Mark 13:26-27

“And then will they see the Son of Man coming in clouds with power and great glory, and then will he send forth the angels and will gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.”

‘And then they will see --.' While on earth the Son of Man had been as it were veiled. The few had recognised Him, the remainder had ignored or rejected Him. But now they will have no choice. They will see Him, even those who pierced Him (Revelation 1:7), and will cry to the mountains and hills to hide them from His wrath (Revelation 6:16).

‘The Son of Man coming in clouds' undoubtedly has in mind Daniel 7:13 where the Son of Man comes on the clouds of heaven (without glory) into the presence of God to receive dominion and authority and glory. But the idea is extended, for now, having received that dominion and authority and glory, and His rule having earlier been revealed in power on the earth (Mark 9:1) from Pentecost onwards, He will come to earth ‘with power and great glory' accompanied by heavenly attendants for the final consummation (compare Mark 8:38). The clouds stress that this is a heavenly visitation, not a further incarnation. The glory stresses the visibility of His appearing. In the Old Testament the appearance of the ‘glory of God' regularly represented a theophany in which His glory was visibly apparent to His people.

His first act on ‘coming' is, through His angels, to gather together His own from all parts of the world (compare 1 Thessalonians 4:13 - where they will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air). For ‘from the four winds' compare Zechariah 2:6 where it refers to the fact that God had spread them abroad widely; for gathering from the uttermost part of heaven compare Deuteronomy 30:4 where it means from the furthest extent possible. None will be omitted. This idea of His gathering His own is a fulfilment of the old promises of the gathering and restoring of His people (Deuteronomy 30:4; Zechariah 2:10; and often) but now it is to a ‘better land' and a ‘heavenly Jerusalem' (compare the similar inference in Hebrews 11:10; Hebrews 11:16; Hebrews 12:22; Galatians 4:25).

‘He will send forth the angels.' They have accompanied Him and do His bidding, for He is Lord of all. Here they are seen as gathering together His chosen ones. The usual stress is on their activities as instruments of judgment (2 Thessalonians 1:7; Matthew 13:30; Matthew 13:41). But they are also ministering spirits who serve the heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14).

So the question of the destruction of the Temple has led on to the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. The connection is in fact a very important one. The destruction of the holy city and the Temple was not just something that happened in history, it was a unique event in the history of the world. It could be seen as finally closing the period when the old age, and the new which began with the coming of Jesus, existed alongside each other. Certainly for the Jews it was earth shattering. But along with the resurrection of Christ it was a necessary event before His coming. What lay between that destruction and His coming was the continuation of what He had previously described, war, earthquake and famine, Christian testimony and persecution, (the powers of Heaven being shaken), and then the end.

The Old Testament constantly drew attention to the significance of the Temple. When God's anger against His people had reached its climax, the Temple was destroyed. This was the message of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. When He sought to restore them the Temple again gained prominence through the activities of Haggai and Zechariah. The Temple of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 40 onwards), which was metaphysical and indicated that God was invisibly there in Palestine awaiting His people, was in fact the archetype of the Temple in heaven (Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 11:19; Revelation 14:15; Revelation 15:6; compare Revelation 22:1 which parallels Ezekiel 47), the guarantee of God's future mercy and compassion to His people. And the destruction of the Temple here signified that God was no longer to be approached on earth but in heaven itself (Hebrews 10:19; compare John 4:20). His people were no longer to be an earthly people but a heavenly people.

The importance of this cannot be overemphasised. The destruction of the Temple was a symbol of extreme importance which is why Jesus drew attention to it.

1). Its destruction released Christian Jews around the world, and especially the church in Jerusalem, from a great obligation and problem. While it was there they constantly had the quandary as to what their attitude to it should be. Should they continue to offer sacrifices? Should they pay their Temple dues? After all it was the Temple of God and of their forefathers, and the sacrifices had been initiated by Moses.

2). Its destruction revealed God's wrath against the sins of Israel. It was the final evidence that they had been rejected by God. That was the significance of the ‘cursing' of the fig tree.

3). Its destruction revealed God's wrath at the commercialisation and misuse of the religion that was supposed to represent Him. Despite its claims He had been merely a peripheral figure on the outskirts of that religion. The cult had become central, man-controlled and totally misrepresentative of Him.

