Matthew 24:30

non occ.: As soon as the Lord has fortified the believers against the arts of Antichrist and his ministers, by shewing that His coming would be public, He proceeds to shew the order and method of His coming.

By the tribulation, He means the times of Antichrist and the false Prophets; for when there are so many deceivers, the tribulation will be great. But it shall not extend through any great length of time. For if for the elect's sake the Jewish war is shortened, much more shall this tribulation be shortened for their sakes; for which reason He said not "After," but "Immediately after," for He shall come immediately after.

The darkening of the sun, the failing of the moon, and the fall of the stars, indicate the glories of His coming.

One will say, As at the breaking out of great conflagrations, great darkness is at the first caused by the smoke, so when the world shall be consumed by fire, which shall be kindled, even the great luminaries shall be darkened; and when the light of the stars is decayed, the rest of their substance, incapable of exaltation, shall fall from heaven into what it was, when it was first raised aloft by the light. When this shall have taken place, it follows that the rational heavenly powers shall suffer dismay and derangement, and shall be suspended from their functions. "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven," that sign by which the heavenly things were made, that is, the power which the Son wrought when He hung upon the cross. And the sign shall appear in heaven, that men of all tribes who before had not believed Christianity when preached, then by that sign, acknowledging it as made plain, shall grieve and mourn for their ignorance and sins. Others will think otherwise, that as the light of a lamp dies away by degrees, so when the supply of the heavenly luminaries shall fail, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon and the light of the stars shall grow dim, and that which in their composition is earthy shall fall from heaven. But how can it be said of the sun that its light shall be darkened, when Esaias the Prophet declares, that in the end of the world, there shall be light proceeding forth from the sun? [Isa 30:26] And of the moon he declares that it shall be as the sun. But concerning the stars, there are some that endeavour to convince us that all, or many of them, are larger than the whole earth. How then shall they fall from heaven, when this earth would not be large enough to contain them?

These things, therefore, shall not come to pass by any diminution of light, for in another place we read that the light of the sun shall be sevenfold; but by comparison with real light, all things shall seem dim.

But nothing hinders our supposing that the sun and moon with the other stars shall for a time lose their light, as we know did the sun at the time of the Lord's passion; as Joel also says, "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord come." [Joel 2:31] But when the day of judgment is passed, and the life of future glory shall dawn, and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, then shall that come to pass of which Isaiah speaks, "The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold. The stars shall fall from heaven," [Isa 30:26] is expressed in Mark; "There shall be stars falling from heaven," [Mark 13:25] that is, lacking their proper light.

"By the powers of heaven," we understand the bands of the Angels.

Very fitly shall they be shaken and dismayed, seeing so mighty a change being wrought, their fellow-servants punished, and the universe standing before a terrible tribunal.

But as, at the dispensation of the Cross, the sun was eclipsed, and darkness was spread over the earth; so when the sign of the Son of Man appears in heaven, the light of the sun, moon, and stars, shall fail, as though waning before the might of that sign. This we understand to be the sign of the cross, that the Jews. may see, as Zacharias and John speak, "Him whom they have pierced," [Zech 12:10, John 19:37] and the sign of victory.

But because the sun will be darkened, the cross would not be seen, if it were not far brighter than the rays of the sun. That the disciples might not be ashamed, and grieve over the cross, He speaks of it as a sign, with a kind of distinction. The sign of the cross will appear to overthrow the shamelessness of the Jews, when Christ shall appear in the judgment, shewing not only His wounds, but His most ignominious death, "And then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn." For when they shall see the cross, they shall bethink them how they have gained nought by His death, and that they have crucified Him whom they ought to have worshipped.

Rightly does He say, "the tribes of the earth," for they shall mourn who have no citizenship in heaven, but are written in earth. [Jer 17:13]

Morally, one may say that the sun, which shall be darkened, is the Devil, who shall be convicted in the end of the world, that whereas he is darkness, he has feigned himself to be the sun; the moon, which seems to receive its light from this sun, is the Church of the wicked, which professes to have and to give light, but then convicted with its sinful dogmas, shall lose its brightness; and all those who, either by false teaching, or false virtues, promised truth to men, but led them astray by lies, these are fitly called stars falling from, so to say, their own heaven, where they were raised on high, exalting themselves against the knowledge of God. For illustration of this discourse, we may apply that place in Proverbs, which says, "The light of the just is unquenchable, but the light of the wicked shall be quenched." [Prov 4:18] Then the brightness of God shall appear in every one who has borne the image of the heavenly; and they of heaven shall rejoice, but they of earth shall lament.

