When the Son of Man Appears
In those days, right after that time of suffering,
“The sun will become dark,
and the moon will no longer shine.
The stars will fall, and the powers in the sky will be shaken.”
Then the Son of Man will be seen coming in the clouds with great power and glory. He will send his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the earth.A Lesson from a Fig Tree
Learn a lesson from a fig tree. When its branches sprout and start putting out leaves, you know summer is near. So when you see all these things happening, you will know that the time has almost come. You can be sure that some of the people of this generation will still be alive when all this happens. The sky and the earth will not last forever, but my words will.
No One Knows the Day or Time
No one knows the day or the time. The angels in heaven don’t know, and the Son himself doesn’t know. Only the Father knows. So watch out and be ready! You don’t know when the time will come. It is like what happens when a man goes away for a while and places his servants in charge of everything. He tells each of them what to do, and he orders the guard to keep alert. So be alert! You don’t know when the master of the house will come back. It could be in the evening or at midnight or before dawn or in the morning. But if he comes suddenly, don’t let him find you asleep. I tell everyone just what I have told you. Be alert!
Mark 13:24-37
A few thoughts:
What amazes me is the amount of speculation about the ‘End Times’ that is published and bought, despite these words of Jesus.
I realise that these authors are responding to the parable of the fig tree. “Read the signs”, Jesus says. Maybe it’s good that somewhere in the people of God someone is checking to see if we’re getting signs that the end is nigh.
However it seems to me that Jesus says time and time again that all will be surprised by the end of the age. Jesus appears to be talking about cosmic shaking here – not just tidal waves, global warming and earthquakes.
And what about Jesus’ assertion that people of ‘this generation’ will still be alive when it all happens? Maybe it just goes to show how true his words were, that even he didn’t know the life expectancy of the earth. I’ve seen some authors interpret ‘this generation’ as the generation that is associated with the return of Israel or the tribulation. I don’t think so.