hotcoffee
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Matthew 24:29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’(b)
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’(b)
b.Matthew 24:29 Isaiah 13:10; Isaiah 34:4
The commentaries are really split on the meaning of this verse. Some believe this is all about the second coming and others believe that this is still about the destruction of the Temple. In the Bible Studies I've been in over the years, the teachers leaned toward the Second Coming. I'm not so sure this is right though.
Jesus uses the words "Immediately after the distress of those days". That means, IMHO, immediately after the destruction of the Temple.
They are all sitting on the hillside looking toward the Temple. The heavy gold inlay on the blocks of its walls is gleaming in the sunlight. Jesus has been crying over its demise that will happen in 70AD. He has been describing what will happen in 70AD. Why would He suddenly shift into another subject when the tears in His eyes haven't dried yet?
Let's look back at what the Jews expected out of the Messiah. The Jews expected the Messiah to come in like a warrior and clean out the government, take back the city and free the Jews from Roman Rule. They were expecting a human response.
Here's one commentary showing that Jesus is still talking about 70AD.
We are now come to the last act of this dismal tragedy, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the final dissolution of the Jewish polity in church and state, which our Lord, for several reasons, might not think fit to declare nakedly and plainly, and therefore chose to clothe his discourse in figurative language. Commentators, indeed, have generally understood this, and what follows, of the end of the world, and of Christ’s coming to judgment: but the words, immediately after the tribulation of those days, show evidently that he is not speaking of any distant event, but of something immediately consequent upon the tribulation before mentioned, and that must be the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, and the abolition of the Jewish polity, civil and religious. It is true, his figures are very strong, but not stronger than those used by the ancient prophets upon similar occasions. The Prophet Isaiah speaks in the same manner of the destruction of Babylon, Isaiah 13:10, The stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. The Prophet Ezekiel describes in similar terms the destruction coming on Egypt, Ezekiel 32:7-8. When I shall put thee out I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. The Prophet Daniel also uses similar language, when speaking of the slaughter of the Jews by the little horn, meaning probably Antiochus Epiphanes: And it waxed great even unto the host of heaven; and cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. And lastly, God, by Joel, foretelling this very same destruction of Jerusalem, Joel 2:30-31, says, I will show wonders in heaven and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood. So that great commotions and revolutions upon earth are often represented by commotions and changes in the heavens.
Jesus knew what was going to happen.
