41)

9. What illustrations did Jesus use to show the suddenness of His return? (Mat 24:40-41)

10. What warning did Jesus give His disciples? (Mat 24:42)

11. To what did Jesus liken His coming? Why? (Mat 24:43-44)

12. What qualities did Jesus say His servants will need to be ready for His coming? (Mat 24:45-47)

13. What did Jesus warn would happen to those who doubt His coming? (Mat 24:48-51)

Get It

14. What would you do if you hired a house sitter/caretaker to watch your home and children, left for a week-long vacation, and then returned a day early only to find that your caretaker had neglected your kids, destroyed your property, and ignored all your other instructions?

15. What does it mean for us to be watchful?

16. How can you tell when you are being watchful?

17. What difference does it make whether we believe in the imminent return of Christ?

18. Even if we claim to believe in Christ, what are some ways we live as though we were atheists?

19. How might a non-Christian look at your life and accuse you of not believing in the imminent return of Jesus Christ?

20. How would you react if you knew a thief would try to burglarize your home or apartment tonight?

21. How can we have a sense of expectation about the return of Christ?

22. How do you know that hell is a horrible place?

Apply It

23. How can you use your time today to honor the Lords imminent return?

24. What steps can you take today to be a better steward of the gifts and information God has entrusted to you?

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Words That Must Be Fulfilled

Mat 24:29-39

The preceding portion of this prophecy is by all interpreters applied to the destruction of Jerusalem. But on the portion that follows there is a considerable division of opinion.

Perhaps it is wisest, between Mat 24:28-29, to interpolate the Christian centuries during which the gospel is being preached to the Gentiles, according to Rom 11:25, (but that whole chapter should be considered). Just as one who looks across a mountainous country may count the successive ranks of sierras or ranges, but does not record the valleys that lie between, so our Lord, who speaks as the last of the Hebrew prophets, does not stop to notice the story of the Church, but confines Himself to the events which are specially Hebrew.

Probably the present age will be ushered out by scenes not unlike those of the preceding one; and immediately afterward the Lord will set up His reign, and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth. The Advent will be sudden, Mat 24:36; and will find men unprepared, Mat 24:38. The Jewish people will exist as a people till then, Mat 24:34.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Chapter 71

Christs Second Coming and the Parable of the Fig Tree

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

(Mat 24:29-35)

Our Lord seems to have deliberately mingled the prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem and his own second coming. Thus, he carefully avoided satisfying the carnal curiosity of his disciples questions, while at the same time encouraging them to live in watchful anticipation of his glorious second advent.

The fact is, our Savior does not intend for us to know the day and hour of his second coming (Act 1:4-7). But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only (Mat 24:36). While assuring us of his second coming and inspiring our hearts with the blessed hope of that great day, our Savior wisely hides from us any information regarding the time of his advent.

Without question, much that is contained in these verses has direct bearing upon the coming of the Roman armies into Jerusalem as the instruments of Gods judgment upon that city and the nation of Israel. Immediately after the great tribulation that fell upon that nation, spiritual blindness engulfed that nation. Their sun, and moon, and stars, all the spiritual light they had was turned into darkness. The very things that had once been to them symbols of heavenly power and favor were shaken to the very foundation, and became to them a snare and a stumbling block. However, it would be a great mistake to limit the words of our Lord in these verses to that terrible day of judgment upon the nation of Israel. The verses now before us speak also of Christs glorious second coming to judge the world.

The Second Coming of Christ

The first thing spoken of here is the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (Mat 24:29-31).

The darkening of the sun and moon, and falling of the stars are to be understood figuratively, having reference to the prophesy of Amos (Amo 8:8-14). Those terms speak of God taking away the light he had given to Israel, casting them off, and shutting the nation up in the darkness of divine judgment (Rom 11:8-10). When our Lord speaks here of the Son of Man coming to judgment, he is not speaking of the day of final judgment, but of the judgment that fell upon the nation of Israel for rejecting the Lord of life and glory. The sending of his angels with the great sound of a trumpet to gather his elect refers to him sending forth gospel preachers to preach the gospel, by which he gathers in his chosen (Isa 27:13; Rev 14:6).

Yet, as he came in judgment upon that nation in 70 AD, so he shall come again in the last day to judge the world in righteousness. There will be no need for the sun, the moon, and the stars when he who is the brightness of the glory of the invisible God and the express image of his person shines forth in the fullness of his indescribable glory. Christs second coming will be a glorious event, universally known and acknowledged at once, both by the righteous and the wicked, the believing and the unbelieving (Rev 1:7; 2Th 1:7-10).

Christs coming, wrote C.H. Spurgeon, will be the source of untold joy to his friends; but it will bring unparalleled sorrow to his foes. Without trying to expound the doctrine of the second advent, let me show you what our Lord teaches us in these verses about his coming.

First, the Lord Jesus Christ really is coming again. Scoffers abound who think our faith is foolishness and that our hope is a dream. Do not allow their infidelity to rub off on you. There is a day of reckoning yet to come. Christ is coming again. There is yet to be a day of resurrection and of judgment (Act 1:11; Act 17:30-31; 1Co 15:19; 1Co 15:51-58; 1Th 4:13-18; 2Th 1:7-10; Tit 2:13; Heb 9:27-28; Rev 1:7; Rev 22:20).

Second, when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to this world, it will not be in secrecy or in humiliation, but in power and in great glory. There is no such thing as a secret coming of Christ, or a secret rapture. Our Lord here declares that all men shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Jud 1:14). When Christ comes again, the very sun, and moon, and stars will melt before him. The heavens themselves, being on fire, shall melt with a fervent heat (2Pe 3:10-14).

Our Lords second advent will be as different as possible from his first coming. At his first advent, our Savior came into the world as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He came here in humiliation, born in a stable, laid in a manger, the child of a poor, insignificant woman. He took upon himself the form of a servant. He was despised and rejected of men. He was betrayed into the hands of wicked men by the kiss of a friend. Condemned by a mockery of justice, beaten, crowned with thorns, and covered with the spit of vile humanity, the Son of God was at last crucified between two thieves.

But when he comes again, he shall come in all the full display of his royal majesty as the King of glory, the King of heaven, and the King of the earth. All the nations of the world shall be gathered before his august majesty to be judged by him. Before him every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall acknowledge and confess that he is Lord.

Whatever ungodly men and women say and do now, things will be different in that day. There will be no scoffing then, no jesting, no infidelity. Every mouth will be stopped. We need to constantly remember these things, so that we may wait patiently for our Saviors arrival. Our Master will one day soon be acknowledged by all the world; and we shall see him with joy (Job 19:25-27).

Third, when our Lord comes again, his first concern and his first order of business will be the security, salvation, and glory of his own elect. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (Mat 24:31). As it always has been, so it shall be then: our Masters great concern shall be his people. When he comes again to judge the world, he will first take care of his elect. Not a hair of their heads shall fall to the ground. Not a bone of his mystical body shall be broken.

When God destroyed the world in the flood, there was an ark for Noah and his family. When he poured fire and brimstone down upon Sodom, Lot found refuge in Zoar. And when the wrath of God at last bursts out against the wicked to destroy this world, his elect shall first be gathered by his holy angels to their blessed hiding place, Christ Jesus.

Those holy angels, who rejoiced over each repenting sinner, who ministered from the beginning to those who were chosen to be the heirs of salvation, shall gladly gather them all out of the earth in one mighty sweep of grace! Our Savior has gone to prepare a place for us. When the place is ready and the time has come for us to be glorified together with him, he will come again. And when he comes, his first work will be to send his angels to gather his elect from the four corners of the earth.

East and west, and south and north,

Speeds each glorious angel forth,

Gathering in with glittering wing

Zions saints to Zions King!

Fourth, the day of our Lords second advent will be a great and terrible day of judgment and wrath for all the wicked; but for believers it will be a day of great glory and great joy. This is a point that needs emphasizing. Nowhere in the Word of God is the second coming of Christ set forth as a matter of fear and dread for believers. Not at all! This is the one day we ought to look forward to and anticipate with great joy.

When Christ comes in his glory, all Gods elect shall be gathered together as one; and we shall be one. The saints of every age and every tongue shall be assembled at once before his glory. All shall be there, from righteous Abel down to the very last soul to be converted to God, from the oldest patriarch down to the smallest infant to be aborted by wicked hands. What a happy gathering that will be, when all the family of God meets together in perfection and glory! Our little meetings and reunions, our assemblies for worship and our conferences here are matters of great delight to us. How we look forward to meeting Gods saints here. Just try to imagine what that will be when we meet that great multitude which no man can number!

John Newton once wrote, When I get to heaven, I shall see three wonders there. The first wonder will be to see people there whom I did not expect to see. The second wonder will be to miss many people whom I did expect to see. The third and greatest wonder of all will be to find myself there!

After commenting on these things, J.C Ryle wrote, Surely, we may be content to carry the cross, and to put up with partings for a few years. We travel on towards a day, when we shall meet to part no more.

The Parable of the Fig Tree

In Mat 24:32-34 our Lord illustrates his doctrine using the parable of the fig tree.

Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

There has been much speculation about this parable of the fig tree. Numerous sermons have been preached about it; and far too many books have been written about it. But there is nothing really mysterious about it. Our Lord simply drew another illustration from nature, as was his custom, to enforce what he was teaching. As men know that summer is near when they see the trees, in this case a fig tree, putting forth their leaves, so our Lord said this generation would know that God had come upon the nation of Israel in judgment when the Roman armies left Jerusalem as a heap of ashes in a pool of blood.

The key which must determine our interpretation of this parable is Mat 24:34. Our Savior said, Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Spurgeon explained, It was just about the ordinary limit of a generation when the Roman armies compassed Jerusalem, whose measure of iniquity was then full, and overflowed in misery, agony, distress, and bloodshed such as the world never saw before or since.

So the second coming of Christ will be a summer of joy and comfort to the saints. Christ will be glorified by his saints and in them. We shall see him as he is and admire him. Grace will consummate in glory. Then we will enjoy full redemption and salvation. The winter of sorrows, afflictions, and persecutions, and of coldness, darkness, and indifference will be over. The sun shall no more go down, nor the moon withdraw itself, but the Lord will be the everlasting light of his people!

The Infallibility of Holy Scripture

In Mat 24:35 our Savior declares the absolute infallibility of Holy Scripture. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. The Word of God is infallible. It will stand forever. Everything written upon the pages of Inspiration must and shall be fulfilled (Isa 40:8; 1Pe 1:25).

Our Lords predictions will be fulfilled. He knew that scoffers would come, saying, Where is the promise of his coming? He knew that when he comes again faith will be a rare thing among men. He knew how terribly prone we are to unbelief. Therefore, he gives this word of assurance concerning his Word. Let us be wise and hear what he says. Every promise he has made of mercy, grace, and pardon shall be fulfilled. Every prophecy of wrath, judgment, and everlasting punishment must be fulfilled. When heaven and earth have passed away, as they must, the Word of our God, and the purpose for which he created the heavens and the earth shall stand forever.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. (2Pe 3:9-14)

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

Immediately: Mat 24:8, Dan 7:11, Dan 7:12, Mar 13:24, Mar 13:25

shall the: Isa 13:10, Isa 24:23, Jer 4:23-28, Eze 32:7, Eze 32:8, Joe 2:10, Joe 2:30, Joe 2:31, Joe 3:15, Amo 5:20, Amo 8:9, Zep 1:14, Zep 1:15, Luk 21:25, Luk 21:26, Act 2:19, Act 2:20, Rev 6:12-17

the powers: 2Pe 3:10

Reciprocal: Gen 1:14 – and let Gen 1:16 – to rule Jos 10:13 – So the sun Job 9:7 – commandeth Psa 18:9 – He bowed Isa 5:30 – if one look Isa 8:22 – look Isa 13:13 – I will Isa 28:7 – erred Isa 34:4 – all the Isa 49:21 – am desolate Eze 30:18 – the day Hag 2:6 – and I Luk 21:11 – and great signs Act 27:20 – neither Rev 8:12 – and the third part of the sun

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

4:29

The most of this chapter is in answer to the inquiry of the apostles which pertains to the two great events, the destruction of Jerusalem and the second coming of Christ. This verse is not on either of those subjects, but is a prediction of events that would concern the church and the world, beginning immediately after the events of the destruction of Jerusalem. Of course it is figurative for the literal sun and other heavenly bodies were not involved in the things predicted. The sun refers to Christ, the moon to the church, and the stars to teachers and other leading men in the church. Soon after the destruction of Jerusalem the influence of evil in the Roman government and the schemes of ambitious men in the kingdom of heaven combined and brought on the period known in religious literature as The Dark Ages, which lasted until the Reformation. During all that time there were faithful disciples in the world, but since the Bible was taken from the common people, it greatly interfered with the light of divine truth that comes from Christ through the church, and taught by faithful men in the church. All this is what is meant by the statements about the sun, moon and stars ceasing to shine. The same thing is meant by the words, the powers of heaven shall be shaken, for all of these sources of light were powers that originated in heaven, but they were shaken (agitated) by the revolution of the Dark Ages.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

[The sun shall be darkened, etc.] that is, the Jewish heaven shall perish, and the sun and moon of its glory and happiness shall be darkened, and brought to nothing. The sun is the religion of the church; the moon is the government of the state; and the stars are the judges and doctors of both. Compare Isa 13:10; and Eze 32:7-8; etc.

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

IN this part of our Lord’s prophecy, He describes His own second coming, to judge the world. This, at all events, seems the natural meaning of the passage. To take any lower view appears to be a violent straining of Scripture language. If the solemn words here used mean nothing more than the coming of the Roman armies to Jerusalem, we may explain away anything in the Bible. The event here described is one of far greater moment than the march of any earthly army. It is nothing less than the closing act of this dispensation, the second personal advent of Jesus Christ.

These verses teach us, in the first place, that when the Lord Jesus returns to this world, He shall come with peculiar glory and majesty. He shall come “in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Before His presence the very sun, moon, and stars shall be darkened, and “the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”

The second personal coming of Christ shall be as different as possible from the first. He came the first time as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was born in the manger of Bethlehem, in lowliness and humiliation. He took on him the form of a servant, and was despised and rejected of men. He was betrayed into the hands of wicked men, condemned by an unjust judgment, mocked, scourged, crowned with thorns, and at last crucified between two thieves.-He shall come the second time as the King of all the earth, with all royal majesty. The princes and great men of this world, shall themselves stand before His throne to receive an eternal sentence. Before him every mouth shall be stopped, and every knee bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. May we all remember this. Whatever ungodly men may do now, there will be no scoffing, no jesting at Christ, no infidelity at the last day. The servants of Jesus may well wait patiently. Their master shall one day be acknowledged King of kings by all the world.

These verses teach us, in the second place, that when Christ returns to this world, He will first take care of His believing people. He shall “send his angels,” and “gather together his elect.”

In the day of judgment true Christians shall be perfectly safe. Not a hair of their heads shall fall to the ground. Not one bone of Christ’s mystical body shall be broken. There was an ark for Noah, in the day of the flood. There was a Zoar for Lot, when Sodom was destroyed. There shall be a hiding-place for all believers in Jesus, when the wrath of God at last bursts on this wicked world. Those mighty angels who rejoiced in heaven when each sinner repented, shall gladly catch up the people of Christ to meet their Lord in the air. That day no doubt will be an awful day, but believers may look forward to it without fear.

In the day of judgment true Christians shall at length be gathered together. The saints of every age, and every tongue shall be assembled out of every land. All shall be there, from righteous Abel down to the last soul that is converted to God,-from the oldest patriarch down to the little infant that just breathed and died. Let us think what a happy gathering that will be, when all the family of God are at length together. If it has been pleasant to meet one or two saints occasionally on earth, how much more pleasant will it be to meet a “multitude that no man can number”! Surely we may be content to carry the cross, and put up with partings for a few years. We travel on towards a day, when we shall meet to part no more.

These verses teach us, in the third place, that until Christ returns to this earth, the Jews will always remain a separate people. Our Lord tells us, “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” [Footnote: I see no other interpretation of these much controverted words, “this generation,” which is in the least satisfactory, and is not open to very serious objections. The word “generation” admits of the sense in which I have taken it, and seems to me to be used in that sense in Mat 12:45, Mat 17:17, and Mat 23:36; Luk 16:8, and Luk 17:25; and Php 2:15. The view that I have propounded is not new. It is adopted by Mede, Parus, Flacius Illyricus, Calovius, Jansenius, Du Veil, Adam Clarke, and Stier. Chrysostom, Origen and Theophylact consider “this generation” to mean “true believers.”]

The continued existence of the Jews as a distinct nation, is undeniably a great miracle. It is one of those evidences of the truth of the Bible which the Infidel can never overthrow. Without a land, without a king, without a government, scattered and dispersed over the world for eighteen hundred years, the Jews are never absorbed among the people of the countries where they live, like Frenchmen, Englishmen, and Germans, but “dwell alone.” Nothing can account for this but the finger of God. The Jewish nation stands before the world, a crushing answer to infidelity, and a living book of evidence that the Bible is true. But we ought not to regard the Jews only as witnesses of the truth of Scripture. We should see in them a continual pledge, that the Lord Jesus is coming again one day. Like the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, they witness to the reality of the second advent, as well as of the first. Let us remember this. Let us see in every wandering Jew a proof that the Bible is true, and that Christ will one day return.

Finally, these verses teach us, that our Lord’s predictions will certainly be fulfilled. He says, “heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

Our Lord knew well the natural unbelief of human nature. He knew that scoffers would arise in the last days, saying, where is the promise of His coming? (2Pe 3:4.) He knew that when He came, faith would be rare on the earth. He foresaw how many would contemptuously reject the solemn predictions He had just been delivering as improbable, unlikely, and absurd. He warns us all against such skeptical thoughts, with a caution of peculiar solemnity. He tells us that, whatever man may say or think, His words shall be fulfilled in their season, and shall not “pass away,” unaccomplished. May we all lay to heart His warning. We live in an unbelieving age. Few believed the report of our Lord’s first coming, and few believe the report of His second. (Isa 53:1.) Let us beware of this infection, and believe to the saving of our souls. We are not reading cunningly devised fables, but deep and momentous truths. May God give us a heart to believe them.

Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Mat 24:29. But immediately, suddenly after a slow development, rather than immediately following, or unexpectedly. Mat 24:36 shows that our Lord did not intend to define the length of the interval, or to encourage us to define it.

After the tribulation of those days, not the tribulation attending the destruction of Jerusalem, but the period of trial which belongs to the last times, for the following reasons: 1. In Luk 21:24, the period of Jewish dispersion and the fulfilling of the times of the Gentiles is put before this prediction, while the expression in Mar 13:24, also permits the supposition of a long interval. 2. The reference to the destruction of Jerusalem is attended with the greatest difficulties. It takes all the expressions of Mat 24:29-31 in a figurative sense, but the figure exceeds any reality that occurred in those days. The interval between the horrors of the siege and the actual destruction itself was too short to allow of any events worthy of such a figurative representation as we find here. 3. To refer it to a merely providential coming of Christ in judging and purifying nominal Christendom, is not at all in keeping with the specific character of the representation.

The sun shall be darkened. A reference to the events attending the destruction of Jerusalem seems impossible. So long as the prophecy is not yet fulfilled, its exact meaning cannot be insisted upon. Two views: (1.) Visible phenomena in the heavens at the visible appearance of Christ; in which sense the rest of the verse needs little explanation except to determine the difference between the stars and the powers of the heavens. The former may mean meteors and the latter the host of stars, or better, the former the stars in general, the latter the greater heavenly bodies that affect the earth (the solar system). This view suggests also the possibility of actual changes in the physical universe to prepare for the new heavens and the new earth.(2.) Spiritual events to occur at the same time. We add the most plausible interpretations of this character: The sun shall be darkened, i.e., the knowledge of Christ, the Sun of the Church and the world shall be obscured; the moon shall not give her light; the reflected light of science, which derives its excellence only from Christ, the true Sun, shall cease to guide (or it may refer to heresy and unbelief in the Church, for that leaves her merely a scientific or temporal organization); the stars shall fall from heaven; the leaders and teachers of the Church shall become apostates: the powers of the heavens (the greater heavenly bodies) shall be shaken: the influences which rule human society shall be disturbed. Others refer the whole to the fall of heathenism with its worship of Nature (sun, moon, and stars), but this is less probable, since terrifying occurrences seem to be meant (see Luk 21:25-26).

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Our Saviour goes on in figurative expressions to set forth the calamities that should befall the Jewish nation, immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem: The sun shall be darkened: that is, all their glory and excellency shall be eclipsed, all their wealth and prosperity shall be laid waste; the whole government, civil and ecclesiastical, destroyed; and such marks of misery found upon them, as never were seen upon a people.

By the sign of the Son of man, the papists will have understood the sign of the cross. Others understand it of those prodigies which were seen a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, which Josephus mentions; as, namely, a comet in the form of a sword hanging over the city for a year together; a light in the temple and about the altar, seen at midnight for half an hour; a cow, led by the priest to be sacrificed, calved a lamb; a voice heard in the temple, saying Abeamus hinc, “Let us go hence.”

Learn hence, God premonishes before he punishes; he warns a people of destruction often, before he destroys them once.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mat 24:29. Immediately after, &c. We are now come to the last act of this dismal tragedy, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the final dissolution of the Jewish polity in church and state, which our Lord, for several reasons, might not think fit to declare nakedly and plainly, and therefore chose to clothe his discourse in figurative language. Commentators, indeed, have generally understood this, and what follows, of the end of the world, and of Christs coming to judgment: but the words, immediately after the tribulation of those days, show evidently that he is not speaking of any distant event, but of something immediately consequent upon the tribulation before mentioned, and that must be the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, and the abolition of the Jewish polity, civil and religious. It is true, his figures are very strong, but not stronger than those used by the ancient prophets upon similar occasions. The Prophet Isaiah speaks in the same manner of the destruction of Babylon, Isa 13:10, The stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. The Prophet Ezekiel describes in similar terms the destruction coming on Egypt, Eze 32:7-8. When I shall put thee out I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. The Prophet Daniel also uses similar language, when speaking of the slaughter of the Jews by the little horn, meaning probably Antiochus Epiphanes: And it waxed great even unto the host of heaven; and cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. And lastly, God, by Joel, foretelling this very same destruction of Jerusalem, Joe 2:30-31, says, I will show wonders in heaven and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood. So that great commotions and revolutions upon earth are often represented by commotions and changes in the heavens.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

CXIV.

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.

aMATT. XXIV. 29-51; bMARK XIII. 24-37; cLUKE XXI. 25-36.

b24 But in those days, aimmediately after the {bthat} atribulation of those days. [Since the coming of Christ did not follow close upon the destruction of Jerusalem, the word “immediately” used by Matthew is somewhat puzzling. There are, however, three ways in which it may be explained: 1. That Jesus reckons the time after his own divine, and not after our human, fashion. Viewing the word in this light, the passage at 2Pe 3:4-9 may almost be regarded as an inspired comment with reference to this passage. 2. The terrible judgment upon Jerusalem and the corresponding terror of the judgment day have between them no intervening season of judgment in any way worthy to be compared to either of them. The two periods, therefore, stand with regard to each other in immediate connection. 3. The tribulation which came upon the Jewish people merely began with the destruction of Jerusalem, other woes followed at once, and, coming down through all the centuries of wandering and dispersion, they were yet unfulfilled and incomplete. See Deu 28:58-68] the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall {bshall be falling} from heaven, aand the powers of [629] {bthat are in} the heavens shall be shaken. [The language is that of the ancient prophets. See Amo 8:9, Joe 2:30, Joe 2:31, Eze 32:7, Eze 32:8. Compare also Rev 6:12-14. Some regard the language as metaphorical, indicating the eclipse of nations and the downfall of rulers, but there are many similar passages of Scripture which constrain us to regard the language here as literal rather than figurative. See 2Pe 3:10, Heb 1:12, Rev 20:11.] c25 And there shall be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows [We can conceive of nothing which would produce greater mental distress or perplexity than changes in the position or condition of the heavenly bodies. Such changes will be followed by corresponding commotions on our planet, as, for instance, great tidal waves and vast agitation in the ocean]; 26 men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world: for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. a30 and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven [The coming and the sign are the same thing. The word “sign” is used in connection with the coming of Christ to indicate that the nature of the coming (that is, the manner of its manifestations) will be fully commensurate with the importance of the event. His first coming in the manger was not so]: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn [The coming will occasion universal mourning in the unprepared, and apparently the majority of people will be in that condition. The term “all” is not, however, to be construed as including all individuals– 1Th 4:15-17], b26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in {aon the} clouds {cin a cloud} aof heaven bwith great power aand great glory. b27 And then shall he send forth the {ahis} angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one of heaven to the other. bfrom the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. [To the Jews the trumpet would naturally be [630] associated with the assembling of the people, for silver trumpets were used to call Israel together ( Num 10:1-4, Exo 19:13, Exo 19:16, Exo 19:19, Psa 81:3-5). We are not told why angels are used on this occasion, but they appear to be employed in all the great operations of Providence ( Mat 13:41). The phrases “four winds,” etc., indicate that the angelic search shall extend over the entire globe. The language is that which was then used when one desired to indicate the whole earth. It is based upon the idea which then prevailed that the earth is flat, and that it extends outward in one vast plain until it meets and is circumscribed by the overarching heavens.] c28 But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads; because your redemption draweth nigh. [The preliminary death-throes of this present physical universe, which will strike terror to the souls of those who have limited themselves to material hopes, will be to the Christian a reassuring sign, since he looks for a new heaven and a new earth.] 29 And he spake to them a parable: a32 Now from the fig tree learn her parable: when her branch is now become tender, and putteth forth its leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh; cBehold the fig tree, and all the trees: 30 when they now shoot forth, ye see it and know of your own selves that the summer is now nigh. 31 Even so ye also, when ye see aall cthese things coming to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh. aknow ye that he is nigh, even at the doors. [As the change of the season in the natural world has its preliminary signs, so the change of conditions in the spiritual realm has its premonitory symptoms. When men see the symptoms which Jesus has described, they will recognize that changes are coming as to the nature of which they can only guess. But the Christian is informed that these changes indicate the coming of the Son of God–a change from a worse to a better season.] 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, buntil all things be accomplished. [Commentators differ widely as to the import of these words. Godet is so perplexed by them that he thinks [631] they refer to the destruction of Jerusalem, and have been misplaced by the Evangelist. Cook straddles the difficulty by giving a dual significance to all that our Lord has said concerning his coming, so that our Lord in one narrative speaks figuratively of a coming in the power of his kingdom before, during, and right after the destruction of Jerusalem, and literally of his final coming at the end of the world. But this perplexing expression under this theory refers exclusively to the figurative and not to the literal sense of the passage. The simplest solution of the matter is to take the word “generation” to mean the Jewish family or race–and the word does mean race or family– Luk 16:8. Thus interpreted, the passage becomes a prophecy that the Jewish people shall be preserved as such until the coming of Christ. The marvelous and almost miraculous preservation of the racial individuality of the Jews, though dispersed among all nations, might well become the subject of prophecy, especially when Jesus had just spoken of an event which threatened their very extermination.] 31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. [The disciples had regarded the temple as so permanent that they found it hard to conceive that Christ’s words could be fulfilled with regard to it; but he assures them that his predictions and prophecies are the stable and imperishable things. That even the more permanent structure of the heavens is not so abiding as his utterances.] a36 But of that day and {bor that} hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in {aof} heaven, neither the Son, bbut the Father. aonly. [These words indicate the profound secrecy in which God has concealed the hour of judgment. It is concealed from all people, that each generation may live in expectation of its fulfillment, and we are to watch for the signs, though we may not fully know the times. They also indicate that either by reason of his assumption of our human nature, or by a voluntary act on his part, the knowledge of Jesus became in some respects circumscribed. They also suggest that it is not only idle, but also presumptuous, for men to strive to find out by mathematical calculation and expositions of [632] prophecy that which the Son of God did not know.] 37 And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. 38 For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 39 and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. [See Psa 1:5, Mal 3:2.] b33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. 34 It is as when a man, sojourning in another country, having left his house, and given authority to his servants, to each one his work, commanded also the porter to watch. [Under the figure of the householder and the thief, Jesus appealed to the sense of danger. Under the figure of the servant he appealed to the sense of duty, and under this figure of the porter he appealed to the sense of loyalty. The porter’s desire to honor his lord was to make him so vigilant that he would open the door at once upon his lord’s appearing.] 35 Watch therefore: for ye know not when the lord of the house cometh, whether at even, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the morning [The night was then divided into four watches. See p. 322. Jesus may here refer either to the duration of the world or to the life of the individual. He divides either period into four sections, in accordance with the night watches which were so fully associated with watchfulness]; 36; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. 37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. [This warning message was not for the apostles alone, but for all disciples.]

