What does the ‘sign of the Son of man in heaven’ in Matthew 24:30 denote? In broad terms, there are two ways to interpret the phrase. Firstly, that the coming of the Son of man in the clouds is the ‘sign of the Son of man’ and the phrase explains the sign, much like lightning is depicted as a sign in Matthew 24:27. Secondly, the sign is interpreted in terms of various objects that will precede the coming of the Son of man. What is the significance of the term, ‘the
Matthew 24:30
Some remarks about the apocalyptic discourse of the Gospel of Matthew are necessary to provide the context for the phrase in 24:30.
In all these cases, the simultaneity of heavenly and earthly events witnesses to the perception, mythically couched, that there is more to events than what appears. The physical actors and institutions are only the outer manifestation of a whole field of powers contending for influence. (Wink
The battle is against the spirituality of institutions, against the ideologies and legitimations that prop them up, against the greed and covetousness that give them life, and against the idolatry of individual egocentricities (Wink
The reference to the fig tree found in 24:32–35 is also connected with Jesus’ condemnation of the religious institution. He curses the fig tree in 21:18–22, with the fig tree associated in the Jewish mind with Israel as a symbol of God's people (cf. Hs 9:10; Nah 3:12). The parable explains that God expects his people to bear fruit in its time. The cursing of the fig tree is an acted parable
A second remark is that the prophetic material in the apocalyptic discourse refers to events not only at hand (as in the case of 24:2, 15–16), but also to those stretching far into the future (as in 24:14, 29–31; 25:6, 31–46).
The main emphasis in the apocalyptic discourse is the necessity that believers should always be on the alert, actively working to serve their Master's interests, and staying faithful to him and his orders, as demonstrated in 24:3, 23, 25, 42; and the entire 25.
Matthew 24:1–3 explains the setting for the discourse, with Jesus responding to his disciples’ amazement at the beauty of the temple by asserting that not one stone in the temple will be left in place, and the disciples’ question of when this will happen and what the sign of Jesus’ coming and of the end of the age would be (πότε ταῦτα ἔσται, καὶ τί τὸ σημεῖον τῆς σῆς παρουσίας καὶ συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος; 24:3). The disciples clearly identify the destruction of the temple with Jesus’ second coming, which they also identify with the end of the existing order (or age) (Blomberg
Matthew 24:4–14 contains Jesus’ answer, predicting the arrival of false Christs and false prophets, wars and rumours of wars, famines, earthquakes, persecution, apostasy, lawlessness, and the chilling of mutual love. These are the beginnings of the birth pangs (πάντα δὲ ταῦτα ἀρχὴ ὠδίνων), and the end is not yet. ὠδίνων should be interpreted in terms of its usage in the Hebrew Bible where it is used to refer to judgement and Israel's suffering, and especially the destruction of a city, and the city most frequently referred to is Jerusalem, likened to a woman in labour (cf. Is13:8; 26:17; 66:8–9; Mi 4:9–10; Hs 13:13; Jr 4:31; 6:24; cf. Rm 8:22).
With the preaching of the gospel in 24:14 as the first preliminary sign, τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως is the second sign (discussed in 24:15–29) occurring immediately before the appearance of the sign of the Son of man (24:29–30).
Following the distress of those days (τὴν θλῖψιν τῶν ἡμερῶν ἐκείνων) the heavenly bodies will act strangely (24:29) and then the sign that the disciples asked about in 24:3, τὸ σημεῖον τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, will appear (or manifest; cf. Mills
Believers should learn the lesson from the fig tree, namely that when its branch becomes tender people know the summer is near, and when believers see the events climaxed by the appearance of the desolating sacrilege they should know that the fall of Jerusalem and its temple is near (24:32–35).
Matthew 24:36–44 stress the necessity of being always ready because nobody knows when the day and hour of Jesus’ coming would be, as nobody knew when the flood would occur in Noah's day and the home-owner does not know when the thief would try to break into his home. Hagner (
Readiness means faithfulness, demonstrated by the parable of the faithful and the wicked or unfaithful servants in 24:45–51.
Christ's return should be awaited and believers must always be prepared for it, as demonstrated in the parable of the five foolish and five thoughtful girls (25:1–13).
The message about believers’ preparedness is reinforced by using a second parable, of the talents (25:14–30).
