Matthew 24:28-35: “Jesus Teaches His Disciples About The
Cataclysmic Signs That Will Occur During The Tribulation”
by
Jim Bomkamp
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last
study, we continued to look at the signs that Jesus gave us to look for in
regard to His Second Coming and of the end of the Age.
1.1.1. We are confident that these signs we looked at last week
were not the ‘General Signs’ which Jesus gave early in the chapter and which
relate to the entire period from the time of His resurrection up until His
Second Coming, but rather these were what we call the ‘Dramatic’ or
‘Catastrophic’ Signs which will be occurring during the period of the 7 yr.
Tribulation of the book of Revelation
1.1.2. We looked at the event called, ‘The Abomination of
Desolation’, which is prophesied in Daniel and we saw that Jesus pointed us to
Daniel and his prophesies as holding the key to understanding the events that
will occur at the end times
1.1.2.1.We saw that from 2 Thess. 2:3-4, that this event will
consist of the Antichrist stopping the daily sacrifice in the newly created
Jewish temple in
1.1.2.2.We saw from Daniel 9:25-27 that this will happen right
in the middle of the 7 year Tribulation Period.
At the beginning of the 7 year Tribulation the Antichrist will make a
peace treaty with
1.1.3. We saw that in these verses in chapter 24 here that
Jesus was telling His disciples that when they saw these events occurring that
they needed to immediately flee, without going back to their house to get
anything
1.1.4. We saw that the Antichrist will then begin to
slaughter the Jews, therefore if people don’t flee right away they will be
slain
1.1.5. We saw also that Christ said that this time that would
occur on the earth would be unlike any other time in history, for it would be a
time of ‘Great Tribulation’ and that had the Lord not stopped the events that
were occurring that there would be no life left upon this plant
1.1.6. We then went over a handout that showed the events
that are described in the 3 sets of 7 judgments: The 7 Seal Judgments, the 7 Trumpet
Judgments, and the 7 Bowl Judgments
1.2.
Today, we are
going to continue looking at these ‘Dramatic’ or ‘Cataclysmic’ signs which will
be occurring during the 7 year Tribulation before the Second Coming of Christ
1.2.1. We will see that the signs all culminate in that time
that is referred to in the Word of God as, “The Day of the Lord”, that day when
He will go to battle against the nations of the world in rebellion against Him
2.
VS 24:28 - “28 “Wherever the corpse is, there the
vultures will gather.”” - Jesus
tells His disciples that vultures always gather where a corpse is
2.1.
This verse is a
bit obscure, and since it is not completely clear as to what Jesus was saying, it
requires some speculation.
2.2.
My best guess is
that since the context of this remark was that as Jesus had been talking about
False Prophets and False Christ’s that will come on the earth during the 7 year
Tribulation Period, that He is saying that these False Prophets and False
Christ’s are like ‘vultures’ who hover over their prey waiting to swoop down
and devour it. Seeing that the people
are about to perish during this horrible time of Great Tribulation, they believe
that since they will soon die anyway, they try to deceive and take advantage of
as many of them as they can.
2.2.1. A ‘vulture’ is a pretty good metaphor for a false
prophet or teacher.
3.
VS 24:29 - “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,”” - Jesus tells His disciples about catastrophic
events that will be occurring in our universe before He returns
3.1.
We have now gotten
to a catastrophic sign that really proves in my opinion that the events that
Jesus is telling His disciples to look for when the end of the Age occurs have
to be future to us, for these events are catastrophic in nature and have never
occurred in history past.
3.2.
It is hard to
believe that some commentators who hold to the Amillennial or Postmillennial
Positions regarding eschatology have tried to make these events to be just
symbolic and not to be interpreted literally.
They do this because they believe that all of the events of the book of
Revelation up to chapter 19 have already occurred in history past.
3.3.
Notice here that
Jesus tells us that these events will occur at the end of the Great
Tribulation, in other words at the end of the 7 year Tribulation of the book of
Revelation.
3.4.
Isaiah wrote in
Isaiah 13:6-16, about the events that will occur when the Lord judges
the world, and in those verses he writes about the sun, moon, and stars being
darkened not giving their light, “6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is
near! It will come as destruction from
the Almighty. 7 Therefore all hands will
fall limp, And every man’s heart will melt.
8 And they will be terrified, Pains and anguish will take hold of
them; They will writhe like a woman in
labor, They will look at one another in astonishment, Their faces aflame. 9 Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from
it. 10 For the stars of heaven 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. 11 Thus I
will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of
the proud, And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.I will make mortal man
scarcer than pure gold, 12 And mankind than the gold of Ophir. 13 Therefore I shall make the heavens
tremble, And the earth will be shaken from its place At the fury of the Lord of
hosts In the day of His burning anger.
