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“Straightaway with the trauma of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall out of the sky, and the powers of the skies will be shaken. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will shine in the sky, and at that time all the people groupings of the earth will be divided, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather together in one his chosen from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Matthew 24: 29-35 |
I wonder how you would describe - in a sound-bite - the major world changes which occurred in 2017 and will occur in 2018. You’d have to use a metaphor wouldn’t you. Something like – “this year, there’ll be ups and downs; some will go up and stay up while others will go down and stay down.”
In the final few days before Jesus went to his death on a Roman cross in AD 30 in Jerusalem, Jesus also used a sound-bite metaphor (see bold above) to describe both world and personal changes which would take place after his death and resurrection. He said that, along with the trauma which would arise in the world and amongst its peoples “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall out of the sky, and the powers of the skies will be shaken.”
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‘It is becoming more and more obvious that it is not starvation, not microbes, not cancer, but man himself who is mankind’s greatest danger.’ (Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychiatrist, 1875-1961)
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We know only too well what he meant by trauma in all areas of life. But what do you think he meant when he spoke about the sun and moon and stars no longer giving light but, in fact, dark and falling?
The longer one lives the more one can recall folk who were luminaries – lights in the sky – but are now no more. The New Year’s Day Vienna Christmas Concert reminded all Strauss lovers of the Hapsburg Empire and its last monarch who was exiled to Switzerland in 1918. A centuries old dynasty fell from the sky.
This very day folk are watching what may be the beginning of the fall of a religious and political star – Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, along with his Islamic regime. His star ascended in 1979 when the lesser star of the Shah of Iran no longer shone.
But Jesus didn’t finish there. He added, “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will shine in the sky, and at that time all the people groupings of the earth will be divided, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather together in one his chosen from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. "
When this world’s luminaries – stars, suns and others in the skies above us – fall from their perches – do you think that the Son of Man might, maybe largely unseen, be gathering together a new people from all races, ethnic groups, nations and peoples? He cares more for them than the luminaries.
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‘Man is indeed lost, but that does not mean that he is nothing.’ (Francis Schaeffer, philosopher and pastor, 1912-1984)
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If so, what would be the real attraction of the Son of Man – of Jesus? What makes him so very special, so very glorious and so full of power? One could ask that question in another way: what makes Jesus so special compared with the sun, moon and stars in the heavens in our world today?
Whilst all of this world’s luminaries are obsessively self-seeking, openly or secretly. This Son of Man gave all that he had as the Son of God with His Father in heaven - so that others might be forgiven and might be changed from self-seeking to a love of Jesus and a love of others which transcends normal human life.
Jesus used a metaphor to close this part of his teaching on what may well have been his last hours before he was willingly, cruelly crucified by the luminaries of his day. He said, “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.” To see the Son of Man shine amongst the fall of autocratic luminaries is to see summer nearly here.
He also said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
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