Matthew 24:3

Signs of the End of the Age

24:3 As ¹  he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things ²  happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

Matthew 24:27-31

24:27 For just like the lightning ³  comes from the east and flashes to the west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. 24:28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures ⁴  will gather. ⁵ 

The Arrival of the Son of Man

24:29 “Immediately ⁶  after the suffering ⁷  of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. ⁸  24:30 Then ⁹  the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, ¹⁰  and ¹¹  all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They ¹²  will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of heaven ¹³  with power and great glory. 24:31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven ¹⁴  to the other.

[24:3]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[24:3]  ² sn Because the phrase these things is plural, more than the temple’s destruction is in view. The question may presuppose that such a catastrophe signals the end.

[24:27]  ³ sn The Son of Man’s coming in power will be sudden and obvious like lightning. No one will need to point it out.

[24:28]  ⁴ tn The same Greek term can refer to “eagles” or “vultures” (L&N 4.42; BDAG 22 s.v. ἀετός), but in this context it must mean vultures because the gruesome image is one of dead bodies being consumed by scavengers.

[24:28]  ⁵ tn Grk “will be gathered.” The passive construction has been translated as an active one in English.

[24:29]  ⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[24:29]  ⁷ tn Traditionally, “tribulation.”

[24:29]  ⁸ sn An allusion to Isa 13:10, 34:4 (LXX); Joel 2:10. The heavens were seen as the abode of heavenly forces, so their shaking indicates distress in the spiritual realm. Although some take the powers as a reference to bodies in the heavens (like stars and planets, “the heavenly bodies,” NIV) this is not as likely.

[24:30]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[24:30]  ¹⁰ tn Or “in the sky”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context.

[24:30]  ¹¹ tn Here τότε (tote, “then”) has not been translated to avoid redundancy in English.

[24:30]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[24:30]  ¹³ sn An allusion to Dan 7:13. Here is Jesus returning with full authority to judge.

[24:31]  ¹⁴ tn Or “of the sky”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context.