“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”
(Matthew 24:29,30)
The verse 29, describes the signs before the « coming, » not the « presence, » of the Son of Man. According to verse 30, it will be King Jesus Christ who will come, this time in a visible way, through a worldwide vision, to settle accounts with all of humanity (Matthew 25:31-46). The rest of this study provides specific indications that we are in this brief period of signs before the (visible), the sign of the Son of man in heaven.
« 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 » (Matthew 24:29): Since the biginning of this period, there have been exceptional heavenly and atmospheric phenomena that have brought humanity into a reality never observed since then. The expression « Immediately after the tribulation of those days », seems to indicate a break in the prophetic narrative of Jesus Christ, which this time describes events which would announce the nearness of the end and the great tribulation.
By reading Matthew 24:4-22, from the beginning of the presence of Christ, in 1914 CE (option retained by the editorial line of this biblical site), to the great tribulation (in the second fulfillment, at the global scale), this period is relatively long, it is currently more than 110 years.
Furthermore, when Jesus Christ begins his description, from verses 4 to 6, it is written: « For these things must take place, but the end is not yet ». So that an observer of the events at the beginning of the presence of Christ, during the first and then the second world war, even until the beginning of the cold war, he was relatively further from the imminence of the end (the great tribulation). It would be in the time described in verses 4 to 6, see 7 and 8, where again, Jesus Christ said: « All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress » (Matthew 24:8).
Then after the description of these dramatic events, which would demonstrate the beginning of the presence of Christ (reigning as King, in the midst of his enemies (Psalms 2)) and which would announce the end of this system of things, in Matthew 24:4-28, this time, Jesus Christ begins to describe world events which would announce the nearness of the end or the great tribulation. This time, in addition to quoting Matthew 24:29-31, there will be a presentation of parallel quotes to this same description, in Mark and Luke. The description in Mark’s Gospel is quite similar to Matthew’s; however, regarding Luke’s Gospel, there are other, complementary descriptive details:
“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).
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)…
Regarding the historical moment of the entry into the period of Matthew 24:29, it could be the end of 1990 and the beginning of 1991, during the first Gulf War. It was during this period that the American president, George Bush (the father), proclaimed the beginning of the globalist era, the New World Order. It was during this same time that the UN issued Resolution 666 (along with other Resolutions related to the first Gulf War (660, 661, 662, 664, 665, 666, 667, 669, 670, 674, 677 and 678)). Resolution No. 666 legislates on how to proceed with the embargo decreed by Resolution 661, stipulating that the humanitarian needs of the countries concerned (Iraq-Kuwait) must be taken into account at the same time. Resolution 666 concerns the rules governing embargoes, quite similar to what is written in Apocalypse (Revelation) (13:16-18):
“It puts under compulsion all people—the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free and the slaves—that these should be marked on their right hand or on their forehead, 17 and that nobody can buy or sell except a person having the mark, the name of the wild beast or the number of its name. 18 This is where it calls for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the number of the wild beast, for it is a man’s number, and its number is 666” (Apocalypse 13:16-18).
For more information, you can consult the Revelation book study page, under the subtitle « The image of the wild beast and its number 666 » and the page entitled « The Proclamation of Peace and Security and the New World Order (1 Thessalonians 5:3) ».
The beginning of the period mentioned in First of all, the texts of Matthew and Luke have two distinct parts which concern two stages which will lead to the great tribulation:
1 – “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” (Matthew 24:29).
2 – “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 24:30,31).
1 – “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” (Luke 21:25,26).
2 – “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 21:27,28).
Description number 1 from Matthew and Luke would correspond to the period which began in 1990/1991, and from which the wicked generation would not pass away and which would culminate in events number 2, which would very shortly precede the great tribulation (Matthew 24:34). Let us focus on events number 1, from Matthew and Luke.
Description number 1
“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” (Matthew 24:29).
“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” (Luke 21:25,26).
These descriptions are so aberrant that the first reaction might be to say that at no time since 1990/1991 has humanity witnessed such supernatural events, described prophetically by Jesus Christ. Still others would be tempted to give only a spiritual interpretation, seeing in this description only a symbolic aspect. If we read these two descriptions, seemingly surreal, at first glance, understanding that Jesus Christ describes events through the prism of human perception, then we can realize that currently, they are happening under our eyes. For example, when Jesus Christ said that « stars » would fall on the earth, it is obvious that these are not the stars or planets of the universe, but rather points of light, with the size of the luminosity of the stars which would penetrate our earthly atmosphere, and which for some would reach the ground. Likewise, for the luminosity of the sun and the moon, certain exceptional cataclysmic events occurring on earth could change the perception of the luminosity of these stellar bodies.
The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light: the factors which could seriously obscure the luminosity of the sun, both day and night, for several days, are the very numerous cataclysmic fires, volcanic eruptions which have sometimes paralyzed air traffic, sandstorms, the increase in pollution of large cities which creates fog…
The stars will fall from heaven: it may be an increase in the number of meteorites falling on earth. Added to this, is a factor that did not exist at the time of Christ, the regular fall of thousands of pieces of space debris, and sometimes even old satellites…
The powers of the heavens will be shaken: these may be cataclysmic weather phenomena which would increase in number and intensity, due to global warming observed since the 1970s. This climatic warming causes extreme and opposite weather phenomena, in different places in the world, but sometimes in the same geographical location, such as droughts, followed by deadly floods, or even an increase in cyclones (or typhoons and hurricanes) and tornadoes…
On the earth anguish of nations not knowing the way out because of the roaring of the sea and its agitation: this may be an increase in particularly deadly tsunamis. For example, the tsunami of December 26, 2004, in Indonesia, left 250,000 people dead or missing in a dozen countries on different continents. March 11, 2011, the Fukushima tsunami, 18,000 dead. This tsunami worried all nations, because the waves and numerous debris blocked the cooling systems of the nuclear power plant reactors. This caused a major nuclear disaster, with hydrogen accumulation explosions damaging three reactors and causing major radioactive pollution.
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.
Description number 2
“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 24:30,31).
“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 21:27,28).
These are future events that will shortly precede the end or the great tribulation. This time, the coming of King Jesus Christ will be visible to the entire world population. It will shock many of them, as it is written: “All the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation”. While another part of humanity will lift up their heads, seeing their deliverance approaching. Matthew chapter 25 is much more explicit about what will happen. According to Matthew 25:1-30, King Jesus Christ will settle accounts with the members of the worldwide Christian congregation, both on an individual level and at the level of the Christian administrators. According to Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus Christ will come to judge humanity as a whole, shortly before the great tribulation. The gathering of chosen ones to survive the great tribulation concerns both the remnant of the 144,000 on earth, who will have everlasting life in heaven, which should number 7,000 people (number of the earthly remnant) according to Apocalypse 7:1-8 and 11:11-13, and the great crowd of all nations who will survive, for everlasting life on earth, according to Apocalypse 7:9-17.
The text of Matthew 24:36-44 shows that at the time of the end, of the great tribulation, there will be a selection between humans who will be « taken » and others who will be « abandoned »: « Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father. For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. For as they were in those days before the Flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they took no note until the Flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken along and the other abandoned. Two women will be grinding at the hand mill; one will be taken along and the other abandoned. Keep on the watch, therefore, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. “But know one thing: If the householder had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have kept awake and not allowed his house to be broken into. On this account, you too prove yourselves ready, because the Son of man is coming at an hour that you do not think to be it » (Matthew 24:36-44).
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