The Stones, the Signs, and the Coming of the Son of Man

Jesus walked away from the temple for the last time, and His disciples caught up to Him, pointing at the stonework. They wanted Him to admire it. Instead, He told them that not one stone would stay on another. Every block would be thrown down. That was the opening of a long conversation on the Mount of Olives, and the disciples did not let it go.

Later, sitting on the slope across from the city, Peter, James, John, and Andrew came to Him privately. They asked two questions: when would the temple fall, and what would be the sign of His coming and the end of the age. Jesus answered both, but He did not separate them neatly. He spoke of disasters, betrayals, and false saviors as a single unfolding reality.

He began with a warning against deception. Many would come claiming to be the Christ, and they would lead many astray. Wars and rumors of wars would not mean the end had arrived. Nation would rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There would be famines and earthquakes in various places. Jesus called these the beginning of birth pains, not the delivery.

Then He turned to what His followers would face. They would be handed over to tribulation and killed. They would be hated by all nations because of His name. Many would stumble and betray one another. False prophets would multiply. Lawlessness would increase, and the love of many would grow cold. Only the one who endured to the end would be saved.

Yet the end would not come until the gospel of the kingdom had been preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. That was the hinge. After that, the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet would stand in the holy place. Jesus told those in Judea to flee to the mountains without stopping to retrieve anything from their houses or fields. He warned that the tribulation of those days would be worse than anything from the beginning of the world, and that unless those days were cut short, no flesh would survive. But for the sake of the elect, they would be cut short.

False christs and false prophets would appear, performing great signs and wonders, trying to deceive even the elect. Jesus told them plainly that He had warned them beforehand. When people said the Christ was in the wilderness or in an inner room, they were not to believe it. The coming of the Son of Man would be as visible as lightning flashing from east to west. Wherever the corpse is, there the eagles gather.

Immediately after that tribulation, the sun would be darkened, the moon would not give its light, the stars would fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens would be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man would appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth would mourn. They would see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He would send His angels with a loud trumpet call to gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Jesus gave them the fig tree as a lesson. When its branch becomes tender and puts out leaves, summer is near. In the same way, when they saw all these things, they would know that He was near, at the very doors. He told them that this generation would not pass away until all these things took place. Heaven and earth would pass away, but His words would not.

But about that day and hour, no one knows—not the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. The days of Noah were the pattern. People were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the flood came and took them all away. So it would be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men would be in the field; one taken, one left. Two women grinding at the mill; one taken, one left. Watch, because no one knows on what day the Lord is coming.

Jesus ended with two servants. The faithful and wise servant gives the household their food at the proper time. His master will put him in charge of all his possessions when he returns. But the evil servant says in his heart, “My master is delayed,” and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master will come on a day he does not expect and will cut him in pieces, assigning him a place with the hypocrites, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.