[FFG 629-634]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Ver. 29. But immediately after the tribulation, &c. Christ passes from the destruction of Jerusalem to the destruction of the world, and the signs which shall precede it.

Tribulation. Understand the persecutions and temptations which shall arise from false Christs and false Prophets, of which the 23d verse speaks; or rather the tribulation which came upon the Jews at the siege of Jerusalem by Titus. For this only did He call tribulation a little above in ver. 21. Where observe, with S. Chrysostom, Jerome, and others, that Christ, in order to keep His disciples and those who succeeded them in constant expectation of His Advent and the Day of Judgment, and to urge them to be always prepared for it, seems to favour the mistake of the Apostles, and to speak as though the end of the world would follow immediately upon the destruction of the city, but in a different way from that in which the Apostles understood it. For although 1560 years have elapsed since the destruction of Jerusalem, and many more will yet elapse before the end of the world, nevertheless all this period, long as it seems to us, whose span of life is so short, yet compared with the eternity of God, who is the true Measurer of times, is but very small, yea, only as it were a moment. Thus answers S. Peter (2Pet 3:8), “One day is with God as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise. This is why the Prophets and Apostles call the period of Christ and of the Gospel Dispensation, the last time and the last hour, as appears from 1Jo 2:18; 1Co 10:11; Jam 5:8; Heb 10:37. For the same reason Hag 2:4 says that there shall be but a little while to the coming of Christ, and yet there were 517 years still to elapse before He came. There is also this to be considered, that the tribulation of the world shall immediately follow the tribulation of the city, in the sense that no very remarkable and exceptional tribulation of the Jews shall intervene between those two events, so that the one shall very closely succeed the other, not as regards time, but in type, similitude, and fearfulness. For a similar reason Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the rest of the Prophets, when they describe the destruction of Babylon, Tyre, Egypt, and of Juda by the Chaldeans, pass on at once to the antitype, the destruction of the world, as though it were about to take place immediately. And they set forth how dreadful shall be the former events by the signs and horrors which shall take place at the latter event. This appears by Isa 13:19; Jer 15:9; Amo 8:9; Joe 2:10.

From what has been said, it would seem that Alcazar (in Rev 6:12), from the expression “thus” in this verse of S. Matthew, gathers incorrectly that all the things which are here spoken of refer literally, not to the end of the world, but to the destruction of Jerusalem. By the darkening of the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars, this writer understands literally the blindness of the Jews, their calamities, and the slaughter which was made of them by Titus. By the shaking of the powers of the heavens, he understands the flight of the Christians from the city, by whose holiness it was sustained. But every one can see that these meanings are mystical and symbolical.

The sun shall be darkened. Observe that this sign and those which follow are not after the General Resurrection, as SS. Jerome and Chrysostom suppose, but previous to it, as is plain from S. Luk 21:26, and Joe 2:31. As to the meaning, S. Augustine (Epist. 80, ad Hesych.) says, “The sun, i.e., the Church, shall be darkened, because in those tremendous temptations and tribulations which shall be in the end of the world, many who had seemed as bright and as firm as the sun and the stars shall fall from the faith.” This is the allegorical sense, and is just and apposite.

You will ask, what will be the cause of this great obscuration of the sun before the Judgment Day? SS. Hilary, Jerome, Chrysostom answer, that it will be because the excessive brightness of Christ’s glorious body will make the sun grow pale. But I have already observed that these signs will take place before the General Resurrection, and therefore before Christ’s coming to judgment. So that I reply, the sun will be darkened because God will take away from it, not its light indeed, but its power of illuminating, by which it shall come to pass that in the sun there will be light, but upon the earth nothing but darkness. Thus was it at the Passion of Christ. Again, God will hide the sun by means of thick clouds and smoke. Perchance also there will be extraordinary and miraculous eclipses, as may be gathered from Lactantius 7:16.

Of this darkening of the sun at the end of the world, the calamities and prodigies which took place at the destruction of Babylon, Tyre, Egypt, Iduma, &c., were types. When, therefore, the Prophets speak of them, they speak by catachresis of the horribleness of the destruction, by saying that the sun and moon and stars shall be darkened. For such dreadful calamities bring on men giddiness and blindness. Thus those overthrows were types and foreshadowings of the destruction of the world, when the heavenly luminaries will be literally darkened.

And the moon, &c. For when the sun is darkened, the moon must necessarily be so likewise, since she derives her light from him.

Symbolically: Auctor Imperfecti says, “When the master of the household dies, his whole household is troubled; his family make lamentations and rend their garments. So, in like manner, when the human race, for whom all things were made, is about to come to an end, all creation languishes, the powers of the heavens mourn, and laying aside their brightness, are clothed with robes of darkness.”

And the stars, &c. 1. Because at the end of the world the stars also shall be darkened, so that they shall appear to men to have fallen from the heavens. For Holy Scripture often speaks of things not as they are in themselves, but as they appear unto men.

2. Stars, i.e., comets and such like bodies, which are formed in the atmosphere, shall then fall upon the earth. This may be gathered from Joel ii. 30.

S. Chrysostom and Euthymius add, that at the end of the world stars, properly so called, shall fall from the heavens to the earth. But this must be understood of very small stars, and such as are invisible to us. For as to the visible stars, they are larger than our whole earth, and cannot therefore fall upon it.

And the powers of the heavens, &c. Origen, S. Chrysostom, &c., understand by these powers the sevenfold choirs or orders of the angels, which are called powers (Lat. virtutes) because they excel in strength (virtute). And the meaning would be, that the angels, mighty as they are, when they behold the sun and moon become dark, and the stars fall from heaven, and many other dreadful prodigies multiplied at the end of the world, will stand, as it were, astonished and stupefied at such great changes and terrible sights.

Here may be mentioned the opinion of Suarez (3 p. qu. 59, art. 6, disp. 56, sect. 3), “The powers of the heavens,” saith he, “are the angels, who, by their surpassing strength, cause the heavens to revolve; because they, as the ministers of the Divine justice and vengeance against the wicked, shall change the accustomed order of motion of the heavens. Thus there shall be utter confusion in this lower world.”

But more simply, by the powers of the heavens, you may understand the stars themselves and their influences. The meaning is, that at the end of the world the very great and very strong stars of heaven shall change their motions, appearances, influences, and in consequence everything upon earth shall be in perturbation, so that the world shall be shaken by unwonted movements, the sea shall overflow, and the atmosphere shall be troubled with comets, thunderbolts, meteors, whirlwinds, so that all things will seem to be utterly in confusion.

