Red Moon and Falling Stars Over a Ruined CityBible World
13:24Mark 13:24
But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
The sun being darkened and the moon withholding her light means literal darkness of the literal sun and moon in the literal heavens. After that tribulation means after the 1,260 years of papal persecution from A.D. 538 to 1798, which was shortened for the elect so that active persecution had almost wholly ceased about twenty-two years before the end, around 1776. This was fulfilled on May 19, 1780, in the Dark Day over New England and much of North America, when day became so dark that candles were needed and cattle and fowls acted as at night, and the following night the nearly full moon gave no light until after midnight and then appeared as blood. It is the first promised token that Christ's coming is near, standing with the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 before it and the falling of the stars in 1833 after it. Like the sign given for flight from doomed Jerusalem, these signs warn that the end is even at the doors, so that all who watch will not be overtaken unawares, though the day and hour remain known to the Father only.
Setting and Literal Sense
The words were spoken privately on the Mount of Olives to Peter, James, John and Andrew in answer to when the temple would be thrown down and what would be the sign when all things would be fulfilled. The prediction that not one stone would be left upon another had prompted the question about the time of these things and the sign of Christ's coming and the end of the world. The darkening of the sun and the withholding of light by the moon belong to that answer.
The answer mingles the destruction of Jerusalem with the great day of Christ's coming, blending the description of two great crises in mercy because the disciples could not have endured the future as opened before Christ. They were left to study out the meaning for themselves. Its reach extends beyond Jerusalem to the final conflagration when the Lord rises out of His place to punish the world for iniquity and the earth discloses her blood, and it was given not for the disciples only but for those living in the last scenes of earth's history.
In its order the darkening comes after many false Christs, wars and rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, earthquakes, famines, persecution before councils and rulers, betrayal and hatred with endurance unto salvation, the gospel published among all nations, the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not, flight from Judea, and affliction unequaled since creation shortened for the elect's sake with warnings against false signs. It is immediately followed by the stars falling and the heavenly powers shaken, and then the Son of man seen coming in the clouds with great power and glory to send angels to gather the elect from earth to heaven. These things are to be recognized like tender fig branches putting forth leaves by which summer is known to be near, showing it is nigh at the doors within this generation, while heaven and earth pass but His words do not pass and no man, angel, nor the Son knows the day and hour but the Father, requiring all to watch and pray like servants and a porter awaiting the master's return at even, midnight, cockcrowing or morning.
Heaven means literal heaven and earth means literal earth. The sun, moon and stars are literal heavenly bodies, and the signs in them are literal. They will be moved from their places by the voice of God but will not fall or pass away.
The shaking of the powers of heaven is the same event as the heavens departing like a scroll in Revelation 6:14 and as the Lord roaring from Zion and shaking heaven and earth. It happens at the voice of God after the powers of earth, those who bear rule on earth, have first been shaken. The shaking of nations then present in Europe is only that present shaking of the powers of earth, not this future shaking of the powers of heaven.
That first shaking of earthly powers is war and rumors of war, sword, famine and pestilence shaking rulers and nations. When the voice later shakes heaven, the sun, moon and stars that rule in the heavens are moved out of their places. Then dark heavy clouds clash, the atmosphere parts and rolls back, opening the space in Orion from which the voice comes and through which the Holy City will come down, while this planet is also shaken.
Time and Historical Fulfillment
In those days, after that tribulation points to the 1,260 prophetic days, that is years, of papal persecution of God's people in the Dark Ages. That period began in A.D. 538, when the bishop of Rome was made head over all churches and corrector of heretics by Justinian's decree and by the overthrow of the Arian powers. It continued to 1798, when Pius VI was taken prisoner by Berthier and papal power over European governments was broken.
The tribulation did not fill the whole period but was shortened for the elect's sake. Active persecution had almost wholly ceased about a quarter of a century before 1798, around 1776. This came through the enlightening influence of the Reformation upon rulers and through the opening of the New World as a refuge by which the earth helped the woman. It was seen in Maria Theresa's abolition of torture in 1776, in Joseph II's toleration decree of 1781, and in the 1776 independence of the United States.
The phrase means the darkening must fall inside the 1,260 days yet after the active persecution stopped. That leaves only the twenty-two years between 1776 and 1798, nearer the earlier date. No other past or future darkenings meet the prophecy, so the verse locates the supernatural darkening of sun and moon in the eighteenth century.
