Commentary - Matthew 24:29-31

Bird's-eye view

In Matthew 24:29-31, Jesus employs the dramatic, world-collapsing language of Old Testament prophecy to describe the impending judgment on Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This is not, as is commonly supposed, a description of the end of the space-time universe. Rather, it is a prophecy about the end of the old covenant world, centered in the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. The cosmic language, sun darkened, moon giving no light, stars falling, is standard prophetic hyperbole used throughout the Old Testament to describe the fall of nations and empires (e.g., Babylon, Edom, Egypt).

The "coming of the Son of Man on the clouds" is not a reference to a physical descent to earth, but rather to His vindication and enthronement in heaven, a concept drawn directly from Daniel 7. This heavenly event has earthly consequences: the judgment of His enemies (the apostate Jewish leadership) and the gathering of His people. The "sign of the Son of Man" is the destruction of Jerusalem itself, a visible confirmation of His authority. The mourning of the "tribes of the earth" refers to the tribes of the land of Israel, who recognize too late that they have crucified their Messiah. Finally, the sending of angels with a great trumpet to gather the elect signifies the explosive growth of the Christian church throughout the world, as the gospel goes out to the Gentiles after the destruction of the old covenant center.

Outline

Context In Matthew

This passage is the climax of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus' great prophetic sermon delivered to His disciples on the Mount of Olives. The entire discourse is a direct response to the disciples' questions in verse 3: "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" The disciples mistakenly conflated the destruction of the Temple with the final coming of Christ and the end of the world. Jesus, in His answer, separates these events. Verses 4 through 34 deal directly with the signs leading up to and including the destruction of Jerusalem, which He explicitly states will happen within "this generation" (v. 34). The language of verses 29-31, therefore, must be interpreted within this A.D. 70 context. It is the dramatic conclusion to His prophecy against the Temple and the apostate nation that rejected Him.

Key Issues

Commentary

29 “But 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 the sky, and the POWERS OF THE HEAVENS will be shaken.

But immediately after the tribulation of those days The tribulation He refers to is the one He just described in the preceding verses, the horrors surrounding the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans from A.D. 66-70. The word "immediately" anchors these events firmly to that first-century crisis. Attempts to insert a two-thousand-year gap between verse 28 and verse 29 do violence to the plain sense of the text.

THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky This is not literal, astronomical language. If we insist on a literal interpretation, we make Jesus a false prophet, because the sun and moon are still very much with us. This is the language of the Old Testament prophets, what we might call "de-creation" language. When God brought a covenant lawsuit against a nation, resulting in its collapse and destruction, the prophets described it as the undoing of their created world. Their political heavens were collapsing. For example, Isaiah used this exact imagery to describe the fall of Babylon (Isa. 13:10) and Edom (Isa. 34:4). Ezekiel used it for the fall of Egypt (Ezek. 32:7-8). Jesus, quoting Isaiah, is doing the same thing here. He is prophesying the destruction of the nation of Israel, the end of the old covenant world. The lights are going out over Jerusalem.

and the POWERS OF THE HEAVENS will be shaken This continues the metaphor. The "powers of the heavens" refers to the ruling structures, the principalities and powers, of the old covenant world. The entire religious and political framework centered on the Temple and the Sanhedrin was about to be violently overthrown. This was a shaking of the foundations of their world, and it was a judgment from God.

30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.

And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky The sign is not some portent in the literal heavens, but rather the sign is the coming of the Son of Man in judgment. What is the sign that the Son of Man is now reigning from heaven? The sign is the smoking ruin of the Temple in Jerusalem. The Roman armies were His instrument, the "abomination of desolation," and their complete victory was the undeniable sign that Jesus had been vindicated and that His enemies were being made His footstool. This sign appeared "in the sky" in the sense that it was a heavenly judgment executed on earth, visible for all to see.

and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn The Greek word for "earth" here is ge, which can just as easily, and more appropriately in this context, be translated as "land." This is not speaking of every tribe on planet earth, but rather "all the tribes of the land" of Israel. They would mourn because they would finally see the ramifications of their great crime. They had called for His blood to be upon them and their children, and now that judgment had arrived. Their mourning is not the mourning of repentance, but the wailing of the damned, like the Egyptians mourning their firstborn. They see the one they pierced, vindicated in judgment against them.

and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory Again, we must let Scripture interpret Scripture. This phrase is a direct quote from Daniel 7:13-14. In Daniel's vision, where does the Son of Man come? He comes to the Ancient of Days in heaven to receive a kingdom, dominion, and glory. It is an upward movement, an ascension and enthronement, not a downward descent to earth. Jesus told the high priest Caiaphas the very same thing: "Hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Matt. 26:64). Caiaphas and the others who condemned Him would "see" this coming, not with their physical eyes looking up at the sky, but by experiencing the devastating earthly effects of His heavenly reign. The destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was the first great judicial act of the enthroned King Jesus. His coming was a coming in judgment against apostate Israel.

31 And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET The "angels" here are messengers. In Greek, the word aggelos simply means messenger, and it can refer to supernatural beings or human ones. In this context, these are the gospel messengers, the preachers and evangelists of the early church. The "great trumpet" is the proclamation of the gospel. In the Old Testament, trumpets were used to assemble the people of God (Num. 10:2) and to announce the Jubilee, the year of liberation (Lev. 25:9). With the old covenant system dismantled, the gospel trumpet now sounds, calling a new people to assemble and proclaiming liberty to the captives throughout the world.

and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other This is the Great Commission in prophetic language. With the destruction of Jerusalem, the final barrier to a worldwide gospel mission was removed. The church, which had been in its infancy and largely centered in Judea, was now unleashed. The messengers of the gospel would go out to the four corners of the Roman world and beyond, from one end of the heavens to the other, gathering God's chosen people into the church. This gathering is not a physical removal from the earth into the sky, but a spiritual gathering into the kingdom of God through the preaching of the gospel. This is what Paul could say had already happened in his generation, that the gospel "was preached to every creature under heaven" (Col. 1:23). The kingdom had come, and the subjects of the King were being gathered from every nation.

Application

The first and most important application is that we must learn to read our Bibles with biblical lenses. We cannot impose our modern, literalistic, newspaper-headline expectations onto ancient apocalyptic prophecy. Jesus spoke in the language of the prophets, and we must honor that by interpreting Him in that context. This protects us from the foolishness of date-setting and sensationalist eschatology.

Second, this passage is a thunderous declaration of the victory and vindication of Jesus Christ. His enemies thought they had disposed of Him, but within one generation, He brought their entire world crashing down around them. He is not a frustrated king, waiting in heaven for two millennia to establish His kingdom. He received the kingdom at His ascension, and He has been ruling and reigning ever since, putting all His enemies under His feet.

Finally, the task given to the church in verse 31 is still our task. The trumpet of the gospel is still sounding. We are the messengers sent out to gather the elect from the four winds. The destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 did not end the story; it launched it. It was the great transition from a national kingdom to an international one. Our job is to continue that gathering work, proclaiming the crown rights of King Jesus to every tribe, tongue, and nation, confident that His kingdom is an everlasting dominion which shall not be destroyed.