Jesus proceeded to explain to His disciples that His coming would terminate the Great Tribulation.
24:23-24 "Then"means "at that time,"namely at the end of the Great Tribulation (v. 2). Jesus warned the disciples about people who would claim that Messiah had returned toward the end of the Tribulation before He really did return. People professing to be the Messiah and others claiming to be prophets will arise and mislead many people because of their ability to perform impressive miracles (cf. v. 11; 7:21-23; 16:1; Luke 17:23-24; Rev. 13:15). Evidently Satan will enable them to perform these signs and wonders.
"While false Christs and false prophets have always been in evidence, they will be especially prominent at the end of the age in Satan's final attempt to turn people from faith in Christ."893
"If possible"(Gr. ei dynaton, v. 24) means the false prophets will hope to mislead the elect living in the Tribulation. It does not mean that the elect will inevitably remain true to the faith. Jesus had already said that some of His disciples would abandon the truth under persecution (vv. 10-11; cf. 26:31). However the elect will not lose their salvation.
24:25 Jesus reminded His disciples that He had forewarned them about these impostors (cf. Mark 13:1-37; Luke 21:5-36). They would need to be very careful so they will not dupe them.
The disciples Jesus addressed undoubtedly thought they would be alive when these things happened. However that was not to be the case, and Jesus said nothing to mislead them. He was teaching disciples of His in the years to come as well as those sitting in His presence in this discourse as well as in His others.
24:26-27 Jesus' point in these verses was that His coming would be obvious to all rather than obscure. When He came, everyone would know it. Consequently the disciples would not need to fear missing the event, and they should not react to every rumor that it was happening. His coming would be as obvious as a flash of lightning that covers the heavens (Zech. 9:14). It would be a public event, not something private that only the disciples or some small group would witness.
24:28 This appears to have been a well-known proverbial saying (cf. Luke 17:37). One view of its meaning is that Jesus meant that the false Messiahs and the false prophets were similar to vultures (vv. 24, 26). They would be trying to pick the corpse of a dead Israel clean for their own advantage when Jesus returned.894This is a possibility in view of the context. Another view is that the corpse refers to Christ and the vultures are God's children gathered to feed on Him.895However the idea of feeding on Christ is foreign to the context, and the comparison of Him to carrion is unappealing. Other interpreters take Jesus' illustration to mean that "signs as visible and indicative [as vultures gathering to a carcass] will herald the reality of the Parousia."896This seems closer to the meaning. Another writer paraphrased the verse as follows to give another interpretation.
". . . just as when life has abandoned a body, and it becomes a corpse, the vultures immediately swoop down upon it; so when the world has become rotten with evil, the Son of Man and His angels will come to execute the divine judgment."897
A similar view is that Israel is the corpse in view.898This view seems most probable to me. Still another view is that the figure emphasizes the swiftness of Messiah's coming.899However the repulsive character of vultures and carrion suggest more than just a swift coming. Furthermore vultures do not always arrive and devour carrion swiftly.
24:29 This verse and the following two give a positive description of Messiah's coming. "But"(NASB, Gr. de) introduces the contrast from the negative warning that preceded. Immediately following the Great Tribulation there will be signs in the sky. The sun and moon will darken and the stars will fall from the sky (Isa. 13:9-10; 34:4; Ezek. 32:7; Joel 2:31; 3:15; Amos 8:9; Rev. 6:12-14). This may be the language of appearance. The "powers of the heavens"(NASB) or the "heavenly bodies"(NIV) probably is a collective reference to the sun, moon, and stars.900However the descriptions of the Tribulation in the Book of Revelation suggest that God may fulfill these predictions literally.
24:30 What is the sign of the Son of Man? One very old interpretation is that it is the display of the cross in the sky.901This view has seemed fanciful to most interpreters. A popular view is that it will be a light and or a cloud similar to or perhaps identical with the Shekinah that will surround Jesus when He comes.902This seems most probable to me since Jesus evidently was referring to Daniel 7:13 when He said these words. Furthermore when Jesus ascended to heaven in a cloud an angel told His disciples that He would return the same way (Acts 1:11). The clouds symbolize the heavenly origin and character of the King (cf. 17:5).903A third view is that the sign will be the actual coming of Christ.904This view seems to provide no real answer to the question. Normally we would expect a sign to be something different from what it signifies.
Zechariah prophesied that all the tribes of Israel in the land would mourn in repentance (Zech. 12:12). Jesus identified this prediction with His coming and broadened it to include all the tribes of the earth.
24:31 Jesus explained another event that will happen when He returns at the end of the Tribulation. The passage He referred to was Isaiah 27:12-13. There Israel is in view, so Jesus must have been speaking about the gathering of Israelites again to the Promised Land at His second coming. The four winds refer to the four compass points. This regathering will involve judgment (13:39, 41; 24:40-41; 25:31; 2 Thess. 1:7-8). Jesus had previously spoken of the angels' role of assisting Him at this time (13:41; cf. 16:27). This regathering will set the stage for Messiah's worldwide reign.
God summoned the Israelites to march and to worship using trumpets during the wilderness wanderings and in the land (Exod. 19:16; 20:18; Jer. 4:5; et al.). This is not the same trumpet that will call Christians to heaven at the Rapture (1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Thess. 4:16). Other trumpets will sound announcing various other events in the future (cf. Rev. 8:2, 6, 13; 9:14; 11:15; et al.).905
"Those accepting the posttribulational view, that the rapture of the church and the second coming of Christ occur at the same time, tend to ignore the details of this discourse in the same fashion as the amillenarians do."906
The reference to Jesus gathering the elect from the sky may indicate that dead and raptured Christians are also in view.907They will accompany Him when He returns to reign on the earth (cf. Col. 3:4). This seems probable to me. Some interpreters believe the reference to the sky simply describes the whole world in different words and that only Jews are in view in this verse. Some feel this may include Old Testament saints who have died.908
This concludes Jesus' answer to the disciples' question about the sign of His coming and the end of the present age (v. 3).909