4). Its destruction revealed God's wrath at the rejection of His Son, their Messiah, as prepared for in Daniel 9:25.

5). Its destruction confirmed that God had made a new covenant with His new people, replacing the old covenant represented by the Temple. It was necessary for the Apostles to be aware that it was to happen so that they could build the new faith with confidence and certainty, otherwise the shadow of the Temple would always be over them.

6). Its destruction confirmed the theology and doctrine of the Christian church that the Temple and priesthood had been replaced as a means of salvation and approach to God, that Jesus Christ Himself was the new High Priest eternal in the heavens (Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 4:14; Hebrews 5:5; Hebrews 5:10; Hebrews 7:24; Hebrews 7:26; Hebrews 8:1; Hebrews 9:11; Hebrews 10:21); that His people were the new Temple (1Co 4:16; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:19) and the new priesthood (1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6; Revelation 5:10); that the essential sacrifice was now that of Jesus Himself on the cross (Joh 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7; Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 9:28; Hebrews 10:10; Hebrews 10:12); that approach to God was through the heavenly High Priest, Jesus Himself (Hebrews 10:19).

Thus when Jesus spoke of the certain destruction of the Temple He was issuing in a new age free from the trappings of the past, a new age which would be tumultuous but would finally lead up to His coming, of which the destruction of the Temple had to be a major part. It was because the temple was doomed that the new Temple of God which was His body, consisting of all who participated with Him in His body, could be established as its replacement. We should note in this regard that this time He does not come to re-establish the Temple and the holy city, but to gather together His elect.

We should perhaps also note that in fact once He had recognised, and indeed determined, that the destruction of the Temple was inevitable, there is nothing in this message of Jesus that could not have been worked out by a deep thinker such as He was from a combination of Scripture, knowledge of God and of the behaviour of men, and a deep insight into human nature. He was not a Nostradamus speaking mysteriously in a way that could be interpreted to suit the circumstances, He was a prophet, and more than a prophet, speaking of what He knew would be through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

EXCURSUS. What Does Jesus Mean When He Speaks Of ‘Coming In The Glory Of His Father With The Holy Angels'?

This passage raises the question as to what “And then will they see the Son of Man coming in clouds with power and great glory and then will He send forth the angels --”, refers to, and closely associated with it is the parallel verse ‘when He (the Son of Man) comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels' (Mark 8:38). In both verses there is a reference to a glorious appearing, and in both it is as accompanied by angels.

There are two possible main interpretations. The first, which is the majority one, is that it refers to the second coming of Christ. What then are the arguments in favour of that interpretation?

· In Zechariah 14:5 we read, ‘Then the Lord your God will come, and all the holy ones with Him'. Here most would feel that Zechariah clearly has in mind His coming with angels and establishing the final time of perfection, for it is speaking of the Day when the Lord will be king over all the earth (Mark 13:8), and when night will cease (Mark 13:7), and everlasting worship will have been established (Mark 13:16), all pictures of the eternal kingdom. That would then be an indication that here Jesus was paralleling Himself with ‘YHWH your God', and was to be seen as coming in His Name with the holy angels in order to establish the everlasting Kingly Rule (compare Matthew 28:18 where ‘the Son' shares ‘the Name' with the Father and the Holy Spirit). Finally His oneness with the Father will be acknowledged by all (Zechariah 14:9).

· This might be seen as supported by Matthew 25:21 where we read, ‘when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him', which all must admit is very similar to ‘when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels' and that too is certainly referring to a time when the final judgment is in mind.

A reference may also be made to Jude's quotation from apocalyptic literature which was clearly prevalent at this time, which runs as follow: “Behold the Lord came with ten thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have ungodly wrought, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him” (Jude 1:14). Jude almost certainly has the second coming and the final judgment in mind, and thus sees His coming as being ‘with the holy ones' (the holy angels). Strictly, however, in the Book of Enoch ‘the Lord' indicated God.

'b7 It may certainly be agreed that in some way Daniel 7:13 is in mind. However, there the Son of Man did not come to God with glory, nor were the angels with Him when He came in the clouds of Heaven to the throne of God, they were round the throne of the Ancient of Days. Rather He received His glory on His heavenly enthronement  after  coming on the clouds of Heaven to the throne of God. That would suggest that the picture in Mark 13:26 must have in mind a time after His enthronement, details of which are drawn from the picture in Daniel 7, which favours a reference to the second coming.

