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What is “the sign?”

“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:30-1.

So, what is that sign? Could it mean the sign that the Son of man is in heaven and not a vision of Him coming from heaven? The sign that the Son of man is in heaven refers to Jesus’s statement to His accusers in Matthew 26:64: “Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” In other words, Jesus knew that after He was executed, resurrected and ascended to heaven, He would have all power in heaven and on earth to destroy His enemies and His church’s enemies.

The Greek word for earth can be translated “land,” as in the land of Israel. See, for example, the words of Matthew 2:6: “And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda.” It is used that way in the New Testament 42 times. Where else do you find tribes in the bible? The twelve tribes of Israel might ring a bell. Did the tribes of the land of Israel mourn? You betcha! Their land, their government, their temple, their way of life was being taken away from them, and for those who had not accepted Christ and His Kingdom in place of the Old, it was unendurable.

If the leaders who conspired to put Jesus to death were to see the Son of man “sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven,” how would that happen? Would the Lord keep them alive for thousands of years? They wouldn’t need to actually see Him in heaven. Wouldn’t they simply need to see the effects of His rulership? How would Christ’s rulership in the most powerful position in the universe be evidenced? Perhaps in His defending His people? Would He come with the clouds of heaven as the avenging God of the Old Covenant standing for His truth and His saints?

He would destroy those who fought to keep the old, dying covenant alive, and He would stand on behalf of those who gave their lives for the gospel. It happened. In 70 AD, those who fought for the old covenant gave their lives, and the physical temple was destroyed. And the church of the new covenant grew, and those who died were replaced by more and more until the church took over the society. And the old Roman Empire, which had died in heart, had nowhere to turn but the church for a reason to continue. The church didn’t win by military might, even though Constantine won great battles; it won by overwhelming the society with a new way of life and faith and truth long before Constantine took to the battlefield. Christ had won long before that. The bankrupt Roman society had nowhere else to turn but the church, which was building the hospitals, adopting the orphans, and providing a new way of faith for all who believed.

So, if Christ fought for His saints to the point of utterly annihilating them in 70 AD, will He fight for them now? Is He still on the most powerful throne in the universe? Does He still uphold the Word of the living God, His Father? If we stand for His word, will He stand with us? Then why do you think that compromise is what will keep us going? You give up His word, like a fearful noble give up land or accepts payments from the King trying to take over their lands. You’re living for yourself, not the King who rightfully owns everything, and whose word should rule all of life.

If we stand for Christ now in the areas that have been taken over by the enemy, like the political realm, we might lose personally, but we will win eternally and in time on earth. He who rides the white horse will come to our aid and either convert our enemies to light, life and truth or destroy them with the sword coming out of His mouth. Revelation 19:11-21. In this way, we continue to show the “sign of the son of man in heaven.” Why? Because we show He still reigns with total power to confirm His Father’s word.