Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 24:29

"But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:" — Matthew 24:29 (ASV)

Immediately after the tribulation of those days — From this point onward, the prophecy takes a wider range, passing beyond the narrow limits of Jerusalem's destruction to the final coming of the Son of Man. The one event is presented as immediately following the other, and no different meaning could have been found in the words when they were first heard or read.

The “days” in this verse are those that were shortened for the elect’s sake (Matthew 24:22). The “tribulation” can be none other than that of Matthew 24:21, which was emphatically connected with the flight from the besieged city. The language of Mark, in those days, after that tribulation, followed by a description of the second coming identical in substance with Matthew’s, brings the two events into even closer juxtaposition.

How are we to explain the fact that more than eighteen centuries have now passed, and the promise of His coming still tarries? A partial answer is that God’s measurements of time are not like ours, for with Him a thousand years are as one day (2 Peter 3:8). Another part of the answer is that something in God’s nature corresponds to how a person might modify a plan, sometimes postponing and sometimes hastening the unfolding of His purpose.

However, what may seem the boldest answer is also, in this writer's judgment, the truest and most reverential. Of that day and hour knew no man... not even the Son (Mark 13:32), but the Father only (Matthew 24:36). Therefore, because Christ was truly human and had graciously consented to accept the limitations of knowledge inherent in human nature, He speaks of these two events in the way poets and prophets speak of the distant future.

Just as people gazing from a distance see the glittering peaks of two snow-capped mountains as if they were close together, taking no account of the vast valley that may lie between them, so it was for the Apostles and their immediate disciples. Their thinking was shaped by this prediction, and though they were conscious of their ignorance of the times and the seasons, they lived and died expecting the end was near, believing they might, by prayer and action, hasten its coming (2 Peter 3:12). (See the note on Matthew 24:36).

Shall the sun be darkened — These words reproduce the imagery Isaiah used to describe the day of the Lord’s judgment upon Babylon (Isaiah 13:10), and they may naturally receive the same symbolic interpretation. Our Lord speaks here in language as essentially apocalyptic as that of the Revelation of John (Revelation 8:12), and the very nature of such language precludes a literal interpretation. Even common speech describes a time of tribulation as one in which “the skies are dark” and “the sun of a nation’s glory sets in gloom.” The language of Isaiah, John, and our Lord is simply an expansion of that familiar parable. Sun, moon, and stars may represent, as many have thought, kingly power, the spiritual influence embodied by the Church, and the illuminating power of those who shine as lights in the world (Philippians 2:15). But even this interpretation is perhaps too precise and technical; the words are better left in their dim and terrible vagueness.

The powers of the heavens — It should be noted that these are distinguished from the “stars.” They may be taken as the apocalyptic expression for the laws or “forces” that keep the moon and stars in their appointed courses. The phrase is found only in the parallel passages in Mark and Luke.