Coming
on the clouds of heaven
Scripture:-
26 “So if anyone tells you,
‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the
inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east
is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a
carcass, there the vultures will gather. 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.’30 “Then will appear the
sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of
Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great
glory. 31 And he will send his
angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his
elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32 “Now learn this lesson
from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you
know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all
these things, you know that it[e] is near, right at the
door. 34 Truly I tell you, this
generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will
pass away, but my words will never pass away. Matthew 24:26-35
Observation:
The Lord had prophesied of the initial signs
of the false Christs, the earthquakes, the plagues, the wars and rumors of
wars. Next would come the worldwide persecution of Christians and the resulting
falling away of most from the faith because of it. Now comes the seventh seal
spoken of in the book of Revelation, the Lord’s Second coming itself. And these
are the signs accompanying His coming. Firstly, the sun will be darkened and
the moon will not give its light. This seems to indicate an unprecedented
eclipse of the sun that will cause a heavenly blackout. Secondly, the stars
will fall from the sky. We are familiar with shooting stars, asteroids that
come from space and fall onto the earth. Here we will probably be seeing
meteors and asteroids falling upon the earth on an unprecedented scale.
Thirdly, the heavenly bodies will be shaken. Study of Astronomy shows that the
interaction of gravity between the sun and the earth and the other planets are
beautifully aligned to hold all the heavenly bodies in their current places.
The emergence of a new black hole or a large scale asteroid shower could easily
upset completely the delicate order of the planets and stars as they are. Only
a slight deviation in the rotation of the earth could cause life itself to
become extinct on our planet.
On the earth itself, there will be a great
earthquake as mentioned many times in other Scriptures. Against this backdrop,
we will see the sign of Jesus Christ in Heaven, for He will come on the clouds
of heaven, with power and great glory. Against the darkest night, His glory
will certainly shine most glorious, and everyone will know that He is truly the
Son of God.
Strong and glorious in the air, the Lord
will then call His angels to gather His elect from the 4 winds. Who is the
elect? Throughout the New Testament, the term for elect refers to true
Christian believers, Jew or Gentile. The elect gathered here consist of true
Christians still living at that time and also the dead Christians who would
come back to life in the first resurrection.
This gathering into the air is thus, the
precise point when the “Rapture” will happen. Note that this happens “after the
distress of those days”. Therefore, it is after the Great Tribulation, not
before as often inferred to by pre-tribulationists.
The Lord then closes off this prophecy by
declaring how this generation of mankind will certainly not pass away before
these things have happened, and how although heaven and earth will pass away,
His words will never pass away.
Application:-
Remember clearly and absolutely that we are
not to believe anyone who tells us that Christ is here or there. When Christ
comes, it will be in power and glory in the skies, and everyone will know for
themselves for sure.
All the peoples of the earth will mourn at
the Lord’s coming because they were not prepared, and they had made the wrong
choice, putting their allegiance with the Beast and thus would share in its
accursed faith. We have been warned beforehand through this prophecy so that we
have no excuse. We must wait for the Lord to come, no matter what trouble or
hardship we must face before that. Here’s where faith comes in, for we can only
believe that this will happen although it has yet to do so. We really need to
pray to God to increase our faith and maintain our faithfulness to Him.
Many are called, but few are chosen
(elected). How do we know we are part of the elect? If we have Christ in us, we
certainly are. Do we have a close relationship with the Lord? Do we love Him?
Do we know that we are dearly loved? The Lord knows His own. If we know we
belong to Him, we can be assured that we are part of the Elect.
Praise the Lord that His Words are forever
and they will never pass away. Let us endeavor to read and know His Word and
let it assimilate within us, that it may change us, strengthen us and motivate
us.
Prayer
We thank You, Lord, for Your great prophecy
and for giving us great hope. We thank You, Lord, that we can view all things
in perspective to the greatness and certainty of Your second coming. As
prophecy is fulfilled before our eyes, we become more and more assured that
Your Word will come true in every manner and form. Even in the midst of
tribulation, give us Your strength and perseverance that we may overcome. How
we need You, Lord. We thank You for Your promise that You would be with us
always, to the very end of the age.
We thank You, Lord, for calling us, for
choosing us, for drawing us to You. Let us always remain in Your presence O
Lord, always faithful to Your name. We thank You, Lord, that Your Words are
forever, unfailing and true. Strengthen us and help us Lord we pray, even as we
approach the end time events to come. In Jesus name, Amen.
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