Matthew 24:31

Ver 31. "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."

Origen: Because He had spoken of mourning, which shall be only that they may bear witness against themselves and condemn themselves, that none should suppose that that mourning will end their woes, He now adds, "And he shall send his Angels with a trump and a loud voice."

Remig.: Here we are not to think of a real trumpet, but of the voice of the archangel, which shall be so loud that at its sound all the dead shall rise out of the dust of the earth.

Chrys.: The sound of the trump refers to the resurrection, and the rejoicing, and to represent the astonishment which shall be then, and the woe of those that shall be left, and shall not be snatched up into the clouds.

Origen: It is written in Numbers, that the Priests shall summon by the sound of the trumpet from the four winds those who are of the camp of Israel [Numbers 10:3], and it is in allusion to this that Christ speaks here of the Angels, "And they shall gather together the elect from the four winds."

Remig.: That is, from the four quarters of the world, north, south, east, and west.

Origen: Some of little discernment think, that only those who shall then be found in the body shall be gathered together, but it is better to say that the Angels of Christ shall then gather together not only all who from the coming of Christ to the end of the world have been called and chosen, but all from the foundation of the world, who like Abraham have seen the day of Christ and rejoiced therein. [marg. note: John 8:56] And that He here means not only those that shall be found in the body, but those also who have quitted the body, the following words shew, "from one end of heaven to the other," which cannot be meant of any one upon earth,

Or, the heavens are the divine Scriptures and their authors [marg. note: al. autoritates] in which God dwells. "One end of heaven" is the beginning of the Scriptures, "the other" end is their conclusion. The saints there are gathered together "from one end of heaven," that is, from those that live in the beginning of the Scriptures to those who live in the ends of them. They shall be gathered together "with a trump and a loud voice," that they who bear and attend may prepare themselves for that way of perfection which leads to the Son of God.

Remig.: Or otherwise; Lest any one should suppose that they should be gathered only from the four quarters of the world, and not from the middle regions, He adds this, "And from one end of heaven to the other." By the heights of heaven meaning the central regions of the earth, which are under the heights of heaven; and by the ends of heaven, meaning the extreme parts of the earth, where the land seems to join a very wide and distant horizon.

Chrys.: That the Lord calls His elect by His Angels pertains to the honour of the elect; and Paul also says "that they shall be caught into the clouds;" [1 Thes 4:17] that is, the Angels shall gather together those that have risen, and when they are gathered together, the clouds shall receive them.