It was fulfilled on May 19, 1780 as the Dark Day over New England and a wide area of North America. The daytime darkness covered the whole visible heavens, so dense and extensive that candles were needed. Cattle returned home, fowls went to roost, and men and women wept believing judgment had come. The following night was equally complete even though the moon was almost full, giving no light until after midnight so that white paper held inches from the eye was invisible, and when first visible the moon had the appearance of blood.
The darkening stands in sequence with the other tokens in the same prophecy. The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 was an earlier sign in that series. The falling of the stars in 1833 came afterward, alongside the shaking of the powers of heaven.
Sign That Return Is Near
The darkening of the sun by day and the withholding of light by the moon at night are the first promised sign to precede Christ's coming, fixed to happen in those days after the tribulation. They belong with the other prophetic tokens by which people can know that His coming is near, standing alongside the falling of the stars and the shaking of the powers of heaven, with the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 as an earlier sign in the same prophecy. The tribulation is the 1,260 days or years of papal persecution, which terminated in 1798, with the persecution having almost wholly ceased a quarter of a century earlier. After that persecution the sun was to be darkened and the moon was not to give her light, and this was fulfilled on May 19, 1780 as the Dark Day in New England.
The daytime darkness covered the whole visible heavens, so dense and extensive that candles were needed. The night darkness was equally complete even though the moon was almost full, giving no light until after midnight, when the moon when first visible had the appearance of blood. These fulfilled signs point to the nearness of Christ's return and the nearness of the end, without revealing the exact day or hour, but helping people recognize that His coming is near. Their fulfillment marks that the end is near, while the disasters that follow speak as warnings that something great and decisive will soon take place.
As the disciples were given a sign of Jerusalem's approaching ruin so they could escape, the darkening of the sun and the moon withholding light, with signs in the stars and distress of nations, are given so all who will may flee from the wrath to come. These signs are harbingers of Christ's coming, and those who behold them are to know that it is near, even at the doors. They call for watchfulness, so that those who heed the warning and see these tokens of the final day of destruction recognize that the day is approaching and are not left in darkness for that day to overtake them unawares. To those who will not watch the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night.
The same prophecy of the temple's destruction and the signs connected with the fulfillment of these things is applied to God's judgments on sinful cities. Earthquakes, fire and floods will bring destruction, while human safeguards and accumulated riches will fail before God's authority.
The sun being darkened and the moon withholding her light means literal darkness of the literal sun and moon in the literal heavens. After that tribulation means after the 1,260 years of papal persecution from A.D. 538 to 1798, which was shortened for the elect so that active persecution had almost wholly ceased about twenty-two years before the end, around 1776. This was fulfilled on May 19, 1780, in the Dark Day over New England and much of North America, when day became so dark that candles were needed and cattle and fowls acted as at night, and the following night the nearly full moon gave no light until after midnight and then appeared as blood. It is the first promised token that Christ's coming is near, standing with the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 before it and the falling of the stars in 1833 after it. Like the sign given for flight from doomed Jerusalem, these signs warn that the end is even at the doors, so that all who watch will not be overtaken unawares, though the day and hour remain known to the Father only.
Setting and Literal Sense
The words were spoken privately on the Mount of Olives to Peter, James, John and Andrew in answer to when the temple would be thrown down and what would be the sign when all things would be fulfilled. The prediction that not one stone would be left upon another had prompted the question about the time of these things and the sign of Christ's coming and the end of the world. The darkening of the sun and the withholding of light by the moon belong to that answer.
The answer mingles the destruction of Jerusalem with the great day of Christ's coming, blending the description of two great crises in mercy because the disciples could not have endured the future as opened before Christ. They were left to study out the meaning for themselves. Its reach extends beyond Jerusalem to the final conflagration when the Lord rises out of His place to punish the world for iniquity and the earth discloses her blood, and it was given not for the disciples only but for those living in the last scenes of earth's history.
In its order the darkening comes after many false Christs, wars and rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, earthquakes, famines, persecution before councils and rulers, betrayal and hatred with endurance unto salvation, the gospel published among all nations, the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not, flight from Judea, and affliction unequaled since creation shortened for the elect's sake with warnings against false signs. It is immediately followed by the stars falling and the heavenly powers shaken, and then the Son of man seen coming in the clouds with great power and glory to send angels to gather the elect from earth to heaven. These things are to be recognized like tender fig branches putting forth leaves by which summer is known to be near, showing it is nigh at the doors within this generation, while heaven and earth pass but His words do not pass and no man, angel, nor the Son knows the day and hour but the Father, requiring all to watch and pray like servants and a porter awaiting the master's return at even, midnight, cockcrowing or morning.