Lastly, and most plainly, by the powers, &c., you may understand their poles and hinges. These are , Heb. gibburoth, the strength and props, as it were, of the heavens. It means, that at the end of the world the whole heavens shall be shaken, all plucked from their poles and hinges, so that they will seem to fall down, so as to strike terror into the wicked, and to set forth the wrath of an angry Christ. I have treated of this matter more at length in Rev 6:14. There is an allusion to Job 26:11, “The pillars of heaven shall tremble, and shall fear by reason, of His rebuke;” and to Isa 39:4, “And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their hosts shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree.” For as Bede says (in Luc. xxi. 25), “As when trees are shaken to their fall, they are wont to show premonitions of the coming crash; so likewise when the end of the world draweth nigh, shall the elements nod and tremble as though they were in fear;” and the heavens burning with fire, and as it were perishing, shall rise again with the Saints, and shall be renewed in a glorious state of felicity.

Ver. 30. And then shall appear the sign, &c. You will ask, what is the sign of the Son of Man, that is to say, of Christ Incarnate? I answer, it is the Cross. For this is the sign, because it is the standard (vexillum) of Christ, and the cause of the victory of believers. And as it was beforetime the scandal of unbelievers and the impious, so will it be in the Day of Judgment their condemnation and their torment. So the Fathers, almost passim. Yea, the Church herself gives this meaning her sanction, when she sings in the office for Holy Cross Day, “This sign of the Cross shall be in heaven when the Lord shall come to judgment.” There are three reasons why the Cross shall then appear. 1st To signify that Christ by the Cross has merited this judicial power and glory. 2d To show that Christ was crucified for the salvation of all men, and that therefore they are ungrateful and without excuse who have neglected so great grace and love. 3d To show that all worshippers of Christ crucified shall be then exalted with Him to Heaven, and all who hate and despise Him cast down to hell.

From this saying of Christ it is extremely probable that the actual cross on which He was crucified shall appear in heaven at the Day of Judgment, for the consolation of the Saints, who have been saved by it, and who therefore have striven to conform themselves in their lives, by patience and self-denial, to Christ crucified; and for the condemnation of the wicked, who have despised the Cross of Christ, and who have ungratefully preferred pleasures to self-mortification. This is the opinion of S. Chrysostom (Hom. de Cruce et Latrone). The Sibyl predicts the same thing (lib. 6)-

“Whereon God hung, 0 blessed Tree!

Not earth alone, but heaven hath thee,

When lightning-crown’d God’s face we see.”

S. Anselm is of a different opinion, viz., that at the Day of Judgment it will not be the actual Cross of Christ which will appear in the air, but a symbol, or image of it, formed by the angels. The expression sign is in favour of this.

Moreover, SS. Chrysostom and Augustine and S. Cyril teach that this standard of the Cross will be borne by the angels before the face of Christ, coming to judgment, as a trophy of victory, and a royal banner of supreme power and dignity.

Our Salmeron also says, “The doctors of the Church believe that, together with the Cross will appear the pillar, the scourge, the crown of thorns, the nails, the sponge, the spear, and the rest of the instruments of the Passion.” So, too, S. Thomas (Opusc. ii. cap. 244). This is probable, but not certain, because nowhere expressly declared.

Lastly, at that time the sign of the cross shall appear on the foreheads of all the elect, according to what is said in Rev 7:3, “Let us sign the servants of our God on their foreheads” (Vulg.); and Ezek. ix. 4, in an allegorical sense, “Sign Tau, i.e., the sign of the Cross, upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry” (Hebr. and Vulg.). Hear S. Augustine (Serm. de temp. 130), “Hast thou considered how great is the virtue of this sign of the Cross? The sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light; but the Cross shall shine and shall obscure the heavenly luminaries. When the stars shall fall, it alone shall send forth radiance, that thou mayst learn how the Cross is more luminous than the moon and more glorious than the sun. For like as when a king enters into a city, his soldiers go before him, bearing upon their shoulders the royal arms and standards, and all the pomp of military array, to proclaim the monarch’s entry; so when the Lord descends from Heaven, the angel hosts shall go before Him, bearing upon their lofty shoulders that sign which is the ensign of triumph, to announce to the inhabitants of earth the approach of the King of Heaven.”

And then shall all the tribes, &c. That is, many of every tribe, viz., all the reprobate and the damned, because they have neglected their salvation, to procure which Christ was crucified. But the elect will rejoice and sing, because they will see that they have been saved and blessed by the Cross. S. Augustine gives the cause of this weeping, “All the tribes of the earth shall mourn, because they shall see their accuser, that is, the Cross itself; and at the sight of this reprover they shall acknowledge their sin. Too late, and in vain shall they confess their impious blindness. And dost thou marvel that when Christ cometh He will bring His Cross, since He will show His wounds also?” S. Chrysostom also, “Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, because they shall perceive that they gained nothing by His death, and that they crucified Him who ought to be adored.” And S. Jerome, “Rightly doth He say, The tribes of the earth; for they shall mourn who have no citizenship in Heaven, but whose names are written in the earth.” Again, hear S. Chrysostom on this passage (Hom. 77), “He brings with Him the Cross, that their sin may be condemned without accusation, as though a man who had been struck with a stone should produce the stone itself, or the blood-stained clothes as a witness of the deed.” Moreover, they shall mourn, because (as Auctor Imperfecti., Hom. 77, says) Christ will then reprove the wicked thus, “For your sakes I became man, was bound and crucified. Where is the fruit of all My sufferings? Behold the price of My blood, which I paid for the redemption of your souls! Where is your service, which you owe Me as the price of My blood? I valued you above My own glory, when, being God, I appeared in fashion of a man; and yet ye accounted Me of less worth than any of your possessions. For ye loved every vile thing upon earth more than My justice and faith.” And shortly afterwards he adds, “Deservedly shall they mourn, because then neither shall money profit the rich to do alms withal; nor righteous parents be able to intercede for their children; nor the angels themselves to say a word, as is their wont, for men, because the nature of judgment accords not with mercy, as neither the time of mercy with judgment. As saith the Prophet, ‘I will sing of mercy and judgment;’ of mercy in the first Advent, of judgment in the second.”

Hear S. Bernard mourning, yea, trembling with horror (Serm. 16 in Cant.), “I am afraid of hell; I fear the face of the Judge, before whom the heavenly hosts themselves tremble. I tremble at His almighty wrath, at the crash of a falling world, at the conflagration of the elements, at the horrible tempest, at the voice of the archangel, and the dreadful words. I tremble at the teeth of the infernal beast, at the belly of hell, at the lions roaring for their prey. I dread the gnawing of the worm, the fiery torrent, the smoke and vapour, the brimstone, and the spirit of tempests. I dread the outer darkness.” Then he adds, “Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes, that by my tears I may prevent the weeping and gnashing of teeth, the hard chains for hand and foot, the weight of the fetters that press and bind and burn without consuming? Woe is me, my mother! Wherefore hast thou brought me forth, a child of sorrow? a child of bitterness, of indignation, of weeping without end? Why did the knees prevent me, and the breasts that I sucked, that I should he born for burning and for fuel of fire?”

And they shall see the Son, &c. 1st That the clouds may temper the exceeding brightness of the Body of Christ, which otherwise would blind the eyes of the reprobate. 2d Because a cloud is the symbol of the hidden Deity. 3d Because the cloud is the seat, as well as the vehicle and covert, of Christ’s glory. Hence, constantly in the Old Testament, God appeared to Moses and the Prophets in a cloud. (See Ezek 1:4, and Ex 19:9-18.) There is an allusion to Dan 7:13, “And lo, one like unto the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven.”

With power, &c. (Vulg.), with great virtue or strength and majesty. For as Christ at His first Advent came in great infirmity of the flesh, in poverty and contempt, so He hath thereby deserved to come in His second Advent with great strength, glory, and majesty. His Power and strength shall appear in that at His command all the dead shall arise in a moment; in that all men, angels, and devils shall behold and worship Him as their God, their Lord, and their judge; in that He shall pass sentence upon all according to their deserts, and shall execute His sentence, so that none shall dare to gainsay or resist. His majesty shall appear in the infinite splendour of His body, in the multitude and brightness of all the angels surrounding Him, and in His garments of radiant clouds.

Ver. 31. And He shall send His angels, &c. There is an inversion of order in this passage; for Christ shall previously send His angels with a trumpet, or rather with many trumpets, throughout all the world, to wake the dead and summon them to judgment. For when this trumpet sounds very many angels shall gather together the ashes of every one of the dead, and from them form the semblance of human bodies, which God shall organize and animate. And after life has been restored to those bodies, He shall, if they be those of the holy and elect, glorify and bless them. Wherefore also the Blessed themselves shall, by the gift of swiftness, with which they shall be endowed, immediately transfer themselves in the company of the angels from all parts of the world to the Valley of Jehoshaphat to judgment. But the reprobate, because they shall lack the gift of swiftness, shall be dragged thither by the devils, or rather by the angels.

From the four winds, i.e., from the four quarters of the world, from whence the four chief winds blow. Whence he adds by way of explanation, from one end of heaven to the other.

