Introduction
This is the word of the Lord,
Matthew 24:29–35 ESV
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.
33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.
34 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Let us pray.
There are several factors that persuade me that the prophecies we’re looking at in this chapter have all been fulfilled within the lifetime of the generation to which it was given.
Here are a few of them in no specific order,
1. The imminent nature of these prophecies.
Revelation 1:1 ESV
1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
Revelation 3:11 ESV
11 I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
Revelation 22:7 ESV
7 “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
Revelation 22:12 ESV
12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.
Revelation 22:20 ESV
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
But the events in the book of Revelation that must soon take place are separated from the latter events of the end of the world where Christ inaugurates the New Heavens and the New Earth in the resurrection of the dead and the defeat of the final enemy death; between the former and the latter – is a 1000 years – the millennial age of the Messiah’s reign.
2 Peter 3:10–13 ESV
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
• The day of the Lord is marked by cosmic signs of heaven dissolving and being burnt up, and the earth exposed.
• Peter encourages a life of holiness and godliness that hastens the coming of the day of God of cosmic signs.
• We see here that the saints are waiting for two things, the imminent dissolution of the heavens, and the latter dwelling in eternal righteousness.
2. The unsealed prophecies of Revelation as compared to Daniel.
Daniel 8:26 ESV
26 The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.”
Daniel 12:4 ESV
4 But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”
Daniel 12:9 ESV
9 He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.
These were the instruction given to Daniel concerning the prophecies that would be fulfilled within the next 500 years from its proclamation.
One would assume that if we are still waiting for the signs, over 2000 years later that Jesus had prophesied, that this prophecy is also sealed. Yet, we read in Revelation 22:10
Revelation 22:10 ESV
10 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.
3. The destruction of the Jewish temple is at the heart of this cosmic destruction according to Matthew 24.
And the events of this chapter revolve around the destruction of the temple which we know historically took place within that generation.
The disciples corelate Christ’s the destruction of Jerusalem with the coming of Christ, when they asked, Matthew 24:3
Matthew 24:3 ESV
3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4. The specific emphasis given to that generation
Matthew 10:23 ESV
23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
Matthew 16:27–28 ESV
27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Matthew 24:34 ESV
34 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
5. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father
Psalm 110:1 ESV
1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
1 Corinthians 15:24–26 ESV
24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Romans 8:34 ESV
34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Colossians 3:1 ESV
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Exegesis
Matthew 24:29 ESV
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
• Immediately after the tribulation.
The events here described are post tribulation. They are not events far reaching into the future but immediately after the tribulation of those days.
Consistent with the interpretation of Christ’s imminent return, immediate will have to be immediate, not in some distant future.
• The Cosmic Sign
We are then given the picture of this incredible cosmic event where the sun is darkened, the moon has no light to reflect onto the earth and the stars fall from heaven. The very powers of the heavens are shaken.
This has caused theologians to speculate that there would be some kind of eclipse and meteorological activity that would take place around this time.
I disagree with such an interpretation of this text.
• There is a reason why charismatics in our neighbourhood think that we’re cessationists or ‘functionally cessationsists’ as they would like to say. And I explained this in our sermon series on the ‘Gifts of the Holy Spirit’.
The reason is because we believe that the miraculous is not exclusively in the supernatural encounters but in the natural encounters as well.
A man who was healed instantaneously in a prayer meeting and the one who was healed after a month of treatment at the hospital were both healed by the will and authority of a sovereign God. This is what sovereignty means.
God has not only magnified his glory in the few extraordinary events of history but much more frequently in the seemingly ordinary events of history.
• It is a glorious site to see a paralysed man rise up and walk at the command of our Lord, Matthew 9:6-7
Matthew 9:6–7 ESV
6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.”
7 And he rose and went home.
But it is equally glorious when the Lord has apportioned a natural treatment for King Hezekiah, 2 Kings 20:5-7
2 Kings 20:5–7 ESV
5 “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord,
6 and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.”
7 And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”
• God shows us his glory in the call and leading of Moses as a shepherd to Israel. But God also shows us his glory in Joseph’s life that was marked by betrayal, slavery and imprisonment.
Genesis 50:20 ESV
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
• Abraham’s servant was shown the woman reserved for his master’s son, Isaac. Genesis 24:12-14
Genesis 24:12–14 ESV
12 And he said, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham.
13 Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.
14 Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”
Yet Ruth, Ruth 2:3
Ruth 2:3 ESV
3 So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.
Why am I saying this?
In apocalyptic literature, the language of the cosmic heightens the standard, shifts the scales, draws on our imagination to see the colossal effects of both supernatural and natural events.
It is a false hermeneutic that suggests that anything of this nature has to be literal. Our minds are intentionally being persuaded here to see the extravagant nature of the events, but only as a way to describe what will occur in the natural and not the supernatural.
This is the challenge of apocalyptic literature for us. We have to be able to distinguish between the literal and the symbolic. But we must not assume that whatever is gloriously described has to be exclusively supernatural.