Heaven means literal heaven and earth means literal earth. The sun, moon and stars are literal heavenly bodies, and the signs in them are literal. They will be moved from their places by the voice of God but will not fall or pass away.
The shaking of the powers of heaven is the same event as the heavens departing like a scroll in Revelation 6:14 and as the Lord roaring from Zion and shaking heaven and earth. It happens at the voice of God after the powers of earth, those who bear rule on earth, have first been shaken. The shaking of nations then present in Europe is only that present shaking of the powers of earth, not this future shaking of the powers of heaven.
That first shaking of earthly powers is war and rumors of war, sword, famine and pestilence shaking rulers and nations. When the voice later shakes heaven, the sun, moon and stars that rule in the heavens are moved out of their places. Then dark heavy clouds clash, the atmosphere parts and rolls back, opening the space in Orion from which the voice comes and through which the Holy City will come down, while this planet is also shaken.
Time and Historical Fulfillment
In those days, after that tribulation points to the 1,260 prophetic days, that is years, of papal persecution of God's people in the Dark Ages. That period began in A.D. 538, when the bishop of Rome was made head over all churches and corrector of heretics by Justinian's decree and by the overthrow of the Arian powers. It continued to 1798, when Pius VI was taken prisoner by Berthier and papal power over European governments was broken.
The tribulation did not fill the whole period but was shortened for the elect's sake. Active persecution had almost wholly ceased about a quarter of a century before 1798, around 1776. This came through the enlightening influence of the Reformation upon rulers and through the opening of the New World as a refuge by which the earth helped the woman. It was seen in Maria Theresa's abolition of torture in 1776, in Joseph II's toleration decree of 1781, and in the 1776 independence of the United States.
The phrase means the darkening must fall inside the 1,260 days yet after the active persecution stopped. That leaves only the twenty-two years between 1776 and 1798, nearer the earlier date. No other past or future darkenings meet the prophecy, so the verse locates the supernatural darkening of sun and moon in the eighteenth century.
It was fulfilled on May 19, 1780 as the Dark Day over New England and a wide area of North America. The daytime darkness covered the whole visible heavens, so dense and extensive that candles were needed. Cattle returned home, fowls went to roost, and men and women wept believing judgment had come. The following night was equally complete even though the moon was almost full, giving no light until after midnight so that white paper held inches from the eye was invisible, and when first visible the moon had the appearance of blood.
The darkening stands in sequence with the other tokens in the same prophecy. The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 was an earlier sign in that series. The falling of the stars in 1833 came afterward, alongside the shaking of the powers of heaven.
Sign That Return Is Near
The darkening of the sun by day and the withholding of light by the moon at night are the first promised sign to precede Christ's coming, fixed to happen in those days after the tribulation. They belong with the other prophetic tokens by which people can know that His coming is near, standing alongside the falling of the stars and the shaking of the powers of heaven, with the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 as an earlier sign in the same prophecy. The tribulation is the 1,260 days or years of papal persecution, which terminated in 1798, with the persecution having almost wholly ceased a quarter of a century earlier. After that persecution the sun was to be darkened and the moon was not to give her light, and this was fulfilled on May 19, 1780 as the Dark Day in New England.
The daytime darkness covered the whole visible heavens, so dense and extensive that candles were needed. The night darkness was equally complete even though the moon was almost full, giving no light until after midnight, when the moon when first visible had the appearance of blood. These fulfilled signs point to the nearness of Christ's return and the nearness of the end, without revealing the exact day or hour, but helping people recognize that His coming is near. Their fulfillment marks that the end is near, while the disasters that follow speak as warnings that something great and decisive will soon take place.
As the disciples were given a sign of Jerusalem's approaching ruin so they could escape, the darkening of the sun and the moon withholding light, with signs in the stars and distress of nations, are given so all who will may flee from the wrath to come. These signs are harbingers of Christ's coming, and those who behold them are to know that it is near, even at the doors. They call for watchfulness, so that those who heed the warning and see these tokens of the final day of destruction recognize that the day is approaching and are not left in darkness for that day to overtake them unawares. To those who will not watch the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night.
The same prophecy of the temple's destruction and the signs connected with the fulfillment of these things is applied to God's judgments on sinful cities. Earthquakes, fire and floods will bring destruction, while human safeguards and accumulated riches will fail before God's authority.