· Strongly supportive of the idea of reference to the second coming is the similar verse in Luke's Gospel which relates it to the time following ‘the times of the Gentiles' a period which follows the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the Jews (Luke 21:24 with 27).

· Additionally we should note the prominent part that the angels are to play at the consummation as found in Matthew 13:30; Matthew 13:41; Matthew 13:49.

· Finally we should note that the appearing of the glory of the Lord in the Old Testament regularly described a manifestation of His physical presence in a way which could be seen by all. The whole point of the ‘glory' was His physical manifestation in a visible glory seen by men. Compare the later idea of the Shekinah. Thus the Son of Man being revealed in glory simply indicates that He appears visibly in glory in the same way as God did in the Old Testament when He manifested His glory.

Thus the nearest parallels clearly support the idea here that what is being referred to in Mark 13:24 is the second coming, although it must be admitted that none of these references actually refer to ‘the holy angels', even though Zechariah 14:5 (‘the holy ones') and Jude 1:14 might be seen as implying it. (On the other hand the failure to refer to ‘the holy angels' is even more true in Daniel 7, for there the ‘holy ones' are the people of God, and the angels are otherwise referred to. We cannot limit our interpretation to Daniel 7).

The second possible interpretation is that this refers to the ‘coming' of the Son of Man to the Ancient of Days, Who in Heaven is surrounded by the innumerable company who minister to Him, in order that He, the Son of Man, might receive Kingly Rule, glory and dominion (Daniel 7:14), something which will be manifested to the world in what follows. In this regard it would parallel Mark 14:62 which does mean this (see on that verse). The idea then is that it refers to Jesus' enthronement, followed by His gathering of His people through the witness of His servants, assisted by the angels in accordance with Hebrews 1:14. It could be argued that those in the crowd who knew their Scriptures would, if Jesus had said nothing further about it, probably have seen in Jesus' words ‘when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels' as a reference to that Scripture in Daniel 7.

(But while there the Son of Man (Mark 7:13) would come into the presence of the innumerable company who minister to the Ancient of Days (Mark 7:10), and would be brought by them into the Presence of the Ancient of Days (Mark 7:13), and would then be given all glory, dominion and power (Mark 7:14), the glory there occurs after the coming on the clouds of Heaven. There is a totally different emphasis from the one here).

The claim then might be that to those in the crowd who knew the Scriptures these words would not therefore have been seen as speaking of ‘the second coming' (of which they perhaps knew nothing), but of the coming of the Son of Man to be crowned in Heaven in the presence of the heavenly court, because judgment had been pronounced on those who opposed Him. The weakness in this argument, however, is that in Daniel the glory is only referred to after the coming in the clouds of Heaven, while the only verse in the Old Testament Scriptures which actually refers to ‘coming with holy ones' is that in Zechariah 14:5, which must surely therefore be the one more likely to come to the minds of the crowd (especially as in Daniel 7 the ‘holy ones' are not angels but are ‘the holy ones of the Most High' who possess the kingdom, that is, the people of God). Thus we could argue that it is that Scripture in Zechariah that they would most likely have in mind, especially as boosted by apocalyptic ideas.

What conclusion then can we come to? The arguments in the latter case are undoubtedly attractive, and as we shall subsequently see have some truth in them. They almost certainly do apply, for example, to Mark 9:1 where the coming is not with the holy angels but with power, and in Mark 14:62 where again the angels are not mentioned. Neither mention glory. But in our view they fail in Mark 8:38 because of the mention of the holy angels and of the glory, and in Mark 13:26 because of the stress on His coming in power and great glory, clearly along with angels. In the Old Testament glory always spoke of specific outward visitations by God. Here then would be the final great visitation.

For it cannot be doubted that the prominent verse in the Old Testament Scriptures which speaks of ‘coming with the holy ones (as the angels)' looks forward to the consummation (Zechariah 14:5), something confirmed by Matthew 25:31 where the glory is introduced, while the idea of a coming in glory does not obviously arise from Daniel 7.

(There is in fact a reference to YHWH coming from His holy ones in Deuteronomy 33:2, but it is very doubtful whether that is of relevance here except as providing general background)

End of Excursus.