The Greek is , i.e., from extremity to extremity, from one terminus of heaven and earth to their other terminus, from the east to the west. For signifies any extreme limit, whether above or below, whether to the right or to the left. Mark has (Mar 13:27), from the height of earth to the height of heaven (Vulg.), by which is meant the same thing as in S. Matthew, from one extreme of earth to the other extremity of heaven and earth. For the earth at its extremities seems to be joined to the sky. This is at the horizon. There is no reason why extremity of heaven (Vulg.) in this place should not be taken literally, meaning that the angels shall gather together the elect wherever they may be, whether in heaven or earth. For the bodies of the Patriarchs, who rose again with Christ, are in Heaven. Wherefore they shall descend from Heaven to the valley of Jehoshaphat at the time of the Last Judgment.

But the former sense seems to be the best.

Learn a parable. Take a similitude from the fig-tree. Learn from the analogy of the fig-tree what I have spoken concerning the signs of the destruction of the world, when it is nigh at hand. Christ makes mention of the fig rather than of other trees, because the fig-tree only puts forth its leaves and fruit under the influence of heat, because its sap is exceedingly sweet, and therefore concocted; and for that there is need of the heat of summer. Hence Aristotle (lib. 9, Histor. Animal) says that the fig is the food of bees, which only fly and make honey in summer. They make honey from the fig, for it is indeed a purse of honey. Again, he says that cattle grow fat upon figs. Again, the fig does not flower, but produces fruit immediately from the leaves, and brings it to maturity. Whence Pliny says (15. 18), “Wonderful is the haste of this fruit, one in all things hastening to maturity by the art of nature.” Again, “the fig is the sweetest of all fruits, devoid of all acidity, and therefore most tasty and wholesome. Moreover, the fig-tree is extremely fruitful, so much so that there are fig-trees in Hyrcania, each yielding a yearly produce of 70 bushels,” as Pliny affirms in the same book. He adds that Romulus and Remus were suckled by the she-wolf under a fig-tree, and therefore that the fig was worshipped at Rome in the forum.

Symbolically, therefore, Christ would intimate that His Saints and elect ought to bring forth most sweet and abundant fruits of good works, that so they may deserve to taste in the summer of the Resurrection the abundant sweetness of celestial glory.

Lastly, a fig was the cause of the destruction of Carthage. For when Cato, as Pliny tells us, was exclaiming in the Senate that Carthage must be destroyed, he brought one day into the Senate house a very ripe fig which had been grown in Africa. Showing it to the Senators, “I ask you,” said be, “to guess how long ago it is since this fig was plucked from the tree.” All allowed that it must have been but recently gathered. “Yes,” he said, “I would have you know that it is but three days since it was plucked at Carthage; so near is the enemy to your walls.” Immediately afterwards the third Punic War, in which Carthage was destroyed, was begun.

In like manner those signs which Christ compares to a fig-tree shall be the cause of the destruction of the world.

When her branch, &c. For the reason already mentioned, inasmuch as the sap of the fig-tree is most sweet, it lies dormant during the winter in the root, but being drawn out by the heat of summer, it rises into the branches, and comes out in leaves and fruit. It is like the mulberry tree (morus), which does not germinate until the cold is all gone. The mulberry is called for that reason , or “a fool,” because it is anything but foolish, but the wisest of trees.

Ver. 33. So likewise ye, &c. Near: it is as though Christ, the judge, and His glorious Kingdom, and your redemption, as Luke has it, that is, the resurrection and everlasting glory, were entering the earth, as it were by a door. For redemption signifies deliverance from all evils and miseries. This will be the summer. And after the winter, there shall come this most joyful summer to all the elect, as this parable intimates. As when the fig comes into leaf summer is nigh, which causes to be brought forth most sweet figs and other fruits; so when ye shall behold the elect to flourish with such great patience in the winter of such great tribulations as shall befall them at the end of the world, know ye that the reward of your patience is nigh at hand, the summer of a joyful resurrection, which shall heap upon you the fruit of every good gift, when Christ the judge shall bless and glorify you.

Verily I say, &c. This generation, that is to say, 1. of all men, or this age, which shall last until the end of the world. So S. Jerome. As though Christ had said, “Before the end of the world all these things shall come to pass.”

2. Origen, Hilary, and Chrysostom take generation in a more restricted sense, to mean the generation of believers of Christians, that were now sprung from Christ, to whom Christ was speaking in the person of His Apostles, according to the words in Ps. xxiv. 6, “This is the generation of them that seek the Lord.” As though the Lord had said, “The Christian religion which I have instituted shall not come to an end until Christians, who faithfully serve Me, are rewarded by and crowned in the Day of Judgment.”

Ver. 35. Heaven and earth, &c., shall pass away, i.e., shall be changed, shall cease to be, shall perish, as regards their present state and condition, that they may pass into one which is better, and be glorified with the Saints.

Some are of opinion that at the end of the world the heavens will be changed as regards their form and substance. Of this question I have treated at length on 2Peter3:13 and Isa 34:4.

Lastly, this sentence may be understood comparatively, thus, “The heavens shall pass away and perish, sooner than My words shall come to naught.”

But of that day (namely, of My glorious coming to judgment) and hour, &c. As if He had said, “Do not, 0 My apostles, ask Me when I shall come again as Judge, or what shall be the day of the general Judgment, for no one except God knoweth this: and He willeth not any other being to know it.” “He held them back,” says Chrysostom, “from wishing to learn that which the angels are ignorant of.” As to the time when the world shall come to an end, there are various opinions.

1. Many suppose that the world will come to an end after it has existed for six thousand years, as it was created in six days, according to the saying or prophecy of Elias, “six thousand” (years?) “the world.” (Sex millia mundus, Lat.) This opinion is probably true, as I have shown at length on Rev 20:4.

2. Some think that there will be just as many years after Christ to the end of the world as there were from the Creation to Christ. They gather this idea from Hab 3:2, “0 Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years Thou shalt make it known.” But this passage has a different meaning, as I have there shown.

The third opinion was one which supposed the world would last as many jubilees after Christ as there were years in His earthly life. This calculation would place the end in A.D. 1700.

4. Druitlimarns, who flourished about A.D. 800, and who wrote upon S. Matthew, says, “Our ancestors have left in writing that the world was created, the Lord was conceived and crucified, on the 25th of March, and in like manner the world will be destroyed upon the same day; but in what year they say not.” But these things have no foundation.

5. A fifth calculation was put forth by a contemporary of Lapide, whose name he does not give, whom he calls a jester rather than a reckoner, which fixed on 1666 as the end of the world.

“If,” says Lapide, “you object to this ‘joculator’ the words of Christ, ‘of that day knoweth no man,’ he answers, that only applied to the time when He was speaking, and that the day might be known afterwards by revelation or in some other way.”

But all this Lapide characterises as frivolous and old wives’ fables.

My Father only: because from eternity He had determined in His own mind, and appointed this day, which He keeps secret. Now by the word only, the Son is not excluded, neither the Holy Ghost, for They know the day and the hour of the Judgment equally with the Father, since They have all the same essence, majesty, will, mind, power, understanding, and knowledge. For it is a theological principle, that if the word “only” be added to any of the essential attributes of the Godhead, such as wisdom, and be ascribed to one of the Divine Persons, it does not exclude the other two Persons, but only creatures, which are of a different nature and essence. But in Personal Attributes, the expression “only” does exclude two of the, Divine Persons, as when it is said, “The Father only begets;” “The Son only is begotten.”

You will say, Mark adds (Mar 13:32), neither the Son, for so it is in the Greek, Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Egyptian, Ethiopic. Various answers are given. The best is that which is common among the Fathers. It is that the Son, both as God and as man, by infused knowledge, knows the Day of Judgment and of the end of the world, for it pertains for Him to know this, inasmuch as He has been appointed the Judge of the world. But Christ denies that He knoweth this as man, and as He is God’s messenger to us, because He did not know it so that He could reveal it to us, or because He had not been commissioned by the Father to reveal it to us. As an ambassador who was questioned concerning the secrets of his prince would reply that he did not know them, although he did know them, because he did not know them as an ambassador. For an ambassador declares only those things which he has a commission to declare.

Christ’s meaning then is, “God only knows what year and day and hour the end of the world and the Judgment shall be. And although God has caused Me, Christ, as I am man, to know the same, as I am that one man who is united to the WORD; yet as I am the Father’s ambassador to men, He hath not willed Me to make known that day, but to keep it secret, and to stir them up continually to prepare themselves for it.” There is a like mode of expression in S. Joh 15:15.

There are some who explain thus: that Christ, qua man, knoweth not the Day of Judgment; but that He knoweth it as He is the God-man. That is to say, Christ as man knoweth it not by virtue of His humanity, but of His divinity. So S. Athanasius (Serm. 4, contra Arian.), Nazianzen (Orat. 4, de .Theolog.), Cyril (lib. 9, Thesaur. c. 4), Ambrose (lib. 5, de Fide, c. 8).

Maldonatus gives another explanation. He says that Christ, even as He is God, knoweth not the Day of Judgment in, as it were, an ex officio sense, because it is the office of the Father, alone to predestinate, decree, and determine the Day of Judgment; and, by consequence, that He knows it, and reveals it when He wills. For providence, in which predestination is included, is a special attribute of the Father. But this explanation is somewhat too subtle and abstruse.

