Matthew 24:29-31

Matthew 24:29-31

Immediately after the persecution of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the heaven and the powerful ones of the heavens will be shaken.  And then the sign of the Son of Man will be visible in heaven.  And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man while coming upon the clouds of heaven with power a great glory.  And He will send out His angels with a great trumpet call.  And they will gather His chosen ones out of the four winds – from one extreme limit of heave unto its other extreme limit.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

As Jesus begins this section, He speaks about the sun being darkened.  Of course that would have a natural impact upon the ability of the moon to shine as well.  What Jesus is getting at is that even nature will be subject to the end when God says that it is time.  As we discovered a few days ago, the end will start with humanity persecuting one another.  But nature will also be subject to God and to the end.

What does this passage say to you about the place of nature with respect to God and His power?  Why is this significant?

Second Thought:

Notice that Jesus says that all the tribes of people on the earth will mourn.  Yes, God’s elect and the rest of the world will all mourn.  Of course we can easily know the reason for the mourning of the world.  The world will mourn because when Christ returns it will understand just how wrong they were and how late it is to do anything about it.  That mourning makes sense.  But why will God’s elect mourn with them?  In truth, it is probably better said that they will mourn for them.  When Christ returns, there is no more time to find salvation.  The end will have finally come.  That basically means that those who do not belong to God have no more time to postpone judgment and come into God’s grace.  That will be a sad day of mourning indeed.

Is there anyone in your life for whom you might mourn if Christ were to come back today?  What does this tell you about your life and the people in it?  Is there anything you can do about the people you might mourn before time runs out?  Why can we do something in some cases but be utterly powerless in other cases?

Third Thought:

There is an awful lot of talk about the timing of the end of the world – especially in some certain religious circles.  I don’t typically get caught up in that kind of talk because in the end it is all speculation and we won’t really know who is right until it happens.  However, I have always been a “prepare for the worst and hope for the best” kind of person.  So when I look at these kinds of passages, I tend to take Jesus on face value.  Here Jesus tells us that the chosen ones after the persecution happens.  In other words, god-fearing people will go through the great persecution.  This fits with what we’ve read in the last few days of reading as well.  Remember a few days ago when we discovered that Jesus seems to indicate that there will be a faithful remnant proclaiming the glory of heaven all the way until the end?  I may not know when Jesus is going to return and this world will come to an end, but it seems prudent to live my life in preparation that before I see Christ I may endure some persecution.  There is no need to be doom-and-gloom and stand on a street corner with a sign that reads: “The End is Near.”  But it seems incredibly wise to prepare for persecution just in case it comes during my lifetime.

How prepared are you for persecution to come to you?  How easily do you think that you would endure persecution?  Where are you likely to be vulnerable to persecution?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 24:32-35