The Coming of the Son of Man
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Mark 13:24-27
Mark 13:24-27
24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
One summer’s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An Ant passed by, bearing an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.
“Why not come and chat with me,” said the Grasshopper, “instead of toiling in that way?”
“I am helping to lay up food for the winter,” said the Ant, “and recommend you do the same.”
“Why bother about winter?” said the Grasshopper; “we have plenty of food now.”
Later that year the colony of Ants was just about shutting up their nest for winter when a bedraggled looking Grasshopper came by begging for food. “What we’re you doing all summer?” asked the ants. “Alas! my friends, says he, I passed away the time merrily and pleasantly, in drinking, singing, and dancing, and never once thought of winter.” replied the Grasshopper.
“If that be the case, replied the Ant, all I have to say is this: that they who drink, sing, and dance in the summer, run a great risk of starving in the winter.”
The moral of the story is about preparedness. While the sun shone and the going was easy, the Grasshopper mocked the busy ant. The ant on the other hand lived in light of the future - he knew winter was coming and so he prepared.
As surely as winter will come, the Son of Man will return on the clouds with great power and glory. Don’t be like the grasshopper who lives only for the present moment, concerned only with carnal delights, happiness and pleasure. Be like the ant - live today in light of the return of Christ, the Parousia, and you won’t be found wanting when He does come.
The mindset of the Grasshopper is really the mindset of unbelief. We have many grasshoppers in the world today who scoff at the claims of scripture, and of the warnings and pronouncements of the scriptures. They mock and deride the Christian who takes these words seriously. They point to the advances of technology, science and modern medicine and say ‘we have no reason to worry about the words of some ancient book.”
It was the same in Jesus’s day - in that generation, the generation of which he speaks in this chapter, was a generation of Grasshoppers. They looked at the magnificence of Herod’s temple with all of it’s marble and gold, and at the great city walls of Jerusalem and they scoffed. ‘what is this madman from Nazareth on about?!’ We have nothing to worry about, no one could destroy this temple even if they tried. The majority of Jews in that Generation were just like the grasshopper in the fable - when Jesus’s words did come to pass they were not prepared.
In this passage, known as the Olivet discourse, also found in Luke 21 and Matt 24 , Jesus predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and also his coming in a cloud with great power and great glory.
The difficulty is, Jesus says that all these things will happen before ‘this generation’ passes away. This difficulty has led some to disregard Christianity altogther, and has led others into some pretty interesting exegetical gymnastics in trying to resolve the controversy.
What we have to remember is that this passage isn’t like the rest of the book of Mark, it’s not narrative, it’s apocalyptic, it’s prophetic, it’s a different genre. That’s important to remember, because we don’t read the newspaper the same way we would read abstract poetry, the same is true of different genres in the Bible.
When I read this passage, verses 23 to 27 and it’s counterparts in Matthew and Luke I can’t help but see them as pointing to the end of history when Christ returns.
7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
And I do think there is a future, ultimate fulfilment of this passage. However, when we compare the language that Jesus uses here ‘coming on the clouds’ and ‘the heavens being shaken’ with Old Testament prophecy, I do think it’s possible also to see what happened to Jerusalem in 70 AD as a fulfiment of Jesus’s words here.
Though the grandeur of this language carries the mind over the head of all periods but that of Christ’s Second Coming, nearly every expression will be found used of the Lord’s coming in terrible national judgments: as of Babylon (Is 13:9–13); of Idumea (Is 34:1, 2, 4, 8–10); of Egypt (Ez 32:7, 8);
My aim today isn’t to go into great depth as I don’t have the time to do so, and there are lots of different views about this passage. But hopefully I’ll be able to outline both the past and future fulfilments of this prophecy for you. (RC Sproul, Mike Winger, Jamieson Fausset Brown)
THE TRIBULATION
The tribulation is spoken of both in the book of Daniel and in Revelation and is generally understood to be a period of great suffering in the world for a period of roughly 3 and a half years before Christ returns. It is a season of pain and persecution the like of which the world has never seen.
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
Suffering and persecution are promised in scripture - we are not to think that just because we are Christians we won’t suffer. But rather that when we are suffering we are truly following in our Lord Jesus’s footsteps - the suffering servant Himself.
The Gospel according to Mark The Return of the Son of Man in Glory (13:24–27)
Tribulation, suffering, evil, and death are not a full stop to the sentence of history.
SIGNS IN THE HEAVENS
Christ says that after this tribulation is when there will be strange signs in the skies - the sun will grow dark, or will appear dimmed, as too will the moon and stars will fall from heaven, and the planets will be shaken. Matthews gospel says the sign of the son of man in the sky.
I believe that after the future world wide tribulation that we can expect strange cosmological incidents before Christ returns - and when He does return, we will all know it!
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.
Looking towards a first century fulfilment of this prophecy many point to a period of tribulation under the emperor Nero, which did last roughly three and a half years.
And around that time there were also some strange signs reported in the skies.
“Unmistakeable portents that foreshadowed the coming desolation they treated with indifference and incredulity, disregarding God’s warnings as if they were moonstruck, blind and senseless. First a star stood over the city, very like a broadsword, and a comet that remained a whole year.” - Josephus
“On the 21st of Artemisios, a supernatural apparition was seen, too amazing to be believed. What I have to relate would, I suppose, have been dismissed as an invention, had it not been vouched for by eyewitnesses and followed by disasters that bore out the signs. Before sunset there were seen in the sky over the whole country, chariots and regiments in arms speeding through the clouds and encircling the towns.” - Josephus
COMING ON THE CLOUDS
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 scripture clouds are symbolic of power, glory and holiness. When Christ says He will come on the clouds, He is saying His coming will be with power, glory and holiness. He is claiming to be divine once again! No other prophet or mere man claimed that He would return in a cloud of glory and power.
His coming at the end of the age in AD 70 precipitated the end of temple worship and the utter destruction of Jerusalem. The Jewish leaders were judged for their rejection of their Messiah. While Jesus told them the parable of the wicked vinedressers they all scoffed and mocked - but within a generation they were truly destroyed and new vinedressers had replaced them.
24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
Days of Noah - The people mocked Noah when he built the ark, they mocked Jesus when He warned of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and today they will mock you if you preach Christ as judge.
But if God laid waste to Jerusalem, destroyed the entire worship system of the Jews because they rejected Christ, we must warn people today to make peace with God lest they face the same fate.
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
GATHERING HIS ELECT
Then we are told that the Son of man will send out angels to gather his elect people from the ends of the earth.
When Christ comes, His first concern is for His people, His elect, who we are told are given to Him by the Father, who’s names are written in the book of life. These are God’s people - these are those who obey God’s commandments, those who have been born again, who have been crucified with Christ, who take up their cross and follow Him.
How could there possibly have been a fulfilment of this in the first century? Well, I think the ultimate fulfiment of this will be when Christ returns at the end of time. But the word for angel here is angelos, which can also be translated messenger, and indeed is translated messenger in other places in scripture. So, when we read it that way Christ is saying that he will send out messengers who will gather His elect from all over the world. This could be seen as speaking of the preaching of the gospel to the whole world - which is to continue until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
So which are you? The ant, or the Grasshopper? It all comes down to this - do you believe the words of Jesus, or not. Do you believe the Gospel or not? Do you believe that The Father has appointed Christ to judge the whole world one day? And are you ready for that day? Or are you like the Grasshopper - too busy having fun to think about such dreary things.
Those Jewish leaders in the first century laughed at the thought of God judging them, they thought it ridiculous. But look what happened. Let’s not be foolish - let’s not play chicken with God. Believe in Christ - believe in Him for your salvation today.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied –
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.