The Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east” (Zech. 14:4), is where the disciples came to Jesus “privately” with an interrogation, the answer to which should be of solemn interest to all mankind. The question they asked was, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Matt. 24:3. Surely it was not a foolish question or he would have kindly reproved them. Instead he proceeded to answer the question concerning that great and important event—the sign of his return—saying, “There shall be signs.” Luke 21:25.
In the consideration of any great event or question there naturally arises in our minds the where, the when, the what, and the how of the matter. So with the sign of Christ’s coming. The World’s Fair in Chicago, May to October, 1893, an exhibition of arts, sciences, etc., displayed and operated in immense buildings, the buildings themselves constituting part of the exhibition, is an illustration, and those four questions were solved before the fair began. So also Jesus gave all this information in regard to the signs of his coming.
1. Where would be the signs of his coming? “In the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars,” etc. Luke 21:25–27.
2. When would they occur? “Immediately after the tribulation of those days.” Matt. 24:29. The tribulation here referred to is evidently that of verse 21, “such as was not since the beginning of the world.” This had its fulfillment during the papal supremacy, commonly called the Dark Ages, when many myriads of Christians were put to death. It was the greatest tribulation of God’s people recorded in history. 2 Thess. 2:3 says, “That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition,” which implies that after the man of sin—the Papacy—had made an exhibition to the world of his wicked exaltation and opposition to God by oppos- ing his truth and wearing out his saints (Dan. 7:25), then we might expect some sign of Christ’s coming. And so there was: “Immediately after” (Matt. 24:29), May 19, 1780, the sun was darkened.
3. What were some of these signs? “After the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven.” Matt. 24:29.
4. How did these signs take place? “The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall.” How? In Rev. 6:12, 13, in another line of prophecy, we are told that “the sun became as black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her green figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” (Margin.)
History tells us that on the 19th of May, 1780, it was so dark that a “sheet of white paper held within a few inches of the eye was equally invisible with the blackest of velvet,” and that “the moon appeared as blood.” Nov. 13, 1833, the stars did fall as green fruit from a tree, that is, from the tree outward all around the tree, while ripe fruit falls straight to the ground. We are also told by witnesses of that wonderful meteoric display that the stars, or meteors, “appeared to emanate from a point in the constellation Leo,” and from this point they fell “as thick as the flakes in the early snows of December.”
“Now,” says Jesus, “learn a parable of the fig tree: When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh; so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that He is near, even at the door.” Matt. 24:32, 33, margin. In verse 34 he says, “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled,” which includes the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven (verse 30). True, but “this generation” does not refer to the people he was talking to, but the people he was talking about, which “shall see all these things,” and the last sign, the falling stars, occurred Nov. 13, 1833; Jesus could refer to no other people than those living on the earth at that time. That generation, which is this generation, shall not pass away, but be living when Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory, with all the holy angels with him. Many years of this generation are in the past, and surely the “end of the world” is at hand, Christ’s coming draweth nigh.
What are we to do? In Rev. 14:12 we are told what the people of God will have, and what they will be doing. They will have patience, and be keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. So we are admonished, “Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” James 5:8; Joel 2:1.
