And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
The Lord has been describing a world in terror — distress of nations, people fainting with fear, the powers of heaven shaken. Then comes a sight, and with it three questions: when is this "then," who are the "they," and why does He come as Son of Man?
The Lord has already spoken of the city's capture and of the long period of Gentile rule after it. This verse belongs to the end of that period, not to the siege long ago.
Next, He introduces the last days. "And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars." There was not a word of all this when He spoke of the siege and capture of the city under Titus. The Gentile domination is clearly not over yet. After it ends, there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and distress of nations. People will faint with fear, 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 — not when the Romans took the city long ago, but in the future crisis, when God gives these astonishing signs in heaven and on earth.
The Lord does not say "you will see." One writer takes the roaring sea as a picture rather than a bare event, and marks the change of pronoun.
The sea and the waves roaring — that expression shows, I think, that the words are figurative, though there may be portents too. And then they (not "you," but they, these proud, rebellious Gentiles) will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud.
Clouds appear all through Christ's going and coming. Scripture is careful about the small words it uses with them.
Christ is nowhere said to come with the clouds to gather His own. On the contrary, they go up in the clouds (1 Thessalonians 4:17). These are the royal carriages provided to carry us from earth to meet the Lord. The cloud of old was the well-known symbol of Jehovah's presence with His people (Exodus 13:21; 40:34-38; Luke 9:35). But notice, Christ is not only said to come in the clouds (Mark 13:26), but with them (Revelation 1:7), and on them (Matthew 24:30). The clouds that attend His coming are symbols of His majesty (Psalm 18:9-12). He sits on them as on His throne (Matthew 24:30). He ascended in a cloud (Acts 1:9), and will come in a cloud (Luke 21:27).
The title matters. It explains both why men treated Him with contempt and why judgment belongs to Him.
It is as Son of Man that the Lord Jesus will sit on the throne. No doubt He will show His divine knowledge in judging. But, as He says plainly, the Father has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is Son of Man. As Son of God He gives life; as Son of Man He will judge. How solemn! Had He been only Son of God, who would have dared to despise Him? It was His grace, then, in becoming man to save men that exposed Him to contempt in His path of lowly obedience and suffering in love. If they insulted Him in His work of grace, how will it be when He executes judgment, and this as Son of Man?
Scripture uses two words for the Lord's return. They do not cover the same ground.
The "coming" of the Lord means His presence, in contrast with His absence. It is a wide word. It reaches from what many of us call the "rapture" of the saints, to be "forever with the Lord," on through the interval that follows, until His appearing with His saints in glory. The word "coming" (parousia) takes in both thoughts. The "appearing" (epiphaneia) is the shining out of His coming, when He will be displayed in glory to the world. That word "coming" is often used for this event, the "appearing"; but this last word is never used for the "coming."
The same sight will not mean the same thing to everyone.
God will know how to trouble people's dreams and to break up Satan's ease. Their horror will reach its height at the sight of the rejected Lord, the Son of Man, coming in a cloud with power and glory. But there will be those on earth then — disciples tested by the evils of that day. For them, even the beginning of these troubles and the signs of change for the world will be the sure herald of deliverance.
- Then. The moment is still future. It comes after Gentile rule ends. The Lord said nothing of these signs when He described the siege under Titus.
- They. Not "you" but "they." The proud, rebellious nations will see Him come, not the disciples in front of Him.
- In a cloud. He went up in a cloud and returns in one. Scripture also says with the clouds and on them. They are symbols of His majesty, and long before they marked God's presence with His people.
- Son of Man. He judges under the very name in which He was despised; as Son of God He gives life, as Son of Man He executes judgment.
- Two reactions. The same sight brings horror to those who rejected Him. To tested believers it is the sure sign that deliverance is coming.
But when these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws nigh.
Jesus is describing the end of the age: nations in terror, and the Son of man coming in a cloud. At that very point He turns to His own with a command that reverses everything — "straighten up and raise your heads," or, as older translations put it, "look up and lift up your heads."
Roman armies did destroy Jerusalem, and some read the whole chapter that way. But one writer argues that this verse cannot belong to that event:
As though to rule out any chance of reading all this as the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, our Lord says, "when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near." He clearly distinguishes between "these things," which mark the close of the days of vengeance, and the other things which were to mark their beginning. The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans was surely no sign of approaching redemption!
The same events mean opposite things for two groups of people on the same earth:
God will know how to trouble men's dreams and to break up Satan's ease. Their horror will reach its peak at the sight of the rejected Lord, the Son of man, coming in a cloud with power and glory. But there will be others on earth then, disciples tried by the evils of that day. For them, even the beginning of these troubles and the signs of change for the world will be the sure herald of deliverance.
The Lord gives them a direction to look and a posture to hold:
We are to "look up," for the next movement that really counts is to come from the right hand of God, where He sits. We are to "lift up our heads," the opposite of hanging them down in depression or fear. The very things that frighten the world are to fill the believer with the confidence of holy expectation.
Heads droop for reasons every believer knows:
Much can make the head droop and the heart wither a little now: the power of temptation, sorrow of various kinds, seeing sin all around. But once the head is lifted up at the day of redemption, it is lifted up for ever.
One writer reads "your redemption" against the background of Israel's jubilee, the fiftieth year:
It is nothing but the work of the Lamb of God that can lead to any joy or deliverance among us. The precious blood is all our title. And so the jubilee and redemption are connected. When the Lord here says, "Your redemption draws near," He was looking out to this jubilee of Israel and the earth. The jubilee was God's redemption of His land and people. Suppose no kinsman could be found who was able or willing to do this beforehand. Then God Himself, in the fiftieth year, would use both His rights and His resources on behalf of His oppressed land and enslaved people.
So the coming of the Son of man is good news, not only terror:
The earth's destruction is not what is meant here. What is meant is the blessing that comes after the end of the age, when God ends the time of man's wickedness and misery and trouble and suffering. The coming of the Son of man is never linked with the end of the world in that sense. It is linked with the close of Satan's misrule and the shining out of the kingdom of God.
One writer sees two applications in the verse — one for Israel, one for us now:
Verse 28 can have its application both to the believing remnant of Israel in the time of the tribulation and to ourselves now. For the first application, their redemption will be the freeing power of the Son of Man. He will set Israel free from her ages of bondage. In the second case (taking place earlier) our redemption will be of our bodies at the Rapture (Rom. 8:23).
One writer draws out what such looking does to a life:
When you see these things, do not be disturbed, look up, do not look down, for your redemption draws near. I do not deny that dark times are coming. But may this only make us look up like Stephen, and see the glory that is also coming! This would separate us from all that is contrary to the purity, holiness, and love of the Lord Jesus.
- Begin — the signal is the beginning of the final signs, not the Roman siege. That older disaster announced no redemption at all.
- Look — look up, not down. The next move that counts comes from where Christ now sits.
- Lift — temptation and sorrow bend the head now; the day of redemption lifts it for ever.
- Redemption — a jubilee word. God Himself steps in for an enslaved land and people, and the Lamb's blood is the whole title.
- Result — the sights that terrify the world lift the believer. That hope separates the heart from all that is unlike Christ.