Matthew 24.29-35

Now we come to the passage that confuses everyone about this chapter. (If it already wasn't confusing enough). Remember, Jesus is answering three questions proposed by the disciples:

1. When will the temple be destroyed
2. what will be the sign of your coming
3. what will be the sign of the end of the age

The disciples basically saw all three of these events as the SAME event, whereas Jesus saw them as two DIFFERENT events. Because of this, Jesus tells the disciples what the signs are going to be before the temple is destroyed, which include:

1. False Christs
2. Wars and Rumors of Wars
3. Famines and Earthquakes
4. Persecution
5. Heresies
6. Preaching the gospel to the whole "known world"
7. the Abomination that causes desolation

The question when coming to Matthew 24.29 is this: is this passage referring to the destruction of the temple or the second coming...or both?

Let's look at the text

 ²⁹ “Immediately after the distress of those days
   “‘the sun will be darkened,
   and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
   and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
   ³⁰ “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. ³¹ And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
   ³² “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ³³ Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it^[b] is near, right at the door. ³⁴ I tell you the truth, this generation^[c] will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

There are three sections of this passage that I want to look at one at a time. The first, is the Heavens section.

 ²⁹ “Immediately after the distress of those days

   “‘the sun will be darkened,
   and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
   and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

Because the previous section was about the destruction of the temple, the phrase, "Immediately after the distress of those days", shows that this passage is about the same event. Here, Jesus quotes two passages from the book of Isaiah: Isa. 13.10 and Isa. 34.4. The big picture is that, in the ancient world, people connected kingdoms and nations to the stars and the plants in the heavens. 

Remember the Lion King scene with Timon and Pumba and Simba, here watch:

Kings and kingdoms were related to the stars. And it was common in Jewish literature, to speak of stars falling from the skies and heavenly bodies being shaken when a kingdom would fall or be destroyed by another kingdom.

So...what in the world could these galactic signs be referring to?

The fall of a kingdom, the Jewish kingdom, which was finalized by the destruction of the temple in AD 70. Do you see the connection?

This frist section, on the heavens, is talking about the destruction of the temple, so what is this next section talking about?

³⁰ “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. ³¹ And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.


There are two opinions: 1. This is also referring to the destruction of the temple...or 2. This is referring to Jesus' second coming. 


When reading it by itself, there doesn't seem to be a problem. It sounds pretty much like the end of all things, Jesus' second coming. 


But when you read it in context, it directly follows the destruction of the temple prophecy and it moves into more talk about the signs of the destruction of the temple as well. For look at the passage that follows:


 ³² “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ³³ Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it^[b] is near, right at the door. ³⁴ I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.


Remember, there are signs that the destruction of the temple is soon, but there are no signs for the second coming of Jesus. Also, Jesus says that this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Since Jesus hasn't come back yet, and none of the people he said this to are still around, this must be referring to the destruction of the temple.


Now back to our problem. Because the passage before the "Son of Man coming on the clouds" is about the destruction of the temple, and because the passage after  "Son of Man coming on the clouds" is about the destruction of the temple...shouldn't that mean that  "Son of Man coming on the clouds" is ALSO about the destruction of the temple?


I think so. 


If you know your Old Testament, you would know that the phrase:  "Son of Man coming on the clouds", comes from Daniel 7. And in this passage, the Ancient of Days, or God the Father, is sitting on his throne. And Daniel says this:


¹³ “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.


Sound familiar? We have the son of Man coming on the clouds, the exact words used in Matthew 24. If you stop here, it still sounds like Jesus coming from heaven down to earth...but keep reading. 


He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 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.


At no point is the "son of Man" going from heaven down to earth, but the son of man coming on the clouds, is from earth and up to heaven. I believe this is referring to the ascension of Jesus Christ. After Jesus was raised from the dead, he ascended to heaven and was given authority by God to rule his kingdom, which we are a part of. This passage is referring to our period right now, the period of time between Jesus' first and second coming, in which Jesus is reigning his kingdom (us) from the throne in heaven. 


This entire section, Matthew 24.1-35, Jesus is focusing on teaching the disciples and preparing them for the destruction of Jerusalem. That is why, over and over again, he talks about the SIGNS that will come before the event takes place. As we will find out in Matthew 24.36-44, there will be NO signs or warnings as to when Jesus' second coming will take place. 


So how does this prepare us here and now?


First of all, there will be no signs for when Jesus will come back. As we will see tomorrow, not even Jesus knows when he's coming back. Secondly, this means that there is no second chances. You are either a part of God's kingdom NOW or not. When Jesus comes back, that is IT. And Finally, in between these two comings of Jesus, we are called to make disciples. This is an urgent command, because we don't know when he is coming back and there is no second chances. 


So who do you love that needs to hear this message...today?