But as the days of Noah, &c. Like the Deluge, which suddenly and unexpectedly drowned all men, shall My Advent come upon all. This is made plain by the subsequent verse.

As in the days that were before the flood, &c.

Ver. 39. And knew not, &c. You may say, “From the darkness of the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars, and the other dreadful signs, men will know that the end of the world is near.” As Luke saith, Men’s hearts withering with fear, and with looking for those things which are coming on the earth. “Therefore the end of the world cannot be unexpected by them.” I reply, that after the darkening of the sun and moon, and the other signs, God will give a certain space of quietness and peace; and then men will forget the signs, and will give themselves up to pleasures, to gluttony and lust, even as they did before. Then will God put an end to them and to the world, crushing them with a sudden destruction. In like manner, dying persons will seem to revive for a little while, but soon grow worse and expire. So, too, a candle when it is burnt out will flicker up with a last effort before its flame, like a breath, departs and is extinguished. Again, so great shall be the hardness and the wickedness of the multitude of the ungodly at that time, that even though they do behold the sun and moon darkened, yet will they apply themselves to the gluttony and the luxury to which they have been accustomed, and will not think of the end of the world so nigh at the doors. Thus was it with Belshazzar, when he was feasting with his lords, on the night when he was besieged and slain by Cyrus, until he beheld the fateful hand which foretold his destruction by the words, Meni, Tekel, Phares. Wherefore S. Augustine teaches that at the end of the world, the righteous will be sorrowful on account of these signs, but the wicked will indulge their bent, and rejoice.

Then two shall be in the field, &c. In the Day of Judgment Christ will separate companion from companion, neighbour from neighbour; as, for example, husbandman from husbandman. Him who has lived justly and piously He will take up with Himself to glory. But his companion, who has lived wickedly, He will leave in his sins, and condemn to everlasting punishment. For as S. Ambrose says (in Luke xvii. 35), “He who is taken is carried away to meet Christ in the air; but he who is left is condemned. Christ says this, that no one may trust to good society merely because he lives among the righteous. He would also show how exact and searching will be that judgment, which will separate father from son, wife from husband, brother from brother.”

Two women, &c. He instances the same thing in persons grinding at a mill. For formerly mills were in use which were not turned by wind or water, but by hand. These were worked by male and female slaves to grind flour (see Ex 11:5). In mola (Vulg), , in the place of grinding, where was the bakehouse.

Ver. 42. Watch therefore, &c. That is, “think continually that death is certain, but the day of death uncertain. I say the same of the Day of Judgment, both that particular judgment which comes to every one at death, as well as the general Judgment, which shall take place at the end of the world. Wherefore prepare yourselves for both by giving heed to virtue and good works.” For as S. Jerome saith (in Joel c. ii.), “That which shall happen to all in the Day of Judgment is fulfilled in each at the day of death.” And S. Augustine (Epist. 80) says, “In whatsoever state a man’s last day shall find him, in the same state shall the world’s last day come upon him; because as the man dies, so shall he be judged. Therefore ought every Christian to watch, lest the coming of the Lord find him unprepared. But that day shall find unprepared the man whom the last day of his life now shall seize unprepared.”

Moreover, the reason why God wills that this day should be unknown to us is, that the uncertainty may be a never-failing stimulus to us in the practice of every virtue. “For,” as S. Chrysostom says, “if men knew surely when they were to die, at that time only would they seek to repent.”

The devil, therefore, in order that he may take away this stimulus of uncertainty, gets rid of it by degrees, and in part. He persuades every one that they have at least one year to live. When that has come to an end, he tells them they have another, and so on interminably. He causes men to believe themselves so strong and well, that they can surely live this one year. Year by year he does this, and puts such a thought into their minds as, “You are in very good health; you will not die this year.” Thus it comes to pass that being, as it were, certain of life, they neglect repentance from year to year, deferring it to the year in which they are to die. Wherefore, when that year comes to each in which it is God’s decree that they shall die, they, in like manner, persuade themselves that they will not die in it. Thus it comes to pass that they are always unprepared when certain death and the last day overtake them. Wherefore this idea, instigated by the devil, must be crushed. Every one should say to himself at the beginning of each year, of each day, “It may be that thou shalt die this year or this day. Therefore so live as if thou wert to die to-day.” This was the advice which S. Anthony was wont to give to his disciples, as S. Athanasius testifies, “When we awake out of sleep, let us be in doubt whether we shall see the evening. When we lay us down to rest, let us not be confident that we shall come to the light of another day. Thus we shall not offend, nor be carried away by vain desires. Neither shall we be angry, nor covet to lay up earthly treasures. But rather by the fear of departure, from day to day we shall trample upon all transitory things.” Barlaam also taught the same to his Josaphat, “Think that this day thou hast begun the religious life. Think that this day also thou wilt finish it.” S. Jerome says, “So live as though thou shouldst die today; so study as though thou wert to live always.” The same Father (Ep. 16, ad Principiam) says that Marcella was wont to praise that saying of Plato, “that philosophy was a meditation upon death;” and the precept of the Satirist, “Live mindful of death: time flies.” She therefore so lived as though she always believed herself at the point of death. When she put on her clothes, she remembered the grave, offering herself to God as a reasonable, living, acceptable sacrifice.

Ver. 43. But know this, &c. Here we must supply what is to be understood, somewhat as follows. But forasmuch as a man knows not this hour, and is not willing or able to watch at every hour, therefore the thief, as his manner is, comes at the hour in which he thinks the householder is not watching, but sleeping, and so robs his house while he is asleep. It is clear that this is the meaning from the Greek, which has in the past tense, If the master of the house had known in what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken through. You must supply, “But because he did not know the hour, he did not watch, and did suffer his house to be broken into and robbed.”

By the thief, S. Hilary understands the devil. “The thief,” he says, “shows that the devil is very watchful to take from us our goods, and to plot against the houses of our souls, that he may dig through them whilst we are careless, and given up to the sleep of our own devices; and he would pierce through them with the darts of enticements. It behoves us, therefore, to be prepared, because ignorance of the day sharpens the intense solicitude of expectation ever suspended.” But it is better to apply the words to Christ. For so He Himself explains, applying this parable of the thief to Himself in the following verse.

Be ye also ready, &c. the Son of man shall come, to judgment, both the particular judgment of your own soul, and the general Judgment of all men at the end of the world. Christ therefore compares Himself to a thief, not as regards the act of stealing, but as regards silence and secrecy, in that the thief chooses the hour in which he thinks the householder will be absent or asleep, that so he may come upon him unawares, and rob his house. In like manner Christ summons those who are careless, and not waiting for Him, to death and judgment. Whence the Apocalypse warns every one saying, “Behold, I come as a thief” (Rev 16:15). And S. Paul (1Thess 5:4) says, “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all children of the light, and of the day.” Truly hath the wise man said, “The life of mortals is a vigil.”

The truth of this sentence of Christ is seen in daily experience. For we see very many men seized by death at a time when they think themselves to be in good health, and are forming grand projects in their minds. They think death is far distant, and promise themselves many years of life. And yet both experience and the warning of Christ should teach them to do the very opposite. When they appear to themselves to enjoy the most perfect health, they should think that death is lying hid at the very threshold of their doors, and should believe that they are then about to die when thoughts and hopes of long life are suggested to them, either by the devil or their own concupiscence. So would the day of death never come upon them unawares, nor overtake them as a thief.

Thus did the wise and holy men of whom we read in the Lives of the Fathers (lib. 5, libello 3, de Compunc. n. 2). Abbot Ammon gives this precept of salvation to a certain person, “Entertain such thoughts as evil-doers who are in prison have. For these men ask, ‘Where is the judge, and when will he come?’ And they weep in expectation of their punishments. After this manner ought a monk to do. He should ever be chiding his soul, and saying, ‘Woe is me, who have to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, to render unto Him an account of all my deeds.’ For if thou wilt always meditate thus, thou wilt be safe.” And Abbot Evagrius said, “That is divine, to picture the dreadful and terrible judgment. Consider the confusion which is laid up for sinners, which they shall endure in the presence of Christ and God, before angels, and archangels, and powers, and all men. Think of the everlasting fire, the undying worm, the blackness of hell; and in addition to all these things, the gnashing of teeth the fears and torments. Consider likewise the good things which are laid up for the righteous-confidence before God the Father and Christ His Son, and before the angels. Consider the heavenly Kingdom and its gifts of joy and rest.” And, Abbot Elias saith, “I am afraid of three things-the first, the going forth of my soul from the body; the second, when I shall meet God; the third, when sentence shall be pronounced against me.” Abp. Theophilus, of holy memory, said, when he was about to die, “Blessed art thou, 0 Abbot Arsenius, because thou always hadst this hour before thine eyes.” In the same work we read that a certain old man saw one laughing, and said to him, “We have to give an account of our whole life before the Lord of heaven and earth, and dost thou laugh?”

