For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be

"Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand), "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you all beforehand. Therefore if they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is there the eagles will be gathered together.

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, 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. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

- Matthew 24:15-31

In yesterday's reading, Jesus disciples asked Him a question. As they left the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus said, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down." Later, as He sat on the Mount of Olives, His disciples came and asked Him: "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" Jesus first began by warning against those who would deceive by claiming they are the Christ. Speaking of what is to come in Jerusalem, He said, "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." They will face tribulation, great difficulty, delivered up to persecution and "hated by all nations for My name's sake." There will be betrayal among those who claim to believe, even hatred, and false prophets. "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."

"Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand), "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." My study bible explains the abomination of desolation: "Daniel's prophecy of the abomination of desolation was fulfilled in A.D. 70, when the Roman General Titus, before ordering the temple burned, entered the Most Holy Place, thus defiling the temple. Jesus quotes this prophecy so that the disciples might know these things will happen while most of them are still alive. Whoever reads, let him understand are code words from the author to early Christians about the known meaning of what is written." Jesus here gives a vivid testimony about what is to come in Jerusalem, to His followers there. I think we cannot separate the destruction of the Temple, Daniel's prophecy, and the initiation of the age of the end in Christ's cosmic salvation plan in which we now dwell. They are all tied together.

"Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you all beforehand. Therefore if they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is there the eagles will be gathered together. " Here are vivid statements, both about specifically what is to come upon this generation of believers in Jerusalem (and, indeed, all of Israel and Jerusalem), and what the true end of days will be like. He is first warning them directly and very vividly about escaping from Jerusalem when they see signs of this great affliction coming; there is no doubt that they must simply flee. But tied here are glimpses of the true end of the age, and His return, so that they understand the difference and are not fooled! "See, I have told you all beforehand!" They mustn't let deceivers shake them out of their need to escape what is to come in Jerusalem, and to them in all nations, and persevere in faith, to endure -- the true end of the time is not near. Here is our glimpse of the true end of the age when it comes: "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." My study bible says there will be no mistaking this event, no doubt. Everyone will know it. It says, "In the Orthodox Church we pray in the direction of the rising sun, because the East symbolizes Christ Himself who is the East of easts, Light of light. The great day fo the Lord will be illuminated by the true Light, the 'rising'. The very creation will be transfigured -- not destroyed but superseded -- by the light of His presence at the end of the age."

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, 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. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Here we are given the vision, a description of Jesus' return, which we await. Again, there is a note in my study bible that is worth quoting: "After He speaks about Jerusalem, He moves on to His own Second Coming, not for their sakes only, but for all of us who come after them. The sign of the Son of Man in His Second Coming is thought by many to be His glorious Cross, the memorial of His Passion. His power and great glory will be brighter than the sun, which will be darkened. The Lord Jesus will come from heaven in the same way the Apostles saw Him ascend to heaven (Acts 1:11)." We note that Jesus gives them not the full story, nor any sort of time scale of when this event will happen. It is, instead, a part of a warning not to be fooled by those who will come claiming He has returned -- because when it happens, everyone will know it.

At the beginning of the verses of Jesus' discourse on the destruction of the temple and His Second Coming, a note tells us from my study bible: "Jesus' emphasis is on being prepared through watchfulness and stewardship rather than on constructing exacting chronologies." I want to focus on the fact that this warning is specifically given so that they are not deceived by anyone claiming that this is, in fact, happening when it is not. First of all, it gives us and them a clear focus on the hardships in the world and specifically those directed at the Church, and at believers. Tribulation is not something to minimize; neither is hatred and betrayal, nor the scourge of obstacles thrown in the way of faith. Neither is war, famine, pestilence and all the evils of the world that are named in this warning, which the early Church endured, and survived. Endurance becomes the byword here, and watchfulness -- not to be fooled. We don't take a pristine or rosy-eyed look at the world here, but one in full clarity of vision of catastrophe, of what it is to fall victim to the world's worst disasters and evil, and also betrayal. Jesus teaches us that His faith is worth enduring all of these things; in fact, it is this that He commands, expects, and puts His own faith in to give birth to His Church. When He tells us, "All these are but the beginning of sorrows" (in yesterday's reading), the word translated as "sorrows" means birth pangs, the pain or travail of childbirth. He doesn't sugar-coat it for them; this is going to be far more than just difficult. His death and Resurrection will be an initiation, but it will be a birth that will require travail, they will go through much tribulation. When He returns, all will know it: do not be deceived. And so we have the situation now in which we await, and yet we have behind us all of this history. All of these things came to pass, as He said they would. The Church had its great birth-pains, its martyrdom, its trial by fire, so to speak. But we can't forget we still live in this age in which we await His return, and the fullness of the time. So we also, perhaps collectively and perhaps individually, may come to know something of this travail or sorrows, these pains of childbirth. In this pain may still be born our own faith, our willingness to endure and to carry His cross, the light burden that He places upon us. It is through this time that we must walk and carry the cross given to us. That is our faith. We shouldn't minimize it, as He didn't do so either for His immediate followers. These words as witness are still going out to all the world, and they are still here for all of us. We live in a broken world that will test our faith, and yet in that brokenness we may also find it, and the one thing that makes us truly whole when all else fails us. So is the birth of the Church continuing, and the fullness of the time awaiting us with our own endurance, patience, faith and growth. We may each go through our own tribulation; but endurance produces tremendous fruits.