14 And it will be that like a hunted gazelle, Or like sheep with none to
gather them, They will each turn to his own people, And each one flee to his
own land. 15 Anyone who is found will be
thrust through, And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword. 16 Their little ones also will be dashed to
pieces Before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered And their wives ravished.”
3.5.
Jeremiah also
wrote about this time of judgment in Jeremiah 4:23-28 when he described
the heavens as being dark and the earth being formless and void with the
mountains quaking, “23 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was formless
and void; And to the heavens, and they
had no light. 24 I looked on the
mountains, and behold, they were quaking, And all the hills moved to and
fro. 25 I looked, and behold, there was
no man, And all the birds of the heavens had fled. 26 I looked, and behold, the fruitful land
was a wilderness, And all its cities were pulled down Before the Lord, before
His fierce anger. 27 For thus says the
Lord, “The whole land shall be a desolation, Yet I will not execute a complete
destruction. 28 “For this the earth
shall mourn, And the heavens above be dark, Because I have spoken, I have
purposed, And I will not change My mind, nor will I turn from it.””
3.5.1. Note that this toppling of all of the cities
corresponds to the events of the last Bowl Judgment of the book of Revelation
16:17-21, “17 And the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air;
and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done.”
18 And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and
there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be
upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. 19 And the great
city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And
3.6.
Note that
Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, and Zephaniah also prophesied about the sun and the
heavens being darkened before the day of judgment of the Lord:
3.6.1. Eze 32:7,8
3.6.2. Joe 2:10,30,31 3:15
3.6.3. Am 5:20 8:9
3.6.4. Zep 1:14,15
3.7.
Luke, in his
account of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, Luke 21:25-26, wrote about these
same events describing the dismay that the people in the world will be having
when these events occur, “25 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and
stars, and upon the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of
the sea and the waves, 26 men fainting from fear and the expectation of the
things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be
shaken.””
3.8.
After the huge
earthquake that will topple all of the cities of the earth when the seventh
bowl judgment is poured out upon the earth (Rev. 16:17-21), the Lord will kill
men by hurling giant hail stones upon the earth. Then, we see from Rev. 19:1 that the Lord
will return with all of the armies of heaven, and when He returns He
immediately goes to the Battle of Armageddon where demonic forces have gathered
a huge army comprised of those who are wicked and have rebelled against the
Lord, and in Rev. 19:17-21, we see how Christ ends this battle by
destroying those who are assembled against Him, including the Beast and False
Prophet, “17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried out
with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come,
assemble for the great supper of God; 18 in order that you may eat the flesh of
kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of
horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and
slaves, and small and great.” 19 And I
saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make
war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army. 20 And the beast was seized, and with him the
false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived
those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image;
these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.
21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who
sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”
3.9.
The prophesy of Zech.
14:1-9 will be fulfilled when Christ returns and touches down at the Battle
of Armageddon, “14:1 Behold, a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil
taken from you will be divided among you. 2 For I will gather all the nations
against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses
plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the
people will not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the Lord will go forth and
fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. 4 And in
that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of
Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from
east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move
toward the north and the other half toward the south. 5 And you will flee by
the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel;
yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah
king of
4.
VS 24:30 - “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.” - Jesus tells His disciples that people
everywhere upon the earth will then see the sign of the Son of Man in the sky
4.1.
Jesus doesn’t
tells us exactly what this ‘sign of the Son of Man’ which will appear in the
sky will be that will appear just before He comes upon the clouds of the sky in
all of His glory, however many have speculated about what it could be.
4.1.1. Some have speculated that it could be that a huge
cross will appear in the heavens and appear visibly everywhere upon the earth
at once.
4.1.2. I have wondered if what everyone might see would be
video footage of Christ as He was nailed to the cross. The reasons I have for speculating this way
this are:
4.1.2.1.Because Jesus says here that all of the tribes of the
earth shall mourn when they see the sign.
What would be more likely to make people mourn that an image of Jesus
nailed to the cross with the crown of thorns upon His head.
4.1.2.2.This sign is the sign of the ‘Son of Man’, a term
which Jesus used of Himself that reveals His humility.
4.1.3. It could of course be that Christ’s return upon the
white horse as prophesied in Rev. 19:11 may be the event that is referred to
here, and that this is the sign.
4.1.4. After the appearance of the ‘sign of the Son of Man, the
events of Rev. 19:11-16 will then be seen all over the earth as the Lord
Jesus returns to earth with all of the armies of heaven with Him, “11 And
I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is
called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 And
His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a
name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 And He is clothed
with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the
armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were
following Him on white horses. 15 And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so
that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron;
and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And
on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF
LORDS.””
4.2.
This sign of the
‘Son of Man’ in the heavens is not the same event as that prophesied in Zech.
