Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Matthew 24:29-31
But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
Mark 13:24-27
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Luke 21:25-28
This article is going to contain a lot of scripture quotations. Please note the phrases that I emphasized in our study texts.
The best way to interpret the statements of Jesus in the Olivet Discourse is to consider what His Apostles said about it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in writing New Testament scripture.
What we will see by these examples, is that the Apostles considered this portion of the Discourse, at least, dealt with the second coming of Jesus at the end of time.
Trumpet
Jesus mentions the sound of trumpet that will accompany or announce the events He describes. Every instance the Apostles relate the subject of trumpets with Jesus they talk about His second coming and a general resurrection of the dead.
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1st Corinthians 15:51-52
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
1st Thessalonians 4:15-18
Notice in the above quote that Paul says “by the word of the Lord.” This is clearly referring to the recorded words of Christ in the Olivet Discourse.
John describes a “sounding” in Revelation, Chapter 10. Two chapters before, we learn that this is the sound of trumpets.
And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
Revelation 8:2
And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
Revelation 10:5-7
We learn a very important detail in these verses – time and space will cease. That is clearly pointing to the end of time when Christ returns and the dead are raised. Incidentally, if time and space cease, that makes it easy to understand what John meant by “every eye shall see him.” How else can every eye see Jesus at the same time if we are on different sides of the globe?
CLOUDS
When Jesus ascended back to heaven after His resurrection, it was a visible, witnessed event. The angel declares that His return will also be visible and in clouds.
And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Acts 1:9-11
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1st Thessalonians 4:17
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
Revelation 1:7
Whether you define the clouds as water vapor or a cloud of saints, it clearly stands that the Apostles believed that Jesus visibly coming in clouds was His second coming and the end of time.
I personally think that the clouds are actual clouds of water vapor like we understand now. This will be the transition from time to eternity. In this last moment of time, God will show His promise in a rainbow one more time. And how glorious will that rainbow be! It will be produced not by the sun, but by the Light Himself!
ANGELS
And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
2nd Thessalonians 1:7-10
Those that argue that Jesus came in judgment in 70 A.D, may be correct in a sense He was in charge of that judgment. However, this text says that Jesus will be revealed.Further, the judgment here is too large for just 70 A.D. It also includes those in heaven.
Therefore, it is clear that the signs of trumpets, clouds, and angels clearly point to the second coming of Christ visibly. And, that coming coincides with the end of time and a general resurrection of the dead. Notice that I did not even mention all of the other signs in the sky mentioned by Jesus. No doubt these will be very obvious.
Finally, look at Luke’s last statement. When this happens redemption is close! That didn’t happen 2000 years ago. And when it does happen, we should look forward to it as a day of redemption not be afraid of it coming. What a glorious day that will be!
Lowrance Ministries 