to a question by the disciples (so Mt; Mk specifies Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Lk leaves the questioner indefinite), ‘when these things shall be, and what shall be the sign when these things are all about to be accomplished’ (Mk, Lk). In the discourse which follows, Jesus not merely answers this question, but passes on to give the signs of His own Advent in glory, which He represents as tollowing immediately after that tribulation (Mt 24%. cf. Mk 13%, otherwise Lk)—a connexion for which Mt has Gag prepared the way in the introductory question, ‘When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy Parousia, and of the end of the age?’ After the prediction of certain preliminary woes (the coming of false Messiahs, wars and rumours of wars, the rising up of nation against nation, famines, and earth- quakes; Lk adds signs from heaven) and a warn- ing to the disciples to be firm under the persecutions which are to come, not merely at the hands of the civil and religious authorities (the synagogue, Mk, Lk; the Gentiles, Mt), but of their relatives and friends,—persecutions incidental to that world-wide preaching of the gospel (Mt 24, Mk 13”; other- wise Lk, who omits all reference to the preaching of the gospel to the world) which must precede the end (Mt 9418), but in which they will sup- ported by the Holy Ghost (Mk) and preserved from all harm (Lk),—He goes on to predict the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, and the miseries connected therewith. The ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION (wh. see) of Mt and Mk is replaced in Lk by the Roman armies, but the general situation is the same in all three Gospels. Then follows in Mt and Mk a renewed warning against the false Messiahs who will arise at that time, working signs and wonders, and seeking to deceive the very elect. Many shall say ‘Lo here, or lo there,’ but they are not to be deceived. When the Christ comes there will be no possibility of mistaking Him, for His Parousia will be like the lightning which ‘cometh forth from the east and is seen even unto the west’ (Mt 24*7). This last saying, which Mk omits, is given by Lk in another connexion (17%). It is therefore probable that Mt 247" formed no part of the original text, a suggestion which Weiss (Marcusev. p. 424; οἵ. Briggs, Mess. Gosp. p. 151) extends to the previous context omitted by ἐκ (Mt 243-2) Mk 13%), After the destruction of Jeru- salem follows the Parousia. Mt and Mk make the connexion immediate. ‘But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened,’ ete. (Mk 13%; Mt is even stronger, introducing the word εὐθέως ; ‘immediately after those days’). Lk, on the other hand, introduces between the destruction and the Parousia certain ‘times of the Gentiles’ (21%), which seem to take the place of the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles in Mt and Mk. 1 the evangelists represent the Par- ousia as preceded by certain theophanic signs in the heaven (cf. J] 3! 1° 91. 10. Ts 1810), Lk adds, ‘upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows; men faint- ing for fear and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world’ (21% *), Peculiar to Mt is a reference to ‘the sign of the Son of Man in heaven’ and the mourning of the tribes of the earth (24%; οἵ, Zec 1910π The Parousia itself is described in language suggestive of Dn 7*14 «And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory’ (so all three evangelists). ‘And he shall send forth his angels (Mt adds ‘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’ (Mt, Mk). As to what takes place after this, we are not told in this place. The ‘ Apoca- lypse’ concludes with certain frrther indications
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salem, and the prediction by the Saviour of His |
own return at an hour of which He knows not (cf. the reconstruction in Weiffenbach, p. 182 ff. ; Wendt, i. pp. 10, 11).
Apart from this ‘Apocalypse,’ the Parousia of Jesus is predicted in the Synoptics in man passages. Thus in Mt 16%-% (cf. Mk 8-9}, L 9*-*7) Jesus predicts His Advent in glory with His angels to reward every man according to his works, adding, ‘ Verily I say unto you, ‘There be some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom’ (so Mt; Mk ‘the king- dom of God come with power,’ Lk ‘the kingdom of God’). At His farewell over Jerusalem, He declares that they shall not see Him again until they shall say, ‘ Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord’ (Mt 23°78, Lk 13%). When declaring His Messiahship before the high priest, He predicts that His judges shall ‘see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of wer, and coming on the clouds of heaven’ (Mt 26", Mk 14°). So in interpreting the parable of the tares (Mt 13%) He declares that at the end of the age ‘the Son of Man shall send forth his ae and they shall gather out of his kingdom things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be eeping and gnashing of teeth,’ adding, ‘Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.’ Especially important is the ene judgment-scene, Mt 25° «When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all the nations ; and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep) from the goats.’