Luke 21:25-27

The Parousia. “ And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and in the earth distress of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26. Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 27. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ”

We have found that the main subject of this discourse was the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem. But how could our Lord close the treatment of this subject, and the mention of the epoch of the Gentiles which was to follow this catastrophe, without terminating by indicating the Parousia, the limit of the prophetic perspective? The mention which He made in passing of this last event, which was to consummate the judgment of the world begun by the former, doubtless contributed to the combination of the two subjects, and to the confounding of the two discourses in tradition.

The intermediate idea, therefore, between Luke 21:24-25 is this: “And when those times of the period of grace granted to the Gentiles shall be at an end, then there shall be...;” then follows the summary description of the Parousia. Those two judgments, that of the theocracy and that of the world, which Luke separates by the times of the Gentiles, are closely connected in Matthew by the εὐθέως, immediately, Luke 21:29, and by the words following: after the tribulation of those days, which cannot well refer to anything else than the great tribulation mentioned Luke 21:21, that is to say, to the destruction of Jerusalem (Luke 21:15-20). In fact, the Parousia is mentioned here by Matthew (Matthew 24:27) only to condemn beforehand the lying revelations of false prophets (Luke 21:23-26) as to the form of that event. In Mark there is the same connection as in Matthew, though somewhat less absolute, between the destruction of Jerusalem and the Parousia (“ in those days,” but without the immediately of Matthew). The three writers' compilations are, it is easily seen, independent of one another.

Jesus described Luke 17:26-30 and Luke 18:8 the state of worldliness into which society and the Church itself would sink in the last times. In the midst of this carnal security, alarming symptoms will all at once proclaim one of those universal revolutions through which our earth has more than once passed. Like a ship creaking in every timber at the moment of its going to pieces, the globe which we inhabit (ἡ οἰκουμένη), and our whole solar system, shall undergo unusual commotions. The moving forces (δυνάμεις), regular in their action till then, shall be as it were set free from their laws by an unknown power; and at the end of this violent but short distress, the world shall see Him appear whose coming shall be like the lightning which shines from one end of heaven to the other (Luke 17:24). The cloud is here, as almost everywhere in Scripture, the symbol of judgment. The gathering of the elect, placed here by Matthew and Mark, is mentioned by St. Paul, 1Th 4:16-17, 2 Thessalonians 2:1, where the word ἐπισυναγωγή reminds us of the ἐπισυνάγειν of the two evangelists. Is it not a proof of the falsity of that style of criticism which seeks to explain every difference in text between the Syn. by ascribing to them opposite points of view?

Ver. 27. It is not said that the Lord shall return to the earth to remain there. This coming can be only a momentary appearance, destined to effect the resurrection of the faithful and the ascension of the entire Church (1 Corinthians 15:23; Luke 17:31-35; 1Th 4:16-17).