• The End of the Age – So here when Jesus describes the sun darkened, the moon not giving light and the stars falling from the sky, he is describing the end of the Judaic age. It is the fall of the Jewish Kingdom.
This has been the consistent imagery of the fall of a Kingdom in the Bible.
• In Isaiah we ready about the destruction of Babylon by the Medes, and here is how it is prophesied to take place.
Isaiah 13:9–10 ESV
9 Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.
10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light.
• The fall of Edom is prophesied in this way
Isaiah 34:4 ESV
4 All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.
• Ezekiel foretells the defeat and humiliation of Egypt in Ezekiel 32:7-8
Ezekiel 32:7–8 ESV
7 When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light.
8 All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over you, and put darkness on your land, declares the Lord God.
• Here is, Joel 2:10
Joel 2:10 ESV
10 The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
Joel 2:31 ESV
31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
Joel 3:15 ESV
15 The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
• Amos prophesies the coming of the Israelite judgment in the Assyrian conquest in Amos 8:9
Amos 8:9 ESV
9 “And on that day,” declares the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.
In all of these instances, this language depicted the fall of a nation under the weight of a foreign military conquest.
Therefore, when Jesus uses the same language surrounding the destruction of the Jewish temple (the epicentre of their culture and heritage), and in history we see this take place under the weight of the Roman military, there is no reason for us to speculate any further about shooting stars and near-earth objects.
Matthew 24:30 ESV
30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
• The Coming of the Son of Man
The ‘Son of Man’ is a Messianic phrase. Daniel 7:13-14
Daniel 7:13–14 ESV
13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
In the Gospel of Matthew, we see the phrase ’the coming of the Son of Man’ repeatedly.
Matthew 10:23 ESV
23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
• This coming is before the Apostles have made their way through all the towns of Israel. So, when you see Paul and the other Apostles make their missionary journeys, establishing churches, they’re hastening the coming of the Son of Man as Peter put it.
Matthew 16:27 ESV
27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
• This coming is a coming in glory, for repayment.
Matthew 16:28 ESV
28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
• The Son of Man is coming within the lifetime of some who were standing there.
Matthew 24:27 ESV
27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
• This coming will be swift and is described as bringing great tribulation
Matthew 24:30 ESV
30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
• This is our text today and describes that he coming of the Son of Man brings mourning upon the tribes of the earth.
Matthew 24:39 ESV
39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
• This coming will be unexpected
Matthew 24:44 ESV
44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
• They had to prepare for this coming
Matthew 25:31 ESV
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
• The Messianic rule begins at that coming
• The Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven
Men speculate what this might mean. But in keeping with our reading we know that whatever be that sign, it brings mourning to the tribes of the earth. This indicates that it is a sign of judgment.
The rainbow is a literal sign in the heavens of God’s mercy. Yet the darkening skies at the death of Christ on the cross was a literal sign of judgment. Was something similar expected at this time?
Or could it be a symbolic representation of Christ’s authority as judge, since Psalm 19:1
Psalm 19:1 ESV
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
This being not an earthly sign but a heavenly one. Is it a literal sign, symbolic sign or both? I’m inclined toward the symbolism here but it could be both.
The reason is because,
• they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory
The verse talks about the appearance of a sign but what the people see is the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
The coming of the Son of Man is the coming of Christ in judgment, and celestial descriptions of this coming represent the destruction of Jerusalem through a military invasion.
Daniel 7:13–14 ESV
13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
This is not the final return of Christ (what we consider the second coming). It is Christ’s coming in judgment and taking his place as the enthroned King.
Now, I don’t believe Daniel’s vision is symbolism. I believe that literally happened, but that happened in Heaven. But it’s implications here in verse 30 is seen in the natural military conquest of the Romans in their siege of Jerusalem. I believe the case for this symbolism is strong.
Matthew 24:31 ESV
31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
• The word ἄγγελος means a messenger (either human or angelic) that carries a message from God to the people.
• Given the persuasions of the text, this I believe is a description not of angelic beings but of human messengers who are sent out with the loud trumpet call of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to gather the elect from one end of heaven to the other.
The four winds is symbolism for the four cardinal directions – N,S,E,W, representing the entire earth or all the corners of the world. Jesus uses this imagery to describe the comprehensive gathering of his chosen ones (the elect) from all parts of the earth.
From one end of heaven to the other underscores the universal and all-encompassing nature of the gathering of believers. Once the sign of Christ appeared in heaven, all the elect under the heavens from one end to the other are gathered.
This is the age of the Church, of the Messianic rule of Christ who appeared in power and glory at the destruction of the Jewish age.
Matthew 24:32–33 ESV
32 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.
33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.
• Jesus gives these signs as a way for his disciples to prepare his coming in judgment.
• So that they may flee from the great tribulation
• And prepare themselves for the new age that is to be revealed
Matthew 24:34 ESV
34 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
Matthew 24:35 ESV
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
• Jesus seals this prophecy by underlining the undefeatable power of his decree.