The coming of the Son of man is depicted again in 25:31–46 as a shepherd separating the sheep from the goats, and rewarding the righteous sheep with eternal life due to their loving service to Christ's brothers (ἑνὶ τούτων τῶν ἀδελφῶν μου τῶν ἐλαχίστων) whilst condemning the goats (εἰς κόλασιν αἰώνιον) because of their lack of this loving service.
At the time when desolating sacrilege will manifest in the temple, believers should be aware of persons claiming to be the Christ, for false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect (24:23–24). Whilst Jesus performed true signs in his Father's Name, the nations rejected Him (cf. Jn 12:37–41; Jackson
The distress of those days will be followed by the darkening of the sun and moon, stars falling from the sky and heavenly bodies being shaken, unusual signs deduced from Isaiah 13:10; 34:4; Amos 8:9 and Joel 2:31; 3:15–16 (Van Aarde
Matthew divides the
Immediately after the changes mentioned in 24:29, the sign of the Son of man shall be seen.
According to Matthew 12:38, some of the scribes and Pharisees request to see ‘a sign from you’ (θέλομεν ἀπὸ σοῦ σημεῖον ἰδεῖν). Jesus answers that an evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given except the sign of the prophet Jonah, who was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, illustrating how the Son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (12:39–40). This is repeated in Matthew 16, where the Pharisees and Sadducees ask him to show them a sign from heaven (ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν σημεῖον ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐπιδεῖξαι αὐτοῖς; 16:1). Jesus replies that the religious leaders know well how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but they cannot interpret the signs of the times. He concludes again that an evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given except the sign of Jonah (16:2–4). In Matthew 24:3 it is his disciples who ask him what the sign of his coming and of the end of the age will be (τί τὸ σημεῖον τῆς σῆς παρουσίας καὶ συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος). Jesus’ refusal to give a sign on the request of the religious authorities might indicate his unwillingness to indicate what precisely he means with the sign of the Son of man that will appear in heaven (24:30; Luz
Matthew usually deletes the adverb εὐθέως from his sources (Fuller
The phrase τὸ σημεῖον τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου is not found in Mark and Luke, who simply say, ‘And then they shall see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory’ (or: ‘in a cloud with power and great glory’). Why would Matthew add these words left out by Q and Mark? (Luz
Jesus already referred to signs that will precede his second coming; now he describes the last and greatest (Grosheide
Matthew's sign has been interpreted in different ways and the debate involves whether to take the genitive τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου as appositional or objective (Hagner
Taken in appositional sense, ‘the sign’ refers to the appearance of Christ himself in the clouds of heaven (2:12; 26:64 – ἀπʼ ἄρτι ὄψεσθε τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καθήμενον ἐκ δεξιῶν τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ ἐρχόμενον ἐπὶ τῶν νεφελῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ; Dn 7:13, 14), with power and glory, proving that he is the true Christ (or Messiah) and Judge of the whole world (in the sense of: the sign,
Taken in appositional sense, the sign has been taken by various researchers and commentators through the ages to refer to a variety of potential objects or events:
The almost universal interpretation of the Church Fathers and early commentators (like Chrysostom, Hilary, Jerome & Wordsworth – quotations and annotations in Lange & Schaff
‘Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven’, that is, the cross being brighter than the sun, since this last will be darkened, and hide himself, and that will appear when it would not appear, unless it were far brighter than the beams of the sun. (p. 24)
The cross characterises the Son of man, as the emblem of his humiliation and his triumph (Williams
The phrase is interpreted as no other than what is described in the preceding verse, in 24:29: ‘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’.
