An Interpretation of Matthew 24-25 (Part 26)
Dr. Thomas Ice
"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 ofMan coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory." -Matthew 24:30
The second comingof Christ will be an event that has multiple aspects and phases to it. Jesus will not just appear in the skyand that is it, but there will be a multitude of specific events that will takeplace in the process of this advent. Christ, in Matthew 24:30 continues to note some of the sequencing thatwill take place at this time in history. One of the important events that will transpire will be "the sign of theSon of Man" that will appear in the sky.
Sign of The Son of Man
Earlier inMatthew 24:3 the disciples of Jesus ask Him, "Tell us, when will these thingsbe, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" This passage answers the question aboutthe sign of Christ's coming. Sowhat is that sign?
First it shouldbe noted that the sign and His coming are separate events. Based upon what has preceded thisverse, we know that the stage for his dramatic return begins in verse 29 with ashaking of the sun, moon and stars. This produces a blackout of the sky preparing the was for the appearanceof the sign of the Son of Man, followed by the response of human mourning andfear, resulting in the second coming of Christ.
Second, thissequence of events will unfold in Jerusalem Israel. This is the location on planet earth in which these thingsare scripted to unfold, even though they will have a global impact.
Third, I believethat the sign of the Son of Man will be some form of the manifestation of theShechinah Glory. ArnoldFruchtenbaum explains as follows:
As this sign is coupledwith God's glory, it is obviously the Shechinah Glory light that will signal the Second Comingof the Messiah. The answer to thesecond question, "What will be the sign of the Second Coming?" is the Shechinah Glory. But immediately after the tribulation of those days, there will be a total blackout with no lightpenetrating at all, followed by a sudden, glorious, tremendous light that willdisperse the blackness. This Shechinah light will be the sign of the Second Coming ofthe Messiah. The light will befollowed by the return of the Messiah Himself.[1]
The Shechinah Glory
What is theShechinah Glory? Why do I thinkthis is what Christ has in mind here? The Shechinah Glory is the visiblemanifestation of the presence of God, often showing up in the form of a cloud,light, fire, or combinations of these. The Hebrew word Shechinah does not appear the biblical text. The Jewish rabbis coined thisextra-biblical expression called the "Shechinah Glory," in order to distinguishthose biblical passages where they believe that a physical glory cloud or lightwas present when the Hebrew word for "glory" was used. Shechinah is a form of a Hebrew wordthat literally means "he caused to dwell," signifying that when God's gloryappeared in this way it was a Divine visitation of the presence or dwelling ofGod in the glory cloud. Fruchtenbaum tells us that "the Shechinah Glory is the visible manifestation of thepresence of God. In the OldTestament, most of these visible manifestations took the form of light, fire,or cloud, or a combination of these. A new form appears in the New Testament: the Incarnate Word."
The followingevents are believed to be manifestations of the Shechinah Glory in history:
•The Garden of Eden-theLord's presence in the Garden and the flaming sword (Gen. 3:8, 23-24).
•The Abrahamic Covenant-the flaming torch thatpassed between the sacrificial pieces (Gen. 15:12-18).
•TheBurning Bush-the burning that did not consume the bush (Ex. 3:1-5; 13:21-22;14:19-20, 24; 16:6-12).
•TheExodus-the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night (Exodus).
•MountSinai-the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God; thunders, lightnings,and a thick cloud (Ex. 19:16-20; 24:15-18 Deut. 5:22-27).
•TheSpecial Meeting with Moses-the afterglow of Moses' face as a result of hismeeting with the Lord (Ex. 33:17-23; 34:5-9, 29-35; 29:42-46; 40:34-38).).
•TheTabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant-the glory-cloud presence oftenassociated with these items (Exodus).
•TheBook of Leviticus-the authentication of the Law and residence in the holy ofholies (Lev. 9).
•TheBook of Numbers-the Shechinah Glory rendered judgment for sin and disobedience(Num. 13:30-14:45; 16:1-50; 20:5-13).
•ThePeriod of Joshua and Judges-the continued dwelling of the Shechinah Glory inthe tabernacle (1 Sam. 4:21-22).
•TheSolomonic Temple-the transfer of the Shechinah Glory from the tabernacle to theTemple (2 Chron. 5:2-7:3).
•TheDeparture in Ezekiel-Ezekiel watches the Shechinah Glory depart the Temple inpreparation for judgment upon the nation (Ezek. 1:28; 3:12, 23; 8:3-4; 9:3;10:4, 18-19; 11:22-23).
•TheSecond Temple-the Shechinah Glory was not present, but a promise was given thatit will be greater in the future than in the past (Hag. 2:3, 9).
•TheAppearance to the Shepherds-the glory of the Lord shone round about them (Luke2:8-9).
•TheStar of Bethlehem-the star or glory-cloud that guided the Magi to Jesus (Matt.2:1-12).
•Jesus: The Glory of the Lord-the incarnationwas a manifestation of the Shechinah Glory (John 1:1-14).
•TheTransfiguration-the Shechinah Glory appears to the three disciples (Matt.17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36, Heb. 1:1-3; 2 Peter 1:16-18; Rev. 1:12-16).
•TheBook of Acts-the cloven tongues of fire on Pentecost and the blinding lightshown upon Paul at his conversion (Acts 2:1-3; 9:3-8; 22:6-11; 26:13-18).
•TheRevelation-Jesus Christ is dressed in the Shechinah Glory in Revelation 1 (Rev.1:12-16).