Or, the Church is the sun, moon, and stars, to which it is said, "Fair as the moon, bright as the sun. Then shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light," [Song of Songs 6:10] because in that ungoverned fury of wicked persecutors, the Church shall not be seen. "Then shall the stars fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken," because many, who seemed to be shining in God's grace, shall give way to their persecutors, and shall fall, and even the stoutest believers shall be shaken. And these things shall be "after the tribulation of those days," not because they shall happen when the whole persecution is overpast, but because the tribulation shall be first, that the falling away may come after. And because it shall be so throughout all those days, it shall be "after the tribulation of those days," yet on those very days. [30] "And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

He adds this, that having heard of the cross, they should not now imagine a similar degradation.

The first and most apparent meaning of this is of that time when He shall come to judge the quick and the dead in His body, that body in which He sits at the right hand of the Father, in which He died and rose again and ascended into heaven. As we read in the Acts of the Apostles; "He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out their sight," [Acts 1:9] upon which it was said by the Angels, "He shall so come as ye have seen Him go into heaven," we may reasonably believe that He will come again, not only in the same body, but also in a cloud.

Therefore shall they see with the bodily eyes the Son of Man, coming in human shape, "in the clouds of heaven," that is, on high. As at the transfiguration, a voice came out of the cloud, so when He shall come again transformed into His glorious appearance, it shall be not on one cloud, but upon many, which shall be His chariot. And if when the Son of God went up to Jerusalem, they who loved Him spread their garments in the way, not willing that even the ass that carried Him should tread upon the earth; what wonder, if the Father and God of all should spread the clouds of heaven under the body of the Son, when He comes to the work of the consummation? And one may say, that as in the creation of man, God took clay from the earth and made man; so to manifest the glory of Christ, the Lord taking of the heaven, and of its substance, gave it a body of a bright cloud in the Transfiguration, and of bright clouds at the Consummation; wherefore it is here said, "in the clouds of heaven," as it was there said, "of the clay of the ground." [Gen 2:7] And it behoves the Father to give all such admirable gifts to the Son, because He humbled Himself; and He has also exalted Him, not only spiritually, but bodily, that He should come upon such clouds; and perhaps upon rational clouds, that even the chariot of the glorified Son of Man should not be irrational. At the first, Jesus came with that power with which He wrought signs and wonders in the people; yet was that power little in comparison of that great power with which He shall come in the end; for that was the power of one emptying Himself of power. And also, it is fitting that He should be transformed into greater glory than at the transfiguration on the mount; for then He was transfigured for the sake of three only, but in the consummation of the whole world, He shall appear in great glory, that all may see Him in glory.

But because the Scriptures are to be searched, and we are not to content ourselves with the surface of them, let us look closely at what follows, "When ye see all these things come to pass, know that he is near even at the door." We know then that He is near, when we see come to pass not any of the foregoing things, but all of them, among which is this that the Son of Man shall be seen coming. "And he shall send his Angels," who from the four quarters of the world shall gather together His elect. All these things He does at "the last hour" [1 John 2:18] coming in His members as in the clouds, or in the whole Church as in one great cloud, as now He ceases not to come. And "with great power and glory," because His power and glory will seem greater in the Saints to whom He will give great power, that they may not be overcome of persecution.

Or He comes every day "with great power" to the mind of the believer in the clouds of prophecy, that is, in the Scriptures of the Prophets and the Apostles, who utter the word of God with a meaning above human nature. Also we say that to those who understand He comes with "great glory," and that this is the more seen in the second coming of the Word which is to the perfect. And so it may be, that all which the three Evangelists have said concerning Christ's coming, if carefully compared together and thoroughly examined, would be found to apply to His continual daily coming in His body, which is the Church, of which coming He said in another place, "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man. sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven," [Matt 26:6] excepting those places in which He promises that His last coming in His own person.

