The Sun and Moon Prophecies and Chain of Events, Part 6 of 9

Part 5 covered Amos 8:9-12 and Matthew 24:29-31.

Both of those tied what happens in the heavens to a chain of bigger events around them, events that would be impossible to miss and impossible to leave out of the record, and the record does not have them.

In Part 6 we keep doing the same thing. Read the passage in full, list the chain of events in the order the text gives them, then check history and see if that chain ever happened.

Part 6 has Mark 13:24-27 and Luke 21:25-28. These are more of the same words Jesus spoke about the temple in Jerusalem, the same talk Part 5 read in Matthew 24.

Mark tells it short and plain: sun darkened, moon lightless, stars falling, then the Son of Man coming and the elect gathered. Luke adds what the others do not name: the sea roaring, the nations in distress, and people fainting with fear.

No teachers, no doctrines from outside. Just the Bible, and the historical record.

1. Mark 13:24-27

"“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,"

"and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken."

"And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory."

"And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven."

The chain in this passage, in the order it is given:

1. After that tribulation, the sun will be darkened
2. The moon will not give its light
3. The stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken
4. They will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory
5. He will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven

Jesus spoke these words on the Mount of Olives, sitting across from the temple in Jerusalem. His disciples had asked him when the temple would fall and what sign would show these things were about to happen.

These verses come near the end of his answer. First comes the tribulation of those days, and only after it do the heavens go dark.

The darkening is not the whole chain. After the sun and moon go dark and the stars fall, the Son of Man is seen coming in clouds, and the angels gather his elect from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

The temple he was looking at did fall, and that fall is real history. Rome took Jerusalem in AD 70, and the temple was burned down.

Part 3 and Part 5 already read the strange signs Josephus wrote down from that war: a star shaped like a sword, a comet, and a light that shone at the altar.

But those signs are not this chain. Josephus wrote that war down in heavy detail, and his record does not have the sun darkened and the moon giving no light and the stars falling from heaven as one event.

His record does not have the Son of Man seen coming in clouds with great power and glory either. And it does not have angels gathering the elect from the four winds.

AD 70 is in the record. This chain is not.

And the temple still stands at the heart of this series. The temple Rome burned in AD 70 has never been rebuilt, and no temple has stood in Jerusalem since that day.

The temple of the last days has not been built yet. Part 5 said it in full, and it stands here too.

2. Luke 21:25-28

"“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves,"

"people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken."

"And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory."

"Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”"

The chain in this passage, in the order it is given:

1. There will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars
2. On the earth, the nations will be in distress and perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves
3. People will faint with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world
4. The powers of the heavens will be shaken
5. They will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory
6. When these things begin to take place, his people are to straighten up and raise their heads, because their redemption is drawing near

Luke tells the same talk about the temple, and his verses name things on the earth that Matthew and Mark do not name the same way.

He starts in the heavens: signs in the sun and the moon and the stars. Then he comes down to the earth, to the sea roaring and the waves, and the nations in distress.

People are fainting with fear, dreading what is coming on the whole world. The powers of the heavens are shaken.

Then the Son of Man is seen coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And the last word of the chain is for his own people: straighten up, raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

The fall of Jerusalem is the history that stands behind this part too. Rome destroyed the city and the temple in AD 70, and Josephus left the fullest record of that war.

But his record is about one city and one nation in one war. Luke's chain has the nations of the earth in distress together, with the sea and the waves roaring.

No record from those years tells of people fainting with fear at what was coming on the whole world. And no record has the Son of Man seen coming in a cloud, or a redemption drawing near for his people waiting under it.

The fall of Jerusalem is in the record. This chain is not.

That is two more chains. Mark has the sun darkened and the stars falling after the tribulation, with the Son of Man coming and the elect gathered, and no year in the record holds that chain.

Luke has the nations in distress, the sea roaring, and people fainting with fear before the Son of Man comes, and the record does not hold that chain either.

Part 7 picks up at Acts 2 and Revelation 6, and the chains keep going from there, until the last part lines them all up together.