The sign refers to a star heralding Christ's second coming, as happened when a star announced Jesus’ birth to the wise men (2:2) (perhaps with reference to Nm 24:17). It is arbitrary to find the denotation of the sign in a star and there is nothing to support it, especially as the meaning of the star would not be directly intelligible to all readers (Williams
Since the apocalyptic words in 24:29 refer to what will happen at the Lord's return and echo Isaiah 13:10 and 34:4, which prophesy the fall of great political powers such as Babylon and Edom, the sign of 24:30 refers, according to Kapolyo (
As a banner or heavenly ensign it will introduce and accompany the appearance of the Son of man (cf. Isa 11:12; 18:3; 1
The sign is an appearance resembling a man that was seen in the Holy of Holies during the siege of Jerusalem, according to one of the many fables that originated around the destruction of the temple (Collins
Pfeiffer and Harrison (
It may be seen as a sign for the gathering of the elect (24:31; cf. Dt 30:4; Mt 13:41; Van Zyl
The sign may be seen as a prediction of the harbingers and forerunners of Christ's coming, giving notice of his approach, like a light shining before him and a devouring fire (Ps 50:3; 1 Ki 19:11–12), and beams coming out of his hand (Hab 3:4; Davies & Allison
It may refer to the New Jerusalem that will accompany the
Hendriksen (
Nolland's (
Matthew 24:29–31 is interpreted and translated by most commentators as if it were a description of the second coming in the future. However, a literal translation may also render, ‘
This argument, however, breaks down at the second part of verses 30 and 31:
the tribes of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other ...
presumably to offer them something more than this world can.
Blomberg (
When the people see the coming of the Son of man as clearly as a lightning bolt, they shall know unmistakably that he is about to appear in person, and they shall mourn (κόψονται, ‘shall beat the breast’; Weber
Whereas the cross shows that Christ died for people, the sign coming on the clouds shall show that he is judge and ruler over them (cf. Rv 1:7; 6:15–17). They shall see him (ὄψονται, echoing the preceding κόψονται).
The sign is followed by, or is the advent of Christ, who refers to himself as ‘the Son of man’. Bultmann (
The Son of man will come in the clouds. Some have taken
He will come μετὰ δυνάμεως καὶ δόξης πολλῆς, echoing Daniel 7:13–14 and quoted again in Matthew 26:64 and alluded to in 10:23 (Hagner
The phrase, ‘the sign of the Son of man’, can be understood in terms of an objective or appositional genitive, leading to two different ways to understand it. In its appositional sense, ‘the sign’ refers to the appearance of Christ himself in the clouds of heaven with power and glory, proving that he is the true Christ (or Messiah) and Judge of the whole world. In an objective sense the sign refers to a variety of potential objects and events: the cross of Christ manifesting in the heavens and accompanying the appearance of the Son of man, which is indeed the ensign and standard of the gospel; the darkening of the sun and the moon, the stars falling from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shaking; the lightning of 24:27; a star heralding his coming; the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; a final opportunity for conversion and faith; an appearance resembling a man seen in the Holy of Holies; a bright light, or a kind of
The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationship(s) that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.
Further references to Matthew will be indicated only by chapters and verses.
DeSilva (
Some researchers divide Matthew 23 and 24 and rather talk of six discourses in Matthew. However, the link between 23 and 24 consists in Jesus’ controversy with the scribes and Pharisees as representatives of the official Jewish religious institution ending in his condemnation of them as serpents and a brood of vipers that will not be able to escape being condemned to hell (23:33), and his admonishment of Jerusalem as the city that kills prophets and stones those who are sent to it: ‘Your house will be deserted’ (23:38). The next chapter contains Jesus’ prediction that not a single stone will be left on another when the disciples look at the temple buildings. Jesus continues his condemnation and judgement of official Jewish religion with his apocalyptic discourse in 24 and 25 (cf. Mills
The parable is ‘a story that never happened but always does – or at least should’ (Crossan
The audience realises that the temple, like the fruitless fig tree, is condemned to destruction for failing to attain its purpose to be a house of prayer for all peoples. They must adopt Jesus’ attitude toward the temple by rejecting it as a den of robbers, just as he has rejected it and left it twice with his disciples (Heil
Referring to Matthew 24 and 25, Blomberg (
Matthew's conception of time amounts to ‘the end is announced as having begun’, and he relates it to the destruction of Jerusalem and especially the temple, the implied interim period, and the coming of the Son of man (Van Aarde
‘When applied to a king or other prominent dignitary, the term for Jesus’ coming (
Rabbinic teaching speaks of a suffering preceding the final end and calls it ‘the birth pangs of the Messiah’ (Anderson
Cf. the sign of the Noahic covenant, the rainbow (Gn 9:12–13, 17), the sign of the Abrahamic covenant, circumcision (Gn 17:11), as well as the sign of Jonah (Luk 11:30), referring to Jesus's resurrection, but also Jesus's refusal to do signs as demanded by the people (Mt 12:38–39; 16:1–4).
