The Olivet Discourse
THE SHECHINAH GLORY OF CHRIST
Matthew 24:30

We are, in my opinion, studying some of the most incredible things in all of the Word of God right here in Matthew 24.

The disciples had asked Jesus “,,,what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?”

And Jesus answered!
His answer is really one event called the Tribulation.

And within that event countless other events that compose it.

The seven years of Tribulation is designed by the Lord to show the nation of Israel especially that Jesus Christ is about to return to this earth and set up His reign.

At this point in our study, we have worked our way through the “outline” in you will, of that Tribulation.

Jesus said in Matthew 24:29 KJV
Immediately after the tribulation of those days ….

So now, in our study, the Tribulation has just completed and Jesus said something will follow immediately….

We began to see what that something was last week
Immediately 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, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Jesus said immediately
• The sun would darken
• The moon would deaden
• The star would dive and
• The powers of heaven would dread

“And then” He says in verse 30, “shall appear the sign of the son of man.”

So let me give you four things that happen in verses 29 and 30

I. THE HEAVENS ARE PREPARED
Vs 29

We went through this last week so I don’t want to spend much time on this today except to use it to set the stage for verse 30.

Two of the four of the events of verses 29 are unquestionably referring to the literal extinguishing of light

• The sun darkened
• The moon not giving light

The other two may hint at other things – but given the context of the first two, may simply be speaking of God’s literally turning off the lights in the heavens.

Try to imagine yourself as living in this time.

You have just gone through seven years like this world has never seen.
• The catastrophes that have happened
• The sudden disappearance of who knows how many thousands of people off the face of the earth in the rapture
• The elevation of a man to the status of god in Jerusalem

You have witnessed and perhaps have experienced hardships that can only be rivaled by the undeniably supernatural things you have witnessed and perhaps have experienced surrounding the one who sits on the throne in Jerusalem.

If you are not personally involved, you have heard the reports of the armies amassing in Israel for a conflict, you are being told is a battle against forces coming from the heavens….

Perhaps you are being told it is a battle against extra terrestrial beings….

Everyone’s mind is on the sky.

Suddenly the lights of heaven get turned off
• The sun turns black
• The moon goes under cover and
o After some sort of meteor shower
• There is not one star in the sky

Outside of the artificial light generated by man – there is utter blackness.

That is the description of verse 29.

On this canvas of total black

Suddenly
II. THE SIGN APPEARS
Matthew 24:30 KJV
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: …

Now I want you to notice that this is not Jesus Christ.

We will see Him in a moment. Previous to His coming is this sign of the Son of man.

Some people believe this is the shechinah glory of God.

The word “shechinah” is not found in the Bible. It is a term that was coined by ancient Jewish rabbis to describe how God visibly manifested Himself in various Old Testament passages; sometimes as
• A cloud
• A light
• A pillar of fire or
• A combination of them

In a Sunday School class such as this there is not sufficient time to review all of those manifestations in detail.

Here is a quick survey of those passages
• The Garden of Eden-the Lord's presence in the Garden and the flaming sword (Gen. 3:8, 23-24).
• The Abrahamic Covenant-the flaming torch that passed between the sacrificial pieces (Gen. 15:12-18).
• •The Burning Bush-the burning that did not consume the bush (Ex. 3:1-5; 13:21-22; 14:19-20, 24; 16:6-12).
• The Exodus-the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night (Exodus).
• Mount Sinai-the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God; thunders, lightnings, and a thick cloud (Ex. 19:16-20; 24:15-18 Deut. 5:22-27).
• The Special Meeting with Moses-the afterglow of Moses' face as a result of his meeting with the Lord (Ex. 33:17-23; 34:5-9, 29-35; 29:42-46; 40:34-38).).
• The Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant-the glory-cloud presence often associated with these items (Exodus).
• The Book of Leviticus-the authentication of the Law and residence in the holy of holies (Lev. 9).
• The Book of Numbers-the Shechinah Glory rendered judgment for sin and disobedience (Num. 13:30-14:45; 16:1-50; 20:5-13).
• The Period of Joshua and Judges-the continued dwelling of the Shechinah Glory in the tabernacle (1 Sam. 4:21-22).
• The Solomonic Temple-the transfer of the Shechinah Glory from the tabernacle to the Temple (2 Chron. 5:2-7:3).
• The Departure in Ezekiel-Ezekiel watches the Shechinah Glory depart the Temple in preparation for judgment upon the nation (Ezek. 1:28; 3:12, 23; 8:3-4; 9:3; 10:4, 18-19; 11:22-23).
• The Second Temple-the Shechinah Glory was not present, but a promise was given that it will be greater in the future than in the past (Hag. 2:3, 9).
• The Appearance to the Shepherds-the glory of the Lord shone round about them (Luke 2:8-9).
• The Star of Bethlehem-the star or glory-cloud that guided the Magi to Jesus (Matt. 2:1-12).
• The Transfiguration-the Shechinah Glory appears to the three disciples (Matt. 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36, Heb. 1:1-3; 2 Peter 1:16-18; Rev. 1:12-16).
• •The Book of Acts-the cloven tongues of fire on Pentecost (Acts 2:1-3) and
• The blinding light shown upon Paul at his conversion (Acts 9:3-8; 22:6-11; 26:13-18).

Imagine it if you will…..

You have been trained through seven years of tribulation such as the world has never seen, to expect intense, incredible terrifying catastrophes.

You have been trained to believe there is a supernatural battle taking place in the heavenlies.

Now, the sky has gone completely black…..

And out of that blackness appears this shechinah glory of God.

It would be brighter than the noon day sun.
It’s brightness is only amplified by the utter blackness as a backdrop.

The Bible indicates that all of the world will see this sign of the Son of man in heaven.

And then Jesus said
III. THE NATIONS SIGH
Matthew 24:30 KJV
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn

Pardon my alliteration for the outline. The Bible says, “all the tribes of the earth mourn.”

Why would they mourn?
A. They have seen millions of people killed over the last seven years.

• Killed when water turns to blood
• Killed when the sun scorched out the food supplied
• Killed when stars fell to the earth
• Killed in earthquakes
• Killed in floods
• Killed by beasts
• Killed by demons when they were released as locusts an scorpions from the bottomless pit

And they know the loss that is about to take place.

B. The passage is reminiscent of
Revelation 1:7 KJV
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

Remember when the Shechinah glory came between Israel and the Egyptians in the Wilderness?

What
• Was a terror to the Egyptians
• Was a Godsend to the Jews

And the same will be true in this case.

The world will see the shechinah glory as perhaps that last final doom – the end of life on the earth as they know it.

But for the nation of Israel, it will be the final event that will cause them to turn to Jesus Christ.

They will see this as undeniably God’s glory.

And from there
IV. THE SON OF MAN PROCEEDS
Matthew 24:30 KJV
….and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Like Paul when he was knocked off his horse by the presence of God

And blinded by the light of His glory

Israel will not longer be able to “kick against the pricks” of God’s Holy Spirit and they will, if not physically, at least spiritually, bow and confess Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of the Father.

We will continue on with our study in three weeks, after I return from vacation.