The Lord in the Gospel forewarns and foretells, saying: “If the world hates you, know that it first hated me. If ye were of the world, the world would love what is its own: but because ye are not of the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I spoke unto you, The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” And again: “The hour will come, that every one that killeth you will think that he doeth God service; but they will do this because they have not known the Father nor me. …

6. “For many men that war against me, shall fear” ( ver. 3 ). Shall fear when? When the day shall have passed away, wherein they are high. For for a time high they are, when the time of their height is finished they will fear. “But I in Thee will hope, O Lord.” He saith not, “But I will not fear:” but, “Many men, that war against me, shall fear.” When there shall have come that day of Judgment, then “shall mourn for themselves all the tribes of the earth.” When there shall have appeared the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, then secure shall be all holy men. For that thing shall come which they hoped for, which they longed for, the coming whereof they prayed for: but to those men no place for repentance shall remain, because in that time wherein fruitful might have been repentance, their heart they hardened against a warning Lord. …

2. “For Thy loving mercy, and for Thy truth’s sake” ( ver. 2 ). Observe how often these two qualities, loving mercy and truth, are joined together in the holy Scriptures. For in His loving mercy He called sinners, and in His truth He judgeth those who when called refused to come. “That the heathen may not say, Where is now their God?” For at the last, His loving mercy and truth will shine forth, when “the sign of the Son of man shall appear in heaven, and then shall all tribes of the earth cry woe;” nor shall they then say, “Where is their God?” when He is no longer preached unto them to be believed in, but displayed before them to be trembled at.

“Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven;”that is, the cross being brighter than the sun, since this last will be darkened, and hide himself, and that will appear when it would not appear, unless it were far brighter than the beams of the sun. But wherefore doth the sign appear? In order that the shamelessness of the Jews may be more abundantly silenced. For having the cross as the greatest plea, Christ thus cometh to that judgment-seat, showing not His wounds only, but also the death of reproach. “Then shall the tribes mourn,” for there shall be no need of an accusation, when they see the cross; and they shall mourn, that by His death they are nothing benefited; because they crucified Him whom they ought to have adored.

And forasmuch as He had made mention of the cross, He added, “They shall see the Son of Man coming,” no longer on the cross, but “in the clouds of Heaven, with power and great glory.”

20. This coming of the Lord, and the end of the world, were known to the Preacher; who says, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth , and the rest; Therefore remove anger from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh ;… and remember thy Creator … or ever the evil days come ,.… or ever the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars be darkened ,.… and they that look out of the windows be darkened ; (signifying the faculty of sight;) or ever the silver cord be loosed ; (meaning the assemblage of the stars, for their appearance is like silver;) and the flower of gold be broken ; (thus veiling the mention of the golden sun; for the camomile is a well-known plant, having many ray-like leaves shooting out round it;) and they shall rise up at the voice of the sparrow, yea, they shall look away from the height, and terrors shall be in the way . …

21. Thou seest how they all foretell the coming of the Lord. Thou seest how they know the voice of the sparrow . Let us know what sort of voice this is. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God . The Archangel shall make proclamation and say to all, Arise to meet the Lord . And fearful will be that descent of our Master. David says, God shall manifestly come, even our God, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall burn before Him, and a fierce tempest round about Him , and the rest. The Son of Man shall come to the Father, according to the Scripture which was just now read, on the clouds of heaven , drawn by a stream of fire , which is to make trial of men. …

22. But what is the sign of His coming? lest a hostile power dare to counterfeit it. And then shall appear , He says, the sign of the Son of Man in heaven . Now Christ’s own true sign is the Cross; a sign of a luminous Cross shall go before the King, plainly declaring Him who was formerly crucified: that the Jews who before pierced Him and plotted against Him, when they see it, may mourn tribe by tribe , saying, “This is He who was buffeted, this is He whose face they spat on, this is He whom they bound with chains, this is He whom of old they crucified, and set at nought. Whither, they will say, shall we flee from the face of Thy wrath?” But the Angel hosts shall encompass them, so that they shall not be able to flee anywhere. The sign of the Cross shall be a terror to His foes; but joy to His friends who have believed in Him, or preached Him, or suffered for His sake. …