The Olivet Discourse: Part II – What will be the sign of your coming?

Matthew 24:29-35

Review

Jesus made two comments. 1. While sitting in the temple a reference to his return to

Jerusalem: Mat. 23: 37-39 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ” • The comments are made from Jerusalem in regards

to Jerusalem.– He entered Jerusalem earlier under these conditions.– He will enter Jerusalem again under these conditions.

Review

2. While coming out of the temple a reference was made concerning the temple: Matt. 24 2 But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”– It is a specific reference to the destruction of the

Temple in Jerusalem.

His disciples’ three questions

The disciples asked him questions regarding his previous remarks:

• 3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”

1. When will these things be?2. What will be the sign of your coming?3. What will be the sign of the close of the age?

• 2&3 are combined as one because they view the end of the age linked to his coming.

Analyzing the questions

• When will these things (plural) be?– A generalized questions about his coming (his 1st

comment) and the destruction of the temple (his 2nd comment).

• What will be the sign of your coming?– A more specific question related to his return (1st

comment)• What will be the sign of the closing of the age?– A more specific question. They may associate the

destruction of the temple with the close of the age.

Conclusion about their questions.

The nature of the questions suggests that the apostles believe that the destruction of the

temple, the end of the age and the return of Christ are closely linked events.

The end of the age and the return of Christ was perceived as marking the establishment of

Christ’s Kingdom.

What was their view of the Kingdom?

• The questions and Jesus’ answers are saturated with quotations and illusions to old testament prophesy.

• They are JEWS with an anticipation and expectation of a physical restoration of Israel.

The Disciples view of the coming kingdom

Acts 1:6–8 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Jesus’ answers

Jesus answered the questions in reverse order.• What will be the sign of the close of the age? – Conditions prior to the end of the age (birth pangs) in

verses vs. 4-14

Isaiah 26:16–21 (ESV) 16 O LORD, in distress they sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them. 17 Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O LORD; 18 we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind. We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen. 19 Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead. 20 Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by. 21 For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain.

Jesus’ answers

• What will be the sign of the close of the age? – Conditions prior to the end of the age (birth

pangs) in verses vs. 4-14– Conditions in Israel at the close of the age in

verses 15-28 • The abomination of desecration and tribulation.

• What will be the sign of your coming? vs. 29-35

• When will these things be? Vs. 36-44+

Today we will discuss Jesus answer to the disciples second question.

“What will be the sign of your coming?” Mat. 24:29-35

What will be the sign of your coming?

29 “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.

At the end of the tribulation.

First signs will take place in the heavens.

Jesus alludes to the Old Testament.– Prophecy from Isaiah 13– Joel 3

Isaiah 13:4–134 The sound of a tumult is on the mountains as of a great multitude! The sound of an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together! The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle. 5 They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the LORD and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. 6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come! 7 Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt. 8 They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame. 9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.

10 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. 11 I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless. 12 I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.

Joel 3:9–16 (ESV) 9 Proclaim this among the nations: Consecrate for war; stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. 10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior.” 11 Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down your warriors, O LORD. 12 Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great. 14 Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. 16 The LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the LORD is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.

Revelation 6:12–1712 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

There will be a sign of the Son from heaven

30 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.

What is the sign of the coming of the Son of Man?

Daniel 7:13–14 13 “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. 14 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.

Israel will mourn the loudest

Zechariah 12:9–11 9 And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

There will be a gathering of the elect

31 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.

•This does not appear to be the rapture.• The terminology of “gathering” is Old Testament.

Israel will be gatheredZechariah 2:2–6 (ESV) 2 Then I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.” 3 And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him 4 and said to him, “Run, say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. 5 And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.’ ” 6 Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the LORD. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the LORD.

• Ezekiel 28:25 (ESV) 25 “Thus says the Lord GOD: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and manifest my holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to my servant Jacob.

• Ezekiel 34:12–13 (ESV) 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

Jeremiah 23:3–5 3 Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the LORD. 5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

Deuteronomy 30:1–51 “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, 2 and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. 4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. 5 And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.

Conclusion of Signs

“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. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.

• You can watch the fig tree and determine when summer is close.

• If you see the things occurring told you about, know, Christ is at the gate of Jerusalem.

End of a generation34 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

When Jesus speaks of “this generation” in Matthew it is always “this evil or wicked generation” he is probably saying, “the generation of the wicked” shall not pass away” until all these things take place.

Matthew 12:39–42 (ESV)•39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

The Words of Christ are more enduring and stable than the universe.

Of all the times in human history that mankind needs to be reading God’s

Word, now is the most critical.

He is coming soon!