Jesus Christ spoke these words of encouragement to his disciples, who would experience the extraordinary events preceding the « sign of the Son of Man »—events occurring « immediately after the tribulation of those days » (Matthew 24:29). We are clearly living through this period of unfolding, extraordinary current events that Jesus Christ described in Luke (21:25–28) and Matthew (24:29–31). The title reflects only the last part of his encouragement; here is the full quote: « But as these things start to occur, stand up straight and lift up your heads, because your deliverance is getting near » (Luke 21:28). What are these things that are « beginning » to come to occur?
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet sound, and they will gather his chosen ones together from the four winds, from one extremity of the heavens to their other extremity” (Matthew 24:29-31).
“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling out of heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and will gather his chosen ones together from the four winds, from earth’s extremity to heaven’s extremity” (Mark 13:24-27).
“Also, there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth anguish of nations not knowing the way out because of the roaring of the sea and its agitation. People will become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But as these things start to occur, stand up straight and lift up your heads, because your deliverance is getting near” (Luke 21:25-28).
Summary of the key events immediately preceding
the Sign of the Son of Man
1 – The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.
2 – Anguish of nations not knowing the way out because of the roaring of the sea and its agitation.
3 – The stars will be falling out of heaven.
4 – The powers that are in the heavens will be shaken.
The current generation—witnessing the extraordinary events unfolding before its eyes—will not pass away before all these things take place, including, of course, the Sign of the Son of Man, which will mark the end of this system of things through the great tribulation (Matthew 24:32-35).
You can examine the first four main events by clicking on their hyperlinks to access the study page. The fifth point concerns people who do not know what is happening and do not understand the significance of these events.
People will become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth
People will become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth: given the many cataclysms mentioned above, people feel great anguish, seeing that the politicians of their respective countries do not find solutions to prevent and protect their people from these cataclysms. Added to the global spread of the military virus, from the P4 laboratories in the Chinese city of Wuhan, on November 16, 2019, and the lethal experimental injection, which followed and which plunged all of humanity into a great torpor.
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Which generation is it?
We have seen that in a way, the year 1914 is a historical landmark in time, showing that we are in the period announcing the end of this system of things. Therefore, what is the other historical landmark, that would allow us to understand that we have entered into the period mentioned by Jesus Christ, by the expression « Immediately after the tribulation of those days », of Matthew 24:29 or “But in those days, after that tribulation”, from Mark 13:24? (In the explanations that follow, the conditional tense is mentioned in the mind that the presentation is not made in a dogmatic spirit, to impose a single way of thinking).
Before giving an answer, it is appropriate to read what Jesus Christ said after describing this period, very close to the end (the sign of the Son of man and after, the great tribulation). In fact, he sets the limits in terms of length of time: « Now learn this illustration from the fig tree: Just as soon as its young branch grows tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near. Likewise, also you, when you see all these things, know that he is near at the doors. Truly I say to you that this generation will by no means pass away until all these things happen. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:32-35).
The « generation » represents contemporaries who are currently seeing the signs before the vision of King Jesus Christ in the heavens, and not the people who lived through the early signs mentioned in Matthew 24:4-8, who are almost all dead.
In all of Christ’s statements that contain the word « generation, » it has no chronological value that would allow us to roughly estimate its duration. The word « generation, » as used by Jesus Christ, refers to the contemporaries who lived during his time. Moreover, when he used this word, it had a negative connotation. The word « generation, » in the teachings of Jesus Christ, means the contemporaries of wicked men:
“With whom will I compare this generation? It is like young children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to their playmates, 17 saying: ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance; we wailed, but you did not beat yourselves in grief.’ 18 Likewise, John came neither eating nor drinking, but people say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of man did come eating and drinking, but people say, ‘Look! A man who is a glutton and is given to drinking wine, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ All the same, wisdom is proved righteous by its works” (Matthew 11:16-19; 12:38-45; 16:4; 17:17; 23:33-36, compared with 24:34).
There is no doubt that these prophetic words, of the wicked generation which would not pass away, were fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E. The beginning of Christ’s first visible presence began in the year 29 CE. The destruction of Jerusalem took place in 70 CE. So that this period, at that time, was approximately 40 years. Thus, some of the Jews, of this wicked generation, maybe directly or indirectly responsible for the death of Jesus Christ, who lived in those days, experienced the judgment of the destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 27:25). This valuable information allows us to understand that this short period, which would precede the great tribulation (from Matthew 24:29), which has already begun, should fall within this timeframe (time will tell)…
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What deliverance is this?
It refers to everlasting salvation, to reach everlasting life: « But the one who has endured to the end will be saved » (Matthew 24:13). Everlasting life, whether in heaven or on earth. Jesus Christ told his apostles that he would prepare a dwelling for them: « In the house of my Father are many dwelling places. Otherwise, I would have told you, for I am going my way to prepare a place for you » (John 14:2). The heavens and the earth are part of God’s house, and Jesus Christ will prepare a dwelling for each of the humans he has chosen, whether it be in heaven or on earth (Revelation 14:1-5; 21:1-4).
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