The Vindication in the Clouds: Text: Matthew 24:29-31
Introduction: Learning to Read Prophetic
We live in an age that is drunk on newspaper eschatology. Many well-meaning Christians read the Olivet Discourse with a copy of the New York Times in their other hand, trying to match up the day's headlines with the Lord's prophecies. This is a profound mistake, and it is a mistake that breeds confusion, consternation, and ultimately, embarrassment. Jesus did not give us this chapter so that we could become frenzied speculators in the prophetic stock market. He gave it to His disciples to prepare them for what was about to happen to their world, within their generation.
The central error that trips up the modern reader is a failure to understand the biblical vocabulary of prophetic judgment. When we read of the sun being darkened and the stars falling from the sky, our twenty-first-century minds immediately jump to astrophysics and the literal end of the space-time continuum. But that is not how a first-century Jew, steeped in the Old Testament, would have heard it. He would have recognized it for what it was: standard, off-the-shelf prophetic language for the collapse of a nation, the fall of a kingdom, the end of a political world. This is the language God uses to describe the fall of Babylon, the judgment of Egypt, and the destruction of Edom. It is cosmic language for a covenantal event.
Jesus is telling His disciples that the entire world as they knew it, the world that revolved around the Temple in Jerusalem, was about to come to a crashing, cataclysmic end. And it did, in 70 A.D., when the Roman legions under Titus fulfilled Christ's words to the letter, leaving not one stone upon another. If we miss this, we miss everything. We turn a stunningly accurate prophecy that validates the authority of Christ into a perpetually-postponed prediction that makes Him look like a failure. But Christ does not fail. His Word does not return void. The key to this passage is not looking for signs in our sky, but rather understanding the signs that have already happened in history, vindicating our Lord.
The Text
"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. 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 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."
(Matthew 24:29-31 LSB)
Cosmic Collapse as Political Collapse (v. 29)
We begin with the celestial fireworks in verse 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." (Matthew 24:29)
As I mentioned, the first thing we must do is let the Bible interpret the Bible. This kind of language, what we might call de-creation or cosmic collapse language, is all over the Old Testament prophets. And in every single instance, it refers to the judgment and downfall of a specific nation or city. For example, Isaiah says this about Babylon: "For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light" (Isaiah 13:10). Did the literal sun and moon wink out when Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians? Of course not. It was a metaphor for the collapse of the Babylonian world order. The lights went out on their kingdom.
Isaiah says something similar about Edom (Isaiah 34:4), and Ezekiel says it about Egypt (Ezekiel 32:7-8). This is the established prophetic vocabulary. When Jesus uses this exact language, quoting Isaiah directly, why would we suddenly assume He has changed the rules and is now speaking of a literal, cosmological implosion? He is speaking about the destruction of Jerusalem. The "sun" of the Jewish world was the Temple. The "moon" was the Sanhedrin, which reflected the light of the law. The "stars" were the individual priests and leaders of the synagogues. Jesus is saying that the entire religious and political cosmos of Old Covenant Israel was about to be dismantled. The "powers of the heavens" were not the angelic hosts, but the principalities and powers, the spiritual authorities that were invested in that Old Covenant system. The whole thing was coming down.
This was to happen "immediately after the tribulation of those days," referring to the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem from 66 to 70 A.D. This was not a far-future event; it was the direct and immediate consequence of that great tribulation upon the land of Judea.
The Vindication of the Son of Man (v. 30)
Verse 30 is the heart of the matter, describing the appearance and coming of the Son of Man.
"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." (Matthew 24:30)
Here again, our assumptions can lead us astray. We read "coming on the clouds" and we picture Jesus descending from the sky for the final judgment. But we must ask, where does this imagery come from? It comes directly from Daniel 7: "I was watching in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him" (Daniel 7:13). Notice the direction of travel. The Son of Man is not coming down to earth; He is coming up to the Ancient of Days in heaven to receive His kingdom. This is a scene of heavenly enthronement. It is the Ascension.
So, what does it mean that the tribes of the earth would "see" this? It does not mean they would have a physical vision of the heavenly throne room. It means they would see the undeniable, historical ramifications of that enthronement on earth. What was the "sign of the Son of Man"? The sign was the destruction of the Temple. Jesus had prophesied it, and the Jewish authorities had condemned Him for it. When it happened, exactly as He said, it was the divine exclamation point on His entire ministry. It was His vindication. It was the proof that He, the Son of Man, was now ruling from heaven with all power and great glory.
The high priest who condemned Jesus understood this language perfectly. When Jesus told him, "hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven," the high priest tore his robes and screamed blasphemy (Matt. 26:64-65). Why? Because he knew Jesus was claiming the authority and dominion promised in Daniel 7. The destruction of Jerusalem was that high priest, and that entire generation, "seeing" the Son of Man coming in judgment and power.
And what of the mourning? "Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn." The word for "earth" here is ge, which can, and often does, mean "land," as in the land of Israel. This is not a global, planet-wide repentance. This is the mourning of the tribes of Israel under the hammer of God's judgment, fulfilling Zechariah's prophecy: "they will look on Me whom they have pierced" (Zech. 12:10). For that generation, it was a look of horror and judgment, not of saving faith.
The Great Commission Goes Global (v. 31)
Finally, verse 31 describes the result of Christ's enthronement and judgment.
"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." (Matthew 24:31)
Once again, we must resist the popular images of a "rapture." What is happening here? With the Old Covenant system judged and dismantled, the gospel is now unleashed to go to the ends of the earth. The "great trumpet" is the loud, clear proclamation of the gospel message. In the Old Testament, trumpets were used to assemble the people of God. This is the great assembly of the New Covenant.
Who are the "angels"? The word angelos simply means "messengers." While it can refer to celestial beings, in a context like this it refers to the human messengers of the gospel: the apostles, evangelists, and preachers. Christ, from His throne, sends forth His preachers into all the world.
And what do they do? They "gather together His elect from the four winds." This is the fulfillment of the Great Commission. The destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. was the definitive end of the old wineskin. The center of God's work on earth was no longer geographically located in Jerusalem. The kingdom was now to expand from one end of the sky to the other, gathering in the elect from every tribe, tongue, and nation. This verse is not about the end of the world; it is about the beginning of the world mission of the church in its fullest sense. It is the description of the birth and expansion of the Christian age, the age in which we are now living.
Conclusion: Vindicated and Enthroned
So what does this mean for us? It means that we are not living in the last, desperate moments before a great defeat. We are living in the era of Christ's victory. The events of Matthew 24 are not a source of fear for us, but a foundation for our faith. Our Lord is a true prophet. He said Jerusalem would be destroyed, and it was. He said He was ascending to His Father to receive a kingdom, and He did. He said He would send His gospel to the four winds, and He has.
The Son of Man has come on the clouds. He has been vindicated. He has received all power and great glory. The kingdom of God has been expanding for two thousand years, gathering His elect, just as He said. Our task is not to sit on a rooftop with a telescope, looking for falling stars. Our task is to be the "angels," the messengers, who carry the trumpet sound of the gospel to our neighbors and to the nations.
The old world of Judaism is gone. The new world, the kingdom of the Son, is here and is advancing. And it will continue to advance until all His enemies are made a footstool for His feet. He is reigning now, and He will reign until He has put all things under His authority. That is the promise, and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. is the down payment, the historical guarantee that He will finish what He started.