Mark 13:24 - Meaning and Application

These verses seem to point to Christ’s second coming, when he will judge the world. In their question, the disciples had mixed up the destruction of Jerusalem with the end of the world (Matthew 24:3). They had assumed, wrongly, that the temple must stand as long as the world itself stands. Christ corrects that mistake and shows that the end of the world, the other days they were asking about, the day of Christ’s coming, and the day of judgment will come after that time of trouble, not at the same time.

So let those who live to see the Jewish nation destroyed take care. They should not think that, because the Son of Man does not visibly come in the clouds then, he will never come that way. No, he will come after that. Christ then foretells three things.

First, he foretells the final breakdown of the present form of the world, even of the part that seems least likely to change, the upper and more refined part. The sun will be darkened, and the moon will no longer give its light, because they will be completely outshone by the glory of the Son of Man (Isaiah 24:23). The stars of heaven, which from the beginning have kept their places and their regular movement, will fall like leaves in autumn. The powers in the heavens, meaning the heavenly bodies, the fixed stars, will be shaken.

Second, he foretells the visible appearing of the Lord Jesus, to whom the judgment of that day will be given (Mark 13:26). Then people will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds. It is likely he will come over the very place where he sat when he said this, since clouds are in the lower part of the air. He will come with great power and glory, fitting for the work he comes to do. Every eye will then see him.

Third, he foretells the gathering together of all the elect to himself (Mark 13:27). He will send his angels and gather his chosen people to him, to meet him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). They will be brought from one end of the world to the other, so that none will be missing from that great assembly. They will be gathered from the farthest part of the earth, farthest from the place where Christ’s court will be set, and brought to the farthest part of heaven. Their transport will be so sure, so swift, and so easy that none of them will be lost, even though they are brought from the farthest edge of the earth on one side to the farthest edge of heaven on the other. A faithful Israelite will be carried safely, even if it is from the farthest border of the land of bondage to the farthest border of the land of promise.