29 Immediately after the tribula- tion of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall tall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken :
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven : and then shall all the tribes of the earth
from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32 Kow learn a parable of the fig tree : When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves,' ye know that summer is nigh :
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
mourn, and they shall see the Son of , 34 Verily I say unto you. This gen- man coming in the clouds of heaven I eration shall not pass till all these with power and great glory. i things be fulfilled.
31 And he shall send his angels I 35 Heaven and earth shall pass with a great sound of a trumpet, and away, but my worda shall not pass they shall gather together his elect ' away.
In this part of our Lord's prophecy, He describes His own second coming, to judge the world. This, at all events, seems the natural meaning of the passage. To ta,ke any lower view appears to he a violent straining of Scripture language. If the solemn words here used mean nothing more than the coming of the Roman ar- mies to Jerusalem, we may explain away anything in the Bible. The event here described is one of far greater moment than the march of any earthly army. It is nothing less than the closing act of this dispensation, the second personal advent of Jesus Christ.