12:10, were it says that Israel will look upon Him whom they have pierced,
for this looking on immediately precedes His Second Coming in judgment upon the
earth, “10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and on the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they
will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one
mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter
weeping over a first-born.””
4.2.1. The looking upon Him by
4.3.
People will mourn
all over the earth when they see this ‘sign of the Son of Man’, however it will
be too late for them to turn and repent at that point.
5.
VS 24:31 - “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.”” - Jesus tells His disciples
that when He appears at the end of the age that He will send His angels to
gather His elect from all over the earth
5.1.
Before the 7 year
Tribulation Period, the church was raptured up to be with the Lord in heaven,
and now she has returned with Jesus to the earth as part of the armies of
heaven which are behind Him, however now Jesus will send His angels to go and
to gather the people who have come to be saved during the Tribulation.
5.2.
The gathering in
of the angels occurs with the blast of a ‘great trumpet’.
5.3.
This event is not
the rapture of the church, as some believe, for when we compare this to 1
Thess. 4:16-18 there are many differences, “16 For the Lord Himself
will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 17 Then we
who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18
Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
5.3.1. The Lord Himself descends with a shout at the rapture
of the church.
5.3.2. The church is caught up in the sky to meet the Lord in
the air at the rapture, but in Matthew the angels go out and gather in God’s
people.
5.3.3. At the rapture the dead in Christ are resurrected and
then are caught up with the rest of the church to meet the Lord in the air,
however in Matthew there is no resurrection of the saints of old who have died.
6.
VS 24:32-33 - “32 “Now learn the parable from the fig
tree: when its branch has already become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you
know that summer is near; 33 even so you too, when you see all these things,
recognize that He is near, right at the door.”” - Jesus tells His disciples a ‘parable from the
fig tree’
6.1.
Many have
interpreted these verses to refer to
6.1.1. In scripture, figs sometimes relate to good things and
other times they relate to bad things, as in Jer. 24:1-8 where bad figs go to
captivity, and good figs go to remain in the land.
6.1.2. In Judges 9:1-11 figs are mentioned but not in
relation to
6.1.3. In Christ’s references to figs in the gospels there is
never a mention of
6.1.4.
6.2.
Probably all that
Jesus was saying was that when they saw the signs that He was relating to them
that they should know that the end is near, just in the same way that when you
see fig leaves on a fig tree you know that summer is coming soon. The fig tree was just a natural illustration
of a sign to be observed.
7.
VS 24:34 - “34 “Truly I say to you, this generation
will not pass away until all these things take place.”” - Jesus tells His disciples that the generation
who sees these ‘Dramatic’ signs will not pass away until all of the signs take
place and the Lord returns
7.1.
As we have seen,
the ‘Dramatic’ signs will occur during that short period of the 7 year
Tribulation, and therefore the generation of those who see those signs will
also see His Second Coming.
7.2.
Some people have
tried to make the generation who sees these signs mean the generation who sees
7.2.1.
7.3.
There is also the
discussion people make about what constitutes a generation? How many years comprise one? Forty year is sometimes in scripture used to
define one, but other numbers are also referenced.
7.3.1. It has been more than forty years since
8.
VS 24:35 - “35 “Heaven and earth will pass away,
but My words shall not pass away.”” -
Jesus tells His disciples to have assurance that every word that He
speaks shall come to pass
8.1.
When Jesus spoke,
it was divine utterance and therefore His word is scripture and infallible and
inerrant, for God cannot make a mistake or be wrong.
8.2.
The
Postmillenialists, who believe that this world is all that there every will be,
have a real problem with this passage because Jesus tells us that this ‘heaven
and earth will pass away’. From the
scriptures we know also that at the end of the Millennial Reign of Christ that
God will create a new heavens and earth.
8.2.1. In Psalm 102:25-27, the Psalmist told us that
the heavens and the earth would pass away one day, “ 25 “Of old Thou
didst found the earth; And the heavens
are the work of Thy hands. 26 “Even
they will perish, but Thou dost endure;
And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing Thou wilt change them, and they
will be changed. 27 “But Thou art the
same, And Thy years will not come to an end.””
8.2.2. In Isaiah 34:4-5, Isaiah prophesied that the
present sky would be rolled up and that all of the hosts (stars) would fail, “4
And all the host of heaven will wear away, And the sky will be rolled up
like a scroll; All their hosts will also
wither away As a leaf withers from the vine, Or as one withers from the fig
tree. 5 For My sword is satiated in
heaven, Behold it shall descend for judgment upon
8.2.3. In 2 Peter 3:8-13, Peter told us that the present heaven and earth would be melted and destroyed and that the Lord would create a new heaven and earth, “8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. A New Heaven and Earth 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”