Matthew 24:29-35 | The Son of Man Is Coming
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Introduction
Introduction
Open your Bibles to Matthew 24
Jesus has just pronounced judgment on the temple, the religious leaders, and the people of Israel who have rejected Him. He has told them that the temple would be destroyed, the leaders would be condemned, and that the people would suffer for their rejection and murder of the savior.
After Jesus spoke this judgment, His disciples pull Him aside and ask a confused question
When will the temple be destroyed?
When will Jesus return for the Last Day?
So, Jesus has been correcting them. He said these are not the same event. First the temple will be destroyed, then much much later, He would come back to bring in the new age of God’s Kingdom.
So, Jesus has been spending the last few weeks addressing the first question: When will the temple be destroyed. And He is going to wrap up His prediction of the temple’s destruction today.
Text
Text
“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.
Remember, Jesus is telling His disciples all of this to warn them of the coming destruction. When you see the abomination taking place in the temple, run. flee the city. because there will be great tribulation for a time. But for the sake of God’s people, it will come to an end.
But Immediately aster the tribulation, Jesus says these powerful signs will take place.
and when we see these, we immediately think Jesus is talking about the end of the world. But He isn’t. He’s still just talking about the temple being destroyed. He’s just speaking in figurative language. Take a look at some other scriptures from the OT where God describes real events in History with this cosmic figurative language:
First, In Amos, God judges Israel by letting the nation of Assyria conquer them:
“And on that day,” declares the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.
Second, in Isaiah, God tells Israel that He will judge them by having Babylon conquer them
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.
In both cases, just like in Mt:24:29, God is using this cosmic, figurative language to describe judgments that are delivered through conquering human armies.
Again, in the case of the temple, the Romans will come and destroy it in 70AD, which actually happened.
In other words, after the tribulation is over, it is the mighty God, who created and has power over all things, will destroy the temple. though He does it through the Romans, He is the one doing it.
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.
For this verse, we are going to translate a little differently than our ESV
Matthew 21:1–28:20 Translation
And at that time the sign of the Son of Man in heaven will appear
There is no sign in heaven. Jesus is in heaven and the destruction of the temple is a sign that He is Lord.
And as Jesus is vindicated, who will mourn? Those who rejected Him.
the tribes of the earth refer to the tribes of Israel. Most of Israel rejected Jesus.
They will see that Jesus is the one coming on the clouds, which is a prophecy from the book of Daniel, which we read earlier:
“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.
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.
So, the reason Israel will mourn when the temple is destroyed is because they will realize that everything Jesus said was true. Not only would the temple be destroyed in this generation, but it also meant that Jesus really was God’s son, the savior, and that after His resurrection, He really is ruling over all things in heaven with all power and authority. And that He is the one exercising this judgment against those who rejected and murdered Him.
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.
Though there will be a trumpet on the last day, more times than not, a trumpet is used to call for a gathering or assembly.
The word angel is a greek word. It means “messenger”
And it is not limited to describing the spiritual beings we know as angels.
It is also used to describe messengers, prophets, or in this case, Christians whom Jesus has sent into the world to spread the Gospel.
Jesus has been, and will continue to send his people out, like He said He would.
And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son,
and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.
Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.” ’
But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.
The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’
These Messengers, the ones Jesus send, will go to all ends of the earth to invite as many guests as possible for when Jesus actually comes back.
“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. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.
Jesus is still talking about the destruction of the temple. When you see the signs, the abomination, the foreigns armies, you know that it’s near.
The ESV is my favorite translation, but it makes a few decisions that are not justified. The “he” in this verse should be an “it”, referring to the coming destruction.
Remember that Jesus is warning His disciples about it so they can flee and escape the judgment when it comes upon Jerusalem.
So, it appears we’ve done a lot of explaining to get to the true meaning of the text.
But some of you may be thinking, “i don’t know, that’s a lot of work to make it mean that. and a lot of this sounds like the end times.” Are we forcing this meaning to be about the temple destruction?
And the short answer is no
first of all, when you look at a scripture in it’s context, in the setting of the story, and you take it in light of everything else Jesus is saying, the meaning becomes clear, even if it takes a little work.
and second, we know this is all about the temple because Jesus says so multiple multiple times. take a look at verse 34:
Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
it does not get more clear than this. All of this will be happening within this generation. It will be local to jerusalem, it will be limited in time. And it is not the second coming of Jesus.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
This may seem like Jesus is telling us He’s going to obliterate the world. But this phrase, is not about the first part, it’s about the second.
The point is that Jesus’ words are true, enduring, and always trustworthy and dependable.
You can build your life on Jesus’ words. In fact, you have to.
because even if the heaven or earth pass away, come hell or high water, you can trust my word. It is more certain that creation itself.
Application
Application
When the temple is destroyed and Jerusalem is judged, it will be clear that the new age has come. The age of Jesus’ ruling over everything.
Yes, Jesus was put to death, but He is risen from the dead. And look at what Jesus says after He is risen:
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
He rules and reigns over all things, heaven and earth, visible and invisible. There is nothing He is not in charge of. He brings all salvation and gives every judgment.
He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
And As the King, He sends us out, to invite everyone into His Kingdom. we are sent to gather them from the four winds, north, east, south, and west. not just on a map, but your neighbor in the house to the north, south, east, and west!
we know that Jesus is established in all authority
Jesus told His disciples all of this so they could be prepared for the future. He tells us so that We can confidently live in that future.
We can look back on everything that has happened and say with confidence that Jesus isn’t just some guy with good ideas and suggestions.
Time and time again, We have seen that Jesus is the God Himself, the Savior of the World, the great Healer, the one with power over the wind and the waves, the miracle worker, and now, the one who sits on the throne in heaven and rules over all things.
It’s that Jesus who calls us to go out. So we will.
If you’ve been with us for the last two years, going through Jesus’s life in the gospel of Matthew, you have now been reminded many times of the call to preach Jesus. Ad many of you have taken that to heart and put it into action.
But I know there are also some of you who are scared, don’t know how, or what it even looks like to tell people about our faith.
And if that’s the case, I want to encourage you, use your pastor! call, text, email me so we can sit down, have a chat, and talk about the areas of your life can be avenues for proclamation of the gospel.
This is not just a command or a call, but it is our identity as the people of Jesus, that we are a people who spread the Gospel at all times and in all places.
Reading
Reading
“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. 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. 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. “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. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Transition Slowly for the camera
Confession
Confession