Matthew 24--End Times

“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven.” We are not told what this sign will be. His First Advent was accompanied by a sign in heaven—the star. Perhaps a miracle star will also announce His Second Coming. Some believe the Son of Man is Himself the sign. Whatever is meant, it will be clear to all when it appears."  -Believer's Bible Commentary

Elena del Rivero's artwork of World Trade Center Debris

End Times

Honestly, this chapter and most end times prophecy distress me.  I don't like violent movies, cataclysmic disasters and the like.  Even the changing of the seasons leaves me slightly uneasy. Change doesn't come easy from where I stand.

So when Christ talks about the heavens and Earth passing away, I'd just rather be somewhere else.  I don't want to go there.  I can't even get through the stuff in my attic for sentimental attachment.  I still remember the images from 9/11 of the office documents floating in the breeze, how all of that paperwork was so immediately personal yet completely irrelevant.   For me, that image is so small yet poignant, and the end times so vast and combustible--all of the Earth thrown up in the air like those papers.  Mentally and emotionally, it's too much to take in.

Another sign

"And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens." -Matthew 24:30

The BBC points out that there will be another sign, kind of like the star at Christ's birth, that will be manifested at his Second Coming:

“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven.” We are not told what this sign will be. His First Advent was accompanied by a sign in heaven—the star. Perhaps a miracle star will also announce His Second Coming. Some believe the Son of Man is Himself the sign. Whatever is meant, it will be clear to all when it appears." -BBC

12 Tribes Revisited

"All the tribes of the earth will mourn—no doubt because of their rejection of Him. But primarily the tribes of the land will mourn—the twelve tribes of Israel. “... then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn” (Zec_12:10). -BBC

The Jews generally puzzle me, I confess.  What to make of the Jewish state as it stands---Jews dispersed all throughout the world, so many seem to have little connection to the faith of their fathers.  Others are faithful to the forms of the Pentateuch but have a very liberal perspective on culture.  It's confusing to me.  I don't know what God is "up to" with the Jews. 

I don't mean any of that irreverently, as I respect their desire to seek God and their faith even though we have a drastically different view of God's plan as it is unfolding.  It's more that the God's relationship to the Jewish race is a mystery to me.  Honestly, I don't know why he bothers with any of us--Jew or Gentile.  But I am intrigued because He clearly has gone out of his way to single the Jews out, not because of anything in them, but because His purposes are grander than our understanding of them, and He seems to have a very specific role for them in history.   

An Uncomfortable Phrase

A comment from the People's New Testament on "weeping an gnashing,"  an image I've also found difficult to reconcile with the mercy of God:

"And shall cut him asunder. An ancient method of punishment which was practiced among the Israelites. See 1Sa_15:33, and 2Sa_12:31. The idea here is that very severe punishment shall be inflicted upon him, while weeping and gnashing of teeth would indicate a life of intense suffering. Indeed both these expressions must be regarded as metaphors, indicating nothing more clearly than a terrible and certain punishment."