This is part two of a three part series on the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:29-35). This answers the disciple's question, What will be the sign of your coming?

1. The Olivet Discourse: Part II – What
will be the sign of your coming?
Matthew 24:29-35

2. Review
Jesus made two comments.
1. While sitting in the temple a reference to his return to
Jerusalem: Mat. 23: 37-39 39 For I tell you, you will not
see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord.’ ”
• The comments are made from Jerusalem in regards
to Jerusalem.
– He entered Jerusalem earlier under these conditions.
– He will enter Jerusalem again under these conditions.

3. Review
2. While coming out of the temple a reference
was made concerning the temple: Matt. 242
But he answered them, “You see all these, do
you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be
left here one stone upon another that will not
be thrown down.”
– It is a specific reference to the destruction of the
Temple in Jerusalem.

4. His disciples’ three questions
The disciples asked him questions regarding his
previous remarks:
• 3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples
came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will
these things be, and what will be the sign of your
coming and of the close of the age?”
1. When will these things be?
2. What will be the sign of your coming?
3. What will be the sign of the close of the age?
• 2&3 are combined as one because they view
the end of the age linked to his coming.

5. Analyzing the questions
• When will these things (plural) be?
– A generalized questions about his coming (his 1st
comment) and the destruction of the temple (his 2nd
comment).
• What will be the sign of your coming?
– A more specific question related to his return (1st
comment)
• What will be the sign of the closing of the age?
– A more specific question. They may associate the
destruction of the temple with the close of the age.

6. Conclusion about their questions.
The nature of the questions suggests that the
apostles believe that the destruction of the
temple, the end of the age and the return of
Christ are closely linked events.
The end of the age and the return of Christ was
perceived as marking the establishment of
Christ’s Kingdom.

7. What was their view of the Kingdom?
• The questions and Jesus’ answers are
saturated with quotations and illusions to old
testament prophesy.
• They are JEWS with an anticipation and
expectation of a physical restoration of Israel.

8. The Disciples view
of the coming kingdom
Acts 1:6–8 6 So when they had come together,
they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time
restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to
them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons
that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you, and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

9. Jesus’ answers
Jesus answered the questions in reverse order.
• What will be the sign of the close of the age?
– Conditions prior to the end of the age (birth
pangs) in verses vs. 4-14
Isaiah 26:16–21 (ESV)
16 O LORD, in distress they sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when
your discipline was upon them. 17 Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries
out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O
LORD; 18 we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind. We have
accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have
not fallen. 19 Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust,
awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth
to the dead. 20 Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors
behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by. 21 For
behold, the LORD is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the
earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no
more cover its slain.

10. Jesus’ answers
• What will be the sign of the close of the age?
– Conditions prior to the end of the age (birth
pangs) in verses vs. 4-14
– Conditions in Israel at the close of the age in
verses 15-28
• The abomination of desecration and tribulation.
• What will be the sign of your coming? vs. 29-
35
• When will these things be? Vs. 36-44+

11. Today we will discuss Jesus answer to
the disciples second question.
“What will be the sign of your
coming?” Mat. 24:29-35

12. What will be the sign of your coming?
29 “Immediately after
the tribulation of those
days the sun will be
darkened, and the moon
will not give its light, and
the stars will fall from
heaven, and the powers
of the heavens will be
shaken.
At the end of the
tribulation.
First signs will take place
in the heavens.
Jesus alludes to the Old
Testament.
– Prophecy from Isaiah 13
– Joel 3

13. Isaiah 13:4–13
4 The sound of a tumult is on the mountains as of a great
multitude! The sound of an uproar of kingdoms, of nations
gathering together! The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for
battle. 5 They come from a distant land, from the end of the
heavens, the LORD and the weapons of his indignation, to
destroy the whole land. 6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;
as destruction from the Almighty it will come! 7 Therefore all
hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt. 8 They
will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will
be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at
one another; their faces will be aflame. 9 Behold, the day of
the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make
the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.

14. 10 For the stars of the heavens and their
constellations will not give their light; the sun will
be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its
light. 11 I will punish the world for its evil, and the
wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the
pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous
pride of the ruthless. 12 I will make people more
rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of
Ophir. 13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the
wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce
anger.