Ver. 45. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, &c Who then? Gr. ; Vulg. Who thinkest thou? At first sight there might seem to be a hiatus here, or a question without an answer. But it is not so. The sentence should be disposed as follows. “Who, thinkest thou, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the Lord hath set over His family, to give them of His household food in due season?” He assuredly is faithful and prudent who performs that for which he is appointed, who does give every member of the family their food in due time. He distributes, that is, to the servants and domestics, their proper portion of victuals, as the price of their labours. For in ancient times, when money was scarce, the wages of servants were paid in rations of food.

This saying of Christ has special reference to Bishops and Pastors. For on them it is incumbent to feed the Church, which is their family, indeed Christ’s family, that they should distribute the food of holy doctrine according to the capacity of every one to receive it. Wherefore it behoves them to be vigilant in this matter, prudent, and faithful. Thus, S. Hilary saith, “Although He exhorts every one of us in common to betake ourselves to unwearied watchfulness, yet He gives a special charge of solicitude to the princes of the people, that is, to the Bishops, in expectation of His Advent. For He signifies that he is a faithful servant, and a prudent overseer of His family, who is careful about the profit of the people committed to his charge; who hears the word and obeys it; who in opportunity of doctrine and truth strengthens the weak, establishes the fallen, converts the depraved, and dispenses the word of life as the eternal food for nourishing the family.”

This question, Who thinkest thou? intimates that such servants, such Bishops and Pastors as are wholly faithful to Christ in the care of His flock, are few. Whence the saying of S. Jerome, “Priests many, Priests few.” Also that of S. Boniface, Apostle of Germany, and Martyr, “Formerly Priests of gold celebrated in chalices of wood; now Priests of wood celebrate in chalices of gold.”

Blessed is that servant . . . so doing: that is, assiduously and continually until death, and the day of particular judgment, and so, by consequence, of the general Judgment, namely, that he should distribute to all the faithful of his Church such food as is suitable for each, the word and Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, to nourish their souls in faith and piety. Blessed therefore is the Bishop who doth this, because, not only on account of his own holiness shall he receive of Christ the crown of righteousness, but shall obtain as many crowns as there are faithful people whom he has nourished and profited, according to the words of Daniel, “They that instruct many to justice shall shine as the stars for perpetual eternities.” (Vulg.)

Ver. 47. Amen, i.e., Verily I say, &c. He alludes to the servant who, because of his merit in faithfully and prudently ruling his master’s household, deserves to be exalted by him and set over all his goods, so as to enjoy them as an associate and companion, and almost like an equal of his master. Such was Joseph, who was set by Pharaoh to preside over Egypt, and was virtually king of Egypt (Gen. xli. 10). In like manner will God bless prudent and faithful Bishops, who have ruled all their flocks, and have guided them to everlasting salvation. He will bestow upon them greater glory than He will upon private believers. He will cause them to preside, not only over them, but He will make them kings and lords of the whole universe. Thus Remigius says, “He will make the good hearers to sit down, as Luke saith: the good preachers He will set over all His goods. For as the difference of merits is great, so also is the difference in rewards.” This is what is spoken of in Apoc. iv. 10, “The four and twenty Elders,” i.e., Bishops and Prelates, “cast their crowns before Him that sitteth on the Throne and worshipped Him that liveth for ever, saying unto the Lamb,” that is, to Christ, “Thou hast made us unto God a Kingdom and Priests, and we shall reign for ever and ever.” What I have said of Bishops applies to every father of a family, for he is, as it were, a bishop of his own house; and as S. Augustine saith, every faithful soul is a bishop of himself.

In the Life of S. Amandus, who flourished about A.D. 870, and who converted Sclavonians and many other tribes to Christ, it is related, that at the very hour when he departed this life, he appeared to S. Aldegonde in glory, encompassed with a white-robed throng. And when she knew not what it meant, she heard an angel saying, “Amandus, the man of God, has passed in glory to celestial joys. The white-robed throng are they who by means of his earnest preaching have been enrolled as citizens of Heaven, and from henceforth he shall appear as a prince over them for ever.” Among the more illustrious of his disciples were S. Landvald, S. Bavo, S. Amantius, S. Gertrude, S. Maurontus, and many others.

Over all His goods; Gr. over all the things which belong to Himself. The good things of God are twofold, viz., 1st Things external and created, as Heaven and earth, and all creatures contained in them. So 0rigen. 2d Things internal and uncreated-such are His infinite majesty, goodness, wisdom, power, and glory. For God is, as it were, an infinite ocean of all good things; and over them all He will appoint His faithful servant His bishop and pastor. He will make him to rule, as it were, not only over all creatures, but also over all the immense and infinite goodness which God contains in Himself, that he may enjoy them with God, and be blessed and glorified for ever. For if Jacob, wrestling with the angel of God, and overcoming Him, willing to be overcome, was called Israel, i.e., “ruling God”

Gen 32:28), much rather shall blessed Bishops, by their own virtue, as it were, overcoming God, be called and become Israels, that is, “rulers of God,” that “they may have these eternal rewards, both because of their own life, as well as for their care of their flocks,” as Rabanus says. For in that they have rightly presided over the flock of God, they have therefore deserved that they should, in a certain sense, through God’s wonderful condescension, be appointed over the good things of God, and even over Himself. For God makes Himself over to them, as their peculiar possession, as it is said in the 16th Psalm, “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup.”

But if that evil servant, i.e., such a servant as has been set by his master over his household, shall say, &c It means, “If a Bishop shall think, ‘The day of death and judgment is far away: wherefore I will abuse my life and my office for the purposes of luxury and ambition.'” Therefore He adds-

Ver. 49. And shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, &c. To smite, i.e., unjustly. For, as saith Auctor Imperf., “He who smites for just cause, even if he smite, does not seem to smite. For as righteous anger is not anger, but diligence; so just smiting is not smiting, but correction. Thus a father and a master smite their sons and pupils for the sake of correcting them.”

Christ here intimates that there are two capital vices of Prelates, from which all their other faults take their rise. They are imperious and tyrannical audacity, and a seeking after pleasures, gluttony, and luxury. This is why S. Peter admonishes Pastors and Bishops (1Pet 5:2) thus, “Feed the flock of God, which is among you, providing for them not by constraint, but spontaneously, according to God; neither for filthy lucre’s sake, but voluntarily; neither as lording it over the clergy, but as affording examples of their actions to the flock from the heart. And when the Prince of the Shepherds shall appear, ye shall receive the unwithering crown of glory.”

The Lord . . . shall come . . . when he looketh not; Vulg. non sperat, hopeth not, expecteth not. Thus Virgil, in the First neid, “Hope,” that is, fear, “that the gods take note of right and wrong.”

And shall cut him asunder; Gr. , cut in twain, i.e., soul and body in death, and after death, by sending the soul to hell and the demons, and the body to the tomb and the worms, “He shall divide,” says S. Jerome, “not by cutting him in two with a sword, but by severing him from the company of the Saints.” It means that not only shall Christ remove such a Bishop from his office, but shall separate him from the company of the Blessed, and deliver him to the devil to be tormented for ever.

With the hypocrites, i.e., slothful servants, who, like hypocrites, serve only the eyes of their masters. As soon as they are out of their master’s sight, they indulge in sleep and drunkenness, and so shall be sent to the prison-house of hell, which is the proper place for the slothful. Thus in Proverbs, passim, a hypocrite signifies a wicked man, who serves God slothfully, but his own lusts fervently. There is an allusion to Job viii. 13, “The hope of the hypocrite shall perish.”

Christ has shown that it is the duty of every believer to watch, that by good works he may prepare himself for the certain coming of the Lord to judgment, forasmuch as the time is uncertain, lest that day should come upon him unawares. This He showed: 1st By the example of the Deluge, which drowned the world at unawares (ver. 37). 2d By the parable of the house-holder, who watches that he may repel the thief, who comes by night, at a time unexpected (ver. 43). 3rd By the parable of the servants, one faithful, the other unfaithful; the one of whom receives from his master an ample reward, the other severe chastisement (ver. 45). 4th In the following chapter (ver. 1), by the parable of the virgins. 5th By the parable of the talents, which the master distributes to his servants, and gloriously recompenses those who had traded diligently, but beats those who were idle and slothful.

1 This quotation has only a general reference to flight.-(Trans.) (Back to the place)

2 Dominans Deo is the Latin of Lapide. It might perhaps be translated “lord of God.” (Back to the place)

Fuente: Cornelius Lapide Commentary

24:29 {6} Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

(6) Everlasting damnation will be the end of the security of the wicked, and everlasting bliss for the miseries of the godly.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

This verse and the following two give a positive description of Messiah’s coming. "But" (NASB, Gr. de) introduces the contrast from the negative warning that preceded. At the very end of the Tribulation there will be signs in the sky. The sun and moon will darken and the stars will fall from the sky (Isa 13:9-10; Isa 34:4; Eze 32:7; Joe 2:31; Joe 3:15; Amo 8:9). This is probably the language of appearance. The "powers of the heavens" (NASB) or the "heavenly bodies" (NIV) probably is a collective reference to the sun, moon, and stars. [Note: M’Neile, p. 352.] However the descriptions of the Tribulation in the Book of Revelation suggest that God may fulfill these predictions literally.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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