The following isan overview of future events relating to the Shechinah Glory:
•TheTribulation-the Shechinah Glory is connected with the Bowl judgments (Rev.15:8).
•TheSecond Coming of Christ-the Shechinah Glory is the sign of the Son of Man andthe cloud upon which He returns (Matt. 16:27; 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27).
•TheMillennium-the Shechinah Glory will be present in its greatest manifestation inhistory because of Christ's physical presence on earth (Ezek. 43:1-7; 44:1-2;Isa. 4:5-6; 11:10; 35:1-2; 40:5; 58:8-9; 60:1-3; Zech. 2:4-5; 11:10)
•The EternalState-the Shechinah Glory will provide light for the new creation where sinwill be totally removed and God the Father, God the Son, and God the HolySpirit will dwell in fullness with man (Rev. 21:1-3, 10-11, 23-24).
The Sign
The word order ofthe Greek in verse 30 is as follows: "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the heaven." The Greek supports the probability thatthe intent of the passage is that the sign of the Son of Man will appear in theheaven or sky. To take it as ahumanly visible sign in the sky, as I would, preterist Kenneth Gentry says,"requires a restructuring of the text."[4] It does not require a restructuring, even though many who take afuturist view do put forward translations that do not retain the original wordorder. When rendering a passagefrom Greek to English (or into any language), maintaining the original wordorder is not as important as providing an accurate translation. Gentry inserts a red herring at thispoint in his attempt to change the true intent and sense of this passage. The difference amounts to whether "inheaven" refers to an invisible sign that takes place in the throne room of Godin heaven or does it occur as a sign in the sky that is seen by humanity. Grammarian Nigel Turner says, "Mt 24:30ambiguous, either the sign which is the S.M. (appos.), or the sign which the S.M. willgive (possess.)."
I believe thecontext argues in favor of the futurist interpretation that the sign is visibleto the human eye in heaven, which is the sky. First, the Greek word can mean either "throne room," or thevisible heaven or sky that can be seen by the human eye, as understood byfuturists. The majority of NewTestament uses fall into this latter use.[6] The major Greek Lexicon of our dayclassifies it as the latter and says "then the sign of the Son of Man (whois) in heaven will appear; acc.to the context, the sign consists in this, that he appears visibly in heavenlyglory Mt. 24:30."[7]
Second,surrounding verses focus upon heavenly meteorological disturbances (cf. verse27, 29, 30b, 31) that are visible to humanity. The appearance of a sign in the sky would certainly fit thecontextual theme of a heavenly focus.
Third, "It must,in the nature of the case, be luminous. This is indicated bythe original word for appear. But it must be luminous from thissingle consideration: it willappear, or shine, at a time of total darkness," declares Rev. Buck. "The sun will be previously turned to darkness, and the moonand the stars will have withdrawn their shining. All the great sources of light being thus totally obscured,whatever shall appear must beluminous in its nature."[8]
Fourth, the timerelationships of the passage support a visible, and thus, a futureunderstanding. Matthew 24:30begins "and then" referring back to the meteorological events of verse 29 whichwill occur "immediately after the tribulation of those days." Thus, verse 30 tells us that "the sign. . . will appear;" "and then" there will be human mourning in response to thesign; followed by Christ's glorious return. Amazingly, Gentry says that the sign of verse 30 means thatthe Jews "must flee the area if they are to preserve their lives."
Yes, reader. This is the theory of our Lord's secondcoming, . . . Briefly, then, asit respects the first branchof this theory, its inconsistency, we submit, will become apparent, from thefollowing arguments and facts:
(1.) If thecoming of the Lord at the time here specified was merely "the coming of theRoman army to destroy Jerusalem and the unbelieving Jews," then it will follow,of necessity, that it occurred at the same time, since, in fact, it is affirmedto be the same event.
(2.) Again. Thedestruction of the Jewish Church and State, and city, and people, resulted fromthe coming of the Romans, and must, of course, have been after that coming, because results must be subsequentto the causes which produce them. Accordingly, as our blessed Lord delivered the whole of this remarkableprophecy with special regard to the chronological order of the events,
(3.) He describes the appearance of the "sign" of His coming, ofthe mourning of all the tribes of the earth, and of His actual coming in theclouds of heaven, as being "after thetribulation of those days," and subsequent, in the order of time, to thedarkening of the sun, moon, and stars.
Reader, which shall we believe-thecomments and opinions of men, or the teachings of Christ?[10]
(To BeContinued . . .)
Endnotes
[1] Arnold Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of theMessiah: A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events, Revised Edition (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries,2003), p. 643.
[2] Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps, p. 599.
[3] Adopted from Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps, pp. 599-628.
[4] Gentry in Thomas Ice and Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., TheGreat Tribulation: Past orFuture? Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1999), p. 58.
[5]Nigel Turner, A Grammar of New Testament Greek, Vol. III, Syntax (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1963), p. 214.
[6]William F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich, AGreek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1957), pp. 598-600.
[7]Arndt and Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon , p. 599.
[8]D. D. Buck, Our Lord's Great Prophecy (Nashville: South-Western Publishing House, 1857), p. 292..
[9] Gentry, Great Tribulation, p.60.
[10]Richard Cunningham Shimeall, Christ's SecondComing: Is It Pre-Millennial orPost-Millennial? (New York: John F. Trow and Richard Brinkerhoff,1866), pp. 159-60.