This Generation Will Not Pass Away (7)

“Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”

We come now to the final piece of the puzzle in determining whether the verses prior to verse 34 refer to either the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 or to the future coming of Christ. It is simply taken for granted by the vast majority of Christians that verse 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”) refers to the Second Coming of our Lord.

But is this so? Again, our entire premise is that verse 34 means that the “generation” alive when Jesus spoke these words would see “all these things” (vs. 34). The strongest argument for this has always been that verse 34 means precisely what it says, and every usage of “this generation” in the New Testament refers to the contemporary generation. Not only this, but there is also a decided contrast between verses 34 and 36. Our Lord uses the demonstrative pronouns “this” and “that” meaning that verse 34 refers to a present generation and verse 36 refers to a future day. The one is near and the other is far off. Another major argument is that everything between verse 4 and 34 is seen and expected by the disciples, but the coming of Jesus in the future will be sudden and unexpected. The disciples must be ready for the coming again of the Lord because they will not know when he will come. In verses 4 through 34, the Lord prepares the disciples based on what they will observe, but this is not the case from verse 36 and onward. The major difficulty with verse 30 is that it states that “they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven,” and this is immediately thought to be the same as the coming of the Son of Man in verses 37, 39, and 44.

So how must we interpret this verse? First of all, the language of verse 30 still speaks in terms of what the actual hearers of Jesus will see and hear. We know this because of the governing phrase in verse 29,“immediately after those days.” It will be after the cosmic upheaval and turmoil of Jerusalem and Rome (vs. 29b) that verse 30 occurs. Verse 30 begins with a continuing phrase “then will appear…” So verses 29 and 30 are connected in time (immediately, after, then). Second, verse 30 contains a clear allusion to Daniel 7:13, 14 which speak of the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven to the Ancient of days to receive an everlasting dominion and an indestructible kingdom. Verse 30 speaks of the visibility of the “sign of the Son of Man.” It will be seen “in heaven.” Jesus also alludes to Daniel 7:13 and 14 in two other very powerful statements: Matt.16:28 and 26:64. Those addressed by Jesus in these passages will presently see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom, seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven. In all three of these clear allusions to Daniel, these passages speak of the coming of the Son of Man as visible, with power and taking place within their lifetime.

Daniels’ vision is important because this coming is a coming to God in heaven and not coming to earth. Matthew’s passages are enthronement passages. It is also significant that, in verse 30, the word “coming” is not the word parousia which is the word in verse 37. You will remember that in verse 27 Jesus used the wordparousia to distance the events of A.D. 70 from his future coming which we find in verse 36 and onward. This is so very important to grasp. The judgment of Jerusalem is a manifestation and vindication of Jesus enthroned in glory and power (see the same idea in Isaiah 19:1). The enemies of Jesus are the leadership of Israel who reject him and thus the kingdom is taken from them (Israel) and given to another people (Matt. 21:41–45). The witnesses to Jesus’ enthronement and judgment are the “tribes of the earth” who mourn.

And why do they mourn? This is a fulfillment of Zechariah 12:10–14: “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” (Zech. 12:10). The “looking on him whom they have pierced”is fulfilled in John 19:37 at the Cross: “And again another Scripture says, ‘They will look on him whom they have pierced.’” The “tribes of the earth” should be taken as a reference to tribes of the land (Israel) because of Zechariah 12:12: “The land shall mourn, each family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves.” In the Zechariah 12 passage this remorse seems genuine enough in the light of the rejection of the promised messianic figure from Zechariah 11:4–14, and in the rejection of the shepherd in Zechariah 13:7–9. In Matthew then, the mourning is by the tribes of the land (not the earth—the word “earth” in Matthew 24:30 also means land) because they have rejected the enthroned and vindicated Son of Man and now are going to suffer the consequences (A.D. 70). So, this coming of the Son of Man in verse 30 refers to the glorious enthronement and exaltation of Jesus due to his achievements at the Cross.

But what about the phrase in verse 30: “the sign of the Son of man in heaven”? Some commentators see the phrase as being, “the sign which is the Son of Man in heaven.” In this case, Jesus as the Son of Man is the sign himself. If, on the other hand, it is a sign about Jesus or that belongs to Jesus, then the phrase “in heaven”needs to be examined. “In heaven” points to location surely. The sign will be “in heaven.” Since we must take verse 30 in its entirety, this verse is about Jesus as the Son of Man enthroned and vindicated. So what will the tribes of the land see? Certainly not something in heaven or the sky, but something taking place physically on earth. And what is it that takes place on earth? It is the destruction of the temple and the reign of the Son of Man seen by the ingathering of his elect (vs. 31). It is the end of the old covenant (its temple, sacrifices ceremonies and priesthood) and all that it represents, and the inauguration of a new covenant. The sign is not a precursor to some event that must take place, but is the guarantee that the event has taken place. It is the manifestation of Jesus seated at God’s right hand in power and in the exercise of that divine authority.

One of the disciple’s questions back in verse 3 was “what will be the sign of your coming (parousia)?” But Jesus gives no sign about his parousia, because it will be sudden and without warning (vv. 27; 36–44). In the early part of Matthew 24, Jesus urged his disciples not to see the current signs swirling about them as the actual end of Jerusalem. The end was not yet. Indeed, signs and wonders would be the work of false prophets and false christs (vs. 24). Only when they saw the “abomination of desolation” should they take note that the end of Jerusalem was approaching. The sign of the Son of Man in heaven is simply the evidence of what Jesus had accomplished.

As a result of this the elect will be will be gathered in from all over the world through the heavenly work of angelic beings (vs. 31; also Matt. 13:39, 41, 42, 49, 50). Their conversion will be the supernatural work of the new birth by the Spirit. And these people must be alert for the Second Coming of Jesus (vv. 36–25:46), but for the disciples and their contemporaries (“this generation”), they would see “all these things” mentioned in verses 4 through 35.