15. Joel 3:9–16 (ESV)
9 Proclaim this among the nations: Consecrate for war; stir up
the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near; let them
come up. 10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your
pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
11 Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather
yourselves there. Bring down your warriors, O LORD. 12 Let the
nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of
Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding
nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in,
tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil
is great. 14 Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision!
For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15 The
sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their
shining. 16 The LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from
Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the LORD
is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.

16. Revelation 6:12–17
12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there
was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as
sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of
the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit
when shaken by a gale. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is
being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed
from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great
ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and
everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and
among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains
and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is
seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for
the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

17. There will be a sign of
the Son from heaven
30 Then will appear in
heaven the sign of the Son
of Man, and then all the
tribes of the earth will
mourn, and they will see
the Son of Man coming on
the clouds of heaven with
power and great glory.
What is the sign of the coming of
the Son of Man?
Daniel 7:13–14 13 “I saw in the
night visions, and behold, with
the clouds of heaven there came
one like a son of man, and he
came to the Ancient of Days and
was presented before him. 14 And
to him was given dominion and
glory and a kingdom, that all
peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him; his dominion is
an everlasting dominion, which
shall not pass away, and his
kingdom one that shall not be
destroyed.

18. Israel will mourn the loudest
Zechariah 12:9–11 9 And on that day I will seek to
destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and
pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on
him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for
him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep
bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 11
On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as
great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the
plain of Megiddo.

19. There will be a gathering of the elect
31 And he will send out his angels with a loud
trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from
the four winds, from one end of heaven to the
other.
• This does not appear to be the rapture.
• The terminology of “gathering” is Old
Testament.

20. Israel will be gathered
Zechariah 2:2–6 (ESV) 2 Then I said, “Where are you going?” And
he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width
and what is its length.” 3 And behold, the angel who talked with
me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him
4 and said to him, “Run, say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem shall
be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude
of people and livestock in it. 5 And I will be to her a wall of fire all
around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.’ ” 6
Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the LORD. For I
have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens,
declares the LORD.

21. • Ezekiel 28:25 (ESV) 25 “Thus says the Lord GOD: When I
gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom
they are scattered, and manifest my holiness in them in the
sight of the nations, then they shall dwell in their own land
that I gave to my servant Jacob.
• Ezekiel 34:12–13 (ESV) 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock
when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so
will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all
places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds
and thick darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the
peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring
them into their own land. And I will feed them on the
mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited
places of the country.

22. Jeremiah 23:3–5
3 Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of
all the countries where I have driven them, and I
will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be
fruitful and multiply. 4 I will set shepherds over
them who will care for them, and they shall fear no
more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be
missing, declares the LORD. 5 “Behold, the days are
coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for
David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king
and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and
righteousness in the land.

23. Deuteronomy 30:1–5
1 “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and
the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to
mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has
driven you, 2 and return to the LORD your God, you and your
children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today,
with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the LORD your
God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you,
and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the
LORD your God has scattered you. 4 If your outcasts are in the
uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will
gather you, and from there he will take you. 5 And the LORD
your God will bring you into the land that your fathers
possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you
more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.

24. Conclusion of Signs
“From the fig tree learn its
lesson: as soon as its
branch becomes tender
and puts out its leaves,
you know that summer is
near. 33 So also, when you
see all these things, you
know that he is near, at
the very gates.
• You can watch the fig
tree and determine
when summer is close.
• If you see the things
occurring told you
about, know, Christ is at
the gate of Jerusalem.

25. End of a generation
34 Truly, I say to you, this
generation will not pass
away until all these things
take place.
When Jesus speaks of
“this generation” in
Matthew it is always “this
evil or wicked generation”
he is probably saying, “the
generation of the wicked”
shall not pass away” until
all these things take place.

26. Matthew 12:39–42 (ESV)
• 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous
generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it
except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah
was three days and three nights in the belly of the great
fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh
will rise up at the judgment with this generation and
condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah,
and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The
queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this
generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends
of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold,
something greater than Solomon is here.

27. 35 Heaven and earth
will pass away, but
my words will not
pass away.
The Words of
Christ are more
enduring and
stable than the
universe.

28. Of all the times in human history that
mankind needs to be reading God’s
Word, now is the most critical.
He is coming soon!