Jesus concedes that the false prophets and false Christs shall be successful: they shall deceive many (24:5) and if it were possible, even the elect (24:24; cf. Keener
France (
Botha (
Several possibilities exist of what the meaning of 28 is. The coming of the Son of man will be as public and obvious as eagles or vultures circling over carrion (Davies & Allison
In terms employed by the author of 2 Thessalonians, the world is the domain of Satan's man, the Antichrist, the lawless one (2 Th 2:8). Whilst many will be corrupted by false prophets, the Son of man will come quickly and unexpectedly to sit in judgement over the corruption of the world.
Hendriksen (
καὶ τότε φανήσεται τὸ σημεῖον τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, καὶ τότε κόψονται πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ὄψονται τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐρχόμενον ἐπὶ τῶν νεφελῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ μετὰ δυνάμεως καὶ δόξης πολλῆς [Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory].
Hendriksen (
In evaluating possible intertextual relations the following questions should be asked: Which marked or unmarked quotations or allusions does Matthew use? Is there a difference between marked and unmarked quotations and allusions in Matthew? What happens if Matthew is read from the perspective of the macrotext of one of his quotations? What happens with the macrotext of a quotation or allusion when read from a Matthean perspective? And what happens when we relate texts with other texts, which Matthew may have known but did not explicitly use in his book? (Alkier
The differences between Mark 13:26 and Matthew 24:30 are: ‘in clouds’ becomes ‘on the clouds of heaven’, bringing the text in line with Daniel 9:13; and ‘great’ is attached to ‘glory’ rather than ‘power’ (Nolland
As Constantine would claim to see the sign of the cross in the clouds with the words, ‘
‘And the powers of heaven will be shaken’ finds no direct parallel in the Hebrew Bible but is similar to the statement in Joel 2:10 (cf. also Is 34:4; 13:13; Hg 2:6, 21). The coming of the Son of man will be attended by unusual phenomena in the sky. Apocalyptic imagery of this sort became commonly used in depicting the coming of eschatological judgement (Hagner
Alkier (
For example Josephus refers to the appearance of a comet that appeared during this time and lasted a year (
וְלֵ֨הּ יְהִ֤יב שָׁלְטָן֙ וִיקָ֣ר וּמַלְכ֔וּ וְכֹ֣ל עַֽמְמַיָּ֗א אֻמַיָּ֛א וְלִשָּׁנַיָּ֖א לֵ֣הּ יִפְלְח֑וּן שָׁלְטָנֵ֞הּ שָׁלְטָ֤ן עָלַם֙ דִּֽי־לָ֣א יֶעְדֵּ֔ה וּמַלְכוּתֵ֖הּ דִּי־לָ֥א תִתְחַבַּֽל׃ [On him was conferred rule, honor and kingship, and all peoples, nations and languages became his servants. His rule is an everlasting dominion which will never pass away, and his kingdom will never come to an end].
Preterists take the words as
The four winds-imagery is designed to include all directions, but it makes no comment on distance.
Trumpet blasts announce for all to hear and with authority that ‘a time of significance’ has arrived, but without further context the use of the trumpet blast as such does not identify the nature of the significance. What is important here is that the trumpet blast is sent forth from heaven at the initiative of the Son of man (Nolland
Zechariah 12:12, 14 and Daniel 7:13–14 are combined in Matthew 24:30 and Revelation 1:7. Matthew includes an additional allusion to Zechariah 12:10, in which the nations mourn (Keener
Luke 21:25–26 adds that people will faint with fear and foreboding at the terror at what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken, indicating that the term in at least Luke's view should be related to fear rather than repentance.
The term, φυλαὶ, calls to mind the twelve tribes, in which case τῆς γῆς refers to the land Israel (Blomberg
Grosheide (
Hagner (
Attempts to understand these words as referring not to the
Attempts to explain ἐρχόμενον ἐπὶ τῶν νεφελῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ as Christ coming spiritually in judgement against Israel at the time of the destruction of the temple, leading to the conclusion that 24:15–35 as a whole refers to first-century events, have to denote ἡ παρουσία τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου in a way that is otherwise unparalleled in the New Testament (Blomberg