“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. 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. 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.

Matthew 24:29-31

Reading and thinking of these passages from Matthew is difficult given the state of our world today and it is hardly what you might expect from a daily devotional, but we do need to consider what these things mean, don’t you agree?

One Bible commentary had this to say about the passage – “Some Bible scholars say these signs should be read literally, as events that will actually take place in the sky in real time. One suggestion is that the atmosphere will be congested in some way, reducing the available light from the sun, moon, stars, and planets. Other Bible teachers speculate that these words from Jesus could be metaphors to describe massive geo-political events. Others try to combine these two possibilities to cover both viewable events in the sky and political events on the ground. Whatever happens, it will not be subtle.”

Whether Jesus’ words are meant to be take absolutely literally or a a metaphor about the world around us or somewhere in between, not all is doom and gloom. The last couple of verses above deliver the promise of great hope. Every day on earth brings us closer to the return of Christ and that is definitely good news.