Introduction
A question that has recently come to mind is, “What is the sign of the Son of Man mentioned in Matt. 24:30?” Many Bible scholars believe that the sign is the cosmic signs of the sun, moon, and stars mentioned in the previous v. 29. This also brings to memory the sign of the cross that Roman Emperor Constantine the Great was reported to have seen in the sky in AD 312 at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge.1 This apparently led to his conversion to Christianity.2
It says in v. 29 that all the nations of the earth will mourn when they see this sign. This is a quote from Zech. 12:10-14 where tribes is used instead of nations meaning all the clans of the Jewish people will mourn. Matthew however enlarges the quotation to mean all the peoples of the world. I don’t think a cross is the sign of the Son of Man which would have little meaning for the non-Christian Jews at the end of the tribulation. According to v. 29, this sign occurs immediately after the 7-year-long tribulation period when everything is darkened and the cosmos completely and radically transformed. In order to understand exactly what the sign of the Son of Man is we need to look in the Old Testament and in the book of Revelation because the sign must combine both the Jewish idea of what the sign of the Son of Man is and what the Christian thinking of what the sign of Jesus might be. It needs to witness to both Jew and Christian as this happens to occur at the rapture on the Feast of Trumpets on the Jewish New Year’s Day.
The cloud rider
In the Old Testament, Yahweh was known as the cloud rider.3 Whenever God physically appeared to Israel and the Jews He appeared in a dark cloud such as on Mt. Sinai and in the 40 years of wandering in the desert. Joel Richardson gives a great account of how the God of Israel appears as the cloud rider and compares Yahweh the cloud rider to the Philistine god Baal who was the “storm god.” God truly does ride on the clouds so when Jesus, the Son of Man, does finally appear for the second time on the earth with His Father, He will also ride on the clouds being seated on a throne carried by the cherubim. Jesus will also be a cloud rider which will be highly significant for the Jews because this was always how God manifested Himself to Israel in times past. Psalm 18 speaks prophetically of Christ’s return when huge cosmic signs occur comparable to the signs seen at the 6th seal.4 Psalm 18:9 says that God parts the heavens and comes down with dark clouds under His feet. There is lightning and hailstones and God is mounted on the cherubim. The cherubim are the ones who carry the throne of God5 so naturally the Jews will see this sign in the heavens and now realise their mistake in not recognising Jesus as the Son of God when He came to the earth the first time. To reiterate there would not be any significance for the Jews if the sign was a cross or some Christian symbol. Revelation 6:12-16 confirms that at the 6th seal at the very end, after the tribulation, the scene is set with darkness and cosmic signs which leads to the people of the earth hiding from God who is sitting on His throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Yahweh and the Son of Yahweh are sitting on their thrones carried by the cherubim riding on a dark cloud–perfectly corroborating what the Jews would expect of their God. The fact that Jesus is there will confirm to them that He really is their Messiah and they missed it. This causes them to mourn greatly.
The white horse rider comes after the cloud rider
To sum up, it is not at this point that Jesus is riding a white horse. That traditional view of the second coming of Christ is incorrect and actually occurs 10 days later after what appears to be Jesus’ coronation in heaven before God, the Ancient of Days. Daniel 7:13-14 describes this coronation event when Jesus is given all authority, glory, and sovereign power as King of kings and Lord of lords over all peoples, nations, and languages. After His coronation, it follows that He returns on a white horse with the armies of heaven and the church to defeat the Antichrist, False Prophet, and the armies at the Battle of Armageddon.6 The cool thing is that we are raptured before His coronation because we are “drawn up” to witness this.7 Meanwhile, in the ten days in between the Feast of Trumpets and Day of Atonement, the wrath of God is poured out upon the earth as punishment for their wickedness. Why the devil still thinks he can win at the Battle of Armageddon is beyond me. But Pastor Doug Hamp of “The Way Congregation” in Denver, Colorado is of the opinion that Satan thinks that he can still defeat God on a legal technicality as seen in the YouTube below…
Bar-Nasha
In the Hebrew language the term “Son of Man” is “Bar-Adam” but when Jesus was alive on the earth he most likely spoke Aramaic. In Mark 14:62 at the Sanhedrin when being accused before His crucifixion Jesus responds to the high priest’s question, “Are you the Christ?” by saying, “I am.” He then says in Aramaic, “And you will see the Son of Man (Bar-Nasha) sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One coming on the clouds.” This was enough to accuse Him of blasphemy because He was claiming to be the cloud rider. This would have reminded them of Daniel 7:13 because Daniel used the exact same term, Bar-Nasha. And the reason is that the book of Daniel is the only book in the Bible that is written partly in Aramaic. In effect, Jesus was claiming to be the Son of Yahweh, the one who would be coronated before the Ancient of Days, the Father Himself. Ron Rhodes in his book, “Christ Before the Manger,” says that in all places where Yahweh reveals Himself in the Old Testament that this manifestation is always the Son of Yahweh–the self-revealing aspect of Yahweh. This would be blasphemy to the Jews at this time but finally, just over 2000 years later they will see that everything Jesus said was true and this will strike their hearts.
Putting it all together
The sign of the Son of Man has to be recognised by both Jew and Gentile. Zechariah 12 says that it is the clans of Israel who see the sign whilst Matthew expands the verse to include the whole world including Christians at the time awaiting to be raptured. This is because clearly in Matt. 24:31 says that the rapture occurs after the sign is seen. According to Dan. 7:13-14 Jesus’ coronation happens in heaven because the Son of Man travels “up” to heaven. This is made clear in some translations such as Dan. 7:13 NASB. I believe the church will see this amazing spectacle in the heavens including all those who participate in the 1st resurrection because we are drawn up (raptured).
So what is the actual sign of the Son of Man? It is the Father and Son sitting on their thrones carried by the cherubim and riding on the clouds at a time when there is darkness, lightning and hailstorms. Just think of the final scene in the final act of the drama when the lights are dimmed, the curtains are drawn and we see the finale played out before a rapturous audience defeating the pantomime villains of the Antichrist and the False Prophet.
So what of it? We need to be ready to play our part and that means being ready to escape but to watch for the signs in the heavens. There is much to play out yet but I believe that we are heading for the final act–the last seven years. See Nelson Walter’s YouTube below as he also concludes that Jesus will not be riding on a horse at His second appearing in Matt. 24:30 but He will be coming down on the clouds seated on His throne with His Father.
